A is in StarCraft, just disembarked from the Zerg Prince spaceship.

************

......

Qinqin followed them toward the driver's seat, quietly observing the surroundings as they walked.

This is inside a huge starship.

The passageway was unlike anything I'd ever seen before, and the air smelled of an unknown metal and some strange acid.

The nearly three-meter-tall half-insectoid in front of him had six arms, which were very strong and his whole body was made of muscles. He casually carried a heavy cryogenic chamber containing Gao Xing in one hand.

They are... beings far more powerful than humans.

The space pirates took her to a spacious cabin that resembled a cockpit.

The cabin had huge portholes and was surrounded by many light screens on all sides. Some alien pilots were looking at star charts and operating buttons.

...This technology also looks far more advanced than that of humans.

Sitting in the main seat in the center of the driver's cab was... a large, grayish-white moth-like insect-man.

Half-moth, half-human, with huge gray compound eyes taking up half of its face, it looked like a ghost. The terrifying white moth face lay listlessly on the driver's seat.

Orion, half-insectoid.

The space pirate, carrying the high-star cryo-pod, placed it on the ground and called out, "Boss."

"Yes," Orion responded, looking at Qin Qin, "It's them?"

The pirate subordinate replied, "Yes. They're probably a reclusive race from some remote planet. They're incredibly weak, have no fighting ability whatsoever, and can't understand anything. They're two cripples."

Orion leaned back in his chair, watching Qin Qin with great interest.

Hmm... it does look quite weak.

He was short, frail, and had an odd physique.

He was filled with fear and panic, just like the weaker races he had killed before.

There were no surprises at all.

Orion initially found the floating starship quite interesting, feeling the excitement of opening a blind box and hoping to find something unexpected inside.

It's really pointless to find two crippled little guys after dismantling them.

Orion lost interest and, bored, opened his mouth to order his men to throw those two pieces of trash into space.

The adjutant stood beside him, looking at the data board, and occasionally glanced up at Qin Qin.

Ok?

The adjutant's gaze swept past Qin Qin, landing on the medicine box on her back, which was covered in dust and dried bloodstains. He paused for a moment, then frowned.

Orion raised his finger, but his lieutenant suddenly stepped forward, pressed down on Orion's finger, and interrupted his spellcasting.

"Your Highness, please wait a moment."

"Hmm?" Orion looked at him.

The adjutant glanced at Qinqin's medicine box with the data board in his hand.

Then he looked at the scan results on the data panel and read: "The box she was carrying contained a complex mixture of highly purified bioactive substances and various unknown compounds. It's not quite like chemical samples. She seems to be a pharmacist."

Orion: "?"

"A pharmacist?" Orion sat up straight.

Seriously? You can really get treasures from free blind boxes?

Twenty years ago, Orion's pirate forces were not as strong as they are now. They were usually chased and beaten by the Imperial Army, and they were also frequently attacked by the previous pirate leader, Andas. His men were often injured by insects.

Moreover, they lack male insects, and many female insects are constantly on the verge of rebellion, lacking effective means of appeasement and treatment.

When both physical and mental damage are combined, mental outbursts become commonplace.

They really do need a pharmacist.

The adjutant and Orion's gazes lingered on her medicine box. Qin Qin understood their stares and seized this glimmer of hope.

She opened the medicine box and showed Orion the various glass tubes, bottles, and medicines inside: "I can make medicine!"

The adjutant couldn't understand what she was saying, but his five senses were exceptionally sharp.

He walked over, picked out a light blue potion from among the many potions in Qinqin's medicine box, and quietly retreated to a spot near Orion's command chair, handing the potion to Orion discreetly.

Orion twisted open the cap, took a sniff, and his pupils dilated. Wow, a female insect inhibitor.

Qinqin watched their movements, wondering what they were doing.

That was an omega suppressant she made for herself; she didn't know why it was singled out. What do these half-insect people use omega suppressants for? Are they even useful to them?

Orion was now truly interested.

Suppressants for female Zerg are hard to come by. Zerg prioritize reproduction and desperately want females to go into heat, so suppressants are considered contraband without a legitimate reason.

They weren't military women, so they didn't have a legitimate reason to buy them to protect the empire. Purchasing from the black market was a huge hassle; the quantities were small, and they'd be overcharged. They couldn't just ignore it.

If this disabled person were a pharmacist who could make inhibitors...

Orion sat up straight and smiled kindly at Qin Qin.

What a talent! Maybe she can even use simulated pheromones, then they could solve their heat cycles and mental overload problems in one fell swoop and live a good life from then on, right?

"Talent is rare; let's keep the pharmacist."

The adjutant nodded.

Qinqin knew from their expressions that things were going well.

Although she couldn't understand their language, she was definitely a valuable and useful tool whose worth had been recognized.

Being used as a tool is fine with her; she's willing to become a tool, it doesn't matter to her, as long as they're willing to save Gao Xing.

Orion didn't even glance at the cryo-chamber next to him; perhaps he simply didn't want to get involved.

Qin Qin scrambled to the cryogenic chamber, clinging to its cold metal shell with all her might. Pointing at the blurry figure inside, she pleaded with Orion, "Save him! Please! I'm willing to work here, please, save him! Save him!"

Orion watched as she clung tightly to the cryo-pod, her face a mixture of fear and hope.

Both were females, but their pheromones did not repel each other.

Pheromones between female Zerg are mutually exclusive; only pheromones between related females are not mutually exclusive.

For example, his female father, and Atticus.

The female insect in the cryo-chamber looked a bit bigger than the little apothecary.

"Is this your brother?" Orion asked.

The sound wave spectrum of the Orion Moth species is beyond the limits of human hearing, so Qin Qin couldn't hear him speak. The adjutant then asked him again for her.

The word "brother" sounds similar in both the human and insectoid languages. Qinqin understood, and her eyes blazed with a dazzling light as she nodded frantically, "Yes! Yes! He's my brother!"

Orion didn't speak, but rested his chin on his hand and stared at them for a long time.

His thoughts were always very elusive; no one knew what he was thinking. The adjutant might know, but he didn't say anything.

After a moment of silence, Orion calmly snapped his fingers at his adjutant and ordered, "Resurrect him."

This junior apothecary had better be worth the price, or he'd kill them both.

The adjutant nodded and accepted the order.

He straightened up and waved to his waiting subordinates, instructing them to transfer the people from the cryo-chamber to the medical pod.

Although Qinqin couldn't understand the specifics of the order, she saw the adjutant's gestures and the tall, half-insect human lifting Gao Xing's cryogenic chamber again.

Then the adjutant pointed at her, signaling her to follow.

Qinqin understood. In an instant, she was overjoyed and incredulous, and tears welled up in her eyes.

She bowed gratefully to Orion and his lieutenant, saying, "Thank you! Thank you!"

Then she rushed out with the space pirate carrying the high-star cryogenic chamber.

That's great, they all survived.

......

Gao Xing was transferred from the cryogenic chamber to the Zerg medical bay.

The life-sustaining fluid was slowly injected, submerging Gao Xing, who was still frozen.

Once the program is set up, the sophisticated defrost and repair modes begin operation.

The space pirate who was operating the device stroked his chin, looking at the prompts on the medical pod.

Oh dear, this is serious.

Her life was saved, but her glands were completely destroyed. There was nothing that could be done. This seemingly normal female insect would now be a disabled insect.

......

It's good that you're alive.

Later, Qinqin became Orion's pharmacist, and Gao Xing became his silent assistant.

They can't go back.

On the one hand, it was because Orion had imprisoned them on Blackwater Star, and on the other hand, they later learned that Orion and his group were a group of ruthless space pirates.

Humans are far inferior to the Zerg in both military strength and technology. In order to conceal their existence, they can only pretend to be female Zerg.

When asked about their hometown, they all say they're lost, on a remote, unnamed planet, and they don't know where it is.

Anyone who asks her about her health will assume that she had a developmental problem as a child and is disabled.

Power-enhancing drugs are no good; how could one possibly become stronger out of thin air?

That was a drug that Qin Qin researched and gave to Gao Xing. Gao Xing was fine because he had been subjected to human experiments and had a continuous supply of high-energy alpha blood. However, if an ordinary person took it, they would overdraw their potential and burn through their lifespan.

Orion didn't care; he used this to deceive the weak Zerg race.

Years ago, they thought all the Zerg were bad guys, and that they didn't care if they cheated or not, they could just die. They thought it was their own fault for cheating each other, and they would cheat as many as they could. After Orion discovered the drug, they didn't hide it and gave it to Orion.

I just didn't expect it.

The boomerang thrown many years ago has returned nearly twenty years later.

It struck their child squarely between the eyebrows.