I Feel Like None of Them Are Human

On the ravaged land, littered with ruins and debris, new visitors arrived. A girl in cool, punk-style clothing with silver-blue hair stepped onto shattered tiles, surveyed the surrounding scene, and couldn't help remarking:

"This is your hometown? It's completely in ruins."

"Well, a civil war broke out here..." Beside her, the silver-haired girl in a cyan dress, [Firefly], replied in the gentle voice belonging to this body.

Undoubtedly, this was the birthplace of the Glamoth Iron Cavalry, the Glamoth Republic, once renowned throughout the universe.

While lending the body to Firefly was simple, figuring out what he himself should do with this body wasn't as clear-cut.

After all, Firefly hadn't asked him to do anything specific.

As for Silver Wolf, that went without saying.

For Silver Wolf, as long as she left Punklorde and entered the cosmos, she hadn't really considered what she wanted to do.

As long as she could play interesting games from other planets in the universe, Miss Silver Wolf was easygoing about their destination.

As for challenges, playing the hero... hmm, felt less appealing than gaming.

It's not like I plan on becoming a Galaxy Ranger!

Therefore, her attitude towards their itinerary was entirely along the lines of 'wherever you go, I'll follow'. You decide where we go, I'm fine with anything.

Unable to get suggestions from Silver Wolf, Jiang Qiao naturally chose to follow the inclinations arising from the body he was using.

The desire for companions had been eased by Silver Wolf joining.

What remained was a kind of... nostalgia.

Carrying the cocoon formed from the residual information of the Iron Cavalry, [Firefly] found himself curious about the manufacturer of this body, the Glamoth Republic.

Although the fact of being deceived and the reality of its destruction fostered complex feelings towards this homeland among the Iron Cavalry...

These surviving Glamoth Iron Cavalry, adrift, still ultimately longed to 'go home'.

Even if the Glamoth Empire and the Empress they served were just a facade concocted by the council, they still pinned their concept of 'home' onto the source of that facade, the Glamoth Republic.

Unfortunately, the Iron Cavalry who chose to continue fulfilling their duty until death never had the chance to do so.

And now, this longing lingered as a 'yearning' within this fervent chest, difficult to suppress.

Thus, [Firefly] made his suggestion:

"Want to visit my hometown?"

A very simple proposal.

But to Silver Wolf's ears, it sounded somewhat like 'Want to come to my place?' or "Want to come home with me?"

Although she knew the meaning of 'home' for [Firefly] was vastly different from her own concept, and that the cloned Glamoth Iron Cavalry couldn't possibly have 'family' in the traditional sense...

Hearing these words, Miss Silver Wolf still got a distinct 'Come on, let's go meet the parents' vibe.

So, playing the game console Jiang Qiao had given her, she mumbled ambiguously:

"If you say so, then let's go~"

Unfortunately, her initial flicker of excitement vanished completely upon arrival.

After all, no matter how you looked at it, seeing a pile of rubble and ruins, such a desolate scene, couldn't possibly make anyone happy.

This place didn't even compare to Punklorde's Scrapheap.

Fortunately, Silver Wolf hadn't come here expecting beautiful scenery anyway.

Therefore, having harbored no expectations, she wasn't too bothered by the reality.

"According to the Interastral Peace Corporation, I thought most people here were dead."

"But I did a quick search, and there are still quite a few surviving life signs on this planet. Tsk... you Glamoth people sure are tenacious." Glancing at the readings displayed on the screen she brought up via Aether Editing, Silver Wolf clicked her tongue in amazement at the alarmingly high values.

Perhaps due to the ravages of civil war, as evident now, this former capital planet of the Glamoth Republic had been reduced mostly to ruins. Also, possibly due to the use of highly polluting weapons after the war, although the planet Balmung itself still maintained its basic structure, the environment theoretically made it very difficult for normal humans to survive here.

"So, want to go see these 'compatriots' of yours?"

"...Mm, let's go take a look."

The two traveled westward, eventually stopping in a desolate plain.

Not far away, a white-haired young man seemed to be battling a group of strange beasts.

"Weird. This dump is already in such a bad state, but there are still people... and even wild beasts?"

"Mmm... The universe is vast. It wouldn't be strange for some creatures with strong vitality to exist," Jiang Qiao offered this explanation in response to Silver Wolf's remark. "He seems to be losing ground. Let's go help him."

"Fine..."

Creatures resembling a cross between wolves and rats, each as large as a tiger, menacingly surrounded the young man wielding an iron tool.

Although he looked quite agile, he didn't seem able to hold out much longer.

However, as one beast lunged towards him, before he could defend, it vanished into points of data light like a match-3 game elimination.

The remaining wolf-rats were stunned, instinctively taking a step back, but the next moment, they suddenly burst into flames.

The silver-haired girl in the cyan dress lowered her hand.

While blasting things with the Firefly mech seemed more fitting for this body, considering the Glamoth Republic's complex attitude towards the Iron Cavalry, and to avoid unpredictable reactions from potential natives due to that appearance, Jiang Qiao chose to use the Punklorde combat techniques he had just learned from Silver Wolf.

However, unlike Silver Wolf's preference for 'packaging' enemies with Aether Pockets, he now rather enjoyed using this trick to modify a target's reality constants, for example, by setting them on fire like this.

It felt... quite fun, like a game.

"Hm?"

Watching the struggling wolf-rat beasts, [Firefly]'s expression turned strange.

Logically, this fire should have been enough to burn them directly to ash.

But this strange healing ability... and what was this power...

He chose to increase the heat.

This time, they finally stopped struggling and, amidst mournful cries, burned away into fiery particle effects.

The sharp, piercing screams made Silver Wolf rub her ears and complain:

"Seriously, do you just enjoy burning things?"

"And what kind of awful noise is this stupid thing making? It looks like a rat and a wolf, but its screech sounds just like... ugh."

Grumbling, before she could finish, the white-haired young man had already walked over.

"Thank you both for your help."

He was very polite, but Jiang Qiao found himself staring at the young man's face.

"Uh... Is there something on my face?"

"Not really... You just look a bit like an old acquaintance of mine." Honestly, this person looked quite unfamiliar. Jiang Qiao was sure he had never seen him before, nor was he in Firefly's memories.

But although a stranger, this face bore a striking resemblance to that guy Siegfried...

Definitely a father-son look.

Recalling the younger Siegfried he had seen before, he thought.

"Uh... Anyway, thank you both for your assistance. My name is Sigmund."

Heh, not only do they look like father and son, even their names are linked.

While Jiang Qiao mused internally, the man calling himself Sigmund spoke first:

"You two... must be from the outside world, right?"

"Whoa, figured it out right away. Pretty sharp eyes you got there."

"You jest. The Glamoth Republic was once a renowned nation in the universe, after all. Besides, after the war, this planet fell into dire straits. The survivors can't afford to dress as splendidly as you two."

"If you don't mind, perhaps you'd join us at our settlement for a while?"

"Alright."

[Firefly] didn't refuse.

The man named Sigmund hoisted a hunted animal onto his shoulder and led the way.

Before long, near a pool of water, they saw a camp constructed from scrap building materials.

There were several dozen people in the camp.

Among them were many children.

It was evident that resources here were extremely scarce.

This couldn't be helped. Balmung, while the capital planet of the Glamoth Republic, was also the origin point of the Glamoth people. They exhausted its resources, ventured into the stars, and after growing powerful, chose to develop this already depleted planet into a capital symbolizing political power.

All resources depended on external supply.

But the arrival of war destroyed everything. Unrestrained use of weapons filled the land with radiation and toxins, and even the sky was obscured by thick dust, eliminating the environment needed for agriculture.

"You guys are in such a miserable state, yet you still manage to survive?" Silver Wolf was amazed after hearing all this. Such a harsh environment, and they can still live? Are the Glamoth survivors all Super Saiyans?

"Although growing crops is basically impossible, quite a few plants have survived. And, like those beasts you saw, their numbers are quite large, plentiful in other areas too. Using them as food isn't enough to thrive, but enough to survive."

"You are the ones who saved me. How about it, would you like some?" Sigmund offered a piece of meat. Seeing the bloody, raw meat with detection readings going off the charts, Miss Silver Wolf's eye twitched. She couldn't help complaining to Jiang Qiao beside her:

"Do you Glamoth people eat everything raw?"

She felt like trying that stuff would literally mean 'try it and die'.

"I don't think so..."

[Firefly] shook his head. At least Jiang Qiao found nothing related in Firefly's memories. Compared to raw food, Glamoth people likely preferred grilling, as high temperatures could kill many harmful things and tasted good too.

The Glamoth Iron Cavalry's habit of grilling things stemmed partly from Glamoth dietary customs, besides being efficient for eliminating bugs.

"Grilling would be better."

"Grilling would be too wasteful. High heat destroys many nutrients and juices. Eating it raw like this allows us to obtain many nutrients," Sigmund disagreed, shaking his head.

According to him, the surviving Glamoth people seemed to prefer eating raw food.

Setting aside the taste, the feeling of fullness was satisfying enough, and the taste of raw food wasn't bad either—the chewy flesh, the crunchy bones.

It was all about the original flavor.

Besides, fire was dangerous, wasn't it?

There wasn't a single spark of fire in the camp.

"Without fire, doesn't it get dark?"

"Dark...? That's nothing, our eyesight is quite good."

Like fireflies in the night, although the environment was harsh, these surviving Glamoth people seemed to be adapting, developing night vision... perhaps?

After chatting with the people in the camp, Silver Wolf couldn't help saying:

"I just feel like these people are really weird..."

"How so?"

"It just feels... like none of them are normal people? But then again, this crappy environment on Glamoth probably wouldn't produce normal people... Ah, I'm not talking about you!"

"It's fine, don't mind me."

"What do you think of these compatriots of yours?"

"Me?"

"...I feel like they aren't human."

"Eh?"

"Don't scare me... Why did it suddenly turn into a horror story?"

"No, but their way of life is very problematic."

"It's a way solely focused on continuation, on surviving more efficiently. This isn't a human way of survival. It's more like... insects."

"Are you saying they're all insects in disguise?"

Jiang Qiao pondered Silver Wolf's suggestion.

In the past, during the Swarm Disaster, the Aeon of Propagation had numerous Emanators under its command, much like the Xianzhou's Seven Arbiter-Generals of the Hunt. The Emanators of Propagation were called 'Swarm Kings'.

And among the Swarm Kings, there was indeed one capable of deceiving others, fooling their perception—the Deceiver Lord.

Its ability, like the True Stings appearing on Jarilo-VI, could confuse enemies, making them perceive it as one of their own.

However...

"That's not right... It shouldn't be a disguise."

"I specifically analyzed their physical structure. While there are indeed parts different from ordinary humans, overall, they definitely fall within the human category."

"Besides, if it were a disguise, they would surely be thinking about how to attack us... But you should be able to tell, right? They hold no hostility." The silver-haired girl said this while observing the figures in the camp.

Silver Wolf agreed:

"That's true. Besides their weird habits, they're actually pretty nice people. Especially that kid named Gunnar, his gaming skills aren't bad at all."

"And their attitude towards insects is quite hostile."

Like the Glamoth Republic's past, although the Glamoth Empire the Iron Cavalry believed in was a sham, the Glamoth Republic's fight against the Swarm was not fake.

The universe-plaguing Swarm inflicted unprecedented damage upon the regions under Glamoth jurisdiction, solidifying the people's determination to fight against them.

It could be said that every Glamoth person hated insects.

When chatting, mentioning insects visibly displeased the people in the camp.

As if the insects were their mortal enemies.

"What now?"

Facing Silver Wolf's question, [Firefly] seemed to sense something and looked towards a certain direction, saying softly:

"Let's check out that direction. I feel a power disturbing the flow of Imaginary energy there... Perhaps we can find answers there."

He gently touched his chest, feeling that extremely strange yet familiar sensation inexplicably arising from within this body.