Chapter 221: Buzzing Poisonous Bees, Just One Bite

Not long after Jier led his men to set off, the people in the camp heard a buzzing sound coming from the pitch-black sky.

The sound was faint at first and still far away, but within a few breaths, this buzzing reached above everyone's heads; the sound was low but clear, and just by listening to it, one could tell that the wings producing it were of no small size.

"Light more torches! Move quickly! Light more torches! Don't just stand there!" Xueya Site had seen similar situations in the Western Province and knew that these stinging bee-types feared fire, so he ordered everyone to light torches immediately.

Once the owners of these low-pitched buzzing sounds circled down from the air, everyone finally saw what these bee-types looked like.

Good heavens, they were actually fat, plump bees the size of a thumb, with sharp, purple-glowing bee stingers beneath their fat abdomens.

Everyone retreated immediately after seeing the size of these bees; even a fool knew that being stung by a bee stinger of that size would surely mean death. But fortunately, although they were large, these nameless bees still feared fire.

They ignored the Warriors who were waving torches to threaten them, instead splitting into groups to go before a pile of equipment by the campfire, crawling over it to search for something. More of the unknown bees gathered on some of the spoils everyone had brought back, crawling back and forth as if searching for something.

"Mr. Zuojigela, look! What are they searching for?" someone shouted aloud, pointing with their finger.

The Herbalist guessed the situation as soon as he saw it: "Did you bring back the personal belongings of the Bandit who was scattering the stone-powder pollen?"

"We brought everything back, including the corpses and such," someone replied.

"In that case, I don't know the name of these obviously dangerous bees, but they are clearly poisonous. They must be searching for the pollen bag of the Bandit who scattered the powder; they won't leave until they find it. And provoking them will only make them attack everyone around them indiscriminately."

"Please, just keep it simple!" Xueya Site had a headache looking at the scene before him; he remembered that when the Caravan encountered a swarm of bees, everyone was stung, and because they were far from villages, half the Caravan died on the deserted Shanglu.

"Fine, I'll keep it simple. I need a brave man to dig the pollen that attracted these poisonous bees out of that pile of spoils, and then throw it far away into the mountain Shulin. Since they were attracted by that thing, let's let them have their way; once they finish collecting the pollen they like, they will fly away on their own."

"By the way, everyone back away a bit; don't hurt or provoke these poisonous and dangerous little things."

Everyone heard Mr. Zuojigela's words and retreated one after another with their torches, but as for the brave man to complete the task, everyone looked at each other, and not a single person dared to step forward.

In truth, they were not cowards; if you asked them to fight enemies to the death, they wouldn't even blink. But to ask them to risk so much to go deep into the pile of spoils where the bees were swarming, with the possibility of being covered in highly poisonous unknown bees, to find that bag of pollen the little things loved, they would only shake their heads violently.

It wasn't that they were afraid of Monsters or poisonous insects; the Warriors would even face parasitic vines, but no one dared to step forward to play the hero when it came to bearing such great risk alone.

Aoni's expression darkened; thinking his Plate Armor was thick enough that he might not fear the stings of those bees, he wanted to take a step forward. But just as his mouth opened and before his leg could even take a step, he was pulled back by Weier beside him.

Aoni glared fiercely at Weier, but Weier just shook his head, his hand gripping Aoni's arm tightly; Aoni struggled, but couldn't pull away.

"I'll do it. I have the protection of my God and will not suffer any harm."

In the end, it was Shishou who stood out. He asked the old Dwarf for permission, and since the old Dwarf saw that no one on the Human side was stepping up, and someone had to resolve this chaotic situation, he nodded and agreed to Shishou's request.

Mr. Zuojigela was very familiar with Dwarfs like Shishou and nodded upon seeing this. He himself did not retreat far like the others, but retreated empty-handed to a distance of seven or eight meters to judge the situation at close range.

The Dwarf Shishou was a man of action; he had understood the Herbalist's explanation just now, so he didn't need further instructions. He directly radiated Bronze Divine Power that looked like liquid gold from the inside out, making his whole body look like a bronze statue cast in metal.

But unlike an unfeeling bronze statue, Shishou moved lightly, jumping with one foot onto the pile of spoils. At this moment, he was surrounded by buzzing giant bees; many crawled onto his body, while others, knocked aside when he jumped over, were now angrily slamming into Shishou's body, their poisonous stingers at the end of their abdomens stabbing in and out against Shishou's head, face, and arms.

Yet, while this scene looked terrifying, Shishou didn't have a single scratch. The True God Divine Power bestowed upon him after being favored by the gods made him invulnerable to blades and arrows and gave him immense strength for a short time.

He didn't even feel the stings of these poisonous bees, so naturally, there was no fear to speak of.

He moved quickly, tearing apart the various dirty and smelly personal items of the Bandits piled together, throwing them aside if they didn't contain anything like powder; he was only looking for the bagged pollen powder.

He didn't know which kind of powder he was looking for, but the Herbalist watching from not far away could give him the answer.

"This one?"

"No."

"Then this one?"

"Neither."

The two exchanged questions and answers. When Shishou quickly found the third Leather Bag containing light, fluffy powder, the surrounding swarm of bees seemed agitated, showing signs of gathering. This scene was accurately identified by Mr. Zuojigela: "That's it! That's it! Quick, quick, quick, take it away, take it far away and throw it into the Shulin!"

Shishou nodded. To save the Divine Power maintaining his current state, he let the Divine Power form a glowing sphere around the leather bag in his hand, and then he casually threw it toward the Bei Mian mountain Shulin. The bronze-colored Divine Power sphere went 'whoosh' and was thrown far away.

The surrounding swarm of bees froze all at once, as if wondering where the pollen had gone.

But these creatures' senses were indeed sharp. Once the thrown leather bag scattered in the Bei Mian mountain Shulin and the scent of the pollen spread out again, they detected it immediately. In an instant, they had come buzzing, and in one breath, they buzzed away just like that.

As soon as the swarm left, Shishou ended the Divine Power state on his body, nodded to the leaders of Jier's team, and walked back into the Dwarf team.

Once in the Dwarf team, the other Dwarfs naturally praised Shishou's Yongqi and ability one after another, while Shishou only modestly stated that this was all the Divine Power and favor of the God of Strength, and that as long as others believed in the Dwarf Strength God Believer like them, they could master power beyond imagination.

And believe it or not, some of the Dwarfs who believed in other gods but were not firm in their Faith found the Wild Power God Priest 'Dogtail Grass' Ben and whispered to discuss the matter of converting their Faith.

The old Dwarf saw everything, looking with some worry at the Caravan members not far away who were pointing and whispering about this, but what was done could not be undone. As for the potential trouble later, only Jier could solve it; after all, Shishou had acted to solve the trouble Jier and his men had caused.

It was just the Faith problem of some of his subordinates that made him even more troubled, because unlike when they were trapped in the Treasure Mine, they were now on their way back home, and the old Dwarf felt that those guys deciding to change their Faith now was a bit too early.

After all, this was no small matter.

Jier soon returned with the Warriors who had bathed by the river. Upon returning, he saw that the situation in the Yingdi had returned to normal, without a hint of chaos. If he hadn't truly heard the thunderous buzzing in the Yingdi and the shouting of Mr. Herbalist Zuojigela, he would have thought nothing had happened at all.

With so many things happening in one night, he had no sleepiness left. Jier had just ordered the two captured Bandits to confess the information they had on Monsters and the methods of luring them, with Weier recording it on paper.

This stuff might not be of any use now, but reading it through when there was nothing to do would make it easier for Jier to master information on common local Monsters and how to deal with them.

Of course, because the information was obtained from the mouths of captured Bandits, the authenticity and reliability of these things had to be discounted; Jier would naturally reason and distinguish the information, not believing everything completely.

Patrolling the Yingdi, Jier soon bumped into the Huimao Hu Li squatting before the giant corpse of the water-spraying crocodile.

This guy was looking at the giant water-spraying crocodile corpse with longing eyes, especially the crocodile's head, which it kept swallowing saliva at as it watched.

"Heh, I haven't seen you all night, I thought you had taken the chance to run away?"

Jier teased.

The Huimao Hu Li saw that no one around was paying attention, but still slowly came to Jier's feet and sat down solemnly on the ground. It knew Jier had sharp ears, so it opened and closed its mouth to say in a low voice: "How could that be? I am, at the very least, a shapeshifter who keeps his word. To sneak away during a mission without a formal farewell, that won't do. And look at this great creation; you promised to let me eat a bite of this thing, how could I bear to leave?"

Jier asked back with an unfriendly tone: "But the premise was that you Scout and bring the information on those Bandits to me. In fact, my long-haired lynx Beast has already excellently completed this mission."

"Excellently? Not necessarily, right?"

The Huimao Hu Li chuckled; only then did it look like a truly cunning fox.

"Why not necessarily?" Jier asked.

"Don't play dumb with me; neither of us is a fool. Were there two headless corpses at the Bandit's hidden sentry post? Don't tell me you didn't notice that!" the Huimao Hu Li said quite affirmatively.

Jier took off his Helmet and awkwardly scratched the bridge of his nose: "Oh, there is that matter. But I asked Kuaitui Maomao, who had cleared the sentry post early, and it chattered on for a long time, but I didn't understand what it meant. It seems its Human Common Language still needs to be mastered more proficiently."

"Hmph, I was the one who killed them. It couldn't explain clearly because it was embarrassed, right? It clearly almost messed up the situation but was too embarrassed to speak. What a shame! Jier, if I hadn't stepped in to kill a Bandit who suddenly popped up, your little pet might have been finished. How about it? Does this count as completing your Scout mission?"

The Huimao Hu Li raised its head and said to Jier in a tone that seemed like a negotiation but was actually affirmative.

Jier had no choice; he had also guessed the actual situation, knowing that this guy had indeed gone to Scout the Bandit Camp, but most likely after saving Kuaitui Maomao, it knew Maomao would complete the Scout mission, so it just wandered back to the Yingdi lazily and waited here at the water-spraying crocodile corpse for Jier to come.

"Fine, fine, I'll count it as you having completed the Scout mission. So, which part of this Water-Spitting Crocodile do you want to eat? And how much? I'm telling you in advance, this Monster's body is massive, and all the various Monster materials on it are treasures! So if you're thinking of asking for something like half, you'd better not even open your mouth."

"Can't I?"

"Of course you can't! How much merit can there be in scouting a Bandit Camp? How hard can it be? And do you know how much energy I spent dealing with a Water-Spitting Crocodile like this? Don't say I'm looking down on you, but even if I counted you and your previous Shapeshifter companions all attacking together, I am fully certain you would be no match for this Water-Spitting Crocodile! Not to mention that these guys are usually gregarious."

Huimao Hu Li had nothing to say, because although Jier's words were unpleasant, they were actually the truth.

Its most powerful transformation before had been secretly obtaining a small piece of tissue from Hartna the Knight after he had transformed into a Lizardman, which was why it felt so incredibly powerful after arrogantly transforming into a Lizardman.

But this poor Monster did not know that what was truly powerful was not the Lizardman, but Hartna the Knight.

Just like when Jier fought Hartna the Knight back then, before he transformed into a Lizardman, Jier could not take down Hartna the Knight at all while he was severely injured. On the contrary, after Hartna the Knight transformed into a Lizardman, the previously flawless Hartna the Knight actually gained the weaknesses of a Lizardman!

And what about the Water-Spitting Crocodile? This was a gregarious Monster that the local Knights of Ke'er Shan Jun had tried to crusade against but had failed to take down.

The strength of the Water-Spitting Crocodile was evident.

The Shapeshifter Ruier'erui wanted to scheme for the corpse of the Water-Spitting Crocodile by relying on scouting the Bandit Camp or saving the life of Kuaitui Maomao; how should one put it, Jier letting it take a bite was already a favor to it.

After all, this Shapeshifter was, in any case, currently serving Jier himself, so giving it some benefits or a sweet treat was only right.

"Can I only take one bite?"

"You can only take one bite! Hurry up and choose; once you've chosen, I still need to dismantle this Monster's corpse as soon as possible, otherwise the wagons in the team won't be able to haul it."

Jier pointed at the massive, hill-like corpse of the Water-Spitting Crocodile and said so.

Huimao Hu Li didn't even choose, or rather, it had already chosen; the previous nonsense was just to see if it could wheedle some benefits from Jier. Since Jier wouldn't budge, it had no choice but to head straight for the Monster's skull, sticking its head down into the crack in the Water-Spitting Crocodile's hardest skull plate: "Not to mention anything else, can I just eat this Monster's brain matter? It was already smashed up by you during the fight..."

Jier didn't know what use the Monster's brain matter had, so he waved his hand.

Having received Jier's nod, Ruier'erui could no longer hold back, plunging its entire fox head into the wound on the crocodile's shattered skull, greedily devouring the Water-Spitting Crocodile's brains. As these brains entered its mouth, some of the Water-Spitting Crocodile's most vivid recent memories appeared in the Shapeshifter's mind.

Not long after it started eating, Jier looked up and realized that Huimao Hu Li was currently sprawled on the Monster's head, with bright red brain matter hanging from the corner of its mouth, the entire fox fast asleep in a daze.

It was just as if it had been knocked unconscious by someone.

When Jier had previously fed this guy the slight bloodstains from the bucket of the Cloud Monster, it had been the same way. It seemed that powerful Monsters were not something a Shapeshifter could easily master.

It was just like after feeding it the bloody water from the bucket of the Cloud Monster before, Jier had once asked the other party if it could transform into that kind of terrifying Monster. The Shapeshifter had said nothing except for rolling its eyes.