The instant the hatch door closed, Ella heard the lock tongue click into place.
Yiwen’s footsteps paused outside for two seconds, then faded away, swallowed by the sound of the waves. Ella stared at the grayish-white metal door, reached out, and tugged the handle. It didn’t budge. They had really locked her inside.
“Haah…”
She turned around. Her gaze swept across the cramped cabin. The lifeboat’s interior was far smaller than she had imagined—only a little wider than a shipping container.
Hooks lined the walls, holding random odds and ends: a coil of rope, a wrinkled raincoat, half a bag of moldy biscuits.
Wooden crates were stacked in the corner, lids open and empty—even rats wouldn’t bother visiting.
Finally her eyes landed on the culture tank.
The transparent glass glowed with a faint blue fluorescence in the morning light. More than half the nutrient fluid remained inside. A slender figure floated within.
Ella walked over, squatted down, and rested her hands on her knees, watching her like a child peering into a fish tank at tropical fish.
“Haah… Now there’s no one left to chat with.”
She leaned closer. Her warm breath fogged a small patch on the glass.
“They really didn’t even leave anyone to watch the place?”
She paused, turning the words over in her mind.
“Oh, right. I’m the one watching the place.”
She straightened her numb legs and shifted position. From this angle, the blue-haired woman in the tank looked even taller than before.
Now that she was really looking, she realized the figure was taller than her, Dieyi, or Zhuluo, with broader shoulders and longer legs—the kind where everything below the waist was just legs.
A complete blue-haired onee-san type.
“Wow, she’s so tall.”
Ella tilted her head. Her silver hair slid off her shoulder and hung beside the glass.
“As expected of my taste. She’s really beautiful.”
“I think so too, Your Majesty. It is my greatest honor that you granted me this appearance.”
Huh?
Ella blinked. Who was speaking? Was there anyone else in the cabin? She glanced left and right—empty walls, empty crates, empty hooks. Then her gaze slowly returned to the culture tank.
It couldn’t be her!
Behind the glass, the eyelids were slowly opening. Blue pupils, like an ice lake in deep winter, gradually revealed themselves through the lashes.
Those eyes met hers directly.
The nutrient fluid began draining from the bottom outlet with a gurgling sound. The blue liquid flowed away, the level dropping visibly—from chest to waist, waist to knees—leaving a shiny wet patch on the floor.
The hatch opened.
A foot stepped out—pale and luminous, toes long and nails neatly trimmed. It left a clear, glistening footprint on the damp floor.
The blue-haired insect maiden emerged from the culture tank. Her height was even more exaggerated than Ella had estimated. Standing in front of her, she looked like a straight white poplar tree. Nutrient fluid dripped from her hair tips and fingertips, sparkling in the morning light.
She wore no clothes, yet stood there completely unashamed, making no attempt to cover herself. Nudity seemed perfectly natural to her.
Then she knelt.
One knee touched the ground, right fist pressed to her chest, left hand braced on the floor, head bowed low. Her blue hair fell on either side of her face. The posture was like a European knight swearing fealty to a monarch—solemn, reverent, every angle measured as if with a protractor.
Ella instinctively stepped back twice. Her heel bumped into a wooden crate behind her with a dull thud.
Her brain hadn’t fully processed it yet. The blue-haired insect maiden had finally awakened.
She had waited days, hoped for days. From the moment the Insect Nest was destroyed until now, this was the one thing that made her feel “at least not everything is ruined.”
“Ohhh!”
Her voice carried unconcealed excitement. You’re finally awake! Quick, say something else! I’ve lost the swarm; you’ll have to keep me company now…
“I am Shuang Ling.”
The blue-haired insect maiden lifted her head. Her blue pupils calmly regarded her.
“The insect maiden you created using scorpion DNA.”
Her voice was low but every word was crisp. Like Yiwen, when she stood, Ella had to tilt her head up to see her face.
“I have been listening to your conversations for a while. The transfer station is a good location.”
“If we can secure it, we will have the chance to expand the swarm across the world. The entire world will be yours to command.”
“Huh?”
Ella froze.
She looked at Shuang Ling’s profile—that cold, expressionless face like an ice sculpture.
This big sister… all she talks about is expanding the swarm?
Oh no!
Her personality must have been set by the old her. During that period, Ella’s mind had been filled with nothing but expansion, conquest, spreading the swarm to every sea. Of course the insect maiden she created wouldn’t be a pacifist. This was a full-blown warmonger!
Shuang Ling retrieved a set of clothes from a nearby temporary storage compartment. Someone must have prepared it in advance—it was a perfect combo of hotpants, black stockings, and a short top. Black hotpants that ended mid-thigh, black stockings running from toes to the hem, and a white crop top exposing a strip of smooth skin at the waist.
After pulling on black boots, she turned around.
Ella’s eyes nearly popped out. The already dashing appearance paired with this sharp outfit made her look like she had stepped off the cover of a fashion magazine.
Her gaze lingered for a fraction of a second on Shuang Ling’s waistline, then on her shoulders, and finally on that cold, expressionless face.
So beautiful.
But oh god, she was a war maniac.
Anxiety and helplessness made Ella unconsciously rub her hands. She hesitated, then forced out the truth she knew probably wouldn’t be accepted.
“Shuang Ling, I’ve turned over a new leaf. About the swarm… let’s forget it.”
“What did you say?”
Shuang Ling’s voice was soft, like a snowflake landing on ice, but beneath that snowflake lay a volcano ready to erupt at any moment.
Ella opened her mouth, but before she could say the next word, her wrist was grabbed.
Shuang Ling’s fingers were long and strong, locking around her wrist bone, nails digging into the skin.
Her body was shoved backward hard. Her back slammed into the cabin wall with a dull thud. The back of her head hit the wood, vision flashing black.
Shuang Ling’s face was right in front of her, so close Ella could see the water droplets still clinging to her lashes.
Her right hand pinned Ella’s wrist, left hand braced against the wall beside Ella’s ear. She pressed down like a wall.
Blue hair fell from both sides of her shoulders, enclosing the two of them in a narrow space filled only with each other’s breathing.
“Expanding the swarm is your only mission.”
Her voice trembled with anger.
“Your one and only most important duty.”
Her fingers tightened. Ella could feel her wrist bone creaking faintly under the pressure.
“Ahh! Let go! You’re hurting me!”
“You dare refuse?”
“But… I…”
Oh god… help…
In her heart she let out a pathetic wail that even she found embarrassing—like a small animal caught by the tail.
What should she do?
The mistakes of her past self naturally had to be borne by her present self. But a war maniac… and one created by her back when she still had an entire Insect Nest… her combat power was definitely not something the current group of them could handle… In this situation… what was she supposed to do with her…