I will eventually become a divine being through accumulating constantly

Qiao Ying bit her lip when she heard the words on the broadcast.

The Sea Bee Swarm, they'd really come after all, Mr. Hu was truly as sly as ever.

But the course and outcome of events had turned out completely different from what they'd envisioned, Mr. Hu truly lived up to his reputation.

'We can only retreat for now...'

She glanced at the man with the Wei surname, cut in half at the waist, and the strange cat-eared woman speeding closer, then twisted her body mid-air and flew out through the large hole in the ceiling left by the revolver.

As she flew through the hole, she couldn't help looking back one more time.

From this angle, she couldn't make out the young man's full face, only the portion below his pale, slender neck.

Driven by an instinct to dodge responsibility, she was tempted to blame the entire fiasco on the boy, accusing him of being too charming, a veritable disaster brought on by beauty.

Yet the heartfelt affection within her refused to allow such blame-shifting.

Just seeing him again, Qiao Ying's thoughts changed from 'regret over a failed mission' to 'deep regret that she didn't get to have a round with him.'

"It's all Wei Chu's fault, that idiot. Just wanted to play around and let off some steam, why did he have to stop it with such extreme measures, driving things to this point!"

Having found a new scapegoat, Qiao Ying sighed, her form emerging from the hole, intending to fly away from the swaying giant cruise ship.

At that moment, a shadow flashed in the void.

When she snapped back to reality, Qiao Ying realized her limbs were neatly severed, with clean cuts, and blood scattered in the air as they fell.

And her trunk, reduced to a stick figure, was gripped by a delicate hand; five silver-white claws pierced her scalp and skull as if through tofu, holding her firmly in hand.

In the next moment, everything blurred before her eyes, and Qiao Ying found herself back inside the casino.

In front of her was the handsome young man whose pupils had, for some reason, turned silver-white.

He was sitting on a card table, legs crossed, hand supporting his chin, elbow resting on his knee, seemingly unaffected by the rocking ship, his posture exceptionally stable.

At his feet lay Wei Chu, cut in half at the waist, motionless.

"You've got some skills, Teacher Wan," Xue Jing remarked with admiration.

He looked at Ning Feng Wan in front of him, wearing a black lace dress, her long hair elegantly updo, exuding an air of class and elegance.

Beneath her slender legs were a pair of black pointed high heels with red soles... very sexy, yet she had just been running up walls in those shoes, taking down an enemy. Absolutely preposterous.

"Ahem."

Pleased by the praise, Ning Feng Wan cleared her throat with some pride, straightening her slender waist even more.

"What should we do now, the situation seems quite dire," the girl asked, feeling the violent shaking of the ship.

"We've been sailing for several hours; if we capsize, we have no idea if we could swim back."

Before Xue Jing could reply, the stick figure in Ning Feng Wan's grip, Qiao Ying, sneered:

"The sea is full of Sea Wasps now. Once we're in the water, we'll be stung to death; how could we possibly swim back?"

"Hmm?" Ning Feng Wan's fingers tightened, her claws digging deeper into the woman's skull she was holding.

"Hiss — It really hurts, girl, they're almost into my brain, can you stop pressing?"

Qiao Ying took a cold breath and spoke with a somewhat twisted expression.

"Fun fact, the brain doesn't have pain neurons, so getting something stuck in it wouldn't be painful," Ning Feng Wan commented dryly.

"... You're currently damaging my scalp and skull," Qiao Ying replied helplessly.

Xue Jing asked curiously, "Sister, weren't you killed by me just now? Why are you still alive?"

Qiao Ying said matter-of-factly, "It was just a snapped neck, how could that kill me?"

"... Normally, it would," Ning Feng Wan said somewhat incredulously.

"Creak — "

Amidst the rocking, a sound of metal twisting somewhere signaled the dire state of the ship.

Screams echoed faintly from outside, and the loudspeaker instructed the crowd to evacuate with speedy urgency.

After a moment of thought, Xue Jing asked, "Your purpose for boarding the ship was to capture the 'Sea Bee King,' so the Sea Bee Swarm was drawn here by you?"

Qiao Ying nodded affirmatively, "That's correct."

Xue Jing's eyes lit up, he snapped his fingers, looking towards Ning Feng Wan, "See, Teacher Wan, I told you the trouble with the cruise had nothing to do with me. The Sea Bee Swarm was brought here by these two."

"... No, this incident is one hundred percent related to you. It's because you were on this ship that these two showed up and brought the Sea Bee Swarm along," Ning Feng Wan stated with conviction.

Xue Jing was incredulous, "That's sophistry. By that logic, if Earth Star were to be destroyed the next moment, could it also be said it's my fault for living on Earth Star?"

"Bang bang — "

The ship shook violently with a loud noise, as if something massive had fallen on board.

Xue Jing turned to Qiao Ying, "Since you came here to catch the Sea Bee King, you must have a way to deal with the Sea Bee Swarm, right?"

Qiao Ying seemed to want to nod but couldn't as her head was being held; looking at the young man's enticing face, she spoke softly:

"We did have a way..."

"Once the Sea Bee Swarm appears, the numbers can be terrifying, at least a hundred thousand to start with, even reaching a million."

"The Sea Bee King, as the only 'brain' of the swarm, is responsible for directing combat and hides among the millions-strong swarm. Furthermore, it looks almost identical to regular Sea Wasps, making it very hard to find."

"Only by capturing or killing the Sea Bee King and cutting off the pheromones it releases can the Sea Bee Swarm be thrown into disarray and disperse due to the loss of their commander."