Chapter 11: Failure! Feel the Majesty of the Insect Mother!

“You!”

The moment she saw the woman who had stepped on her like an ant and ground her into the dirt, Ella’s body reacted before her brain could catch up—retreat, distance, escape this space.

She shrank sharply into the corner of the bathtub, hands shoving against the edge in a desperate scramble to climb out and flee. 

But her fingers slipped on the wet tiles. 

She tumbled back into the water with a splash.

Her whole body trembled. 

Crimson pupils shrank to pinpricks. 

Lips pulled back, baring gritted teeth. She hissed again.

Dieyi did not move.

She simply leaned against the opposite end of the tub, right hand propping up her cheek, gaze drifting lazily to the side. She did not even glance at Ella. 

Her pink hair fanned out across the water like a half-bloomed flower in the mist.

Amid the steam, her expression was blurred and distant, as if Ella’s terrified reaction was nothing more than an irrelevant, unworthy little matter.

“Since you’re here to bathe, hurry up and wash all that filth off. Don’t annoy me.”

Her voice was lazy, the tone one might use on a disobedient pet.

“Ha…”

She even sighed.

There was no hostility in that sigh. Precisely because there was none, Ella felt her fear and rage being completely ignored—ignored by a being she herself had created.

Dieyi’s gaze swept over her, then moved away.

That look held no hatred, no disgust, not even the sadistic pleasure she had shown while grinding Ella’s head into the floor—

Only disappointment.

“Some worthless failure…”

Ella’s voice scraped out from her throat, low and hoarse.

What a joke.

She was nothing but a failure Ella had created! Their very lives had been granted by her! Yet here she was, acting all high and mighty! Ella was the superior one!

She stared at Dieyi.

The water was calm. Steam rose. In the small bathtub they were barely one or two meters apart. Ella glanced at the tentacle behind her and mentally measured the distance—enough. More than enough.

Her heartbeat quickened.

Right now. 

While this Dieyi mongrel was completely naked and defenseless, she would drive the tentacle straight into her body—torment her body and mind at the same time! Let her learn exactly what price came with provoking the Insect Mother!

As the Insect Mother, Ella’s decisiveness was always at maximum.

She slowly submerged the tentacle, guiding it between her own legs, hugging the bottom of the tub, inching it toward Dieyi without disturbing the surface.

Her expression remained unchanged—she even deliberately looked away toward a corner of the ceiling, pretending to be the one who could not be bothered.

The tip of the tentacle crossed the midpoint of the tub.

A little farther.

Just a little farther.

She could already feel the warmth radiating from Dieyi’s body.

“Hm?”

Dieyi made a soft sound of confusion and glanced down at the water.

Now!

Ella’s tentacle shot forward like a striking snake.

“Hahahaha!”

Her laughter exploded inside the bathroom, sharp and triumphant.

“Almost there! Failure! Let’s see what you can do now!”

A flush rose on her cheeks—whether from the hot water or pure excitement, she did not know. 

She would humiliate Dieyi from head to toe. 

Only then could she swallow this humiliation. 

Right now her tentacle was right beneath Dieyi—only a few centimeters away from that spot.

“That was close.”

Dieyi’s voice held no panic, only playful mockery.

“I nearly let Your Majesty take my first time.”

Ella’s smile froze for a split second.

“Right! Wait… you actually care about—”

Her brain caught up.

“Something like that?”

Her voice rose sharply.

“Failure! Do you even understand your current situation? If I want to, I can inject DNA straight into your body! Then you can start preparing to become a mother! Of course—”

The corners of her mouth stretched into a near-feral grin. 

For a moment the shadow of a gigantic queen insect baring vicious fangs flickered across her face.

“Those children won’t be born peacefully. They’ll drain every last nutrient from your body and burst out of your chest like aliens!”

She waited for terror to appear on Dieyi’s face.

“Scared now? Hahahaha!”

“Heh.”

Dieyi laughed.

The sound was soft, almost swallowed by the steam, yet Ella heard every syllable clearly.

“Since I dared to share a bath with you while completely naked—”

Dieyi finally turned her gaze toward her. Crimson pupils looked at Ella through the mist, calm as still water.

“Of course I’m not afraid.”

She tilted her head. Pink hair slid off her shoulder, revealing a fair neck and collarbone.

“My dear creator, Your Majesty, you really have forgotten everything.”

Her voice floated lightly, stating a simple fact.

“Just what kind of monster I became after that string of hellish experiments you performed.”

Ella’s pupils contracted sharply.

“What?!”

Her instincts screamed—something was wrong.

She poured all her strength into the tentacle, thrusting it forward.

The tip made contact with Dieyi’s lower abdomen.

In that instant Ella felt her tentacle strike a red-hot iron plate. Not heat—something like electricity surged from Dieyi’s skin, racing up the tentacle’s surface at blinding speed.

“This—is—what—ugh… AAAAAAHHH!”

Pain erupted from the tentacle’s tip, as if every nerve ending had been plunged into concentrated sulfuric acid. 

The agony did not come from outside; it burned from within, spreading along every fiber straight into her body.

She tried to retract the tentacle, but her muscles no longer obeyed.

“I can secrete venom that seeps into the bloodstream—”

Dieyi’s voice drifted through the vortex of pain, still calm, still lazy.

“And spread across the entire body surface.”

“Impossible!”

Ella’s voice cracked, trembling beyond her control.

“I would never design something like this!”

“You designed it yourself.”

Dieyi’s gaze rested on the tentacle that had already begun turning black. Her expression did not change.

“To suppress the swarm’s expansion—”

She paused.

“And to suppress the old you.”

“What?! Aaaahhh! It hurts!”

The neurotoxin pain intensified, racing from the tentacle into her tailbone and shooting up her spine.

She felt her back convulsing, the tissue in the tentacle necrotizing, something like liquid fire flowing through her veins.

Her hands shook. Her legs shook. Her teeth chattered.

Then she made a decision.

She opened her mouth, lowered her head, and bit down hard on the middle of the tentacle.

The sensation of teeth sinking into her own flesh nearly made her vomit, but the fresh pain—pain she inflicted herself—cleared her mind for a split second. She clenched her jaw, bit harder, and harder still, until her teeth met.

“Ugh—!”

She jerked her head back, a severed piece of tentacle clamped between her teeth.

The severed length slipped from her mouth and floated on the water. 

It had already changed from soft pink to near-black, its surface covered in eerie, scorched-looking patterns.

She spat out the sickly-sweet fluid and gasped for air.

Blood still seeped from the stump, but the burning pain from within had finally stopped.

Tch…

She cursed inwardly.

Who knew how long it would take to regrow…

“Your turn is over.”

Dieyi’s voice came from the other side, still perfectly calm.

“My turn.”