How a Sickly, Shattered Doormat of a Male Zerg Found Redemption

Pain is the numb instinct.

In his eighth year aboard the pirate ship, Jiang Yue had grown used to a life of abuse and pain. With obsidian-black eyes, ink-dark hair falling smoothly around his face, and no expression on his cold, pale features, he would stare blankly at one spot, his gaze empty and lifeless, until

one after another, female Zerg carrying the smell of blood and gunpowder opened his door and came to take from him, again and again.

The nature of the Zerg is bloodthirsty savagery.

The trappings of civilization are merely a means for the rulers to maintain a deformed, imbalanced order. Their tails are sharp from birth, their hands can tear through steel plates, and their bodies are innately powerful.

Their blood is thick with violence, bloodlust, possessiveness, and the smell of gunpowder.

That was why Jiang Yue was always covered in scars and wounds. Blades, insect tails, fangs... The Zerg's inborn savage desires were poured out without restraint on his broken body.

They declared ownership with their nails and teeth, smeared their marks with semen and blood, as if doing so could erase the craving, jealousy, hatred, and love for male Zerg buried in their bones.

"Those stupid military females in the Federation fight tooth and nail for decades and can't even get a whiff of a male Zerg. Here, we can ride him whenever we want, use him however we want."

"That S-class male Zerg those military females can only dream of touching. Look what we've done to him."

Lewd snickers and shouts.

"Those pampered male Zerg in the Federation are so willful and spoiled. Touch them once and they act like they're going to die. But this one? S-class, and he seems impossible to wear out..."

The female Zerg lifted a lock of his hair, sneering as a malicious smile spread across his face, sharp fangs showing. His voice was low and gentle.

"Isn't that right, little Moon?"

The cabin was filled with the female Zerg's ragged breathing and vulgar laughter... because this was a pirate ship without law or order.

Jiang Yue had been the pirates' captive plaything for eight years.

Eight years.

Long enough for a weak life to be born and die.

Long enough, too, to turn the softest little cub into a wreck that no longer even cried out in pain.

Aisidelo had seen captured Zerg, the burn marks left by electric torture, and scenes of flesh and blood strewn across battlefields. He would always coolly and dispassionately calculate how long it took to die and assess the enemy's methods of cruelty.

But every wound on the boy's body mocked the Federation's vaunted Male Zerg Protection Act, as well as his own detached reason, thoughts, and feelings.

Bruises crisscrossing pale skin, flesh split open, a stomach severely atrophied, bones shattered and twisted, bite marks and brands torn open and healed over and over, muteness...

Bruises and wounds that precisely avoided anything fatal, like a meticulously designed slow execution, inch by inch, covering his entire body.

They cut into his reason and emotions like a blunt knife.

He did not look like an S-class male Zerg who should have been cherished by the Federation government. He did not look like a male Zerg his age, worrying about video games and required classes. He did not look like...

...anything but shattered pieces of porcelain.

Aisidelo had always known that the nature of the Zerg was to plunder and act savagely.

Amid smoke and flames, the tall, straight-backed military female bent over, trembling almost reverently, and lifted the boy's frail body into his arms, cradling him as if gathering up moonlight and porcelain shards scattered across the ground.

This time, the female Zerg's warmth and closeness were not for assault or possession, but for a touch and warmth offered with almost painstaking care.

The usually cold and ruthless military female met those empty black eyes. His tall, straight-backed body performed the Empire's highest-standard oath-taking salute.

His gray-blue eyes were somber. His voice was low and hoarse as he swore,

"Aisidelo Castillo will henceforth serve as your guardian and adoptive father, caring for your every need. I will offer you all of my loyalty and affection."

"Your will shall be my mission."

His voice was soft, his eyes calm and intent. The military female, once so cold and fierce, quietly pledged his loyalty.

"Until you have fully recovered and come of age."

...He did not need loyalty.

Aisidelo lowered his gray-blue eyes, gentle and humble. "I know."

"But you have it."

He needed to be set free.

A gloomy, sickly, broken, cold, world-weary young seme × a formerly detached and ruthless, later gentle military general, an adoptive-father shou

1. Beautiful and strong characters, a striking difference in size, a handsome young seme and a tall, broad, blue-collar, motherly shou. A story of redemption.

2. For a time, the shou will act as the seme's guardian and adoptive father in order to care for him. The shou will save the seme.

3. The seme is sickly, deeply traumatized, and keeps his heart closed off. He is in terrible shape at the beginning, in pain every day. He was abused by the pirate female Zerg earlier in the story, but later he will be clean. The seme has never been the bottom. The seme is truly in terrible shape at first, in pain every day, frail and sickly, covered in wounds, bruises, and blood. Warning: this is an angst-heavy story. The beginning is truly brutal. If you can't handle this dark material, don't read it, dear readers TT

4. The seme will gradually heal and be cherished. He will also meet all kinds of Zerg, and an important supporting character will die.

5. Overall, the story's style is gloomy, bittersweet, and painful, shifting from tragic to healing. The shou and seme meet relatively late.

6. Cover by @kkkkk

Theme: Who by the riverside first saw the moon? In what year did the moon first shine upon Jiang Yue?