BXBX NOVEL Chapter 57 - 52: Adopted a Tyrant i
The new Queen Bee gradually stopped struggling, and the golden light slowly seeped into its body before flying out and entering Qin Niu’s forehead.
He quickly focused and prepared himself.
It had been hard-earned; he couldn’t afford to falter at the critical moment.
He closed his eyes, and after a severe stabbing pain in his head, it gradually returned to normal.
He had finally managed to secure it.
The situation had been extremely dangerous; if he, as the master, couldn’t withstand the energy of the contract, had fainted, or gone mad, the contract would have failed.
“You stubborn thing, why do you have to be so obstinate?”
Qin Niu glared at the new Queen Bee and scolded it.
He had nearly failed to subdue it, even after expending two Low-grade Contract Charms.
This Queen Bee was definitely a tough nut to crack.
Despite scolding, his heart was filled with extreme joy and a sense of accomplishment.
Not to mention anything else, just the tenacious will it had shown, that stubborn defiance to never bow down, filled it with unlimited potential.
With proper nurturing, its growth potential in the future could be astonishing.
Eagerly, he checked its attributes.
Honey Bee Queen Bee
Grade: Grade One Hymenoptera insect, leveling experience 57/100
Lifespan: 3 years
Energy: 178
Skills: Reproduction Level One 0/10
Talent: Iron Will
Bee Colony: Worker Bees 31,789, Drones 472, Juvenile Queen Bees 4.
Qin Niu was stunned.
At that moment, a bee that was obviously much larger than the other Worker Bees and darker in color flew out from the depths of the hive.
As it emerged, a large number of Worker Bees and Drones flew out with it, accompanying it.
“This, this is the old Queen Bee!”
Qin Niu knew that when a bee colony divided, it was usually the old Queen Bee that led part of the colony away to find a new nest.
Today was an eye-opener.
In one day, this hive of honey bees had split twice.
The entire bee colony became restless, and a large number of Worker Bees and Drones flew out, following the old Queen Bee into the distance.
In just a moment, the number of bees left in the hive had already dropped below half of the original.
He checked the number of the bee colony; it was still that many.
There were still over thirty thousand Worker Bees.
This didn’t even include the bee eggs, larvae, and pupae left in the nest.
A vast bee colony was truly terrifying.
After the old Queen Bee led part of the colony away, this hive became the domain of the new Queen Bee.
The first thing it did was not crawl into the depths of the hive but towards one of the royal platforms. After entering, it directly dragged out an unmatured royal larva from within and threw it to the ground below the tree.
Since the larvae lack the ability to move, and their bodies have not yet formed wings and are still soft,
the fall from such a height smashed the poor royal larva into a pulp.
What was it doing?
Was it slaughtering its future competitors?
One would have thought such actions only occurred in human kingdoms, yet these diligent, kind honey bees had such a cruel and selfish side as well.
Qin Niu did not intervene, instead observing quietly.
Soon, another Juvenile Queen Bee was dragged out and killed by it.
When it attempted to kill the third Juvenile Queen Bee, some Worker Bees began to stop it.
But this new Queen Bee had an iron will, and no bee could prevent it from doing what it wanted to do.
The third Juvenile Queen Bee was killed.
As it proceeded to kill the fourth Juvenile Queen Bee, more Worker Bees came forward to stop it. Still to no avail, it killed whoever it wanted to kill.
The fourth Juvenile Queen Bee also met a tragic end on the spot.
It was too cruel.
Upon ascending to its new position, the new Queen Bee engaged in fratricide, slaying its four sisters outright.
Luckily, the first new Queen Bee had matured and left the nest earlier; otherwise, a great battle might have ensued.
It had completely taken over the hive, becoming the sole queen of the entire bee colony.
One could see that, not long after it had slaughtered the four Juvenile Queen Bees, the entire bee colony gradually became well-ordered.
It also slowly crawled into the depths of the hive.
A swarm of Drones followed it like whipped dogs.
Qin Niu couldn’t help but touch his forehead—this Queen Bee, subdued with two Low-grade Contract Charms, surely wasn’t a ‘tyrant’, was it?
However, 1 could understand why it had to be so ruthless.
“Without ruthlessness, one cannot stand firm.”
The Queen Bee needed to dominate the whole hive, and for that, it had to establish its uniqueness and supreme status.
At present, the survival of the entire hive hinged upon it.
Only then could its status ascend to a higher level.
Qin Niu untied the straps and tried to approach the hive; the Guard Bees among the Worker Bees ignored him.
They did not attack him.
However, they were not as submissive and obedient to him as the Termites were.
It was possible that only after an entire generation of the hive had changed, consisting solely of the eggs laid by the new Queen Bee and hatched into bees, would they heed the commands of their master.
Qin Niu reached out and plucked a honeycomb cell filled with honey, unceremoniously starting to eat.
The taste was amazing.
This was high-grade food indeed.
Having spent two Low-grade Contract Charms, equivalent to Two Silver Money, he had to eat some honey to get his money’s worth.
It was just unfortunate for the bees that they now had to sustain a super glutton.
Qin Niu, their master, would consume nearly a month’s worth of their provisions in one meal.
“Once 1 can command the whole hive, 1 can have the Worker Bees produce Royal Jelly just for me,”
he contemplated.
Nurturing the hive would take time; he had to wait for it to lay eggs and for the first batch of Worker Bees to turn into pupae and then hatch into adult bees.
Because the current Worker Bees didn’t listen to him.
These Worker Bees were born of the old Queen Bee, making them siblings of sorts to the new Queen Bee.
Qin Niu could not afford to expend crucial resources and time to nurture them.
“Produce more honey; 1’11 come to eat every other day from now on,”
he said after eating.
He did not leave immediately but carefully opened a royal cell, and indeed, he saw a lot of milky-white honey inside.
It was clearly different from the translucent honey he had just consumed.
The honey in the royal cells was more like solidified lard.
This was the precious Royal Jelly.
The beekeeping manual by Green Demon mentioned that to collect Royal Jelly, one could also build several more royal cells inside the hive.
For now, Qin Niu did not plan to bring them home but to farm them in the mountains, like he did the termites.
He carefully collected some Royal Jelly and then took it to feed the termites.
He wanted to test if Royal Jelly could prolong the termites’ lifespan.
Upon arriving at the Ant Nest, he called out Fourth and five strong Worker Ants.
“Eat this Royal Jelly and use it to feed the Ant Queen and two strong Soldier Ants,”
Qin Niu gave the order.
Fortunately, Fourth had medium intelligence and quickly grasped the meaning of his command.
His spiritual power was severely depleted today from subduing the Queen Bee, and he was already feeling rather weary.
He planned to go home for a good rest first.
If all went well, in about twenty days or so, he would have his first batch of Worker Bees who genuinely belonged to him.
After the new Queen Bee laid her first batch of eggs, it took about twenty days for the cycle of hatching, larval stage, pupation, and emergence as adult bees. Only after having his first batch of Worker Bees who truly followed his commands would he have his own hive.
At that time, he could use some of the methods from Green Demon’s beekeeping manual to nurture them.
He could even feed them Banyan Tree Blood.
With his bee swarm ready, moving around in the mountains should be smoother.
With an Ant Nest on the ground and a Bee Swarm in the sky, it would be perfect.
If he could cultivate both the bee swarm and the ant colony to a certain level, he would truly have the power to control this part of the forest with just two groups of insects.
He called out Fifth, and just like the day before, he took five termites downhill to help him with pest control.
After descending the mountain with a basket on his back, Qin Niu didn’t head for the fields but went straight home.
Since it was still early, he planned to sleep for about two hours first, and then go to the fields to remove pests from the corn in the evening.
Termites were not comfortable in the strong daylight.
When he passed by Wang Furen’s home, he saw a carriage parked outside.
Ordinary households couldn’t even afford oxen, let alone carriages.
And carriages were not something that money could necessarily buy.
People like Wang Furen and Xu Zhenchang, who had some money but ordinary status, had to apply with the authorities to buy a carriage.
In reality, this application was basically always in a state of limbo, and it might never get approved until one’s death.
A distinguished guest must have arrived at the Wangs’!
Qin Niu took a glance; although the carriage was not luxurious, it was definitely a rare and luxurious item in the countryside..