Royal Clothing

During that‍⁠‌‍‍​‌‍‌​​‌⁠​⁠‌⁠​​⁠‌​‍​ time, Jiang Ci spent his days holed up in the Central Temple, working with the teachers to repair the Temple’s core brain and the Forbidden Abyss. In the evening, he would spend three to four hours training with Huo Xianfeng. To be fair, in terms of teaching methods and teaching results, Huo Xianfeng was truly an excellent teacher.

His words were always brief but precise, cutting straight to the heart of the matter. Whether it was mechas, firearms, or various cold weapons, he seemed to be proficient in them all.

It was as if this guy was born for combat.

The more Jiang Ci got to know Huo Xianfeng, the more impressed he became by his strength and perfection. If only he could keep that mouth of his shut, he’d be like the Creator’s masterpiece.

“Hmm?”

At this moment, Jiang Ci, who was immersed in his own thoughts, suddenly felt a tug on the hem of his coat. He turned around to see his little tail.

—It was Nora.

“Xiao X… wake up?”

She was asking when Xiao X would wake up.

The young girl seemed to have grown quite attached to Xiao X.

When Huo Xianfeng didn’t need her, Nora would often hang around the repair room in the Central Temple, staying close to the Forbidden Abyss and asking it to watch educational videos. The Forbidden Abyss would then dig up content from Xiao X’s data files to show her, so by now, she had learned quite a few words.

“Mm, very soon.”

Jiang Ci reached out to pat her on the head. Perhaps because Nora had once protected him during a critical moment, combined with the filter of Huo Xianfeng’s influence, Jiang Ci had come to view her almost like a little sister.

“By tonight at the latest, he should be awake.”

“Wow~“ 

Nora’s eyes lit up as she nuzzled Jiang Ci’s palm before obediently returning to her corner. She put on her headphones and continued gnawing on a large chunk of alloy. The restoration of the Forbidden Abyss’s external systems required a lot of rare metals, but there were always scraps left over.

Nora would gather up these scraps and pile them around her feet, snacking while watching her shows. Perhaps due to years of starvation, she wasn’t as picky as Huo Xianfeng, who only consumed the most energy-dense parts from S-class mecha cores. Nora, on the other hand, ate everything, from high-energy rare metals to low-energy scraps.

She had moved beyond just educational videos and could now understand basic cartoon shows. The steady flow of energy she consumed was gradually restoring her, though not as quickly as Huo Xianfeng.

The appearance of this peculiar Zerg girl had left everyone both fearful and fascinated.

“Xiao  Jiang,”

Deputy Dean Zheng couldn’t help but ask,

“Is she really… a Zerg?”

Nora’s appearance was vastly different from the terrifying, monstrous creatures that humans typically associated with Zerg. She wore a frilly dress given by Xiao X and sat quietly in the corner. With her round face and innocent eyes, she looked more like a popular girl idols on the Starnet.

Surrounded by white-haired old academicians who were busy and worked day and night, Nora seemed out of place with this group of old-fashioned pedants.

Though, the way she was gnawing on metal… well, it made her look like a poor street kid forced to eat scraps.

“Yes, Nora’s indeed a high-level Zerg.”

Jiang Ci paused his work, assuming that Deputy Dean Zheng was concerned.

“But don’t worry, Professor. She’s very well-behaved. She won’t cause any trouble or attack anyone.”

“Oh no, no, that’s not what I meant…”

The old man hesitated, then sheepishly asked,

“I just wanted to know… do Zerg eat all kinds of metal?”

“…Ah?”

Jiang Ci was stunned.

He hadn’t quite grasped what was happening when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw one of the elderly teachers cautiously approaching with a piece of mecha core metal, trying to feed it to Nora.

Nora tilted her head and her sharp vertical pupils were fixed on the teacher’s hand. After a quick sniff, she hesitated for a moment before leaning in to grab it with her mouth, swallowing it whole.

The teacher seemed to have gotten quite used to this and even reached out to pat the little girl on the head. Maybe as a gesture of thanks for the snack, Nora didn’t resist but allowed a quick pat before pulling away.

Jiang Ci: “…?”

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Were his teachers… feeding a Zerg???

Perhaps Jiang Ci was too preoccupied with the shocking revelations about Zhou Jiuya and Ye Shu, so much so that he hadn’t noticed that his teachers had already grown accustomed to feeding Nora.

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Afraid?

Deputy Dean Zheng pondered for a moment, then nodded.

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However, after they arrived, they realized that reality was quite different from their expectations.

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So, those who survived and had direct encounters with the Zergs were primarily the vanguard troops of the Dawn Legion. Only the top mecha pilots like Zhou Jiuya had come into contact with high-level Zergs.

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For the vast majority of people, the only image of the Zergs they had was what they learned from history books—terrifying, bloodthirsty monsters, the invaders responsible for Earth’s destruction.

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And they will not actively attack humans.

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So, after the first brave soul managed to feed her without getting attacked—and even got to pat her head—a small feeding frenzy ensued, with more and more teachers joining in.

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“Aren’t your legs numb squatting like that? Here, take this little stool.”

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“She’s so tiny. Was she bullied by those larger Zergs out there, which is why she ended up hiding here?”

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The more Jiang Ci listened, the more he felt an urge to hold his forehead in exasperation.

“Um, Professor, she wasn’t bullied… she’s actually quite powerful.”

—The kind of powerful that can crush a person’s skull with one hand.

But Jiang Ci wisely swallowed the latter half of his sentence.

Oh well, it’s probably better this way.

There was no training session scheduled for that evening since Huo Xianfeng seemed to have something else to attend to, though he didn’t elaborate.

By 10 PM, the separation process for Xiao X was completed, though it still required a reboot. Over the past few days, Nora had been sleeping near the Forbidden Abyss, but since Jiang Ci took Xiao X away tonight, she followed him back.

Several of the elderly teachers saw them off, earnestly reminding him,

“Be careful on your way back, alright?”

“Got it, Professor. I’ll be heading off now.”

Feeling a bit soft-hearted, Jiang Ci sincerely bid farewell to each of his teachers. Just as he was about to leave, he heard one of them call out,

“Oh, Xiao Jiang, remember to bring little Nora back tomorrow, alright?”

At that moment, Jiang Ci felt like his family had just welcomed a second child.

“…Understood, Professor.”

Twenty minutes later —

Jiang Ci walked into the warship’s quarters.  This time, the automatic lights didn’t turn on, but the room wasn’t completely dark either. Ever since the Zergs filled the night sky with glowing fireflies, they had continued to gather every evening, illuminating the ruins below.

Jiang Ci immediately noticed the lazy figure leaning against the window. The young man seemed to have sensed his arrival and turned slightly, his golden vertical pupils glancing over casually in the dim light, cold and mysterious.

The faint glow of the fireflies outside cast a silver edge on Huo Xianfeng’s profile, making him look strikingly handsome.

Jiang Ci was momentarily dazed until he heard the other speak.

“You’re back?”

—The words were unexpectedly homely.

Snapping back to his senses, Jiang Ci took a closer look.
“You’re… what’s with that outfit?”

Huo Xianfeng had changed into clothes Jiang Ci had never seen before—something quite unique.

He was wearing a warm white, cross-collared inner shirt with intricate crimson gold embroidery on the shoulders, overlaid with a black soft armor of a strange material at the chest. Below, he wore garments reminiscent of ancient attire: long panels draped at the sides and back rather than the front, with white pants adorned with red cloud patterns and lotus motifs, flowing down to taper tightly at the ankles.

The outfit looked like a blend of ancient Earth’s Western royal garb and Chinese traditional attire, giving off an air of both elegance and combat-readiness thanks to the black chest armor.

Jiang Ci reached out to touch the fabric of Huo Xianfeng’s sleeve. It felt like silk but even cooler to the touch.
“Huo Xianfeng, this… what are you wearing?”

“Oh, this is Zerg clothing,” Huo Xianfeng replied.

To be precise, it was royal attire.

His tone was casual, yet there was an unmistakable hint of pride.

Finally, Huo Xianfeng didn’t have to keep borrowing his wife’s clothes. The real reason, of course, was that with this Zerg attire, Huo Xianfeng no longer had to constantly keep his tail hidden, avoiding the embarrassing risk of it tearing through his pants.

Jiang Ci was momentarily taken aback but quickly understood. With Huo Xianfeng now commanding a sizeable Zerg army, it wasn’t surprising they had a variety of specialized Zerg to make clothes. After all, high-level Zerg possessed intelligence on par with humans and had their own civilization, so it’s not surprising that they can make clothes.

Jiang Ci nodded,
“Well, it looks… pretty good.”

Though, to him, it was just a tad flamboyant.

Upon receiving the compliment, Huo Xianfeng’s lips curved up slightly.
“Hm, not too bad, right?”

Jiang Ci had a feeling that the hem of Huo Xianfeng’s robes seemed to move slightly. He wasn’t sure, given the dim light, but it turned out it wasn’t a trick of the eye.

In the next moment, he felt something silently wrapping around his waist.

Jiang Ci: “…”

If he wasn’t mistaken, that was definitely Huo Xianfeng’s tail. Ever since the morning Huo Xianfeng first showed him the tail, he had hidden it away like a treasure, not letting anyone catch even a glimpse.

Jiang Ci reached out to grab the tip of the tail, tightening his grip slightly, his tone cold.
“Oh, so you’ve finally decided to let your precious tail come out of hiding?”