It was the same familiar lab, the same familiar octopus machine, and Brain-Has-a-Hole was hopping around in delight. Whether it was happy because its owner had come home or because the number of pretty girls had gone from one to three was hard to say!
But it was probably the latter. It actually dodged around Li Zirong, making the Rising Dragon Kick she’d prepared miss, then went over to Lu Nongxi and wrapped itself around her lower leg.
“Ah!” Lu Nongxi cried out. She grabbed Brain-Has-a-Hole’s round body and gave it a gentle tug. “Don’t go crawling around!”
Brain-Has-a-Hole clung on tight, rubbing its round body against Lu Nongxi’s lower leg as it let out an incomprehensible mechanical sound.
Fang Chang figured it was excited.
“Ah!”
Its rubbing tickled Lu Nongxi’s foot. Her hand jerked, and with a clatter, Brain-Has-a-Hole’s round body came apart in a heap of pieces. Its tightly wrapped tentacles slid limply to the floor.
As the saying goes, “Better to die beneath a peony—even if you become a ghost...”
Mechanical creations have no souls.
Lu Nongxi was a well-mannered girl, so she hurried to apologize. “I’m sorry! I broke your thing!”
Li Zirong waved a hand magnanimously. “It’s fine, it’s fine. I’ve wanted to kill it for ages.”
Lu Nongxi asked cautiously, “Are you really sure it’s okay?”
“It’s fine!” Li Zirong thumped her chest as she promised. “If I say it’s fine, then it’s fine!”
Only then did Lu Nongxi relax and walk toward the middle of the lab. A broken tentacle lay in her path. She stepped on it with her soft little foot, and a bolt of lightning at least three meters long crackled across the floor.
Li Zirong’s face darkened.
Fang Chang moved closer to the senior and heard her mutter under her breath, “Now it can’t even be repaired. My self-maintaining machine from the Nebula Civilization... It was such a screwup, but I still couldn’t bring myself to take it apart...”
Lu Nongxi hadn’t noticed a thing. She was still excitedly looking around the lab. “Wow! So this is what your home looks like. It’s so ugly!”
In Lu Nongxi’s eyes, cute Japanese-style decor was the only way to go. She just couldn’t appreciate steel armor.
Li Zirong’s face darkened another shade.
Fang Chang suddenly felt she ought to teach Lu Nongxi a thing or two about dealing with people. This queen (not really) was very considerate toward Fang Chang, but she was way too blunt. From confessing her love in the middle of a zombie horde to this, she just said whatever came to mind. She was completely lawless!
She glanced discreetly at Li Zirong, who was gathering up the research equipment with a dark expression, then whispered to Lu Nongxi, “Remember what I told you. Don’t be so direct when you talk from now on. Even if this place looks ugly, don’t say it out loud. Got it?”
Lu Nongxi always listened to Fang Chang. She nodded again and again. “Got it!”
Fang Chang patted her little head in approval. “Quick! Go apologize to your senior.”
Lu Nongxi obediently went over.
Fang Chang felt a little sentimental. Lu Nongxi was so cute. Teaching her was just like teaching a daughter, and it made Fang Chang’s maternal instincts overflow.
Something about that felt a little off...
When Li Zirong saw Lu Nongxi approach, she stopped directing the octopus machine and smiled warmly. “What is it?”
Lu Nongxi bowed in apology. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said your house was ugly.”
“It’s okay! I don’t mind!”
“Really? You’re so nice!”
“Thanks for the compliment. By the way, are you ready? The ‘delivery room’ will be finished soon.”
“I’m ready!”
“Then bring Fang Chang over too!”
“Okay!” Lu Nongxi bounced off to find Fang Chang. Just before she left, she seemed to remember something and turned back. “Actually, your house isn’t ugly at all. And you’re not ugly at all now, either.”
Li Zirong’s smile slowly disappeared.
When Fang Chang followed Lu Nongxi over, she saw Li Zirong standing there with a stiff expression. Confused, she wondered, “Has she gone back to treating me like a stranger? Something’s not right...”
Li Zirong stood expressionless in front of the door and gestured for them to enter. “Please go inside and get ready to give birth.”
The three of them filed in. Li Zirong led Fang Chang to an iron bed and told her to lie face down.
Fang Chang obediently lay down on it.
As soon as she touched the bed, a powerful suction force burst from it. Numerous probing appendages appeared around her, emitting an energy field that bound her in place.
Lu Nongxi went pattering over to the bed, crouched down, and kneaded Fang Chang’s soft cheeks, squashing them flat and round.
“Heeheehee, hubby, your skin is even softer than mine!”
Li Zirong paid no attention to the two of them. She opened a culture dish, drew out some of the culture medium through a tube, and connected it to Fang Chang.
Before long, Fang Chang was covered in a tangle of grotesque tubes.
Fang Chang had been through this before and didn’t think much of it. Lu Nongxi, on the other hand, furrowed her little brows. “Why are you doing this to hubby?”
Li Zirong adjusted the room’s energy threshold without turning around. “Because she’s too weak, while you’re too powerful. The chances of the two of you conceiving a child are very low. I’m feeding energy into her as external support, so your child can grow strong and healthy.”
Fang Chang shook her head to stop Lu Nongxi from teasing her, then said, “Am I really that weak?”
“Depends who you compare yourself to. Compared to an ordinary person, you’re an absurdly powerful monster. Compared to Lu Nongxi, you’re a total weakling.”
Fang Chang gave her a sidelong look. After a moment, she squirmed restlessly and said, “By the way, Senior, could you turn this force field down a little? My chest is crushing me. I can barely breathe.”
Li Zirong said crossly, “I’ve never heard of anyone being crushed by her own chest!”
Fang Chang puffed out her cheeks. “That’s because you don’t have...”
Li Zirong silently increased the restraining field by ten percent.
Lu Nongxi nodded beside them. “Mm-hmm. Like me, for example. Sometimes my chest really does feel stuffy!”
Li Zirong increased it by another ten percent.
She couldn’t take it out on Lu Nongxi. But Fang Chang was fair game, right?
That’s what you call making the husband pay for the wife’s debts.
By the time all the equipment in the room was set up, Fang Chang was like a salted fish. Lu Nongxi could tease her all she wanted, and she still couldn’t get a word out.
Li Zirong raised the corners of her mouth in triumph.
She handed Lu Nongxi a tube of pink potion. “Feed this to Fang Chang. It’ll put her in heat and make her bloom. As for how to reproduce, you should know what to do, right?”
“I know!”
Li Zirong left the room, but not before adding, “Well, have fun on your wedding night!”
