"Who the hell is sending spam like this at a time like this…" Killua glanced at the sender's name—and couldn't help but complain.
"Why would someone send this to us?" Gon felt there had to be more to it than met the eye.
The others who had been strategizing with them also gathered around.
"Let's just finish reading it first…" Killua took a deep breath, suppressed the unease brought on by the title, and forced himself to keep reading.
The more he read, the more…
"Sui is amazing!" Gon suddenly exclaimed.
"Don't you feel… like something's off?" Killua couldn't help asking.
The enemy commander—non-human species, mother died in childbirth, born gifted, killed his father as a child, then invaded the human royal palace…
And the three female generals who looked down on the heroine…
Wasn't this clearly alluding to the Ant King and the three Royal Guards?!
Sure, the details were changed—the gender of two guards swapped, the mother turned into a father…
But anyone who knew the real situation would see right through it!
"Ah! So this story is about the Ant King? Is someone using this to send us intel? But… why not use a method that's easier to understand?" Gon scratched his head in confusion.
"Good question," Killua nodded.
"It says here that while Sui was playing chess with the commander, the human camp sent an assassin to the palace to try to kill the King—but the three generals intercepted them, a fierce battle broke out, and the assassin barely escaped… That assassin—don't tell me it's supposed to be Knov?" Killua had a speechless look.
Whoever wrote this really oversold Knov's abilities. Three generals versus one and he got away? Knov himself wouldn't believe that was about him!
"But… the Ant King cut off his own arm, which means Neferpitou was treating him at that time," Gon suddenly realized.
One of their biggest questions was finally answered.
But still… who wrote this kind of story?!
"The sender…" Killua looked at the name in the sender field: Maro Pelisha. A certain face popped into his mind.
This awkward, inexplicable style… could it really be that guy?
How does he even know so much about what's happening inside the palace?!
Come to think of it… Knov did mention seeing him at the palace once.
Apparently, he was living like a fish in water over there.
The two of them forwarded the file to Knuckle and Morel.
Then Gon even called Morel directly.
"The Ant King injured himself, which gave Knov an opening to sneak in?" Morel sounded shocked.
Was the Ant King insane?
"Just… read the file I sent you," Gon said, a bit stiffly.
"…" Morel glanced at the file and went silent.
Why are you making me read this kind of thing at a time like this?
"It was written by someone in the palace—maybe they're passing us info this way," Gon explained.
"…" Morel read the baffling short story with the face of someone trying to decipher ancient scripture.
Now, not only did he think the Ant King was crazy, he also thought the person who wrote this—and the ones claiming it was about the Ant King—were all insane too.
Everyone's gone mad.
And yet… the plot was surprisingly coherent, even subtly matching real events.
Though clearly dressed up—after all, in real life, Knov had never actually fought the Royal Guards.
Suddenly, a broadcast came on, ordering everyone to gather in the square.
People who had been staying inside opened their doors. Men, women, children, young and old alike, all poured out and walked in the same direction.
A dense sea of people, shoulder to shoulder, stretched as far as the eye could see.
Armed soldiers stood atop tanks to maintain order among the crowd.
The three Royal Guards watched from the spire of the palace, gazing into the distance. The Ant King stood on the balcony, lost in thought.
For the first time since his birth, he pondered the meaning of his existence.
Nearby, Cyr sat cross-legged in midair, floating leisurely, scribbling away furiously with pen and paper.
Whenever inspiration stalled, he would strike up a quick conversation with the Ant King.
"What are you thinking about?" Cyr asked curiously.
The Ant King looked at the white-haired, red-eyed boy floating midair and felt that perhaps only this person could truly understand him.
Because… they were equals.
The three Royal Guards treated him as their King—unquestioning obedience, as expected.
The twin siblings only ever stared at him in silence.
But this human before him could actually converse with him as an equal, speaking on topics he couldn't bring up even during chess with Komugi.
"I was born a King… but who am I really? What is the purpose of my birth?" the Ant King murmured.
"The purpose of a King? Well… expanding territory, waging wars, protecting your people, I suppose," Cyr mused.
Just like how his own dad, when talking about the family business, always told him that once Cyr took over, he'd have to grow and protect the company, ensure employees' livelihoods… If the company collapsed, dozens or hundreds of families would lose their income, or something like that.
So after his dad got addicted to gambling, Cyr's granddad pinned all his hopes on Cyr instead.
"That's the purpose of a King's birth," the Ant King said, showing neither agreement nor disapproval.
"But you are a King, aren't you? Just like the Queen's purpose was to give birth to you. After you were born, she lost her ability to reproduce and was immediately discarded by the others," Cyr added dryly. "Only humans even bother to ponder their own existence."
If the Ant King didn't have human genes, he wouldn't be thinking like this—just like the Queen, who literally gave her life to birth him.
"And you? As a human, have you thought about the meaning of your own existence?" the Ant King asked, eyes fixed on the floating boy.
"Nope," Cyr answered without hesitation. "Only people who are lost about the future think about that sort of thing."
And he was never lost.
Before transmigrating, his goal was to grow up, inherit the family business, and not bankrupt it. After transmigrating? He let loose. As long as he was in the mood, he could do anything.
Never once felt empty or directionless.
"I… am uncertain about the future?" the Ant King whispered.
You look pretty lost, actually.
This is why you need to care about kids' mental health.
"You're starting to get boring," Cyr sighed, putting away his pen and paper.
He'd lost interest in the Ant King.
The story of a domineering monster king falling for a human girl was dramatic and worth a watch, sure. But what he wanted to see was contact between the non-human and human—not the Ant King falling into an existential crisis.
To Cyr, this shift in the King just made him seem more human.
And drama between humans? That held no appeal for him.
Cyr only liked non-human monsters.
If anything, he would've preferred Neferpitou—if only Pitou were a bit stronger.
At least Pitou acted purely on whim, unless it involved the King.
"I… boring?" the Ant King's pupils quivered, his purple eyes filled with disbelief.
That comment seemed to hit him like a mental earthquake.
"Go find someone else to talk to. I'm not your life coach. Bye." Cyr vanished on the spot.
Leaving the Ant King standing there alone, lost in a mental storm.
A golden-haired chimera hovered above, shimmering wing scales scattering down as they fluttered.
The wind carried the dust into the crowd below—those who inhaled it lost their self-awareness, eyes hollow like puppets.
Even if someone next to them died the next second, they wouldn't react.
Neferpitou sat cross-legged on the railing, still manipulating her puppet.
"See anything interesting?" Cyr reappeared beside her and asked casually, as if they were old friends.
"Seems you humans have someone hiding in that crowd," Pitou replied without hesitation.
"Oh yeah? Guess they're ready to move," Cyr muttered, opening the two smaller eyes beneath his main pair and scanning the crowd half-heartedly.
No one had infiltrated the crowd—he knew that.
Not with Knov's ability in play. The infiltrators were probably all waiting in that sterile white room of his.
He wondered who'd be part of the operation this time.
°°°
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