Chapter 14: The Fourteenth Iron Pillar

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Luna was puzzled, unable to understand why this blind-eyed member of the Hive suddenly grew sorrowful, but he was unimportant. She strode past him and went inside.

The White Tower was lit up, but there was no one at the front desk—only an intelligent machine.

After selecting the purpose of her visit on the screen, indicator lights automatically lit up on the floor.

She needed to go to the second floor.

Following the indicators, the three of them ascended.

When they reached the second floor, finally there was someone present.

The Hive member sat behind the counter, his back resting against a large wide chair, legs clad in military boots casually propped on the counter.

He was dozing in that position.

Avis walked over and rudely knocked on the table with his fist.

The Hive member, just drifting off to sleep, jolted awake and nearly leapt from the chair.

“Who the hell is that...” He ran his hand through his hair, opening his eyes impatiently.

But the moment he opened his eyes, all his irritation vanished as if it had sprouted wings and flown away. His eyes went wide.

A beautiful girl!

By the Queen above, he could swear she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.

However—

“This isn’t a place for other species. Leave immediately.” He hadn’t forgotten his duty.

Avis frowned. “We’re all here to register.”

The Hive member was stunned. “Worker bee?”

Clearly, he was referring to Luna.

Luna nodded, unburdened, accepting her new identity. “Yes, I’m a worker bee.”

The Hive member’s brow twisted in confusion. “Hybrid?”

If not for her mixed blood causing genetic differences, how could she be so petite?

Luna thought for a moment, then nodded again. “That’s right.”

Indeed, she was a hybrid.

Well, that was that.

The Hive member responsible for registration looked nearly tangled in knots, muttering to himself incoherently.

He pulled two notebooks from a drawer, placing one before Avis and the other before Luna. “Fill out your information. After completing basic details, go over there for a test.”

At that moment, hurried footsteps sounded from the other side of the corridor, followed by an anxious voice even before the person arrived.

“Karl, the battle has broken out at Einfan Port! They’re frantically mobilizing troops and conscripting soldiers! I just received orders from above...”

The Hive member who rushed into the hall stopped speaking. He hadn’t expected anyone to come to register at this hour, especially not a worker bee.

“The battle at Einfan Port has broken out earlier than I thought,” he murmured.

He turned and asked, “What orders did you say came from above?”

David glanced at Luna and the others, hesitated for a moment, then, sensing the urgency and that this matter might involve these Hive members, decided to speak frankly.

David’s explanation was complicated: “They want us to conscript soldiers.”

“What? Are the authorities crazy? Don’t they know how broken this exile planet is? Even if they manage to find pureblood Hive members, I swear their genes must be terrible.”

If they weren’t trash, why would they be dumped here? Take them for example—their genes were far inferior to Hive members on other planets.

David’s eyes darkened. “Listen to me first. They’re obviously aware of the exile planet’s situation, so they’ve lowered the conscription standards. As long as you can beat a pureblood, hybrids are also recruited.”

“Madness. Hybrids are poorly obedient...”

Putting aside the complicated feelings of the two male worker bees, when Luna heard “hybrids are recruited,” certain thoughts kept swirling in her mind.

To be honest, Luna had never imagined she would stay on the exile planet her entire life.

Perhaps influenced by the Ling Namo clan, as days passed, she felt her ambition awakening.

She wanted the Hive species.

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She wanted the entire Hive to bow before her.

Even more, she wanted the Hive to stand atop the interstellar pyramid, becoming the strongest, most invincible species.

Wherever the army passed, they were welcomed with open arms, treated as honored guests.

Not like now—where the people were treated like slaves, their territory trampled without care, and even soldiers sent to battle were supplemented by hybrids.

Well, whatever the influence, there was no denying that Luna felt her thoughts were magnificent.

Not only did she have no desire to change them, but just thinking about it brought her joy, sometimes even making every nerve in her body scream for action.

The two male worker bees were still discussing.

“When does the conscription order take effect?”

“Immediately. It took effect the moment I received the order.”

David looked at them, first at Avis. “You are a pureblood male bee.”

It was a statement.

The stronger the pureblood, the more powerful their aura.

Avis had never considered hiding his identity. “I am.”

David’s gaze fell on the notebook that hadn’t been filled out yet. “What I just said, I believe you heard clearly. Fill out the information. The day after tomorrow, there will be a transport ship coming to pick up a group of people headed to the Einfan Port’s affiliated stars.”

Avis was blunt. “I have no intention of going to the front lines.”

If he went to the front, what about Her Highness?

He needed to stay by her side!

David was stunned, seemingly encountering this situation for the first time.

Because the Hive was a species known for high obedience, as soon as the Queen’s order came down, all purebloods thought of only two words—

Execute!

“I want to go to the affiliated stars of Einfan Port.” A pleasant female voice sounded.

Avis hastily changed his mind. “I’ve changed my mind. I’ll go to the front lines too.”

He immediately began filling out his information.

David scrutinized Luna carefully, suspicion thick enough to solidify in his eyes.

This little hybrid worker bee wanted to go to the front lines?

But she was so small; sending her to the front would be like delivering food to the enemy.

Out of some inexplicable pity, David tried to persuade her. “Why don’t you stay? The enemy this time is the Montand Eagle clan. The two clans have a blood feud from seventy years ago. This fight won’t be ordinary. There are plenty of strong warriors; they don’t really need you just to fill numbers.”

Yes, David thought Luna was just filling numbers.

She was tiny—barely reached his shoulder.

He had seen many worker bees as tall as him, and even the shorter ones reached his eye level.

She was so small that a slight push might injure her.

“You can test me.” Luna let him scrutinize her. “You said as long as I can beat a pureblood, right? Then give me a pureblood.”

The hall instantly fell silent.

Luna’s request for a test was as casual as drinking water. David and the other male bee looked shocked.

“Alright then, I’ll test you.” David sighed.

He was the pureblood male bee with the worst genes in the White Tower and shouldn’t cause much harm to her.

Luna nodded. Any tester was fine. “Where do we test?”

“Follow me.” David said.

After a few steps, David looked back, puzzled. “Why are you all following me?”

He called one over, yet two others followed as well.

Avis said bluntly, “I’m not too comfortable.”

Shen Junlin added, “I’m also a hybrid. After you test her, test me as well.”

Only hybrids needed testing.

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Hearing this, David could only nod.

After leading them to the third floor, David brought them to a room marked A3. “Except for the tester, no one else may enter.”

Shen Junlin and Avis had to stop there.

“Turn on spectator mode,” Avis immediately requested.

David’s tone was cold. “There is no spectator mode here.”

Avis froze, his face briefly darkening. This red-eyed male bee, proud and arrogant because of his strength, was ready to explode but then seemed to recall something and held back.

David nodded to Luna, his tone noticeably softer. “Come with me.”

He took out an ID card and swiped to open the door.

Looking inside from the outside, the room was all white—white walls, white floor, empty, with no facilities. It looked like a white box.

When Luna entered, the door closed automatically.

Inside were only her and David. As if to comfort her, David said, “There are detection devices around. When the subject reaches a certain injury threshold, hidden healing devices in the walls will activate automatically.”

The implication was clear: don’t worry about your life.

Luna looked up at David, at least a head taller, and gave a beautiful smile. “That’s good.”

Indeed, it was reassuring. If she hit too hard and accidentally injured this bee, at least there was a place to heal.

David curled his lips. “Alright, let’s begin.”

What he hadn’t expected was that as soon as he finished speaking, a tremendous force struck his abdomen.

He didn’t even see how Luna suddenly appeared in front of him, nor how she delivered the blow; he was punched into the wall.

The punch was strong, embedding David into the wall.

The wall was made of bionic material, and when the injury was detected, a red light ring lit up around David’s humanoid mold.

The healing device activated.

David’s whole body ached, his face contorted in pain, but the pain was nothing compared to his shock.

This male bee’s compound eyes bulged in surprise, but that was all—no other instinctive beast-like reaction from being attacked.

David was dumbfounded.

The Hive were born warriors and war-lovers. There was no such thing as being hit hard and not immediately wanting to fight back.

At least, David had never seen it in all these years.

“Did I pass the test?” Luna slowly retracted her hand. “If not, I can try again.”

David clutched his abdomen, nodding after a moment.

Before him stood a girl in a gorgeous red dress, her skin as white as snow, radiant like a figure from an oil painting.

She stood quietly, black-haired, calm and elegant, giving no hint of the fierce strike just moments ago.

“May I ask...” David hesitated.

Luna, about to leave, looked puzzled. “What is it?”

“Are you from the Upper District?” David unconsciously switched to formal speech.

Luna pressed her lips, silent, thinking: Why are they even checking household registration?

David suddenly felt nervous and quickly apologized, “Sorry, I was rude.”

The test room door had barely closed when it opened again, and neither Avis nor Shen Junlin were surprised.

Still, Avis anxiously said, “My dear lady, let me have a good look at you. If that burly soldier dares to harm a single hair on you, I swear I won’t let him off.”

“No worries, I’m fine,” Luna pushed Avis away gently, though he anxiously circled around her.

Luna looked at Shen Junlin. “Your turn.”

Shen Junlin went in.

Like Luna, he emerged quickly. As for David...

The poor soldier was injured again and was now receiving treatment.