EROS [Zerg]

After leaving the examination hall, Eros hailed a taxi and returned to the academy without lingering.

Exhausted and sleepy, Eros fell asleep on the aircraft. It wasn't until the pilot woke him up that Eros groggily realized he had arrived at the academy gate.

As Eros stepped off the aircraft and was about to enter the school gate, he saw a familiar figure walking along the campus wall toward the gate.

"Alai?" Eros rubbed his eyes, and after recognizing the insect approaching as Alai, he walked towards it.

"Eros?" Alai was surprised to see Eros and stopped in his tracks. He looked at Eros walking towards him and asked in surprise, "Weren't you taking the exam? Why are you back so early?"

Eros shook off his tired expression, his voice tinged with amusement: "The exam is over. I've successfully advanced to the practical exam. I'll come back and wait for the results."

"What are the odds?" Alai asked Eros with a smile.

"As for the certainty, we can't be too sure," Eros said with a smile, his eyes narrowed.

"It looks like it's a sure thing." Alai was genuinely happy for Eros.

“I told you, we can’t be too sure of what to say.” Eros put his arm around Alai’s shoulder and was about to lead him into the academy when his eyes inadvertently caught sight of the spots under Alai’s turned-up collar.

Eros's arm stiffened, and the smile on his face vanished. He knew all too well what those red marks were.

“Eros?” Alai clearly sensed Eros’s sudden stiffness. His eyes fell on Eros’s face, not ignoring his friend’s surprise.

Suddenly, Alai seemed to realize something and covered his collar with one hand: "Let's talk about it when we get back."

The two insects returned to their dormitory in a somber atmosphere, and Alai didn't know where to begin.

"What happened?" Eros's face showed no trace of the ease and joy he had just displayed.

"Well... I encountered a male insect."

Upon hearing "male insect," Eros's brow furrowed and veins bulged: "What did he do to you?!"

Alai was taken aback by Eros's attitude: "N-nothing, we just got to know each other and thought we were both pretty good, so...we gave it a try..."

"Tried it?" Eros looked puzzled. He remembered that Alai seemed to be returning to the dormitory very late these past few days, saying that a friend was looking for him.

"That male insect is your friend?" Eros asked incredulously.

“Yes.” Alai turned his head: “But Bami is a very polite and good male insect.”

"Very polite?" Eros thought of the marks he had just seen on Alai's neck. "If the male you're talking about is really a very polite male, how do you explain having so many red marks on his neck before you were even married?"

"I took the initiative."

Eros had already considered all sorts of possibilities, and when he heard Alai's suggestion, he almost fainted.

"Are you confused? Are you trying to make excuses for the male insect?"

Allai knew immediately that Eros had misunderstood, so he could only say again: "It was I who took the initiative to seduce him, or rather, I deliberately planned and schemed to seduce that male."

"Why?" Eros found it hard to understand Alai's thoughts: "Was that male a high-ranking male insect?"

“No, he’s just a C-grade commoner male insect.” Alai confidently revealed the markings on his neck to Eros. The markings had darkened in color, a sign that female insects had been marked.

The male insect's pheromones can mark the female insect. The marked female insect will belong to the male insect that marked her for the rest of her life and can only receive pheromone comfort from that male insect.

The pheromones of other male insects are like a slow poison to this marked female insect. Not only do they fail to alleviate the female insect's mental turmoil, but they also cause the female insect to suffer from pheromone perception disorder syndrome.

To remove the pheromone mark from a bear cricket, in addition to undergoing a very painful surgery, the law also stipulates that the female cricket's reproductive cavity must be removed. This is to protect the rights of the male cricket, prevent the female cricket from having the opportunity to cheat on the male cricket, and also prevent the situation where a female cricket carrying the offspring of another male cricket marries another male cricket.

Eros had always thought that Alai was a very rational female insect, so he wondered if Alai had run into some trouble by doing this.

"Is there some difficulty you're facing that you want to use a male insect to solve?" Eros looked at Alai. "Although I don't seem to be of much use, if there's anything I can do to help, just let me know."

"Going to find a male insect whose origins and background are unknown is far too risky for you."

“Eros…” Alai didn’t hear Eros’s accusations and disgust. Instead, he was comforted. “Eros is such a gentle insect.”

"Of course I have my own reasons for doing this, but there are some things you'd better not know."

Alai gently hugged Eros: "Tell me that if I need anything, I can just ask you, so please keep this a secret for me, okay?"

“Of course.” Eros nodded. “If this hadn’t happened, I would have kept an eye on you, but since it has happened, I will also help you keep this secret.”

"How do you explain this to your insect family, your male and female parents, and your fiancée? You need to think all of this through."

“I know, thank you Eros.”

“And…” Eros felt that Alai was not taking it seriously enough, so he emphasized, “You must get that male insect to marry you immediately, no matter what his attitude is, you have to make him marry you even if you have to lie to him!!”

"If the male insect is unwilling, we can simply get married and then divorce."

Alai smiled faintly as he looked at Eros. "But Bami is really a very cute male. He's as polite and considerate as Kamah, the little male. It's unlikely that a male insect from a commoner background would have so many bad intentions."

"I really want to meet you sometime."

Eros was a little angry: "I don't want to see that male insect."

Seeing Eros lose his temper, Alai gently covered his mouth with his paw to hide the smile on his face.

"dare you laugh!"

Eros slapped Alai on the shoulder, annoyed by his lack of ambition.

For the next few days, Eros continued his life as usual. He had promised to keep Alai's secret, so he tried his best to act as if he knew nothing in front of Alai.

However, Eros was still unhappy after learning that his friend had done such a foolish thing.

This meant that Eros had little interest in celebrating after learning that he had passed the exam.

"Judging from your expression, I guess we won't be able to have this celebratory dinner," Alai said regretfully. "Rioli and the others were asking me about your exam results a few days ago. They were worried that asking you rashly would affect your mood."

"It's rare that they care about me, so let's invite them out for dinner." If Alai hadn't reminded him, Eros wouldn't have thought of holding a celebration banquet.

Despite calling it a victory celebration banquet, given his current financial situation, he could only afford to go to a small restaurant and treat everyone to a meal.

So on a day off, Eros invited Rioli and the other two little females out and treated them to a hearty meal.