Chapter 278: The Treasure and the Queen Bee

Charlot had spent far too much time in the Infinite Mirror World, and his infiltration of the Queen Bee—where he had killed several individuals—was finally exposed.

He quickly turned his head away, not daring to linger. Golden Ram Herolf, after all, was a Saint Rank powerhouse who might sense something unusual.

Though it was only a fleeting moment, Golden Ram Herolf glanced at the porthole. However, he did not suspect anything. The Queen Bee was no ordinary magical ship. As one of the twelve legendary warships of the Seven Seas, it was believed that no one could come and go freely aboard it.

Moreover, his captain’s quarters were protected by two Transcendents and a Fate Serpent, ensuring no one could enter unnoticed.

Golden Ram Herolf was furious. He roared, “An enemy managed to sneak aboard the Queen Bee! What in the world have you all been doing?”

“And you still haven’t found the infiltrator?”

“Damn it! Damn it!”

Herolf’s subordinates, reprimanded harshly, did not dare to speak. They were equally baffled—how could anyone have infiltrated the Queen Bee, especially when it was anchored at Saint Michael Island, a place impenetrable to outsiders?

When questioned, no one had seen any unfamiliar faces boarding the ship.

Charlot had previously encountered several pirates who didn’t like meddling in others’ affairs. These individuals knew better than to attract trouble. Golden Ram Herolf’s temperament was volatile and unpredictable. Reporting a sighting of a stranger would only result in accusations of negligence and likely severe punishment.

The pirates who had managed to survive under Herolf’s command were well-acquainted with his temper and understood the importance of self-preservation.

This inadvertently worked in Charlot’s favor.

After venting his rage, Golden Ram Herolf slumped into the captain’s chair, still fuming. “I will make the Queen Bee uncover the intruder,” he declared.

Herolf lightly rubbed a golden ring on his finger. Soon, a faint buzzing sound filled the air, growing louder until it reverberated from the bow to the stern. Every corner of the ship was filled with the sound of wings vibrating.

Countless bizarre black insects materialized out of thin air, conducting a meticulous search of every nook and cranny of the Queen Bee.

Charlot dared not look outside, fearing he might alarm Golden Ram Herolf. Yet, the Infinite Mirror World reflected everything in the real world, including the black insects, whose mirrored forms now appeared within the mirrored realm.

Charlot caught one of the black insects and found it vaguely familiar. Suddenly, he recalled something—back in Cappadocia, he had killed two of Chatham’s subordinates, Redbeard Morgan and Jack the Wasp, and had obtained two Extraordinary Artifacts: a delicate crystal vial and a Bag of Insects.

The black insects from the Bag of Insects were identical to the one now in his hand.

At the time, Charlot hadn’t examined them closely. Now, upon closer inspection, the insect resembled a wasp, albeit slimmer and larger, entirely black with faint dark-red markings.

Charlot mused, “So this is the Queen Bee? It certainly lives up to its name. But what’s the connection between the Queen Bee and the Bag of Insects?”

“I remember hearing that Redbeard Morgan and Jack the Wasp brought two Extraordinary Artifacts back from some deep-sea treasure. Could that treasure be related to the Queen Bee?”

He let the mirrored Queen Bee fly off without making any move, waiting silently. Golden Ram Herolf commanded the insects to search the ship three times, inside and out, but they found nothing. This left Herolf increasingly uneasy.

An enemy capable of infiltrating the Queen Bee, evading detection, and possibly hiding onboard was a deeply troubling prospect.

Reluctant to admit his failure, Herolf muttered, “Lucky bastard. He must have already escaped.”

He dismissed his crew and remained alone in the captain’s quarters for some time. Eventually, he gazed out of the porthole at the rolling waves and the distant silhouette of Saint Michael Island.

“Everything’s been going poorly lately. Menielman has her sights set on me. If not for her lack of a Transcendent Warship, she almost killed me last time. Where did that woman find two Saint Rank allies?”

“One of them I know—Tumisan, from the Orc Assassin Alliance. But the other…”

“Damn it, how are there so many Saint Rank individuals in the world?”

Herolf poured himself a drink and downed it in one gulp, his frustration palpable. In his younger days, he had dueled Zimourman Axel Robin. On the surface, the match had been declared a draw, which bolstered his reputation. But only Herolf knew that during the duel, he had relied on a secret ritual to sacrifice part of his fate, barely enduring Zimourman’s relentless assault. The ritual’s cost left his strength stagnant ever since.

After two more drinks, Herolf muttered bitterly, “If I hadn’t faced Zimourman back then, my power wouldn’t have stalled. That damn Menielman would be no match for me.”

“Even with help, I have the Queen Bee. I won’t lose.”

“It’s all Zimourman’s fault.”

“I hear he’s dead!”

“Good riddance.”

Herolf had initially planned to spend the night ashore at Saint Michael Island, enjoying the comforts unavailable aboard the ship. However, the infiltration incident soured his mood, and he stayed aboard instead. After drinking an entire bottle of wine, he collapsed onto his bed, fully clothed, and quickly fell asleep.

Charlot remained motionless, hidden within the Infinite Mirror World.

The next day, Herolf went ashore again. Only then did Charlot slip out of the porthole. He didn’t reenter the Queen Bee but instead used Swiftstep Technique to float silently to another porthole. Reaching inside, he roughly pulled out a Mirror Spirit.

As a transmigrator, Charlot had studied many weaknesses of the Mirror Spirits. One hypothesis he tested was whether he could partially reflect only part of his body.

This attempt proved successful. When he only extended a hand through the porthole, the Mirror Spirit’s strength was limited to a single hand.

Dragged out through the porthole, the Mirror Spirit let out a silent scream before dissolving into black smoke under the sunlight.

Charlot immediately sensed he had gained another Infinite Mirror World.

The hull of the Queen Bee was adorned with countless transparent bee wings, with thousands of portholes in total.

Even though Charlot had discovered a small loophole to increase efficiency, the task remained arduous. He also had to remain vigilant, frequently retreating into the Infinite Mirror World to avoid the pirates. This significantly slowed his progress.

By the afternoon, he had barely managed to deal with one-tenth of the portholes.

At one point, Charlot considered using a bold strategy to reflect his image in every porthole simultaneously. But common sense stopped him from courting death.

He knew he couldn’t handle more than five Mirror Spirits at once.

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