Although the Zerg were an extraordinarily powerful species, newborn children clearly had nothing to do with strength. Until they grew older, they still required the protection of both parents.
Compared with Yan Ning, who had only just become a female father, Qi Heng possessed considerably more experience in caring for children.
Admittedly, most of that experience was theoretical. Even so, it was still far better than Yan Ning’s complete inexperience.
The little Zerg lay on his stomach in the nest, clutching his hand and trying to put it into his mouth.
Unlike human infants, Zerg children could see shortly after birth. With patient guidance, they could quickly learn movements such as turning over and rolling around.
Approximately half an hour after he hatched, the Zerg markings across the child’s body gradually faded.
A female Zerg’s markings normally remained hidden. They would appear either when deliberately summoned under the female Zerg’s control or when something was wrong with his body and he could no longer control whether they appeared.
The information Qi Heng had read in the past flashed through his mind.
Seeing that Yan Ning had no idea what the child’s current behavior meant, Qi Heng spoke somewhat helplessly.
“He’s hungry.”
Understanding dawned on Yan Ning.
“I’ll prepare something for him. Uncle Yun said Zerg children can eat porridge made from blue cassava.”
“…”
Qi Heng opened his mouth, then stopped himself.
The Zerg were omnivorous, but the majority strongly favored meat. This was especially true of female Zerg, without exception.
No wonder the female Zerg here were all shorter than the normal average.
If they had been eating food with almost no nutritional value since infancy, it would have been strange if they grew tall.
Furthermore, a female Zerg’s growth and evolution depended on consuming elements beneficial to his body.
Qi Heng remembered that when he guided the Zerg’s evolution in the past, each Zerg subspecies had possessed a different diet containing specific trace elements and energy blocks.
During the civilization’s later stages, those trace elements and energy blocks could be synthesized artificially, much like nutritional supplements.
That technology had not existed during the early period. Back then, the Zerg had primarily obtained what they needed by directly gnawing on ore or consuming certain unusual plants.
Without those essential elements, a female Zerg could not complete his first evolution.
Insufficient energy intake could cause the awakening of his innate bloodline abilities to fail or remain incomplete.
Either outcome could be fatal to a Zerg.
Qi Heng did not ask why Yan Ning had prepared neither elemental ore nor energy blocks.
He already understood something of the slums’ conditions. The resources the Zerg required certainly could not be found here.
Besides, given the Zerg’s present condition as prisoners being kept in captivity, Qi Heng suspected that the problem was not merely that Yan Ning and the others could not obtain what they needed.
The current Zerg might know almost nothing about their own species.
They did not know what their children required.
The sheer number of dead eggs inside the disposal pit already demonstrated how completely their most basic knowledge had been erased.
There was no telling how many eggs that could otherwise have survived had been thrown into the pit and abandoned to die.
On the surface, the slum appeared peaceful.
The Zerg living within it seemed accustomed to this existence and appeared not to believe anything was wrong.
Unfortunately, Qi Heng was not only an outsider. He had also witnessed the Tianjia Zerg civilization at the height of its prosperity.
From his perspective, everything about the slum felt deeply unnatural.
When he first encountered Yan Ning, Qi Heng had only wanted somewhere temporary to stay. Afterward, he had assumed that he would inevitably leave Tianyun Star and travel to other star regions.
He had not expected the slums to be so different from what he imagined.
Now, the prospect of leaving had become indefinitely distant.
Qi Heng’s gaze fell upon the child, who remained completely unaware of what awaited him in the future.
He idly poked the child’s cheek while allowing mental power to flow through his fingertip and gently comb through the child’s body.
Every Zerg was born with mental power, but it remained dormant until the first evolution.
While the child was still inside the egg, Qi Heng had enveloped and protected him with his mental power.
Although the child did not understand what mental power was, he instinctively felt close to Qi Heng’s.
As Qi Heng patiently smoothed it again and again, the child’s own faint trace of mental power grew slightly stronger.
The delicate antennae on the child’s forehead swayed gently.
The Overlord possessed an incomparable attraction to the Zerg.
Adult Zerg might still be capable of controlling their reactions, but a young child could not restrain himself at all.
Qi Heng did not know how much of the child’s affection toward him resulted from that instinct.
“Have you thought of a name for him?” Qi Heng asked.
Yan Ning smiled.
“Yes. Yan Le.”
“I hope he’ll be happy every day when he grows up.”
“It’s a good name.”
A name represented the hopes parents held for their child.
Qi Heng thought that, in an environment like this, simply allowing the little Zerg to grow up happily would already be enough.
They could not ask for much more.
Since Qi Heng had not gone to the mine, he had nothing else to do that day. He decided to visit the central area of District 49.
The district covered a considerable amount of land.
Compared with the outskirts where Yan Ning lived, the central area would offer him access to far more information.
He had also heard that all the male Zerg lived there.
That explained why he had not seen a single male Zerg near Yan Ning’s home.
Qi Heng informed Yan Ning before leaving.
He followed District 49’s widest main road continuously forward. After half an hour, he had crossed most of the district and reached the so-called central area.
It looked considerably different from the district’s outskirts.
The most conspicuous feature was the two rows of buildings that seemed completely out of place within the slum.
Several single-story buildings on the right appeared to be shops. Lines of female Zerg continually waited outside to barter their belongings.
Qi Heng observed from the side for a while.
In addition to the metal point strips, the female Zerg traded smooth, rounded stones.
The final building was probably where blood exchanges were conducted. Female Zerg who entered came back out with noticeably grayer, paler complexions.
Female-Zerg blood, metal point strips, and stones.
The metal strips had been earned by selling their labor at the mine. As for the other two items, the shops appeared to be deliberately collecting them.
Compared with the doubts this raised, the presence of One-Horns inside the shops was entirely expected.
The One-Horns had once been considered highly cost-effective slave commodities.
The civilization that created them had particularly enjoyed using One-Horns to supervise lower planetary civilizations.
Few tools had been more useful.
Qi Heng shifted his gaze toward the Zerg whose appearances contrasted sharply with the female Zerg around them.
Their clothing and general condition were completely different.
They wore their hair at a medium length, and their expressions were far more arrogant than those of the submissive female Zerg.
Male Zerg…
Suddenly, Qi Heng sensed someone watching him.
He frowned and pretended to glance around casually while actually searching for the source of the stare.
It was a male Zerg.
Why was that male Zerg staring at him?
Qi Heng felt puzzled but revealed nothing on his face. He naturally moved his gaze away from that direction.
The male Zerg stood more than ten meters away.
His clothing, appearance, and manner were all extravagantly flamboyant. He stared at Qi Heng as though examining prey, causing a chill of disgust to run through him.
Qi Heng still found it difficult to adapt to the Zerg’s uniformly masculine human appearances.
Being stared at that way by another man was even more than he could bear.
After Qi Heng looked over and then turned away, the male Zerg watching him spoke to his companion.
“He looked over. I told you he was good-looking, didn’t I?”
“You’re interested in him? That female Zerg doesn’t look as though he only recently reached adulthood.”
“What does that matter? His appearance suits my tastes. That’s enough.”
“Do you think I should go over and introduce myself?”
“No female Zerg can refuse an invitation from a male Zerg. As soon as I ask, he’ll definitely…”
Before the male Zerg could finish, the female Zerg he had taken an interest in had already disappeared.
Qi Heng, who had left the area, had no idea that the male Zerg had been attracted to his face.
Had he known, he probably would have walked away even faster.
Meanwhile, at Yan Ning’s home.
“Lele really is adorable.”
Yun Tian kissed the little Zerg lying obediently in Yan Ning’s arms.
“I really didn’t expect what you said to be true. The little one was actually saved.”
“This is wonderful.”
When Yan Ning had first brought home an egg that had already been declared dead and claimed there was a way to restore it, Yun Tian had remained doubtful.
Throughout his entire life, every egg identified as dead had ultimately failed to hatch.
Furthermore, Yan Ning had trusted the words of some unknown wandering female Zerg.
No matter how Yun Tian considered it, he had thought that female Zerg must be a fraud. Perhaps he had invented the lie merely to deceive Yan Ning into feeding and sheltering him.
Had the condition of the egg not visibly improved afterward, Yun Tian would already have encouraged Yan Ning to throw the fraudulent female Zerg out of the house.
“To be honest, I wasn’t certain at first either,” Yan Ning said.
“But even if there was only the slightest hope, I wanted to try.”
He held the child with complete happiness.
There could not have been a better outcome than this.
Qi Heng had just reached the entrance to Yan Ning’s home when he heard voices coming from inside.
One of them was unfamiliar.
Was there a female Zerg he did not know inside?
“I’m back.”
Qi Heng entered and saw Yan Ning speaking with a brown-haired female Zerg.
The newcomer had a relatively small frame. According to Zerg standards, he probably belonged to the category of minors.
“Your friend?” Qi Heng asked.
“Yes. This is Yun Tian. He lives nearby.”
Qi Heng looked toward Yun Tian.
“Hello. My name is Qi Heng. I came from another district.”
Yun Tian immediately noticed that the female Zerg greeting him was unusually tall.
Qi Heng was looking down at him from a considerable height.
Yun Tian had initially assumed that standing would make the situation more comfortable.
It did not.
He still had to tilt his head back to look at Qi Heng.
“I’ve heard about you from Yan Ning. Thank you for saving his Zerg egg.”
“There’s no need to thank me. Yan Ning has helped me greatly as well.”
Yun Tian asked curiously:
“You said you came from another district. What are the other districts like? Are they the same as District 49?”
“They’re not particularly different.”
Qi Heng’s answer was extremely perfunctory.
Yun Tian did not mind in the slightest.
Instead, he enthusiastically began asking other questions.
Compared with Yan Ning, who was somewhat reserved, shy, and inarticulate, Yun Tian possessed a much more cheerful personality.
He had already been curious about this mysterious stranger, so there was almost nothing he was unwilling to say aloud.
When it came to drawing information from someone, Yun Tian was no match for Qi Heng.
It took almost no effort for Qi Heng to extract every detail concerning him.
He learned not only what Yun Tian did and how many people lived in his household, but also thoroughly questioned him about his relatives.
In this way, Qi Heng naturally discovered that Yun Tian knew Yun Jiu.
By blood, the two could be considered distant relatives.
Qi Heng also learned something else that was extremely important to him.
Starstones.
They were stones capable of storing stellar power.
Their surfaces resembled smooth, lustrous pebbles, and they were predominantly white.
They were the same stones Qi Heng had previously seen in Yan Ning’s hands.
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