EROS [Zerg]

"Alai!" Eros hugged Alai, who was kneeling on the ground. Seeing the swollen and bruised face of Alai, a surge of anger welled up in his heart. He got up and thought of stopping Alai's father-in-law.

“Eros.” Allai grabbed Eros’s arm, stopping him from acting impulsively.

“He is my mother-father, he will not harm me.”

Alai kept his head down until the sound of Sind's footsteps faded into the distance before he got up and began packing his luggage.

"What exactly happened?" Eros rushed over, but didn't understand what was going on.

"Eros, will you bless me?" Alai looked up, his swollen face appearing quite comical.

"What are you wishing me well about?" Eros asked, puzzled. He crouched down and cupped Alai's face in his paws, looking anxious and sad. "What's wrong? What happened? Why are you packing? And what's going on with your female father?"

Alai touched his stomach: "I'm pregnant with Bami's baby, and I've disobeyed my father. Now I've been expelled from school."

Eros stared blankly at Alai's still flat stomach, unable to suppress his surprise, but his heart was filled with bitterness instead of any desire to bless Alai.

Alai pursed his lips and handed a bunch of keys to Eros: "I should move out. I can't take too much stuff with me. You can keep all my collections. Take good care of them."

Alai didn't take much with him; besides his spare lower limb, he only had a few books he hadn't finished reading.

As Eros watched Alai walk out with his luggage, he felt a heavy weight pressing on his heart.

"Alai!" Eros stepped forward and grabbed Alai's arm, his eyes involuntarily reddening.

“Eros…this is my own choice…”

Eros wiped his eyes with the back of his paw, feigning composure: "I know, I'll give it to you."

After saying that, he picked up Alai's suitcase, grabbed Alai's wrist, and walked out of the dormitory.

Along the way, they heard that many of Alai's classmates had gotten pregnant out of wedlock with a commoner male insect during their school years, and they pointed and whispered about Alai from afar.

Eros watched this scene with a mixture of anger and relief. He was glad that he had come out with them, so that Alai wouldn't have to face all the gossip alone as he left the academy.

Eros took the day off and drove Alai all the way to his old rented apartment.

The apartment was fully equipped, and there were obvious signs that it had been lived in.

It didn't take long to tidy up, and everything was settled.

Alai poured Eros a glass of water and asked him to sit down.

"How long have you been renting here?" Eros looked at the cozy room that Alai had decorated and felt a little relieved.

"It hasn't even been a year."

Eros held the water glass that Alai had handed him, looking at Alai with guilt: "I didn't even notice. If I had noticed earlier, I would have stopped you."

“I already said this was my own choice.” Alai looked at Eros, a slight smile on his face, and began to explain to Eros why he did it.

“My father lost a bet with a male insect from the Critata family, so he used me as a chip to lose to his opponent.”

"The Kritata family wants me to be the guide for one of their B-grade male insects. They said that after that male insect completes its first physiological evolution, they will take me as their female servant."

“My father treated me like an object that he could manipulate at will; he didn’t treat me like a living insect at all.”

"A crippled female insect without legs will not be valued even if she becomes a female servant of a male insect, and the final result will definitely not be good."

"I can't defy my father on my own, so I thought of finding a low-level male insect, being marked, and having my offspring conceived... It would be best if I could become the queen of Bami, but if I can't, at least I won't be treated like a plaything."

Eros did not agree with Alai's approach.

No one can guarantee that lower-ranking male insects will necessarily have good temperaments, but according to Alai, the male insect named Bami has a pretty good temperament, so Eros can only hope that this male insect is a male that is consistent inside and out.

Otherwise... as Alai himself said, at least it was his choice.

"Where is that Bami Xiongzi?"

“How could a male live in a place like this?” Allai thought Eros was being delusional. “However, we’re getting married soon, and he’ll be moving in in the future.”

The male insect protection association will assign housing to unmarried adult male insects. After they get married, the male insects will move into the female insects' homes, and the assigned housing will be taken away.

“You need to find a job.” Eros knew how difficult it was for a disabled female insect to find a job. The insect race never lacked females because females could be born through various assisted reproductive technologies, so the number of females was large and the competition was fierce.

Although Eros has no wings, female Eros usually don't expose their wings either, so it doesn't affect his work much.

However, Alai lacks legs, and even with metal prosthetics, he cannot move freely like a normal female insect. Therefore, it is difficult for female insects like him to find work.

Eros looked at Alai, "I'll keep an eye out for you, and I'll let you know if I find a suitable job."

Allai opened his arms and hugged Eros: "Thank you, Eros."

Eros hugged him back, saying, "We don't need to say thank you to each other."

After leaving Alai's rented room, Eros returned to his dormitory. The dormitory that had once belonged to the two insects was now empty, and Eros felt very sad, as if a piece of his heart was missing.

He began tidying up the room after Alai left. The two insects usually had good living habits and didn't leave much trash behind.

I used the key Alai gave me to open the bottom cabinet door and looked inside at the neatly arranged stacks of videotapes and boxes of paper books.

Alai had shared all these things with him before, but this time Alai did not choose to take them with him.

Eros thought to himself that Alai herself probably wasn't sure if she could keep these treasures after marrying a male insect, so she entrusted them to him for safekeeping.

Eros looked at the contents of the cupboard, then silently closed the door.

He lay back on the bed and curled up.

With her claws resting on her heart, the female insect couldn't understand why she felt so distressed.

"Eros!"

A stern voice pulled Eros back to reality from his dejected mood.

Eros was momentarily distracted, and the wrench in his hand clattered to the ground among a pile of parts beside him.

"what's on your mind?!"

Eros picked up the tools from beside his claws and looked up at Brandt standing in front of him.

Eros was always serious during his practice sessions, but Brandt was surprised to find him somewhat distracted today.

Brandt's eyes had been fixed on Eros's hand movements since the beginning. From messing up the order of operations during training to not being able to hold the repair tools steady, such basic mistakes were absolutely unacceptable to him!