I Write Novels in a Zerg Prison

【Roy chose the very best food he could afford to treat Morris.

Even if it meant he would have to go back to chewing thorn fruit afterward.

Naturally, Morris had no intention of letting him eat thorn fruit ever again.

He put away the photo he had taken of the table and the meal with his terminal, already planning the caption for the post he would make later:

My male Zerg treated me to a feast.

Besides that...

He had also prepared a gift for Roy.

Nutrient solution suitable for a growing male Zerg.

A complete set of quality food.

Comfortable bedding and clothes.

Psychic Source Crystals to stabilize his mind.

Relaxation medicine.

And...

An Upgrade Pack.

Everything Roy needed to safely undergo a breakthrough.

But before using it...

He wanted to ask Roy first.

"If there were an opportunity for you to advance... would you accept it?"

Across the table, Morris asked.

Roy looked up from the meal he had been carefully savoring.

He set down his utensils and asked,

"You don't mean sleeping with you... or with some other high-ranking female Zerg, do you?"

"Of course not!"

Morris denied it immediately.

Then another thought crossed his mind.

If Roy's physiological awakening was triggered, perhaps he would eventually need someone to guide him through it.

Still...

That choice belonged entirely to the male.

Some male Zergs even chose to endure the awakening alone without any guide.

"I have a special method that can help you rank up."

"You don't need to do anything."

"As long as you want to become stronger... or you're willing to trust me... we can try."

Roy wanted to become stronger.

No one wanted it more than he did.

If his rank increased...

Even scavenging junk would become easier.

Powerful male Zergs could spread their Psychic Power over vast distances to search for salvage.

Even though everything about the proposal sounded suspiciously like a trap...

He still wanted to try.

"I'll accept your 'special method.'"

"But first..."

"I need to contact my younger brother."

It sounded suspiciously like someone making final arrangements before dying.

Do I really look that much like a scammer... or some terrible villain?

Morris couldn't help doubting himself.

Roy's younger female Zerg sibling attended a completely closed boarding school.

The only way they could communicate was during scheduled calls.

Usually every Friday and Sunday afternoon.

Today happened to be Friday.

The two siblings had relied on each other since childhood.

His younger sibling was especially attached to him.

Every week without fail, he would call to ask how Roy was doing and tell him about life at school.

After finishing lunch, Roy returned home with Morris to wait for the scheduled call.

Meanwhile...

Morris was repairing the house.

Originally he had wanted to buy Roy a villa outright.

But he wasn't sure that wouldn't frighten him.

A villa was much harder to explain than a flying vehicle.

He certainly couldn't claim he'd simply picked one up while scavenging.

So...

He decided to build one himself.

He repaired the run-down house and even began constructing a small courtyard.

While making tables and chairs with materials stored inside his spatial storage device...

He heard Roy's conversation drifting from inside.

The young female Zerg talked about schoolwork...

His classmates...

His friends...

And mentioned that school would end in another half month and he'd be coming home soon.

Roy mentioned finding an energy core and selling it for a large sum.

He talked about gathering thorn fruit.

He chatted about small happenings around the village.

He never mentioned Morris.

Morris hadn't intended to eavesdrop.

A high-ranking female Zerg's senses were simply too sharp.

Avoiding the conversation altogether was impossible.

Still...

Realizing Roy never mentioned him once...

Left a faint ache in his heart.

He understood Roy's reasoning.

Perhaps he was being cautious.

Perhaps he was worried about his brother.

Even if something happened to himself...

He didn't want his younger sibling dragged into it.

After all...

Morris remained nothing more than a mysterious military female Zerg whose background nobody knew.

Unless...

He confessed everything.

Including the truth that he was a player.

Which also meant telling Roy—

This is only a game.

You are a virtual character inside it.

Would Roy be able to accept something like that?

Morris wasn't afraid of exposing himself as a player.

What truly concerned him...

Was Roy.

Would he be able to bear the truth?

The call lasted nearly half a star-hour before Roy finally came outside.

"I'm ready."

"Is there anything else I need to do?"

"There isn't."

Morris handed him the nutrient solution...

The food package...

The Psychic Source Crystal...

And the relaxation medicine.

After asking Roy's permission, he even replaced the old bed with the one stored inside his spatial storage device.

He placed a fresh set of pajamas on top.

...Just in case.

Then he stepped outside, closed the door...

And activated the Upgrade Pack with a single command.

Morris waited anxiously outside.

No sound came from inside.

Just as he began wondering whether it had failed...

The door opened.

The two looked at each other.

For a brief moment...

Morris lost himself.

"...Did it fail?"

"You didn't rank up?"

he asked.

Less than a minute had passed.

"No."

"It worked."

Roy extended his Psychic Power for Morris to feel.

"It feels like my Psychic Power broke through some kind of barrier."

"It's definitely stronger now."

"I should be D-rank... right?"

He wasn't entirely certain.

Then he asked,

"Did my appearance change?"

Morris looked him over before nodding.

"It did."

He had become...

Refined.

Like a carefully polished version of Roy.

The changes weren't dramatic.

But they were unmistakable.

Like a dusty little insect whose face had finally been washed clean...

Revealing delicate features and smooth, fair skin beneath.

Roy took out a mirror.

He immediately saw the difference himself.

Surprise quickly gave way to confusion.

"So..."

"How exactly did you do this?"

Morris hadn't expected things to turn out this way either.

He had assumed upgrading would happen the Zerg way.

Locking oneself inside a room.

Enduring agonizing metamorphosis.

Suffering through an entire night...

Or even several days...

Until the transformation was complete.

Instead...

It had finished in under a minute.

Completely painless.

A painless upgrade was wonderful.

Male Zergs no longer had to suffer.

The problem was...

How was he supposed to explain it?

"...Is this your innate ability?"

Roy guessed.

He knew truly powerful people often possessed mysterious abilities.

But...

An ability that upgraded other people?

Could something like that really exist?

He couldn't even imagine it.

Even fantasy films had never shown such an ability.

Yet he couldn't think of any other explanation.

Morris had never been good at lying.

One lie only required countless more to maintain.

So...

He chose honesty.

He first asked Roy to sit down, calming him before speaking.

"I need to tell you something."

"Whatever happens..."

"Please don't be afraid."

Seeing him so serious...

Roy couldn't help becoming nervous too.

He stared at Morris...

Then suddenly covered his face in horror.

"Don't tell me..."

"You're not actually a Zerg?!"

"..."

Morris fell silent.

How had he suddenly stopped being a Zerg again?

He really wasn't a Heavenly Garuda.

"No."

"I am a Zerg."

"I'm just... different from you."

"And from everyone around you."

"I come from another world."

"A higher dimension."

...】

—

Military Headquarters.

Lunch break.

Ulysses received the update notification and immediately opened the novel.

Another world.

A higher dimension.

Compared to him...

His god came from a higher dimension.

Compared to the male inside the game...

Morris likewise existed on a higher plane.

Could two beings separated by dimensions...

Ever truly be together?

Among all the protagonists his god had written...

This was the first couple whose happy ending he sincerely wished for.

Not only because Morris was his Legion Commander...

But because of the unique distance separating them.

Then another thought occurred to him.

...Psychic Soothing.

Ulysses' thinking was always colder and more rational than most.

He immediately identified the greatest problem.

Morris' mental stability was only 69.

It wasn't disastrously low.

Still barely manageable.

But without regular Psychic Soothing...

His eventual fate was obvious.

It was an ending Ulysses refused to see.

The military research institutes had spent years studying substitutes for Psychic Soothing.

The safest they had managed was stabilizing female Zergs down to 70.

Below that threshold...

Only a male Zerg's Psychic Soothing could save them.

And Morris...

Was already beneath the line.

Most female Zergs who had accepted a particular male...

Refused to receive Psychic Soothing from anyone else.

To them...

Doing so was betrayal.

Life should come before everything.

Yet clearly...

Many female Zergs failed to understand that.

For a while, Ulysses' feelings became complicated.

He wasn't sure whether he ought to stop Morris from getting any closer to that virtual male.

If proving the possibility of love across dimensions required sacrificing his Legion Commander...

Then it wasn't worth the cost.

How would his god arrange their future?

Would he show his protagonists the same mercy he always had?

The answer...

Seemed obvious.

Because he trusted his god...

Ulysses quietly looked forward to the future awaiting them.

A soft sensation suddenly spread across his body.

As though someone had wrapped him in a warm, fragrant embrace.

Ulysses froze.

Only then did he realize...

It was his god's lunchtime.

The male had tucked him into the blankets.

Resting his chin against one hand with his elbow on the desk...

Heat quietly spread across Ulysses' face.

When he had carried the male out of the game pod earlier...

The male had been hugging that plush.

He still didn't know how it had traveled from the game into reality.

But when it involved his god...

Nothing seemed impossible.

Later, when he returned to the game to tidy the room...

The identical plush still rested on the bed inside the game.

Only...

It had become an ordinary virtual doll again.

The sensory connection was gone.

His senses remained linked to the real-world plush.

Or perhaps...

Whichever plush the male happened to hold...

Would become connected to him.

Now...

Even while sitting inside Military Headquarters...

He knew his god's daily routine perfectly.

He knew when the male woke up.

When he took his afternoon nap.

When he went to bed at night.

He knew every tiny habit during sleep.

Every turn.

Every absent-minded squeeze.

Whenever inspiration failed while writing...

The male wandered around the room.

Eventually...

He would pick Ulysses up from the bed.

Place him on his lap.

Gently squeeze his cheeks.

Hold his little hands.

Adjust his hair.

Then carefully place him back on the bed...

And tuck the blanket around him.

Ulysses had never experienced anything like this before.

His pheromones repeatedly threatened to surge out of control.

The male hadn't even truly used him yet.

Everything so far had been nothing more than gentle touches...

And ordinary affection.

Ulysses wasn't sure...

Whether he could endure the day the male truly did.

Hopefully...

Not during daylight.

Otherwise...

He might actually have to use his spatial ability to teleport away.

To distract himself—and cool the increasingly overheated thoughts in his mind—

Ulysses opened the review section.

Most readers were discussing Roy's upgrade...

And Morris revealing his true identity.

["I wish upgrading in real life were as fast as it is in the game. I really want to experience painless evolution just once."]

["Lord Roy's polished version is adorable. It's like someone finally wiped the dust off a little bug. His foundation was already really good. Just going from E-rank to D-rank made him so much prettier."]

["Keep upgrading! He'll become the most beautiful male Zerg ever!"]

["Upgrade him! Give him the deluxe package! Is one 648 enough? If not, throw in Affinity too!"]

["I want to experience being polished inside the game too. Even just taking pictures would make me happy. Give us lots of beautiful outfits and scenery!"]

["@GameCompany. Did you hear what His Lordship wants? Hurry up and make this kind of game already!"]

["Recently every major game studio in the Federation received a huge confidential project. Nobody has time to develop anything else right now."]

["What project? Another space war? Fighting the Heavenly Garuda again?"]

["It's classified. I don't know either. Just heard it's connected to orders from higher up. We'll know when it launches."]

["Official games are boring... I just want to play An-shen's game. I want my male Zerg's Affinity. I want to level him up!"]

["Morris actually revealed his identity? Can players really tell NPCs they're players? Wouldn't the system stop them?"]

["Maybe the AI filters it out. Some alien games already work like that."]

["Lord Roy feels too real to be ordinary AI. He notices inconsistencies. Morris bought a flying vehicle and Roy immediately questioned where it came from. Same with the upgrade. Other NPCs would simply accept leveling up, but Roy demanded an explanation."]

["And don't forget that moment they looked at each other through the screen... If An-shen wrote it, then it definitely wasn't just Morris imagining things. Roy sensed something too."]

["The more you think about it, the scarier it gets. Even if Morris never confessed, someone as intelligent as Roy would eventually piece everything together from countless tiny clues."]

["Morris told him everything ahead of time. I wonder whether Roy can accept it."]

["He probably can't. His program will crash."]

["Lord Roy survived that environment. His resilience is stronger than most people give him credit for."]

["Even if Roy can endure it... Morris' Affinity is in danger."]

...

【"So..."

"This is a game."

"I'm one of its closed beta players."

"And you're one of the game's characters."

"...Can you understand that?"

Morris asked cautiously.

Roy fell silent.

"..."

He looked at Morris in complete confusion.

Did he really look like such an easy fool to deceive?

"You're trying to trick me!"

"I've lived here my entire life!"

"You claim this is a game and you're a player?"

"Fine."

"Prove it."

Morris thought for a moment.

"...Your rank increase?"

Roy choked.

The sudden upgrade truly had no explanation.

It was so unbelievable that he'd almost convinced himself it was simply Morris' innate ability.

After a while, he asked,

"...Can I rank up again?"

Morris searched the shop.

Nothing.

Apparently Upgrade Packs only appeared as milestone rewards for increasing Affinity.

"...No."

"Your Affinity isn't high enough."

He answered honestly.

"...What's Affinity?"

Roy asked.

"...It's..."

"...how much you like me."

Morris lowered his head in embarrassment.

"I knew it!"

"You're trying to scam me into falling in love with you!"

"You just want to toy with my feelings!"

Roy exploded.】

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