Insectoids: The Job of the Males

Sun Wushe observes the young male closely. He has dark hair and eyes, and only his skin is white. He has thin and long eyelashes. How pretty… He’ll probably have a high rating at the aptitude test, too.

Where did such a mutated male come from?

Sun Wushe heard from Jin Yue that he met him on a landfill planet called Zhousuo. Sun Wushe has never been on landfill planets, because there is nothing of value there, from the planet itself to the insectoids living on it, in his eyes.

He himself has not heard of any males living there. Cheng Zhaoci is the only one he’s seen.

Would males grow up to be like him there? Sun Wushe is doubtful. Lacking material affluence, males, who are always pompous and bossy, will simply compensate by seeking a sense of superiority mentally; affording them the same luxury as other males later in life only exacerbates their personality defects.

Sun Wushe isn’t speaking from delusion, either. Most males who have relocated from less well-off areas are often documented with this shift in behaviour.

This amusement park built for ‘insectoid kids’ feature none of the familiar amusement park rides Cheng Zhaoci thought he was going to see. No ferris wheels, rollercoasters, merry-go-rounds, not even haunted houses.

Instead, Cheng Zhaoci watches a group of shemale kids, perhaps 6 to 7 years of age at most, take a seat on something akin to a drop tower. After they are secured, it spins while rising.

Or rather, ‘zooming’ upwards. It went in a zip. Cheng Zhaoci seriously believes he will puke if he tried that.

And given the speed, he’ll probably be able to create a helical 3D art made of puke following the machine spinning before gravity did its work. It’s literally out of this world.

The shemale children’s screams make Cheng Zhaoci take a step back, knowing his own limits, “let’s just go to a movie instead. Movies are nice.”

“You don’t like this?” Sun Wushe seems surprised, “since you liked virtual mecha fights, I thought this would be your thing.”

“No, I’m just a meek and helpless male,” Cheng Zhaoci shuts his eyes. He’d also wish he could toughen up and just breeze through all the facilities here without a flinch, and then leave behind a ‘was that it’ face of dismissive boredom in the eyes of countless surprised shemales.

But before these gargantuan facilities, even trying to say he’s not scared would be an undertaking. Cheng Zhaoci can feel his legs growing weak, too. Never mind all this. Enough.

Even terrifying rollercoasters feel that much more enjoyable in front of these things. Even ‘extreme sports’ can’t describe being here, but more like, ‘assisted suicide.’

Sun Wushe still seems to be confused, just staring at him, so Cheng Zhaoci quietly mutters, “I would rather not end up on breaking news,” ‘Male Insectoid Passes Out In Children’s Amusement Park’ will be quite embarrassing indeed.

Cheng Zhaoci would even rather go back home to draw, but he’s agreed to hang out. He doesn’t want Sun Wushe to think it was his problem for suggesting the amusement park or overthink anything.

They picked a romance movie, a rarity among insectoid society. Cheng Zhaoci tried watching one before, but he felt bored after the opening already.

The cinemas here in this society already features full immersion and a complete sensory experience. They can even feel the warmth of the sun and smell the flower in the air, or even the fragrance coming off the food the protagonists are eating.

Although Cheng Zhaoci finds himself confused midway through, that the protagonist is still fighting in some war in this romance movie.

These cinemas also allow customers to choose single viewing theatres if they want to, so insectoids don’t have to share the space with each other. Of course, he picked a two-insectoid room for the two of them.

“Why is the protagonist still fighting in the war?” Cheng Zhaoci decides to ask the question, “I thought this was a romance movie. Why is the protagonist still fighting and climbing the ranks past the halfway point? Where is the other lead?”

Sun Wushe is failing to understand Cheng Zhaoci’s confusion once more, “didn’t you see him already?”

“Huh? Where?” Cheng Zhaoci thinks about it, but can’t recall.”

“About the 30-minute mark, the male smiling holding the ice cream,” Cheng Zhaoci furrows his brows, “have you never seen romance movies?”

Oh hells! Cheng Zhaoci remembers him! Not because that male actor did anything weird, but because the camera gave him a close-up for a whole 6 seconds while nothing else happened. Cheng Zhaoci thought it was some new actor trying to get exposure or something with bribes.

He was the lead?! Cheng Zhaoci is astonished, “wait, how do they even fall in love, then?!”

Sun Wushe appears bewildered by the question once more, “Love? Isn’t that what happens when the two of them are together?”

“Huh?!”

Wait, so does he mean…

“You mean, after marrying, they spend time together, and then fall in love?”

Sun Wushe asks, “isn’t love what happens after they marry and have an egg?”

Wait what?!

There’s definitely something wrong with the order of things here!

“Shouldn’t they first date and then marry, and any eggs would be the culmination of that love?”

A culmination of love? What an odd thing to say. Sun Wushe would disagree. Insectoids marry because of biological need, and have eggs to proliferate as a species. He thinks it’s simply delusional to have to apply a filter of ‘love’ to these actions.

Both of them have realised a clash of values right now, but they do not argue, and finish the movie first.

Boring movies make insectoids sleepy, but this is not one of them, because it is shattering Cheng Zhaoci’s worldview with alarming frequency. What kind of romance movie has the protagonist working hard just to become a shemale concubine of that male he’s never met?! And in the end, he is pregnant with an egg.

Finally, in conclusion, this shemale will now live happily ever after. The end.

What in the fucking fuck?!

Cheng Zhaoci is in full-on criticism mode on the way back, “I should’ve picked an action movie,” although the action movies in insectoid society are basically just war reenactment that watches more like documentaries than anything, and the details of war are slightly gory and hardcore, but it’s at least something that gets blood boiling and minds excited!

“You didn’t like the movie?” Sun Wushe asks.

“Let’s put it this way. While I cannot say for the shemale whether he is happy or not, but…” Cheng Zhaoci continues after a bit of thought, “but that was not love.”

“Of course, I might just be too much of an idealist,” Cheng Zhaoci is not one to make light of others’ actions and beliefs, even though he believes the movie is a massive pile of dog turd.

“The love, in my mind, is that… If you’re in love, you would look at him, and realise that nothing else could ever be more important than him. You feel like your heart beats only for them. Even if he only has a mundane appearance, you can pick him out in a crowd as if he carries a glow all by himself. You cannot take your eyes off of him.
You feel an urge. An urge to share your short, insignificant life with him, with this other insectoid. At the very end of your lives, you wish that your name and theirs would be entwined on the same gravestone forever, to prove to all passers-by, that you lived, you lived a life inseparable from him,” Cheng Zhaoci continues with a clear, crisp voice, “and it is not simply because he is a male insectoid.”

Sun Wushe is walking beside Cheng Zhaoci, watching him.

There is one moment when Sun Wushe has an urge to ask, “just like me?” But he stops himself at the last second. He knows it is impossible.

Cheng Zhaoci is correct. It is hopelessly idealistic.

And Sun Wushe is sure he does not love this young male. These are all chain chemical reactions triggered by curiosity. As soon as he can adapt, all will be well.