Insectoids: The Job of the Males

Chapter 9

A Poor Life

Translated by boilpoil
Edited by boilpoil

Pointing any firearm at males is illegal. Wei Zhuo immediately puts his pistol away, “apologies.”

Oh bugger. He’s in big trouble. He can see this dirty male is who Jin Yue just kidnapped.

He thought Jin Yue was always extremely cautious. Why would he have let him… No, wait. That’s not the problem. He just pointed at this male’s head with a gun.

Even if he is living on a landfill planet, he’s still a male. He would also know about the rights and protections males enjoy. Or rather, he’d imagine young males trapped on landfill planet by circumstances would especially envy the males who grow up with all the world’s desires on developed planets.

What awaits Wei Zhuo would not be good. Discharge would be lucky, exile would not. Wei Zhuo’s expression darkens, but even so, he can never do something as dishonourable as killing this male here on the landfill planet and falsely accusing Jin Yue of doing it for his own future.

Males are too important for insectoid society, especially one who has never enjoyed its protection and grew up on a landfill planet. He feels much more pitiable than those who have always grew up in luxury.

Cheng Zhaoci, seeing Wei Zhuo stand down, is able to sigh in relief. His adrenaline fading, the pain from the fall hits right back at him. He hisses.

The hiss almost sends Wei Zhuo into panic. Oh, goodie. He’s wounded. Even if he isn’t directly responsible for the minor male insectoid’s injuries, but the fact that he threatened the male after he was injured… He should probably be looking up what luggage are allowed to be carried in exile.

Seeing the military guy in front of him look more and more displeased, Cheng Zhaoci quickly says, “it, it’s fine. Uh, please…” He trails off seeing the shemale insectoid widen his eyes, looking at him blankly.

Aw, man, he really is handsome, even more so than his own dad. One eye is amber, the other is black; it seems out of focus now that he thinks about it, and there’s also a scar from his brow all the way to below his black eye. Because the shemale is handsome with chiselled features, the scar didn’t ruin his look, but in fact adds a tinge of unruliness to him.

His stare is, well, if Cheng Zhaoci has to describe it, he looks like a wolf finding his mate to actually be a husky in disguise. He’s the one personifying the phrase ‘beggars belief.’

Wei Zhuo really is in shock. How ever well-behaved a male is, he would never expect to hear ‘it’s fine’ after a gun was pointed at their head by a shemale. And what did the little male say?! ‘Please’?! Such respectful language directed at an unfamiliar shemale is… like, the annual most unbelievable story of the insectoids.

Wei Zhuo remains frozen for a moment, then Wei Zhuo becomes enraged. Jin Yue! That bastard! He’s done something to this young male insectoid! His brain has become weird! Even if Jin Yue was caught and executed now would be letting him off too lightly!

“Do not worry, for we have the best treatment pods on our vessel. We will be able to heal you,” ‘your brain,’ actually, but Wei Zhuo, to save the little male’s face, did not speak of the last part of that.

Cheng Zhaoci is all stunned. He has scratches, sure, but ‘treatment pods’?! Not even hospitals on this landfill planet would have those! But Cheng Zhaoci’s own dad has told him, that they’re expensive equipment reserved for military use at high ranks only.

So he shakes his head, “no no no, it’s fine! I just had a bad fall and scratched myself, here on the arm. It’s fine! Really! I don’t need the pod…”

Was he really not bonked on the head? Wei Zhuo, suspicious, circles Cheng Zhaoci to observe, and notes that he really appears to be lucid. Then he starts questioning life once more.

Is this male really behaving normally? This is utterly beyond the wildest dream of any insectoid ever. What kind of sad, unfortunate days must this little male have spent on Zhousuo to end up like this?

Regardless of their mental state, aren’t males the ones who throw a tantrum about having to lie down in treatment pods for having a one millimetre, tiny scratch that’s already healed?

Wei Zhuo can certainly treat such highfalutin males with a normal business attitude and a cold face. This young male insectoid, though, who has humbled himself so far below standard, makes Wei Zhuo simply loathe himself for being unable to show a harmless, gentle smile; he knows he looks increasingly cold when nervous, too, with a poker face.

The little male is still covered in dirt, standing all awkwardly and thin in front of him.

Cheng Zhaoci is wondering whether he said anything wrong since the shemale soldier appears really, really displeased.

He’s probably here to arrest that guy with golden hair, true. He has never seen this decorated style of military garments before, and the kidnapper admitted the military was after him. He knows he is simply his hostage, especially now that he hasn’t his marks, so he is back to his original appearance…

No, wait! Could this shemale have realised the Federation did not have such a male on roster, and realises they’ve been deceived? Can the military check stuff like that?

“Mister, if I may,” Wei Zhuo says, as he takes off his coat to put it on Cheng Zhaoci. Before he realises, Cheng Zhaoci is already being princess-carried by him, “you’re a valuable male insectoid. I am responsible for your safety.”

Zhousuo isn’t that cold right now, and Cheng Zhaoci’s clothes are simply dirty but not ragged. He did this solely to avoid Cheng Zhaoci having to touch him physically, since Cheng Zhaoci is male, and males generally do not like being handled by more imposing-looking shemales.

Dislike handling? Of course not. Cheng Zhaoci, seeing Wei Zhuo’s face and how similar it looks like his comic protagonist, almost feels like it’s his character coming to life to rescue him.

Cheng Zhaoci is the type of artist to really dedicate himself on his characters and love them as his own; naturally, the characters on the protagonists’ sides would be drawn to Cheng Zhaoci’s liking. In other words, this shemale soldier is 100% in his strike zone.

But Cheng Zhaoci quickly snaps out of his trance, and says, “wait! Let me down, I’m not a male! The kidnapper injected me with something that hid my insectoid marks away!”

He mustn’t expose his male identity! It’s life or death!

“You mean that, after you have injections that created a fake layer of insectoid marks, he has injected in you what hid those marks?” Wei Zhuo seems very concerned, “I will immediately arrange for a diagnosis. We do not know if the two injections may cause any ill effects together.”

“Wait! I said, I’m not a male!”

“You do not need to hide your identity. No one will dare to lay their hands on males. The Federation will protect you.”