NOVEL NEXT 78
Chapter 78: Secret of Zerg Star
The night is deep, and the bright moon hangs high.
I wonder if, on this day twenty-three years ago, my father looked up at the sky and saw the same scene.
The thick pages of the red diary, once filled with elegant handwriting, gradually turned into scrawl, chaotic, until the final entries became utterly frantic.
He had carefully searched the safe, examining the fabric, newspaper, and the inside and outside of the box.
That wasn’t just fabric; it was material cut from his father’s spring shirt by dad, perhaps intended to be made into something. But then he went on a mission, planning to continue when he returned.
And then, they were separated from him by life and death.
The pain of losing both parents is nothing compared to the abyss he was now glimpsing.
A secret that could overthrow and shake the entire society.
Those two newspapers are the key to uncovering everything.
Why did the laws on Zerg Star, which had upheld female supremacy and male subordination for a millennium, begin to favor males two hundred years ago?
The contemporary consensus is that the new technological era and scientific advancements freed males from the heavy task of breeding offspring, allowing them to enter society and contribute their intellectual prowess.
Males are considered precious because their mental value far exceeds the brute strength of females.
This narrative has persisted for two centuries. Even he, Xi Tian, believed that Zerg Star’s development is inseparable from the contributions of males in the scientific community.
Males are physically fragile, emotional, poor at controlling their temper and desires, love pleasure, and enjoy sex.
These traits are all accepted and forgiven.
Everyone respects, admires, and reveres males because their intellect is of infinite value.
Males are the living legends of modern society.
But…
But,
It is all just a grand dream, an artificially created myth.
Originally, more than four hundred years ago, when the Tartars were still on Zerg Star and before the so-called Twin Stars of Tartar, technology from the Star Alliance opened the door to Zerg Star, and for the first time, the Zerg people learned that life existed beyond their planet.
Although the Tartars still had a constitutional monarchy, they welcomed Star Alliance technology and were enthusiastic about their advanced science, eager to learn.
Zerg Star, on the other hand, scorned the contemporary cannon and steel technology, still lost in its democratic system and scientific and democratic dreams.
Until three hundred years ago, when the entire Tartar nation emigrated to the Twin Stars and announced their new name: Tartar Star.
It was a rude awakening for the Zerg Star, driving them to catch up with renewed vigor.
Two hundred years ago, the military females returned from the battlefield with the Tartars carrying biochemical weapons. These weapons were completely ineffective against females but had a fatal flaw for males, drastically reducing the viability of adult male sperm and causing birth rates to plummet.
Coincidentally, two hundred years ago marked the beginning of Zerg Star’s expansion beyond its borders to seize new territories and reap benefits. There was a massive demand for the Zerg people’s population, whether for external wars, immigration, colonizing new territories, or exploiting new resources and energy. Every place needed manpower.
Although unclaimed planets could be registered as national colonies with the Star Alliance, enslaving the native labor force was prohibited. All Star Alliance members adhered to this rule; any violation would result not only in trade sanctions by the joint court but also in more severe penalties.
At that time, the upper echelons of society were controlled by capitalistic elites. These elites needed the labor force from the middle and lower classes to work willingly, explore, excavate, and even sacrifice their lives.
Males, however, were a handle they could firmly grasp.
They selected four young and beautiful males, packaged them as the “Four Sages,” and used the newly invented broadcasting channels to present them to the public, spreading the narrative that “males dominate the destiny of Zerg Star.”
Were the people of that time really so gullible to believe the government’s story?
Yes, absolutely.
Very few could maintain independent, clear thinking. Most were ordinary citizens, brainwashed by the same narrative. Children received gender-biased education in schools, and society provided environments favoring males.
Over time, people believed what they heard and saw.
The laws, under the guise of protecting male lives, restricted their job types, excluding the “frail” males; they encouraged males to indulge in pleasure and spread the idea that males should marry as soon as they reached adulthood.
The upper echelons of society simultaneously reinforced the image of males as saviors while emphasizing their capricious nature, leaving even the males themselves unsure of how they should behave.
They became capricious, pampered, and reckless, possessing no practical skills and relying solely on females for support.
Females, in turn, were educated to prioritize marriage, family, bearing more eggs, and obeying males.
As long as males settled on Zerg Star, females would inevitably have to support the family.
Females would conquer the world, and males would conquer females.
In reality, the upper echelons controlled females by controlling males.
Society didn’t just favor male Zergs; it domesticated them, making the middle and lower-class females work tirelessly for them.
Males weren’t the goal; they were the means.
However, people have thoughts and emotions—they are living beings.
Initially, Song Huishan, with his sharp political instincts, sensed the upper echelons’ schemes.
Leveraging his special status in the political arena, he began to shine, advocating everywhere and showing his sharpness.
The upper echelons, realizing they had an uncontrollable pawn, immediately sent someone to assassinate him.
In an era when news could only spread through newspapers, telegrams, and broadcasts, this was all too easy.
Scientists believed Song’s mind was valuable, but due to technological limitations, they decided to freeze it first.
History quickly erased Song Huishan’s traces, letting him live on as the “beautiful leader of the Four Saints.”
Meanwhile, the reformists, made up of the emerging middle class seeking policy changes and those discontented with the conservative family’s disregard for males, became the backbone of the reformist faction and stepped onto the political stage.
Fifty years ago, as cloning technology made progress, the upper echelons swiftly restarted the research program on Song Huishan’s brain, eager to uncover the secret behind his mind control to dominate the increasingly restless middle and lower-class populace.
However, due to incorrect guiding theories, the research plan lasted fifteen years without any success, wasting enormous funds and the lives of numerous top-tier researchers.
The whole affair was eventually uncovered by an investigative journalist codenamed “Cheetah,” who tirelessly pursued the truth and spent years investigating.
He submitted his report to major newspapers on Zerg Star, only to be rejected by all, with none daring to publish it.
Finally, a newspaper editor, acting on conscience, secretly agreed to publish it. However, on the morning of the paper’s release, the newspaper was banned for spreading rumors, the editor was imprisoned, and the investigative journalist was brought to justice and wrongfully died in prison.
Nonetheless, a portion of the newspapers circulated, but the government quickly denounced them as conspiracy theories. The newspaper in hand is one of those circulated copies from back then.
When he was in the small town, someone offered a high price for his hair and blood, aiming to determine whether he was genetically related to Song Huishan’s clone, Xi Qisi, and whether he inherited the ability to control minds.
Technology is both a blessing and a curse.
He has been able to grow up safely in a corner of Zerg Star over the years, thanks to the intelligent network covering the entire planet. Twenty years ago, it was linked to personal identity genetic information, and since the genes of the deceased from twenty years ago were not recorded, he was able to grow up peacefully.
It’s truly, truly ridiculous.
Every bit of it is absurd.
Every bit of it is laughable.
How he wishes this were just a ridiculous story written in a book, a science fiction novel.
But no, this is the very planet that raised him!
No, it’s Zerg Star.
Xi Tian sneered.
**Author’s Note:**
Writing this chapter was so painful.
(T/N: Translating the last dozen chapters has been soo painful. (T_T) )