Blurb:
In the year 1688 of the Interstellar Era, the Federation was ambushed by a new civilization and species, the Zerg. This marked the first year of the war. The following month, the Zerg and the Federation erupted into all-out war, with clashes large and small breaking out constantly. In less than half a year, the Zerg were on the verge of defeat.
① Victorious human crown prince x defeated Zerg prince offered up as a bedmate
[Albert x Dikes]
The Zerg defeat was inevitable, and the two sides agreed to a ceasefire. His Highness Prince Albert, an alpha crown prince, arrived among the Zerg with his personal guards to discuss peace terms.
The old Zerg emperor was all bluster and no backbone, selfish and incompetent. He swiftly offered up his eldest son, Dikes, in hopes of securing peace.
Dikes became a casualty of war, a scapegoat, and the perfect sacrifice. He should have been executed by an outraged mob as soon as the war was lost, but his female father surrendered command of the First Legion and voluntarily entered the temple to repent, saving Dikes's life.
Amid boundless grief, the gentle and loyal Zerg did not wail or beg for mercy. He only waited solemnly for fate's cruel blade.
This arrangement might be called a political marriage, but in truth Dikes would be a slave, a servant, and a hostage. He considered himself dull and boring, and feared he would be just as unappealing in bed, earning nothing but beatings and abuse from the humans, doomed to a life in darkness.
It was said that the human crown prince had a famously mild temper, but marriage was no small matter. Who could stand staring at a dead-fish face day and night? No one thought Dikes would be treated kindly, much less win favor or affection.
Yet, to everyone's surprise, Albert was pleased the moment he met Dikes. The Zerg wore fine silk and military decorations, but when he lowered his eyes, he looked like a shriveled, dried-up honeyfruit, never having known what it meant to be watered and made whole.
Still, Albert thought, even the most steadfast Zerg would bloom into something soft if ripened by love.
So Albert told him, “Stay by my side.”
② Antisocial, sadistic second prince x stunning imperial empress hardened by suffering
[Ajili x Yilisolan]
Everyone knew that the king and queen had two sons. One was a paragon of virtue, praised by all, while the other was a devil child who committed every manner of evil. Yes, they were talking about the notorious Prince Ajili.
Ajili had amassed quite a record from childhood onward. At eight, he drove away thirteen tutors, until no one dared teach him. A little older, he sneaked into a parliamentary official's home and blew up the toilet with firecrackers, splattering the official with shit...
There was no end to such misdeeds. Ajili had been unruly as a child, and as an adult he was even more volatile and eccentric, extreme in his moods. When handling serious business, he took unconventional routes and delighted in bloodshed, leaving representatives from every state furious but afraid to speak up.
To Ajili, there were only fun things and boring things. He had neither principles nor any sense of morality.
The moment he saw Yilisolan, the Zerg emperor's consort, he was captivated. Yilisolan had a notorious reputation, but Ajili saw only the Zerg's beauty and wanted to toy with him.
Though over forty, Yilisolan had lost none of his allure. The wrinkles at the corners of his eyes could not hide how kindly time had treated him. He was cold to the extreme, yet a hint of scorching beauty escaped the corners of his eyes. He had none of a youth's fresh loveliness, only the deep, rich beauty of someone weathered by years, like a flower that blooms splendidly only to wither, beautiful and poisonous.
Even if he was poisonous, why should that old emperor get to keep him to himself? It was Ajili's turn to have a taste.
So Ajili cunningly laid a trap. Yilisolan had nowhere to go and no way to retreat. He could only submit of his own accord, biting his lip in endurance as he shed the last layer of dignity he had left.
Who could have known that beneath it, he was covered in wounds, without a single patch of unblemished skin?
③ Jealous without realizing it, cold-faced cool guy x virtuous traditional mute wife raising a child
[Liyue x Xier]
Back when humans and the Zerg first fought, their pheromones ran rampant on the battlefield, and Liyue and Xier fell onto a deserted planet, spending several absurd nights together.
Afterward, the violated Zerg wore nothing but a wrinkled shirt. With difficulty, he wrote on the ground that his name was Xier and he had a child. His husband was a gambling addict, and the child was constantly bullied. His only hope was to make it back alive and protect the child. He had no intention of making an enemy of Liyue.
A fleeting affair, a gentle wife, words spoken with certainty and heartfelt sincerity. Liyue felt a rare pang of sympathy and treated him with considerable care.
Who could have expected that the Zerg army would land with pinpoint accuracy afterward, and Liyue would be captured in no time? The one in charge of interrogating him was none other than Xier, who had dropped his false, tender facade. Only then did Liyue realize he had been deceived.
Back then, the Zerg in the interrogation room often gossiped that General Xier was incredibly lucky. He had married an honest, ordinary human male, had a young Zerg child, and become a good wife and mother. His marriage was loving, his family happy, and everyone envied him.
Liyue could only sneer when he heard that.
Even now, the resentment had not faded. Liyue took advantage of Xier's vulnerability, using his power to bully the married Zerg and sneaking a taste whenever he got the chance.
Meanwhile, Xier's husband had incurred a colossal debt, taken out a loan of ten million under Xier's identity, and fled. Xier was drowning in debt and had nowhere left to turn.
One night, in a torrential downpour, Xier arrived at Liyue's door, soaked through and carrying his child. The young Zerg's face was burning with fever, but Xier held him tightly and sheltered him so completely that not a drop of rain had touched him.
Xier looked grief-stricken and gaunt. His clothes were nearly transparent, and he repeatedly begged Liyue through a speech device that crackled after getting wet, “Please, save him. I'll do anything.”
④ Flexible undercover agent terrified of Zerg x dark-skinned rebel thug leader
[Luwei x Huolunsi]
A retired undercover agent forced to return to his old profession. It was enough to make anyone who heard about it weep and anyone who saw him feel sorry for him.
Poor Luwei had gone through hell to infiltrate the Zerg rebels, only to suffer workplace bullying and be targeted by his coworkers. After going hungry for days, he mistook the leader's suppressants for a delicious nutritional drink and downed them in one gulp. He ended up with food poisoning so bad he was delirious.
It proved that what goes around comes around.
That very night, a dark-skinned, voluptuous hunk showed up at Luwei's door and kept him busy until the deed was done. Then Luwei accidentally saw the leader's gigantic insect form. His terror was no less than Xu Xian's upon seeing the White Snake's true form. He let out a strangled gasp and fainted on the spot.
The next morning, the first thing he saw was the leader's tattooed back. One look at those bulging biceps, each capable of taking on ten of him, and Luwei made up his mind. He clung to the man's swaying tail and resolutely chose the path of living off him.
His dreams were grand, but reality was harsh. Living off someone was a service job. Luwei might have had an excellent attitude, but his nerves were too weak, and he had nightmares every night when he slept beside the leader.
In his bizarre dreams, the leader was sometimes a dark-skinned incubus with a big chest, a slender waist, and a round ass, wild and outrageously sexy. Other times, he was a terrifying insect creature with eerie green compound eyes, bristling with menace. The leader was both his wet dream and his nightmare, and Luwei kept switching between getting hard and going limp with fear.
Huolunsi narrowed his eyes dangerously. “Are you afraid of me?”
Afraid, afraid, afraid to death! Luwei was so startled that he couldn't bring himself to nod. He could only grit his teeth and work harder in bed, determined to prove the unique and irreplaceable value of his labor.
⑤ Handsome, wealthy young heir x love-starved, volatile poor student
[Dirang x Diesi]
At the First Joint Human-Zerg University, Dirang received a blackmail letter containing photos of his biological younger brother committing acts of campus bullying.
That useless little brother had always been spoiled rotten by their family and loved stirring up trouble. If he were caught, Dirang wouldn't care if he got shot, but the election for star governor was just around the corner. At such a critical moment, he absolutely could not let his brother bring shame on the family.
Dirang had no choice but to hold his nose and go to the agreed meeting place. It wasn't far, just an abandoned garbage shed behind the school.
Inside the shed was a Zerg with ugly red blotches and a bony, emaciated frame. Beneath all the bandages, who knew how badly disfigured he was? The only thing abundant about him was his pair of pink eyes, which turned feverishly alluring when he saw Dirang.
This malnourished blackmailer was named Diesi, nicknamed “Ugly.” He was often bullied by a group led by Dirang's younger brother, until he could no longer stay at school. Unable to afford rent, he had no choice but to live in the garbage shed.
Dirang asked what he wanted and what compensation he expected, promising he would do what he could.
But Diesi did not ask for money. Instead, he said, “I want you to come here and stay with me every Saturday night.”
Born with a silver spoon in his mouth, Dirang had never stayed in a hotel that cost less than five thousand a night. Now he was expected to sleep in a garbage shed once a week, and he suspected the Zerg was deliberately making his life miserable.
Yet this garbage shed, which Dirang despised, was Diesi's only refuge. Diesi spent every day there, like a sewer rat, flying toward the flame without a care, determined to drag the favored son of heaven down to debauch himself with him.
That was Diesi's vicious love and revenge.
⑥ Tsundere, overpowered hero x beautiful, scheming, lovestruck Zerg
[Adiluo x Lanhe]
As the second-generation crown prince in peacetime, Adiluo had more admirers than fish in a river, but not one of them dared approach him.
That was because Adiluo had an incredibly powerful Zerg crown prince as his fiance: Lanhe, a beauty with a venomous heart, meticulous and masterful, with an overwhelming possessiveness.
It was said that when they were little, Adiluo had seen how pretty Lanhe was and refused to leave his side. He had cried and begged, making such a scene that everything descended into chaos and the situation became nearly impossible to control. Albert and Dikes were at their wits' end, and could only arrange a betrothal for them.
Adiluo, all grown up, was silent. Adiluo was speechless. Adiluo had absolutely no memory of any of it.
Who could remember something that happened when they were so little? Besides, it had been fifteen years!
For all fifteen years, Lanhe had monopolized the seats of Adiluo's deskmate and roommate. Most importantly, though Lanhe looked cool and glamorous, he was extremely perverted in private.
Adiluo had to guard against fire, theft, and his roommate. He checked his cup for anything suspicious before drinking, watched out for someone stealing his underwear after he washed it, and felt around his bed several times before getting in to make sure no one was hiding there.
Who the hell could put up with that?
No matter how beautiful Lanhe was, he was still a man-eating flower. Adiluo knew he was not worthy of him and wished Lanhe would stay as far away as possible.
That was, until Lanhe went into heat and unwittingly began to give off an enticing lotus fragrance. A bunch of toads gathered around him, drooling and dreaming of eating swan's flesh.
Adiluo: “All you toads, drop dead!”
Reader Advisory
1. This is a fictional setting unrelated to reality. Please do not draw parallels to real life. Thank you to all the lovely readers who support the official edition. The official edition is available only on Jinjiang. All pirated copies constitute copyright infringement. To protect the rights of official readers and my own, Qiuqiu will pursue legal action and compensation for piracy and the distribution of pirated works.
2. To be clear, who dotes on whom depends on the characters. There's no need to overthink it. If our tastes differ, don't force yourself to read. This novel is not suitable for readers with extreme character preferences.
3. The love interests in the second and third arcs are not virgins. They're already married and have children, after all.
4. There are many original worldbuilding details. The protagonists' values do not represent the author's, and their morals do not represent the author's. Writing and reading are just for fun. If you find anything uncomfortable, please swipe left and leave. Personal attacks against Qiuqiu in the comments are forbidden.
5. There are quite a few supporting couples.
6. The approximate balance of angst and sweetness in this novel is: sweet, sour, then sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet. To thank everyone for your support, there will be no anti-piracy chapter lock during serialization. Feel free to read whichever arcs you like. Qiuqiu's future episodic novels will follow the same approach.
Core theme: Love is a choice
Two tired hearts clinging to each other
Wuwuwu, it's right, it's the right thing for you to be together [crying] Happy Autumn and Mid-Autumn Festival!
Oops, I don't have a car, okay, I'm looking forward to the next chapter [Prick-eared Rabbit Head] [Yellow Heart] [Yellow Heart] [Pink Heart]
Take good care of yourself and have a good rest [biting handkerchief]
The author has a good rest. Don't be careless about your eyes. We will wait here for you to come back [shy][shy]
Happy Mid-Autumn Festival, pay attention to your health, and get well soon [kiss] [kiss] [kiss] [kiss]