Chapter 16: Just Peeing

“Pee, Your Majesty. Pee.”

Dieyi’s voice drifts over lazily from the doorframe, making Ella want to kill her on the spot.

“Tch…”

Ella forces the sound out from between her teeth. Her fingers pinch the edge of her pajama pants tighter and tighter, her knuckles turning white.

Naked provocation. 

Blatant provocation.

As the Insect Mother, she should prove it to this Failure through her actions—she doesn’t care. She doesn’t care about anything at all.

Take off her pants, squat down, pee, and stride away. It’s that simple.

But she just can’t bring herself to do it.

It’s clearly just the simplest sequence of actions—remove her pants, remove her underwear, squat on the table, and relax her bladder toward the floor in front of her.

Her body feels as if it has been nailed in place. 

Her fingers hook onto the waistband, unable to move forward or back. 

She stands frozen like a statue trapped in time.

She curses herself a hundred times in her heart.

This is nothing. I am the Insect Mother.

But her body refuses to listen to her brain. It listens to something else—the gaze resting on her body. 

Those crimson eyes glowing in the darkness. 

That pink-haired figure leaning against the doorframe with her arms crossed and the corners of her mouth curved upward.

“You can definitely do it, right?”

Dieyi’s voice sounds again. This time it carries a coaxing, almost wheedling tone.

“After all, you are our creator, Insect Mother Your Majesty. You’ve always been about practicality and maximizing benefits. You need the Swarm, and the fastest way to spread the bacterial carpet right now is to pee directly—”

She pauses. The upward curve of her lips grows even more pronounced.

“I know you can do it.”

Ella’s temple throbs.

She knows. She knows Dieyi is provoking her. She knows exactly what game this Failure is playing—the oldest, most basic psychological tactic of provocation. 

Anyone with an IQ above eighty could see through it.

She tells herself not to be affected. Just do what she needs to do.

But…

It seems somewhat difficult.

Her hand trembles. 

Not from the cold—the temperature in the warehouse isn’t low enough for that. 

It comes from something else, a surge rising from deep inside her body, something she cannot control, like a tidal wave.

I am the Insect Mother.

I need to cover this entire ocean with the Swarm once more.

For the sake of all that, this is necessary. It’s just peeing a little. Just peeing in front of this Failure—

It’s no big deal!

Ella draws in a deep breath, as if forcing all her hesitation into her lungs, then exhales sharply.

She moves.

“I can see your will.”

Dieyi’s voice is slow and unhurried. 

Each word seems to have been chewed thoroughly in her mouth before being released.

“As expected, your determination to restore the Swarm is so strong and stubborn that you can completely ignore me. Just like how you didn’t even panic for a few seconds after transforming into a female. You truly are the great Insect Mother—always calm, always composed.”

“Tch.”

Ella squeezes out a disdainful sound from between her teeth.

Failure, I won’t let you provoke me anymore.

Just wait. Once the Swarm crawls across the entire ship, I’ll see where you can hide and whether you can still act so arrogantly!

She steps forward and climbs onto the abandoned workbench. 

Dust rises in a small gray cloud beneath her footprints, drifting slowly in the moonlight.

She squats down on the tabletop. Her knees bend, her feet pressing against the cold wooden surface. 

Her entire body coils into a tense spring ready to snap open at any moment.

Then she lifts her head.

Her gaze collides directly with Dieyi’s.

Those crimson pupils stare straight in her direction without blinking, like two burning stars in the darkness.

She can see every subtle shift in the curve of Dieyi’s lips. 

She can see the fine scales on her eyelashes sparkling faintly in the moonlight. 

She can see the pink-haired girl’s posture against the doorframe change from relaxed to focused.

Then she notices it—the other girl’s gaze begins to slide downward.

From her eyes to her lips. From her lips to her neck. From her neck to her collarbone. From her collarbone—

Tch!

Ella abruptly lowers her head and stares fixedly at the floor in front of her.

Ignore her! Ignore her!

She grits her teeth and focuses all her attention on her bladder.

Relax.

Relax.

Pee.

Nothing happens.

She tries again.

Relax. Relax. Don’t be nervous. Pretend she isn’t there. 

You’re alone in the warehouse at night. It’s quiet. No one is watching.

Her bladder sits heavy in her lower abdomen like a stone, completely motionless.

She tries a third time.

Deep breath. Inhale. Exhale. Relax the pelvic floor muscles. Let the urine flow naturally—

Not a single drop.

Silence.

The silence stretches on for a long time.

Long enough for the moonlight to shift from one end of the workbench to the other. 

Long enough for the spiderwebs in the corner of the warehouse to stop swaying. 

Long enough for Ella’s legs to begin aching, going numb, and trembling.

She squats there on the table, completely bare from the waist down, her underwear and pajama pants bunched around her ankles. 

She looks like a rabbit frozen in the glare of headlights, not daring to move an inch.

She cannot pee.

She simply cannot pee.

“What’s the matter, Your Majesty?”

Dieyi’s voice floats over from the doorframe, laced with a knowing, teeth-grinding tone of concern.

Ella’s face burns intensely. 

The heat spreads from the base of her neck to the tips of her ears, from her ear tips to her cheekbones, and from her cheekbones to her forehead. 

Her entire face feels like it is on fire.

She can feel her heartbeat pounding in her eardrums. 

She can feel the blood rushing through her temples. 

She can feel that pent-up, utterly humiliating frustration rampaging wildly inside her chest, making her want to scream.

“I! I just threw up from the ship’s rocking!”

Her voice comes out sharp and rushed.

“There’s nothing left to pee now! It’s not because of you!”

Her fingers clench tightly around her knees, nails digging into her flesh. 

Her eyes remain glued to the floor ahead. 

She doesn’t dare raise her head. She doesn’t dare look at Dieyi’s expression. 

She even breathes more lightly, afraid that any sound she makes will give the Failure new material to mock her with.

Silence.

Then—

“Hoh.”

Dieyi lets out a long, drawn-out, meaningful “Hoh.”

The sound echoes several times in the quiet warehouse before fading away.

“Then how about this?”

Her voice suddenly turns light and cheerful, as if she has come up with a brilliant idea.

“I’ll give you something to replenish your fluids, and then you’ll be able to pee. How about it?”

Ella jerks her head up.

Her gaze meets Dieyi’s. 

In those crimson pupils, she sees her own reflection—a silver-haired girl squatting on the table, bottom exposed, face flushed red all the way down to her neck.

Anger, humiliation, unwillingness, and other indescribable emotions churn violently in her chest like a pot of boiling thick soup.

“If you dare to give it, I dare to drink it!”

When these words burst from her mouth, even Ella herself is startled by the reckless, almost childish ferocity in her own voice.

Her words echo through the warehouse, causing the spiderwebs on the ceiling to sway gently once more.

Dieyi looks at her.

She looks for a long time.

Then the corners of her mouth curve upward.

“Good. Open your mouth.”

“Eh?! What are you taking your pants off for?!”