It’s not easy to find a place suitable for beekeeping, especially for breeding hornets; it’s even harder.
But wouldn’t you know it, Zhang Chen actually found a place. At the top of a cave, there’s a dry spot, and it’s extremely narrow, unreachable by ordinary people.
Most importantly, it’s very suitable for hornets to build their nests.
"But how can I lure the hornets to build their nest here using nectar?" Zhang Chen pondered countless thoughts in his mind. Nectar is a precious commodity, and ordinary people don’t even get the chance to see honey.
"Perhaps there’s another way, which is to find a flower bush abundant with bees and then order the bees to collect honey for one hour. Gathering honey for an hour each day, within a few days, will yield enough honey to lure the hornets to rebuild their nest." Upon thinking this, Zhang Chen set aside his gunpowder-making and wandered around the mountains.
Hornets are quite aggressive and are the natural enemies of bees. In the area of a hornet’s nest, bees are unlikely to be found within ten miles.
Zhang Chen had no choice but to venture deeper into the mountains. Now, among the mountains lies a primordial forest with no trails—a truly rare and unexplored area that, without his gunpowder for protection, Zhang Chen wouldn’t dare enter.
From afar, he noticed a grove of trees covered with countless small flowers, resembling the osmanthus trees from his previous life.
Amidst the forest, countless small bees were buzzing diligently as they collected honey.
Seeing this, Zhang Chen chose an appropriate location, ensuring that he could cover the largest radius of osmanthus trees within a hundred meters, and without hesitation, he employed the Beast Control Technique.
With Zhang Chen’s deployment of the technique, countless bright spots appeared in his mind within a hundred-meter radius, and he saw bees swirling through the forest, possibly numbering in the hundreds.
He saw venomous snakes lurking by the tree trunks and birds concealed among the branches.
With a thought, Zhang Chen captured hundreds of bees, yet he wasn’t in a hurry to command them to collect honey. Instead, he moved swiftly through the mountains, and the bees followed closely behind. As Zhang Chen moved, more bees collided into his domain and were captured.
There were many bees in the mountains, and within ten minutes, Zhang Chen had possibly captured over a thousand bees. He arrived at a locust flower grove, where, with another thought, he commanded the bees to start collecting honey diligently among the flowers.
Of course, as the bees collected honey, Zhang Chen did not stop moving. He moved slowly to capture more bees.
At this moment, Zhang Chen pulled out a pre-prepared clay jar from his hand, ready to collect a large batch of honey when the timing was right.
As Zhang Chen moved continuously, countless bees were captured, and within half an hour, thousands of bees were working hard under him.
As the bee density increased, the speed of honey collection also accelerated. To maintain high efficiency in honey collection, Zhang Chen had to keep moving to ensure that more flowers were covered and refreshed, thus maintaining efficiency.
As time was running out, Zhang Chen finally ordered the bees to deposit the honey into the jar. Then, he saw a swarm of bees rush over, diving into the jar and leaving behind the honey they had painstakingly collected before flapping their wings and flying away.
When all the bees were gone, Zhang Chen looked at the pool of honey in the jar and couldn’t help but smile: "I seem to have discovered an incredible skill! Maybe I should consider a career change in the future?"
There was quite a bit of honey in the jar; if measured with a mineral water cap, there could be seven or eight caps’ worth.
Though thousands of bees collected honey, seven or eight caps worth isn’t much. The main reason is that the collecting time was too short; given half a day, he could fill a whole jar.
"It’s enough for me! If we calculate the time, it’s now the season for hornet nest separation, and the new Bee King should be born."
Zhang Chen returned to the cave, looking at the spot he had chosen for the hornets to nest, but the top of the cave was ten yards high, and even if it cost him his life, Zhang Chen could not reach it.
"This place is well-lit and ventilated; it’s a great spot for building a hive." Zhang Chen examined it carefully and felt more and more that he had chosen the place cleverly.
However, figuring out how to smear honey on the cave ceiling required some thought.
"There’s no stick long enough." Zhang Chen examined for a while but couldn’t find a way to get the honey up there.
After pondering for a long time, a flash of inspiration hit Zhang Chen: "I don’t have wings, so I certainly can’t reach that hive, but I can summon birds with wings to spread honey on their wings and then apply it up there."
"I’m quite the little genius," Zhang Chen thought for a while and then continued to make gunpowder with a smile.
When the sun set, Zhang Chen sealed the honey and placed it within the cave, then he carried his basket down the mountain to check his traps.
Today’s harvest was quite good; he caught two muntjacs.
But when Zhang Chen returned down the mountain, he didn’t see the Fox Spirit or Ying by the door, which made him wonder, "Could the Fox Spirit have changed her ways? She used to wait for me eagerly every day at the door, but now she’s nowhere to be seen the past couple of days?"
Returning to the house, Zhang Chen casually threw the muntjacs on the ground, but when his gaze swept across the wall, he was stunned: "How strange!"
The two pheasants he had hung on the wall yesterday remained untouched by the Fox Spirit.
"How can this be? Could it be that the Fox Spirit has changed her ways? Can that creature change its ways?" Zhang Chen was dumbfounded, staring at the pheasants hanging on the wall with a look of confusion, bewilderment, and disbelief. He had already become accustomed to being exploited by the Fox Spirit, but now, how come the Fox Spirit has changed its course?
"Why? Would a Fox Spirit change its ways and stop exploiting me out of kindness?" Zhang Chen widened his eyes, filled with bewilderment.
At this moment, a light flickered next door, and a girl in a white dress peeked out from next door, with a face full of pride, looking at the stunned Zhang Chen from afar. Her big eyes were full of pride, and she thought to herself, "Aren’t you surprised? I’ve encountered some trouble now, so I can’t exploit you too much. If you were to run away, I’d be in big trouble!"
The Fox Spirit thought for a day and decided not to exploit Zhang Chen anymore, at least until she solved the troublesome matter inside the ancient tomb. If the guy runs away, what would happen to me and Ying?