Soon, males began trickling down from the upper floors.

However, they were all stopped and required to present their Light Computers for identification before being allowed to enter the main hall.

After everyone’s identities were confirmed, Long Yue’s partner arrived. It was the male she had just met.

"Chenchen, what are you doing here?"

A hurt look flashed in the blond male’s eyes. He asked coquettishly, "Did my female master hope one of the other brothers would come instead?"

"No, no, that’s not it. I was just wondering why they let you come alone. Where are they?"

"The upper floors were also attacked. They’re cleaning up, so they had me come get our female master first."

Long Yue nodded and stood up, preparing to pull Jiang Qin along with her.

But Jiang Qin grabbed her hand first, a suspicious look on her face. "Didn’t you just say the upper floors were attacked? Wouldn’t it be dangerous for us to go up there now?"

Although the first floor had also been attacked, it was well-protected. They hadn’t even seen what was attacking.

The blond male didn’t get angry at being questioned. Instead, he patiently explained, "Everyone is working together to clear out the things upstairs, so it will be clean soon."

"Besides, they’re just weak experimental beasts. But we still don’t know the origin or capabilities of those people outside the first floor."

"There are too many females here. If something really happens, those warriors might not be able to look after you, so we need to rendezvous with the others."

"Miss Jiang, you can come with us, too. Our rooms are on the same floor, anyway."

It all sounded reasonable, but Jiang Qin still felt uneasy. ’Maybe it’s because none of my males have come yet.’

’That shouldn’t be the case. Females have been leaving one after another with their partners, but mine still haven’t arrived!’

She didn’t believe her partners would be unable to spare even one person to come get her.

’So, has something happened to them?’

The blond male urged, "Female master, we need to head upstairs quickly. It’ll be too dangerous if something gets onto the first floor."

Long Yue quickly grabbed Jiang Qin’s wrist. "Sister-in-law, come with us for now. We’ll protect you while you look for my third brother and the others."

Seeing several other females leaving, she grew a little anxious but didn’t rush Jiang Qin.

Jiang Qin kept standing on her tiptoes, looking in every direction, until she finally spotted one of her own partners.

Logically, she should have told Long Yue to go ahead with her partner and stayed behind to wait.

But she just couldn’t shake the feeling of unease, so she held onto Long Yue, unable to bring herself to say, ’You go first.’

The blond male could only urge them again. "Female master, if we don’t go now, more and more people will be heading upstairs. I’m afraid it won’t be safe."

"Miss Jiang is pregnant. If she gets jostled in the crowd..."

"Sister-in-law, don’t hesitate. Let’s go."

"I see Yun Xie coming down. Long Yue, can you wait with me a little longer?"

"Okay," Long Yue agreed without hesitation.

Her new partner, however, looked like he wanted to say something, but in the end, he kept it to himself.

Jiang Qin felt a bit anxious. ’I’m afraid I’m overthinking this and making Long Yue wait for nothing.’

But the thought of letting her out of her sight made her feel deeply uneasy.

’It’s a strange thought. It’s not like Long Yue is weak, and she has so many partners, but I just have this visceral resistance to letting her go.’

’Maybe it’s because I don’t trust Long Yue’s new partner.’

Just then, however, Jiang Qin suddenly felt dizzy again.

"Sister-in-law, are you not feeling well?" Long Yue quickly supported her.

"I’m okay, just a little dizzy. I think I might be seasick."

That would explain why she had felt dizzy ever since boarding the cruise ship.

Hearing this, Long Yue also started to complain, "The pilot’s skills are probably terrible. I never got seasick before, but I’ve been feeling a little dizzy these past two days, too."

"Since Miss Jiang is unwell, we should head upstairs now."

At that moment, people wearing Imperial Army Combat Suits finally entered. They opened the checkpoint gate.

"Ladies, please follow the warriors and evacuate the hall in an orderly fashion. The situation outside has been brought under control."

This time, Jiang Qin didn’t object. Supported by Long Yue, she followed the warriors who had come to lead their evacuation toward one of the corridors.

All the paths upstairs were blocked.

An announcement came from the central control room: "A large-scale cleanup of Alien Beasts is underway on the first floor. All ladies, please follow the warriors and proceed upstairs to take temporary shelter."

"All gentlemen on the upper floors, please return to your rooms. Do not linger in the hallways and obstruct the ladies’ evacuation."

"We ask that all gentlemen focus on clearing the creatures in the vicinity of your own rooms and do not linger in other areas of the cruise ship."

Those males who had been preparing to go downstairs to get their female masters had no choice but to turn back. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Yun Xie was among them.

There were just too many creatures swarming them on the way, which had delayed him. Plus, there were more creatures blocking their room than any other.

If Mo Chen hadn’t finished clearing his own area first and come over to help, he probably would have only just fought his way down to the fifth floor by now.

There was nothing he could do now but fall back, as warriors were already escorting females up the stairwell.

If their two groups crowded together, it would be easy to get ambushed by those little things.

The females were so fragile. If one of them was bitten and poisoned by a creature, they could die on the spot.

So they couldn’t fight with the females for passage, no matter how anxious he was.

’What if... what if Jiang Qin is right here...’

***

Meanwhile, on the other side, Jiang Qin, Long Yue, and a few other familiar-looking females followed the warriors to a different exit.

A warrior explained, "The other exits are crowded right now. To save time, we’ll take the internal elevator over here."

Among the few females was the Federation’s chief person-in-charge, Bai Xingguan.

She was accompanied by only a single young male.

There were five females in total. All were S-level, except for Long Yue, who was A-level.

The other two were S-level females from the Empire, who were also City Star Officials stationed in charge of a certain city.

They had no males with them.

In other words, their current group consisted of five Imperial Warriors, two young males, four S-level females, and one A-level female.

On the way, they encountered some strange creatures and Sea Beasts that lunged at them, but the warriors easily dispatched them all.

They also ran into other groups who were also there to take the internal emergency elevator.

They were also composed of a few warriors protecting three or four females, with only one or two males in tow.

Once they were in the elevator, Jiang Qin noticed that the warrior pressed the button for the top floor.

"We’re taking Bai Xingguan to her floor first, and then we’ll continue down to take the other ladies to theirs. It’s faster to start from the top."

Everyone indicated their understanding.

Bai Xingguan even smiled and said, "We females live on the upper floors anyway. It’s indeed faster to go down from the top."

"Then why not just take the elevator directly to Bai Xingguan’s floor?"

Long Yue asked the very question that was on Jiang Qin’s mind.