< Previous | Table of Contents
Qi Zihan finally saw a soldier who looked better than Yu Chenyu, although it was a pity that the soldier was so beautiful he didn’t seem like a man and wasn’t the type that he liked.
He was beautiful, powerful, and had hints of danger lurking underneath, but compared to Yu Chenyu, he didn’t seem as… how to say it. Reliable? Safe? Easy to control?
If Yu Chenyu gave him the feeling of a towering tree that could give shelter from wind and rain, the marshal felt more like a beautiful yet poisonous flower.
Even so, seeing his concern for Yu Chenyu, he didn’t think he was a bad person.
Thus, he asked, “If we’re not sending him to the hospital, can you help me get him home? I can’t carry him.”
“Of course.” Mo Yihai was still kneeling as he said this, as if he was waiting for Qi Zihan to allow him to get up. “I can personally send both of you home, then take a statement there.”
Oh yeah, he almost forgot that he needed to make a statement. Different worlds still had many similarities.
Though Mo Yihai immediately added, “If you feel that it’s too troublesome, you can wait until your male wakes up and leave it to him.”
“I don’t think it’s any trouble.” Qi Zihan really didn’t. Anyway, he’s always been very idle since coming to this world, and hasn’t found a job either.
“Okay, in that case…” Mo Yihai grabbed Yu Chenyu’s arm and swung him onto his back.
Seeing this, the soldiers around them all came to help, soon leaving Mo Yihai empty-handed.
Mo Yihai smiled silently. He didn’t thank them and instead looked directly at Qi Zihan. “Did you come by hovercar?”
“We did.”
“Do you remember where it was parked?”
“Yes, I’ll take you there.”
Qi Zihan walked out the door and led Mo Yihai and the soldiers carrying Yu Chenyu to where the hovercar was parked.
Along the way, Mo Yihai received reports that a female was found in a trance, as if he had been scared silly. He sent people to take the female to a hospital, and mentioned that they should do a drug test just in case.
“Why did they target me?” Qi Zihan asked, then speculated, “Just because I’m Yu Chenyu’s female?”
He couldn’t think of any other reason. After all, he arrived in this world abruptly and held no grudges against anyone.
Mo Yihai hesitated for a moment. “It is indeed related to him, however…” He was halfway through his words when he suddenly thought of something and asked in return, “Have you seen the news?”
“What news?” Qi Zihan had been too busy searching for a job on his terminal.
Realisation flashed across Mo Yihai’s face. He knew how to answer now — don’t try to guess what the female was thinking, just say what he needed to say.
“Yu Chenyu is one of the empire’s five generals. Because he is good-looking and strong, he has always attracted a lot of attention, so news about him always spreads quickly, including when he applied for retirement and marriage,” he explained. “You soothed him recently, yes? It was very effective and even directly restored his psyche. Not only did the military publish his physical examination report, the news also reported on it, causing everyone to celebrate his return and also praise your role in it.
“That is to say, although no one knows who you are or anything else about you, they all know that Yu Chenyu’s wife has a very strong soothing ability.”
This was enough for Qi Zihan to guess the truth of the matter. “Those males want to kidnap me to force me to soothe them?”
“I cannot conclude anything before the interrogation, but given our current knowledge, that is the most likely scenario,” Mo Yihai replied seriously.
“But soothing is…” he trailed off as he recalled the process of soothing Yu Chenyu. He wondered how those males would force him to soothe them after kidnapping him. He may well kill them in their inner world! “How can they dare to let me soothe them?”
Mo Yihai couldn’t help raising his eyebrows. Yu Chenyu’s wife seemed to know that a female’s spiritual power could both save and damn.
Spiritual inducers may cause females to panic and females needed a relaxed mind to provide the best soothing, so he chose to conceal its possible presence in this case. “Who knows? Maybe they were losing control too fast and became desperate,” he said casually.
“Oh.” Qi Zihan didn’t think more of it.
When they reached the hovercar, Mo Yihai took the key from Yu Chenyu’s pockets and started it.
Since the hovercar was on the smaller side and could hold five passengers at most, most of the soldiers withdrew after strapping in Yu Chenyu, leaving only two — one to drive the hovercar, and the other to look after Yu Chenyu.
No, rather than looking after him, it was more like…
Qi Zihan swept his eyes over Mo Yihai but couldn’t find any problems. If this man were unwell, he was too good at hiding it.
But the soldiers around him had no such skills. They hardly hid the vigilance in their eyes, as if they weren’t looking at the highest authority of the empire but at a monster on the verge of eruption.
That… was the look given to someone about to lose control.
“Do you have a wife, Marshal?” he couldn’t resist asking. Although he wasn’t the type to meddle, he had a conjecture to verify.
“No, not yet,” Mo Yihai replied casually, as if he didn’t think it was something to worry about. Then he asked back, “Do you want to be my wife?”
“Um…” he didn’t know how to answer. If it were the Imperial Marshal… it wasn’t impossible, but it certainly wouldn’t be now. They would at least have to get to know each other first…
However, Mo Yihai spoke again before he could organise his words. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I haven’t submitted a marriage application. Females can choose to marry any male who has submitted a marriage application to them, but males who have not applied are protected by law.”
“I see.” It was the first that Qi Zihan heard of this.
So the males who submitted marriage applications were all willing to become tools of females to survive? And accordingly, some males refused to get married and thus avoided female control?
“You… don’t look very disappointed,” Mo Yihai commented, slightly surprised at Qi Zihan’s reaction. He thought that he would be like many other females and ask why he didn’t want to get married or put himself forward. Yet he only said ‘I see’ and pondered on his own.
Qi Zihan looked up. “Is there a severe imbalance between males and females?”
“Yes. And, if I may add, it has always been like this.”
“Is there a specific number?”
“1:32.” As the Imperial Marshal, Mo Yihai kept a constant eye on this ratio and could recite it easily. “By the way, the birth rate is 1:50.”
“Ah, the one is referring to females?” He had expected the gender balance in this world to be skewed, but he didn’t expect it to be this skewed!
“Well, probably because females are very fertile, so from a genetic standpoint, society doesn’t need many of them,” he explained, “but countless male zergs need mental soothing. One female cannot soothe that many males by themselves.”
As if males were born to be consumables to protect females.
Although zerg society under Mo Yihai did indeed rely on consuming males to support females.
Soldiers were responsible for combat, workers were responsible for working, drones were responsible for pleasing females, and females responsible for soothing males and for reproduction.
This seemingly deformed society actually had a clear division of labour.
Therefore even if Mo Yihai sympathised with the males who were abused by female hands, he wouldn’t change the structure of their society just for that.
He cared for the survival of their species more than the comfort of any individual within.
Thirty years ago, the virulent spread of spiritual inducers almost destroyed their entire tribe due to the females’ collective protest. Such a thing could not be allowed to happen again.
* * *
The hovercar stored their departure flight route and had a self-return function, so the driver didn’t need to ask Qi Zihan for his address to bring him home.
Then Qi Zihan was responsible for leading the way and opening the door while Mo Yihai and the two soldiers carrying Yu Chenyu followed him.
The soldiers, after depositing Yu Chenyu on his bed, immediately retreated from the bedroom and stood guard at the main door.
That was until Qi Zihan gave them a confused look and gestured at the sofa. “You can sit, don’t be so polite.”
“Okay, then please, excuse us,” Mo Yihai said as he took the lead. After the soldiers glanced at each other, they sat down as well.
“Please wait a moment, I’ll get you some water.” Qi Zihan, walking into the kitchen, happened to miss the three’s surprised expressions.
As the host, pouring water for guests was basic etiquette; Qi Zihan didn’t think there was anything wrong with him doing so.
He knew that this was a world that held females on a pedestal. The severe gender imbalance made females endangered animals that required careful care.
But he always did what he wanted, he wouldn’t force himself to change just to cater to society’s expectations.
When he returned to the living room with a jug of water, the three soldiers on the sofa all stood up.
“I’ll do it.”
“Let me, let me!”
“Please sit down!”
Watching them in amusement, Qi Zihan dodged their reaching hands, poured a glass of water for each of them and one for himself, then sat in the nearby armchair.
“Okay, aren’t we here to take a statement? Let’s start.” He didn’t forget why these three hadn’t left.
“Hm…” Mo Yihai sat back with both hands cradling the glass of water, his face a little dazed, feeling as if he were in a dream. After a moment to recover his senses, he straightened. “Then please repeat the process of the attack to us. Also, may we record it?” he asked boldly.
“Sure.”
Mo Yihai took out a recording device from his pocket, turned it on, and placed it on the coffee table. “Please state your permission to record, to later prove our innocence,” he requested.
“Okay,” he said, remembering that it was illegal to secretly record females in this world. Thus: “Before I say ‘stop’, you are allowed to keep recording. Everything I am about to say is within the scope of ‘allowed recording’ and I will bear responsibility for its authenticity. So, let’s start.”
Translator: Thanks to everyone for your patience during my 8-month hiatus! This novel is officially being dropped from my translations.
