After a Country Bumpkin Became the Insectoid World's Favorite

Lu Feiying was a boy who grew up in a remote mountain village, making a living by herding cattle and sheep. He had never gone to school.

Later, when the country launched the "Happiness for the Countryside" initiative, the whole village moved away. Only Lu Feiying stayed behind, refusing to leave because he wanted to observe three years of mourning for his deceased grandfather.

By the time he was eighteen, he could no longer make ends meet, so he chose to leave the village and seek help from the fellow villagers who had settled in the big city.

But as soon as he stepped out of the village, someone knocked him unconscious.

When he woke up again, he was in a seedy entertainment venue. They told him he was a semi-male and made him dress provocatively to serve tea and water to the customers.

O-okay, then. His beloved dog, the only one he had to rely on, was in someone else's hands. Lu Feiying knew he couldn't fight those with power, so he gave in.

But life here was just too hard.

There was never enough to eat or wear, the customers were rough, and worst of all, he had no money.

Lu Feiying had read the admissions information for Imperial University on a customer's little brain terminal.

It cost thirty million points.

He didn't have them, but he wanted to go.

As it happened, he'd heard that a lot of big shots were coming to the venue this time.

Lu Feiying swallowed. These rich people were the dregs of society. Robbing them would count as contributing to society!

C-customer! I'm expensive! One night costs, c-costs thirty thousand points!

Customer: ...

Lu Feiying: QAQ Th-then, fifteen thousand?

The customer raised an eyebrow.

Lu Feiying: QAQ Th-then, could you go a little lower?

The final price was five hundred.

Lu Feiying: Yay!

And so Lu Feiying embarked on a one-way road of swindling and cheating all kinds of beautiful females.

There's a legend in the Empire.

There was once a beautiful semi-male, flirtatious and skilled in his ways, who moved among the powerful figures of business and politics.

The males looked down on him. He was nothing but a low-class thing. Did he really think he was some rare treasure?

Until one day, the Empire declared a Level One emergency.

Only then did the bugs learn that several females had started fighting, and were about to tear the Empire apart.

The reason? A male had gone missing, and they suspected each other of secretly hiding him?!

Among them were the Minister of Administration, the Empire's richest man, the Imperial Marshal, the leader of the space pirates, and, a-and even the Crown Prince?

What kind of male could be so terrifying?!

Meanwhile, Lu Feiying had earned enough money, packed his bags, and was getting ready to enroll: ?

[Pre-release: Please add "After the Pea Male Gong Is Coerced and Won" to your favorites! Blurb below.]

Reader's Guide:

1. This is a fictional setting unrelated to reality. Please don't apply it to the real world!

2. The gong is sweet and innocent, but also a little mean.

3. The descriptions of cities and the countryside in the story are just for fun. The author has absolutely no prejudice.

4. No picking teams. There are split female characters, pairing undecided, and it's 1v1. The characters in the blurb are tentative; the story itself takes precedence.

4. I'm an obsessive proofreader and fix errors constantly. I might even wake up in the middle of the night to fix one. Sorry for any inconvenience (bows and apologizes profusely).

Pre-release blurb for "After the Pea Male Gong Is Coerced and Won":

Overworked employee Yi Xingchen transmigrates into the body of a little imperial male from a small branch of the insect race.

Good news: In insect society, males are precious treasures, doted on by everyone! He can lie flat and live off others for the rest of his life!

Bad news: He's a pea male. He has the physique of a standard male model, but the slightest touch makes him cry uncontrollably.

Worse news: When he turns eighteen, his little clan is invaded by the infamous interstellar Carnedis insect race.

The Carnedis are a bloodthirsty butterfly-type race. They appear elegant and gentlemanly, but every last one of them is a terrorist.

Especially their newly crowned ruler, Anle, the only 3S-level female insect in the universe. He's a cold, merciless killer who unified the six major star systems with an iron fist in just twenty years.

Now this bloodthirsty female insect is standing in front of him, holding a knife to his neck and asking, "%$%+#%$&?"

Yi Xingchen: ...

Oh no. He was so lazy that he never learned the interstellar language, which had been taught for years!

He's doomed!

But that's okay! He knows what to do!

His experience from his previous life tells him that this must be the classic coercion-and-domination scene: Little prince, you don't want your whole clan wiped out because of you, do you?

Yi Xingchen lowers his head in embarrassment and spreads his translucent wings, fluttering them slightly.

Among the insect race, this means that he is willing to accept the other party.

For a moment, the atmosphere falls into an eerie silence.

That night, intermittent sobbing comes from the room. It's Yi Xingchen.

The next morning, Yi Xingchen wakes up and discovers that his pea condition has improved a little.

Yi Xingchen: Tsk...

From then on, the pea male embarks on a one-way road.

---Divider---

Years later, the insect race faces an apocalypse. Anle's useless canary, long celebrated as the Empire's delicate flower, stands up and punches the invading creature to pieces.

The bugs suck in a breath. Weren't you supposed to be a pea male?

Yi Xingchen gives a rueful smile.

It took ten years of painstaking effort to grind that pestle into diamond...

Reader's Guide:

1. This is my personal preference. Please be gentle.

2. I can't think of anything else.

Theme: Pursue what is beautiful