Chapter 21
Worried that Shi Qing was still afraid, Yin Mingzheng coddled and placated the youth in his arms. His careful and tender gestures were totally different from his outward persona as the distant and harsh G.o.d of war.
This scene made the already envious Zhao Miaomiao hate Shi Qing with all of her heart.
She wanted to shake Yin Mingzheng by his shoulders and scream: Are both of your eyes blind or something?!!
How was he weak!! Ten minutes ago, this ruffian called Shi Qing scared a group of Insects to the point of collapse!!
How could he be afraid?! How was that possible from any perspective?!!
Zhao Miaomiao didn’t even try to voice her grievances. Yin Mingzheng was already beyond saving.
Serves her right for believing that the reason Yin Mingzheng didn’t fall for her seductions before was because he had seen right through her act.
She was completely overthinking it. Yin Mingzheng was just a big fool!
The alien was lying through his teeth, and this guy was calling for an encore!
Furthermore, the Insects who were supposed to be her allies and acted all c.o.c.ky beforehand were now curled up in pitiful positions.
Earlier, Zhao Miaomiao had thoughts about taking advantage of the distraction created by the struggles of the Insects to escape.
Turns out all of them were content to just stay put like sitting ducks.
One by one, they laid on the ground facedown in order to be as inconspicuous as possible. The Insects were also trying their hardest to overcome the language barrier and deflect all the blame onto Zhao Miaomiao.
“This woman has. An evil and vicious mind. We Insects are faithful and……righteous! Believe us, my lord. We were really just. Pa.s.sing by.”
“Yes! yes! Just pa.s.sing, pa.s.sing by!”
A group of Insects echoed his words. They were practically grovelling.
Due to such a pitiful plea, Shi Qing finally raised his head from against the man’s chest. Maybe he was really scared before. The corners of his eyes were even a little red. He looked absolutely pitiful, especially when combined with his beautiful and soft face and his white fingers that were cautiously curled up.
After a look at the Insects, the young man leaned back into Yin Mingzheng’s arms and quietly asked: “Are these the Insects who want to invade Earth?”
The hero of humanity tightened his grip and stared coldly at the Insects: “Yes.”
Shi Qing fiddled with Yin Mingzheng’s coat.
“How could there be such a vicious race in the universe who would invade other planets for no good reason?”
The face of several Insects on the ground immediately became strange.
What did they just hear?
Did the Mechanical race that destroyed entire planets worth of intelligent lifeforms for fun just describe them as vicious??
My lord, aren’t you the pot calling the kettle black?!!
Yin Mingzheng didn’t pick up on the expression of these Insects. He immediately recalled that Shi Qing had been adrift in the s.p.a.ceship for tens of thousands of years before he arrived on Earth.
Even though he was protected by androids, someone as innocent and weak as Shi Qing could do very little if invaders like the Insects targeted him.
Sharp waves of pain stabbed him in the heart whenever he thought about the very real possibility of the youth disappearing silently from the universe at the hands of terrible invaders before the two of them had ever met.
“Don’t be afraid.”
He lightly kissed the soft hair of the youth. He lowered his voice to sooth him: “We will drive them off Earth.”
The Insect on the ground that still had a weirded out expression was ecstatic when he heard this. He quickly raised his head and said, “No need for you. To intervene. We will leave. Immediately!”
“Yes! Yes! We, we, will leave ourselves!”
“We’ll leave. At once. Without even. A second of delay!”
The Mechanical race was present on Earth. Only those that had lost their minds would stay here.
Yin Mingzheng looked at the Insects with furrowed eyebrows. He wasn’t sure if they were sincere or just going back to get reinforcements.
Seeing his hesitation, the leader of the Insects gnawed his teeth and crawled over to the man’s feet while begging him in tears: “My lord. Please spare us. Our tribe just came here. Three days ago. The bad things from before. Were all done by the……Big Eye Tribe. I’m only five thousand and. Six years and twenty-three days old. I’m still young. And foolish! Please, please forgive us!”
It was a real ch.o.r.e to listen to these Insects speak. But the meaning of their words came across clear enough.
It was the first time that Yin Mingzheng learned the Insects were not all one faction.
According to this Insect’s stilted explanation, their race launched the first group of invaders after they decided to occupy Earth. If everything had proceeded smoothly, the second group and the third group would slowly trail behind.
However, due to the presence of a powerful ability user like Yin Mingzheng, the Insect race has been unable to take over Earth even now. Therefore, more and more waves were sent to try to overwhelm the giant obstacle that was Yin Mingzheng.
This weeping Insect was from the Multi-Leg tribe that was sent over three days ago.
According to his words, he was just over five thousand years old. Young and ignorant, this was his first time on the battlefield and he was hungry to prove himself.
Alas, he happened to hit the motherload during his first task.
The one he was pleading to was, of course, not Yin Mingzheng but the youth being held by him instead.
The hero of humanity had no way of knowing this. He could only listen to the Insects while protecting the young man in his arms. He was wary of the strong-looking Insect kneeling before him.
To be truthful, it was almost traumatizing to watch as a two meter tall Insect with a ferocious face and a thick neck cry that he was still a child.
Yin Mingzheng glared at the weeping Insect with disgust and said: “Shut up.”
The Insect hiccupped. It stopped talking out of fear.
Shi Qing shrank into the man’s arms then.
The hero of humanity felt his action and glanced at his tender and delicate 10,000 year old baby. His heart was filled with gentleness.
This was what a child should look like.
While he looked at Shi Qing tenderly, Zhao Miaomiao turned on her phone.
She acted according to the original plan. Opening up the live streaming app, she aimed her camera in Yin Mingzheng’s direction.
The reason why she could set up a broadcast in the desert was all thanks to Le Youyuan.
For his own entertainment, he gathered talents in the base to develop this app.
Even the device supplying the signal that Zhao Miaomiao was using was developed by Le Youyuan’s team. As long as it was inserted on the ground, it could connect to nearby satellites.
–Unrestricted access anytime and anywhere. A universal signal device to solve all your problems.
That was the slogan Le Youyuan personally came up with.
Since she was already planning to ‘expose’ the illicit relationship between Yin Mingzheng and the Insects, Zhao Miaomiao had inserted the device into the ground earlier.
The Internet was as fast as the wind.
Le Youyuan, who was frantically looking all over the base for Shi Qing, suddenly sneezed.
“d.a.m.n it. I’ve always been in good health and I’ve never sneezed before. This must be a sign that little Shi Qing is suffering. He must want me to go save him!”
“Le-ge!”
While he was muttering to himself, his lackey suddenly ran over with his phone: “Look at this!”
“What’s that?”
Le Youyuan took a look at the mobile phone, “A livestream? My darling little Shi Qing has been kidnapped, and you want me to watch a livestream?!”
“No no Le-ge, take a closer look. Shi Qing is in it.”
Le Youyuan was shocked. When he looked carefully, the screen did show Yin Mingzheng holding Shi Qing. There were several ferocious looking Insects in front of them.
“f.u.c.k!! Isn’t that my little Shi Qing?!”
He was frightened into paying attention. He moved closer for a better view.
As he drew near, a shrill and vicious female voice filled with madness started shrieking: “This is the so-called hero you all worship!! Look at the person in his arms! That’s an alien! It’s not a human like us at all! Look at all the aliens in the sky! They’re this guy’s cohorts!!”
“Look into his eyes, look at the Insects kneeling in front of him, and then at the aliens in the sky! When Yin Mingzheng was taken away, he came back with this alien. He has lost the right to be called a hero ever since then! He’s working with the aliens to destroy our base!!”
“Motherf.u.c.ker!”
If he didn’t know it was just a phone, Le Youyuan would’ve punched the screen already.
“Who the f.u.c.k came up with this s.h.i.t!!! How could my darling be an alien!”
He didn’t think any of it was true, but some commenters were less certain.
[Yeah, the person brought back by General Yin does have silver eyes. How can humans have that eye colour?]
[Guys look, the aliens in the sky are also wearing silver clothes.]
[The Insects are so vicious, so how can they stay put so quietly? Maybe what she said is true.]
Of course, many people still didn’t believe it.
[Are you all stupid? What’s wrong with silver eyes? I’ve seen cataracts before!]
[How dare you slander my Adonis. He has shed so much blood and sweat to save humanity, but someone just has to speak ill of him everyday. Where is your conscience?!]
[The Insects aren’t moving because General Yin is there. Who doesn’t know about his prowess?]
“f.u.c.k it all. Some idiots actually believe this s.h.i.t.”
Le Youyuan glared daggers at the ugly-sounding bullet points that scrolled by. He was so incensed that he rolled up his sleeves: “I’m going to call in a few favours to find these idiots and beat them up.”
After all, the satellite phones and signal devices after the apocalypse were all sold by him. Even this live streaming app was under his name. It really wasn’t hard for him to find anyone.
On the desert side, Yin Mingzheng immediately went in for the kill after he noticed the camera pointed at himself, but he was blocked by one of Shi Qing’s slender hands. He remained still afterwards.
Even if Zhao Miaomiao was dragging his name through the mud, the man did not react.
He trusted Shi Qing. He chose to believe in his little prince.
The young man listened until Zhao Miaomiao was finished before nimbly jumping out of the arms of the hero of humanity.
He ignored Zhao Miaomiao’s malicious and vigilant gaze as he headed straight to the camera.
Zhao Miaomiao: “There’s no use in denying it. I heard firsthand from the Insects that you’re not human. You’ve admitted it yourself as well, you’re clearly a……”
“Machine.”
Shi Qing’s soft voice cut through Zhao Miaomiao’s words like b.u.t.ter.
His voice was sweet, charming, and perfectly enunciated: “I am not a human, but a member of the Mechanical race.”
Zhao Miaomiao was shocked before being overcome with joy. She screeched like a lunatic behind the camera: “You guys heard that right? You hear that right?! He admitted it!! He’s not human!!”
Shi Qing, who completely resembled a beautiful human teenager, paid her no mind.
He only slightly raised an eyebrow and continued: “I am a Machine, but I am not an Insect.”
“Earth has never explored the nine major galaxies, so you might not be aware of the different races present in the universe. Let me explain it to you.”
The young man raised his chin slightly. Sunlight illuminated his breathtaking features, giving him an incomparably holy aura. His voice was very clear:
Shi Qing said: “The Mechanical race has always yearned for peace, but we also tend to be reclusive. We would only take our s.p.a.ceship to search for dangerous planets. When those planets were in peril, the Mechanical race would arrive and offer aid.”
“But due to our insular nature, most of the universe knows very little about us. Only a handful of races with inherited memories like the Insects can understand our mission as peacekeepers.”
The Insects behind him recalled the memories they inherited of the Mechanical race indiscriminately slaughtering whoever they came across: “……”
The youth flashed an innocent smile at the camera.
“The Insects have already been subdued. If you don’t believe me, you can ask them yourselves.”
As he said this, he stepped back to reveal the Insects kneeling on the ground behind him.
Out of sight of the camera, the endless sea of androids twisted their robotic eyes in a synchronized motion to stare down the Insects.
The Insects that looked at the sky filled with weapons aimed at them had green juice running down their foreheads. They nodded wildly: “……Yes! What he said is all true!”
“The Mechanical race is a, a……peaceful race!”
After saying that, they almost collapsed bonelessly with relief as the androids slowly withdrew their weapons.
One of the Insects was so stressed that even his legs were sweating green juice.
It was only after getting a satisfactory reply that Shi Qing returned to his spot in front of the camera.
Against the background of several Insects drenched in green juice, he drew a concise conclusion.
“The Mechanical race is the most peaceful race in the universe.”