Human Male Zerg, but Born Bad

[In this lifetime, have you ever knelt before someone else's power?]

In all the insectoid novels, human protagonists with halos over their heads are loved by every insect and adored by the entire insect race.

Few people have ever wondered what would happen to a truly ordinary person who ended up in a world like that.

Tang Juan was just such an ordinary person.

Even after accidentally transmigrating into an insectoid world, he was only a C-rank, ordinary male insect.

When the protagonist was brought back to the Holy Land, he was scavenging in the slums;

When the protagonist enjoyed a dazzling love rivalry, he was held captive by female insects in a criminal gang, forced to have his vital essence drained once a week and used as an pheromone blood bag;

On the day the protagonist rose to S-rank and the entire empire celebrated, he set aside his pride and grovelled before several nobles, wagging his tail and begging for mercy, all just to ask them to spare the cat he had raised.

But the cat still died.

And so did Tang Juan, the simple, foolish human.

Tang Juan didn't want to be bullied anymore.

He began climbing by any means necessary, selling his soul and his body, stepping over one unrecognizable face after another with every step forward.

At last, he stood before the protagonist.

The young protagonist stood in the sunlight, untouched by dust, shining as if all the light in the world had fallen upon him.

He looked at Tang Juan with disappointment and said, "Tang Juan, how did you end up like this?"

Tang Juan: "...?"

You should've said you were a saint sooner. When we first transmigrated here together, I should've killed you.

He laughed in anger. Summoning all his strength, he plunged the tip of his knife into the protagonist's heart, even as the female insect protecting the protagonist snapped his neck.

When he opened his eyes again, everything had returned to the day he and the protagonist had first transmigrated to the insectoid world.

The protagonist asked him anxiously, "Tang Juan, do you think we can really survive in this world?"

Tang Juan chuckled.

"Of course we can."

Do you know what the filthiest, most vicious, most twisted creature in this world is?

An owner who abuses his male consort? A brutal, wicked villain?

No, no, no.

It's humans.

Once humans have tasted power, how could they ever turn back?

This time, he'll do even better than he did in his previous life.

He'll climb, step by step, step by step, and take everything he likes and wants into his hands.

[Bonus Scene]

To climb the ladder more easily, Tang Juan decided to seduce someone who could support him for the long term.

He set his sights on a young major general.

He planned carefully, tailored his approach to his target, and proceeded with utmost caution, yet the head of the other man's family still saw through his clumsy, scheming green-tea seduction tactics.

Then the man forcibly claimed him and carried him away in his arms.

Tang Juan: "...?"

Fine, then. I'll seduce you.

I'm neither a flawless moonlight nor a passionate, radiant rose.

I'm a crawling insect in the muck, a rat in the gutter.

I want you to unravel me, thread by thread, through this long game, and glimpse my arrogant, selfish, ugly, irredeemable soul in the land of the dead.

I want you to love me.

Content warnings: The protagonist is the pursuer. In his previous life, he was not a virgin. After being reborn, it's a one-on-one romance, both virgins and each other's first love. The author predicts this time it'll be a rather twisted little pure-love couple, with mutual feelings that are strong and deeply warped.

A human pursuer who seems noble and bright but has been warped by the insectoid world, a bad seed

x

A tyrannical marshal who seems cultured and refined but is secretly in the terminal stages of being unable to stand fools, the one being pursued

[The cover uses a template and was not custom-made. The character on it can be understood as the original protagonist, while the pursuer is the hand manipulating him from behind.]

Theme: Overcome the times by starting with yourself.