Chapter 46

Chapter 46

The meeting was set in a dedicated banquet hall. The Purification Department was indeed reliable—they hadn't set up one of those absurdly long banquet tables where everyone sat miles apart eating hotpot.

Instead, they had partitioned off a separate room, just the right size, similar to the private booths commonly found on Blue Star.

When Yor walked in, he glanced around and froze for a second.

The table size, the chair height—everything resembled the 24-hour hotpot restaurant he used to frequent. Back then, he would always go alone after work, winding down after a long day with a hot meal.

Figuring the male bugs would be too uptight for a buffet, they'd set up a rotating hotpot conveyor instead.

The rotating platform in the center was set low, so it wouldn't block sightlines, making it easy for Yor to chat with the others.

The food preparation station was already stocked, with dishes arranged according to what he used to order. This serving method also ensured the ingredients stayed fresher.

They'd really thought of everything.

When Yor entered with Lima, a room full of male bugs was pressed stiffly against the walls. If there weren't so many of them, you'd have thought they were the waitstaff.

"Here's how I do my dipping sauce," Yor said, heading to the condiment station himself. He knew nothing he said would make the male bugs relax, so he just showed them. "One spoon of chopped celery, one of cilantro, one of minced garlic on the bottom, a dab of fermented bean curd, a big scoop of erbajiang sesame paste, soy sauce to cover it all, and a few drops of vinegar."

He turned to Lima. "You might want to test the cilantro and garlic first. Some people... bugs, I mean, can't handle them."

Lima sniffed it. "I've got half war bug blood in me. I'll eat anything. I wanna try what you like."

Yor smiled, carried his sauce over, and sat down. "You all should try it too."

The male bugs, who'd been glued to Yor's every move, immediately shuffled forward and copied the Broodmother's recipe to the letter.

Yor found it funny and said casually, "Everyone's got different tastes. If the ingredients are fresh, even clear broth with soy sauce is good. Just mess around and see what you like."

He didn't say anything else and turned back to the conveyor, which was already spinning. He snagged two plates of fresh meat.

The pot in front of him came to a rolling boil, and the spicy, numbing smell hit him. He hadn't had this in forever—he was already drooling.

Lima was hovering nearby, trying to look after him. Yor shoved a piece of sauce-drenched meat into his mouth and mumbled, "I got it," then casually fed a bite to Lima. "You try it too."

Yor went heavy on the sauce—it completely drowned out the meat—but Lima still nodded. "Not bad."

If even Lima was like that, the others were way worse.

The pure bugs sat ramrod straight, gripping their chopsticks like they were handling explosives, every move careful. But hotpot's not something you can eat all stiff and proper.

As the red oil bubbled, steam hit them in the face. Some bugs coughed from the spice, some fumbled their chopsticks and sent fish balls rolling off the table, and some just couldn't handle hotpot, chugging ice-cold drinks after every bite...

But little by little, the mood started to loosen up.

Yor ate with his head down for a few minutes, only looking up once he'd gotten his fix. His eyes landed on the two bugs sitting right across from him.

They stood out. One was meticulous, using his chopsticks with textbook precision, timing his meat like he had a stopwatch—accurate but a little stiff. The other... the male bug himself wasn't anything special, but he'd brought a chubby little cub, the exact same one from the video learning to fly.

The little cub, catching the smell wafting from the table, huffed and puffed as he shifted into humanoid form, then started fighting with chopsticks way too big for him, his tiny antennae twitching from the effort.

Yor watched him for a bit, then had someone bring a clear broth pot and a fork.

"What do you like to eat?" Yor asked.

The little chubby cub couldn't talk yet. He blinked, then pointed at the meat on the table.

Yor cooked a plateful for him, piling it up once it was done. The little cub didn't even bother with the fork—he just dove in face-first, cheeks puffing out.

The way he wolfed it down was weirdly cute.

Watching him eat, Yor suddenly smiled. "Come to think of it, my first job after leaving the orphanage was kind of like a childcare worker. Except it was early education for kids way older than him."

Kids from orphanages basically all had childcare certs. When you don't have education or social experience, a lot of orphans survive off that kind of work.

It hadn't really been that long, but looking back now, it felt like a whole other life.

"My first relationship was at that early education school. He was my supervisor—gentle, attentive, always looking out for me. So when I found out he had a wife and kids, I was shocked and heartbroken." Yor said casually, not caring whether these bugs understood what relationships or families even were.

"Oh, right, at the time I was only a temp, and with all that mess going on—sorry to say—I really wasn't putting my heart into the work..."

Remembering that swamp of a period, Yor paused, chopsticks in hand. "The night before the exam for the permanent position, I decided to break up with him. Then I tried drinking like people do, got completely wasted, stumbled back to my apartment, and the director tore into me. Next day, I couldn't even get out of bed to take the exam."

Looking back now, if his current self met his past self, he'd probably frown in anguish and yell, "What the hell were you thinking?!"

But that period right after entering the real world was genuinely dark and confusing. Without clear interests or goals, he'd drifted around like a lost soul.

"Though, maybe I really didn't want to take that exam. Avoiding working with that guy was one thing, but not wanting to be an early ed teacher was another."

His stomach, not used to spice after all this time, started protesting. Yor regretfully switched to a clear broth. "I never actually found work I wanted to do. Later, I decided to go back to school. For tuition, and more importantly, to survive, I took all kinds of part-time jobs. Up until I came here, I was still doing PR on the side."

When he first started doing PR, knowing his orientation, Ling Yue of course worked at gay bars. But... when life gets hard, it's way too easy to fall for the tiniest bit of warmth.

After a few messy experiences, Ling Yue switched to regular bars, providing emotional support to the women there. Whether it was because everyone liked men or just had similar tastes, he unexpectedly got pretty popular.

During that time, studying hard and working hard—it was fulfilling and happy.

Until... he got sick. Then the future, romantic entanglements—none of it mattered anymore.

Shaking off the memories, Yor looked up at the bug across from him. "Finding your life's calling so early—you must be really happy."

The one seated directly across from the Broodmother was naturally the highest-ranked core researcher, Arnold.

Being addressed directly by the Broodmother, he sat up straight. He never imagined the Broodmother would talk to him like this when he walked in, but he set aside his nerves and answered honestly: "I am happy. It's hard—experiments mess up my sleep schedule, and I get restless when projects stall—but building mechs makes me happy."

He paused, then added boldly, "Whether or not there's a Broodmother, that happiness doesn't change."

Yor looked at him, a little surprised by his honesty. And the fire in Arnold's eyes when he mentioned mechs... that was the light you see when someone talks about something they truly love.

He set his chopsticks down—not angry, of course—and said seriously, "My homeland has people who devote their whole lives to what they love. I'm glad the bug race has bugs like that too."

Yor nodded, then turned to Ian, who'd brought the cub. "You and your partner have a great relationship."

Ian panicked and jumped to his feet. "I... I..."

Yor waved a hand. "No need to be nervous. Your cub—you two raised him well."

And this bug, unlike the others who kept their attention glued to the Broodmother, cared about his cub, worry written all over his face the whole time...

This was another bug who didn't care whether the bug race had a Broodmother or not.

Yor said nothing more. The hotpot steam gradually thinned, but these bugs were still vivid, still alive.

Zane's Broodmother cultivation facility—the researchers there were all Yor knew of pure bugs. Then... he met Zhuoluo, who had his own passions. And now, looking at these bugs, they had their own partners, their own concerns, their unspoken worries.

Although the room full of High-Grade Insects was hardly ordinary, it at least showed that the bugs outside weren't entirely the same as those working at the cultivation center.

Just as he had suspected.

Now that his suspicions were confirmed, Yor set down his chopsticks, no longer zeroing in on one bug and making everyone nervous, but said softly, "Thank you all for taking the time to come. I'll run a mental cleanse for you later as compensation."

The meal was a hit all around.

As he exited the banquet hall, the robot that had been waiting nearby rushed over, ready to lead Yor back "home."

But Yor waved it off and walked toward the courtyard with Lima, needing to walk off the heavy meal. "Lima, if I wanted to do the kind of mental cleansing we did at the mine, how many bugs could you connect me with?"

Lima assessed for a moment: "I can manage all the bugs in this research institute right now."

"Not enough, I want more." Yor looked up. Under the starlight, he could only make out the edge of the dense forest. "For all the bugs on the Purification Department's homeworld, what tier of domain bug would be needed?"

Before he could think about what Yor was planning, Lima said worriedly, "Yor, with such a large-scale mental cleansing, your pheromones will recover quickly, and what about Zane..."

Yor glanced back at the robot trailing silently behind and shook his head. "Before this, I was indeed afraid, but after this meal today, that stuff... doesn't matter anymore."

Lima was confused but could only answer Yor's earlier question. "To link to an entire planet's bugs, it would be best for a Lord to come personally, to ensure your mental sea doesn't get thrown into chaos."

A Lord...

Amon had just been chewed out by him, and as for Seraphiel, Yor wanted to ask that bug, "What the hell are you thinking?"

"Do you need me to contact the Lord?" Lima, a half-domain bug whom Yor trusted deeply, could easily link to the Lord.

Yor nodded lightly. "Have Seraphiel and Amon both come, as soon as possible."

If his pheromones weren't replenished soon, his old illness would flare up, and he'd end up disabled again.

Lima agreed but still looked at him with worry.

Yor understood what he meant and patted him. "It's not a decision made under mental pollution. After the last replenishment of mental energy, the pollution's effect on me isn't as strong anymore."

In fact... even the memories that should have been forgotten had returned.

But if Lima was really that worried...

It might be better to just lay things out in the open.

Yor turned to look at the robot. "Quit hiding. I know it's you, Zane."

The robot froze, its eye-light flickering out. From the darkness nearby, Zane stepped forward, starlight falling on his uniform, making him look even paler.

"I thought you wouldn't want to see me."