Ella pointed at the constantly rocking ship beneath her feet.
Her pupils narrowed with reluctance as she looked down.
“By the way, can we stop the ship?”
She pointed downward again.
“If the ship keeps moving like this, I won’t be able to sleep at all…”
“We can’t stop for now.”
“Why?”
“Someone has their eyes on us.”
Ella’s pupils contracted slightly.
“What? Other players?”
“That’s right.”
Yiwen’s expression became a little more serious.
“It’s a group of players with the Werewolf class. They’ve formed a sea raiding party that spends every day burning, killing, and plundering.”
“This…”
Ella fell silent.
In comparison, my past self was really quite well-behaved… She had always stayed put in one place, slowly developing by eating stones.
She had never proactively provoked anyone, nor had anyone provoked her.
Her Insect Nest had drifted across the sea for ten years without ever encountering a raiding party.
Thinking about it now, it was probably because her Insect Nest had been too large.
So large that no raiding party with any brains would dare touch it.
But that was then, and this was now.
She was no longer the Insect Mother.
At least, not completely.
“I can create a swarm to fight them.”
Ella’s voice suddenly shifted.
Her crimson pupils narrowed slightly.
She lifted her chin, revealing her fair, slender neck.
That angle, that expression, and the innate composure of a predator and sovereign radiating from her bones made her completely unrecognizable from the silver-haired girl who had been stepped on by Dieyi, who had squatted on the table unable to pee, or who had curled up trembling in the corner.
The corners of her mouth curved upward into a sharp arc brimming with killing intent.
Predatory ferocity overflowed from her eyes like two newly unsheathed blades.
Yiwen looked at her.
Ella’s suddenly unfamiliar face was reflected in her red pupils.
“This is the bridge, Your Majesty.”
Under Yiwen’s lead, Ella walked through the corridor, climbed a narrow staircase, and pushed open a heavy wooden door.
The view suddenly opened up before her.
The bridge was not large, but it was much cleaner than she had imagined.
The steering wheel stood proudly in the center, its brass rim polished to a brilliant shine that gave off a warm glow in the morning light.
In front of the wheel was a row of portholes.
The curved glass framed the entire sea—vast, azure, and sparkling with ripples.
Below the portholes sat a row of instrument panels densely packed with needles and scales.
Red and green indicator lights flickered faintly.
In Ella’s memory, a ship of this caliber was not particularly high-tier.
It basically counted as a beginner vessel.
When she had first transmigrated ten years ago, the system had assigned her a ship even smaller than this one.
Later, after acquiring the Insect Nest, she had dismantled the ship entirely and used its materials for the nest’s framework.
“Ever since I got the Insect Nest, it’s been a very long time since I’ve set foot on a bridge like this.”
Ella walked over to the porthole and poked the glass with her finger.
It felt ice-cold.
“To be honest, I don’t know the first thing about sailing…”
She turned around.
Her gaze swept from the steering wheel to the instrument panels, from the panels to the radar screen, and from the radar screen to the lever in the corner whose purpose she couldn’t guess.
Aside from the steering wheel—which just about anyone could fiddle with—she basically recognized nothing.
“It’s alright, Your Majesty.”
Yiwen stepped up to the wheel, gripped it with both hands, and made a slight adjustment to their course.
Her movements were fluid, as if she had performed them countless times.
She pushed with her left hand and pulled with her right.
The brass rim turned smoothly in her palms, accompanied by a faint clack of meshing gears.
Ella looked out the porthole.
The azure sea parted before the bow in a white wake as the ship slowly changed direction.
Sunlight poured through gaps in the clouds, casting shifting patterns of light and shadow across the water.
“So what about those pirates you mentioned?”
Ella pulled her gaze back and looked at Yiwen’s profile.
The red-haired older sister’s attention remained fixed on the wheel.
Her red pupils reflected the sea outside, her expression calm and focused.
“I don’t know.”
Yiwen released one hand and pointed to a screen beneath the porthole.
The green radar display was empty, with only a single blinking light point representing their own ship in the center.
“They’ve disappeared for the time being.
There’s no sign of them on radar either.”
Ella glanced at the radar.
The green screen showed no other targets.
It was completely clean, like an empty field.
“Since they’ll show up sooner or later…”
She paused, her crimson pupils narrowing slightly.
“I suppose I need to go produce some swarm.”
“How do you intend to do it?”
Yiwen turned to look at her.
Her red eyes held a serious, appraising glint.
“How else?”
The corner of Ella’s mouth twitched.
“By peeing, of course…”
Her voice came out muffled, laced with a resigned “I give up” tone.
Although Dieyi had interrupted her last night in the storeroom and nothing had been accomplished, creating the bacterial carpet was something that ultimately had to be done.
No matter how humiliating the process or what obstacles she encountered, she needed the swarm.
An Insect Mother without a swarm was nothing at all.
“Let’s head to the deck then.”
Yiwen released the steering wheel and walked toward the door.
Her short boots struck the floor with crisp clacks.
“Alright.”