Suming, accompanied by Wang Cai and De Fu, climbed up the back mountain. As they approached the woodland where the bees had settled, several wasps suddenly descended from the sky, buzzing as they blocked the path.
One wasp lowered its altitude and flew in front of Wang Cai and De Fu, a pair of compound eyes sizing up the wolfhound brothers.
The wolfhound brothers immediately became tense and barked furiously at the wasps circling in the air.
"Easy now, hold your fire, they're friendlies!" Suming snapped his fingers, projecting a thread of spiritual power to soothe the wolfhound brothers slightly.
The Wasp Squad was positioned there by him to protect the bees, and it seemed that the wasps were not only diligent but also quite clever; they even knew to set up a checkpoint outside the woods rather than just aimlessly wandering inside. This way, if a formidable enemy that the wasps couldn't resist appeared, they could raise the alarm beforehand, giving the bee colony time to relocate.
At the same time, he reached out with his spiritual power and made brief contact with the sentry wasps. Recognizing the familiar sensation, they circled Suming a few times before flying off with a flap of their wings, continuing their sentry duties.
The wolfhound brothers sheathed their fangs but still looked puzzled. They seemed to misunderstand Suming's words. How could these little fellows with wings, who looked nothing like them, be 'friendlies'? Could they be winged puppy cubs?
...
Inside the forest, life was thriving, and the bee colony appeared to have regained its vitality. Bees of all sizes were busy flying about, collecting nectar and making honey. There were also squads of wasps patrolling back and forth, clearly dividing their duties.
Several heavy beehives were hanging in the center of the woods; those were the residences of the bees.
Moreover, on the treetops of the forest, many fist-sized beehives hung like 'fruits', the same kind that had been given to Suming before, with bees continuously entering and exiting the hives.
A little farther away, two huge wasp nests, which could be described as gigantic, hung around twenty or thirty meters above the ground on the treetops. They looked like two large eyes, 'watching' over every movement in the woods from a high vantage point.
The bees and wasps each had their roles: one group made honey, the other served as guards on watch, with no further incidents of fire and bloodshed.
The backbone of the bee colony was mostly survivors of the last battle, all of whom recognized Suming. Seeing him arrive, they gathered around him from all directions. Hundreds of bees big and small circled around Suming, creating an unsettling scene, which once again set off Wang Cai and De Fu's incessant barking.
"Hard work, comrades, go on with your tasks!" Suming waved his hand gently like a reviewing general, and the bees dispersed once more, each going about their work.
Standing on tiptoes, he plucked a fist-sized beehive from a nearby tree, fully packed with honey. He tasted a bit, and sure enough, like before, it had the effect of enhancing spiritual power.
In just over a dozen days, the bee colony had recovered its vitality, not only increasing in number but also starting large-scale honey production. This was partly due to the Animal Friends ability, and another important reason was that within the bee colony, a new Queen Bee had emerged!
The Queen Bee was indispensable to the colony, able to command it and continuously breed new bees to expand the flock. In some ways, the Queen Bee's contribution to the colony was even greater than Suming's!
Although this was already deep in the forest, the nearest man-made road was probably more than five kilometers away, but that did not mean that people would definitely not come here.
Now the bee swarm was very useful to him, providing a steady supply of 'honey' that could restore spiritual power. And this Queen Bee, clearly the product of evolution, would definitely attract human attention if discovered, which could lead to potentially being caught for research.
If anything happened to these bees, the loss would be enormous!
Even though they were protected by the Wasp Squad, Suming did not want to have all the people who accidentally stumbled in here to be silenced by the wasps. He was a friend of animals, not a homicidal maniac.
Moreover, as the bee swarm continued to grow in size and number, more honey would be produced in the future, making the flowers and plants in this forest seem somewhat insufficient.
Thinking of this, Suming smoothly slid down the tree trunk to the ground.
He suddenly unleashed all his spiritual power, enveloping all the bees and wasps around him, and then gave a command to the swarm.
Move deeper into the mountain!
The specific location was for the Queen Bee to decide, ensuring safety while also having an abundant environment with enough flowers for honey production.
Since the bees and wasps could all fly, travelling long distances was not an issue. Once they settled, the Wasp Squad would just need to inform him of the exact location, and regular tributes to the 'big blue hive' would suffice.
After arranging everything, the bees began to get busy, carrying their hives down from the trees and flying slowly towards the depths of the mountain.
Suming did not immediately leave but held the hive where the Queen Bee resided, walking with the moving group in the mountains for a while and constantly communicating with the Queen Bee using spiritual power.
He could distinctly feel that each time the Queen Bee made contact with his spiritual power, it would send back a wave of joy. The fact that this giant Queen Bee could develop a degree of wisdom and had a larger body size than typical Queen Bees was certainly due to the association with spiritual power. To the Queen Bee, Suming's spiritual power was even more attractive than royal jelly, making it the perfect opportunity to 'interact' with the Queen Bee for a while.
The Queen Bee was not content to stay quietly in the hive but waggled its round, plump tail, lazily climbed out, and aimed right into Suming's arms, constantly sending him a dependence-filled emotion, as if wanting Suming to hold it.
"Easy, easy, don't break your little waist!"
The Queen Bee at this moment was almost the same size as a newly born kitten, and because of its overly large and round tail, it appeared to have an extremely delicate waist, giving the illusion that it could snap into two with just a light touch.
Suming quickly and gently supported the Queen Bee with both hands, cradling it in his arms like a child.
The Queen Bee lay in Suming's embrace and sweetly fell asleep.