Chapter 274: Swarm

Where the hippopotamus passed, grass was crushed flat, the soil sank, and even the air seemed to tremble in its wake. Its massive body swayed back and forth as it marched unimpeded toward the riverbed.

Qin Yun sensed the disturbance and swiftly dodged to one side, only stepping out again once the hippopotamus had passed.

"Don't be fooled by the hippo's clumsiness and heavy build—it's actually hard to kill," Qin Yun remarked, shaking his head. "If I had to choose between facing a hippo or a lion, I'd pick the lion. One accidental bump or crush from a hippo and you'd be critically injured in an instant."

After speaking, he returned to his original spot to search for the rock bees he'd seen earlier, but for the moment, he couldn't tell where they'd gone.

Still, Qin Yun didn't give up; he continued tirelessly searching everywhere.

"This honey is called the 'liquid gold' of the savanna—it's packed with high concentrations of glucose and fructose, requires no digestion, and is absorbed instantly upon ingestion, boosting my blood sugar and restoring full stamina within a minute. It also has anti-inflammatory and detoxifying properties, capable of fighting wild pathogens. In short, if I can find honey here, it's pure luck."

Hearing this explanation, netizens realized he wasn't just driven by culinary greed.

After more than ten minutes of circling back and forth, Qin Yun finally spotted a single black-and-yellow rock bee resting on a small flower.

"Hahaha, still here."

Seeing Qin Yun's childlike grin, many netizens felt the same joy and couldn't help but laugh.

Fixing his gaze on the rock bee, Qin Yun remained patient—he neither startled it nor made any sudden movements, simply waiting quietly beside it while casually interacting with viewers in the livestream.

"Almost all bees in this world are social, though solitary bees do exist. But rock bees clearly aren't among them. This lone individual is likely out temporarily to forage or scout—and it will return to the hive sooner or later. I just don't know when, so I must stay patient."

"Damn, how long will we have to wait?"

"Could it just be a lost rock bee that can't find its way back?"

Qin Yun laughed. "Even a lost rock bee can easily find its way home. It's normal for them to get separated due to wind or fright, but they never get lost—I don't need to worry about that."

His eyes never left the rock bee, which continuously patrolled the vegetation, occasionally pausing on a small flower.

"Under normal circumstances, a solitary rock bee will return to its colony within four hours at most. So we can afford to be patient—perhaps in the next moment it…"

Before he could finish, everyone in the livestream saw the rock bee, which had been crawling on the flower bud, suddenly take flight and speed off toward the west.

At once, the viewers perked up.

"Whoa, it moved! It moved!"

"Qin Ye's luck is good."

"Hahaha, I have a feeling Qin Ye's about to get unlucky."

Qin Yun ignored the comment section. Seeing the bee move, he instantly perked up, ordered the drone to follow, and cautiously began chasing after it.

"This rock bee is barely over one centimeter in size, and from its appearance, it's clearly a worker bee," he explained, keeping his gaze locked on the bee. "Worker bees—those that forage—are smaller than drones and the queen. Overall, African rock bees are quite small; the largest probably won't exceed two centimeters."

"But despite their small size, they're far more formidable than the bees most people know."

Qin Yun walked a full two kilometers before the rock bee, as if drawn by scent, landed on an acacia tree and vanished into its foliage.

Forced to act, he raised the drone, only for the bee to take off again moments later, swiftly leaving the acacia's globular flowers.

Qin Yun hurried after it, moving slowly—he couldn't afford speed. Fortunately, rock bees don't fly fast over long distances, so he could still keep pace. But any unexpected obstacle could easily cause him to lose it; once lost, finding it again would be nearly impossible.

After another hour or so of walking, a large expanse of granite suddenly appeared ahead.

Stretching as far as the eye could see, the granite covered over a thousand square meters, with acacia trees interspersed among its uneven ridges. He even spotted two zebras—one large, one small—grazing at the edge of the rocks, nibbling on yellowed, dried grass.

He immediately stopped. In his line of sight, the lone rock bee had vanished, replaced by dozens of others flying back and forth. Without needing to think, he knew this was a rock bee colony—likely with their hive hidden somewhere within.

"Found it!"

The bees in the air were few and scattered, but each moved with clear purpose between the granite formations. From his current angle, the number was low, but across the other side, the sky was thick with them—dense and swirling. The direction near the zebras had almost none.

No wonder those two zebras dared to stay there.

Based on his knowledge, Qin Yun made a quick assessment and his face lit up with delight: "Brothers, this rock bee colony is bigger than I imagined—probably around fifty thousand individuals. With a colony this large, the comb structure likely reaches a staggering twelve combs."

"What's a comb?"

"Twelve combs? That's a lot? Why is Qin Ye so excited? Anyone who knows anything?"

"I'm a beekeeper. A comb is a structure built by worker bees using wax secreted from their glands. It's made of thousands of perfect hexagonal cells—that's a comb. One comb holds roughly seven to eight thousand hexagonal cells and measures about 0.1 square meters. The honey stored in a comb of that size is around thirty kilograms."

"Holy shit, that much? So Qin Ye won't go hungry."

"Almost certainly."

"Damn, you bastard."

Qin Yun glanced at the comment section and laughed. "That beekeeper brother is right—it's August, peak honey season. My luck's in. But I can't get cocky. With a colony this large, if I'm careless and get swarmed, I'm dead. I need a smart way to harvest the honey."

He looked around, walked to a nearby acacia tree, and pulled out his dagger to scrape off the bark.

"First, I need containers to store the honey. The inner phloem of the acacia tree works well—I can make a few bark tubes, enough to hold ten or so kilograms."

"Second, how do I harvest it? If my guess is right and there are fifty thousand rock bees, I'll die a gruesome death if I try to steal it by force. I need a proper plan."

"Type '1' if you want to see Qin Ye being chased by rock bees!"

"1"

"1"

"1"

"…"

As Qin Yun cut into the acacia's inner phloem, he glanced at the comments. Seeing the flood of "1"s, he was speechless.

"Brothers, can't you let me have a moment of peace? You need to know African rock bees are three to four times more toxic than bees back home. One sting causes intense pain and burning. A dozen will make you dizzy and nauseous. Dozens can cause shock. If hundreds sting you, an adult can die instantly."

"So imagine fifty thousand rock bees chasing me—how terrifying is that? It's worse than being bitten by a black-spined scale-eating snake."

"Hahaha, now I really want to see it."

"You're a devil, but I love you."

"Agreed!"

Qin Yun sighed and shook his head, successfully peeling off a strip of acacia inner phloem. He rolled it up and folded it in front of the camera to show.

"Capacity's about 800ml—enough for two catties of honey. I need twenty catties, so I'll need at least ten of these tubes."

"Imagine me walking around with ten of these slung over me—I'd barely be able to move. Fine, I'll settle for ten catties, reluctantly."

Qin Yun moved swiftly. In less than half an hour, he harvested four more strips of acacia inner phloem. Then he began braiding grass ropes—the savanna had no shortage of material for making them.

He selected tough, dry grass and soon gathered a large pile.

He sat down on the spot and pointed the camera at himself.

Qin Yun smiled faintly: "The best way to braid a rope from dry grass is the two-strand twist method. First, divide the grass into two bundles; hold the tops firmly with your left hand, then twist the two bundles in opposite directions with your right hand. Once tightly twisted, cross and wrap them together, continuing to twist while adding more grass. The more you twist, the tighter it becomes—perfect for binding containers."

In the camera's view, Qin Yun's hands moved swiftly, and a rope of grass continuously extended and lengthened, astonishing to watch.

"Amazing, Qin can do everything."

"Magic."

"Qin Ye: Basic move. Foreigners who've never seen the real world."

For the vast majority of Chinese people, especially rural children, this was something experienced in the eighties and nineties.

Soon, several grass ropes appeared on the ground.

"Alright, first we tie the lower end of the hehuan tree bark to prevent honey from leaking out the bottom. For this, the common flat knot is sufficient."

Before long, all five cylindrical containers were finished.

He hung the containers around his neck, stood up, and gazed toward the distant granite cluster—only to see the two zebra, one large and one small, licking something in a rock crevice.