Yan Mo didn’t hear what Meng said at first. He only guessed what Meng was trying to say after hearing him repeat it laboriously.
But… Can it be? Did he hear wrong somehow? Those man-eater bees listen to him?
What did he do just now? And what did the man-eater bees do? Why made Er Meng think that they listen to him?
Meng didn’t dare to say for sure at first. He was just puzzled why the man-eater bees kept flying around Yan Mo but they didn’t seem hostile at all. He even saw many small man-eater bees land on the boy’s back and still none of them stung the boy, they just crawled back and forth on his back.
He saw the next thing even more clearly. The little kid swatted the youth’s hand. The young man’s brows lifted, obviously about to get mad. Right when he expressed annoyance, the man-eater bees all stopped their attacks and turned to go to the boy’s side.
When Yan Mo extended his hand towards the little kid again, two of the man-eater bees on his side immediately charged towards the little kid, as if they’d received some kind of command.
If all of these still couldn’t prove the youth could control the man-eater bees, then no one will be able to refute the fact after what happened next.
Yan Mo never thought himself as smart. He thought that his edge was that he’s hardworking and liked to experiment. He dared to think of medicinal theories no one dared to think of, dared to do what other people didn’t.
Now that Meng mentioned it, he quickly found something out of the ordinary with his ears.
Such as the buzzing of wings around him that was becoming louder. Or like the previously screaming little kid in front of him becoming completely silent, the kid’s breathing also seemed to slow down.
Or, how Jiu Feng had stopped attacking with his wind blades.
The most obvious sign was how he had never got attacked by those man-eater bees.
How does he command these man-eater bees?
“Meng. Tell me what did I do just now, how did the man-eater bees reacted? Why did you think that they obey me?”
Meng arduously swallowed, “You… mad, bee… little… cub.”
“You mean, I showed anger towards A’wu, then those man-eater bees attacked A’wu? If yes, ‘Nng’, if not, ‘Humph’.”
Meng ‘Nng’ed in reply.
Yan Mo’s brain turned quickly.
First of all, there’s two reasons why the man-eater bees would be under his control: one, his universal communication worked for them, two, it’s related to the thing Jiu Feng fed him.
Studying the reason why at this moment would only waste the time, what he needed to know was how to control the man-eater bees.
Anger? Mood?
Did those man-eater bees feel his mood, or did they think they got the signal to attack from some chemical in his sweat?
Just theorising is useless, what he needs is to experiment!
“Leave! All of you, leave this place!” So that the bees are not agitated, Yan Mo didn’t move his hand and only used his mouth.
Meng looked at the bees still calmly fluttering around the teenager. A big number of them even went over to the stone wall, making a dense swarm over there, the sight of it makes one’s hair stands.
“Er Meng, did the bees react in some way?”
“No…”
“Then, are they still attacking you guys and Jiu Feng?”
“No…”
Yan Mo turned to another direction, feeling his way to the door. He wants to lead the man-eater bees out of the stone house, then see if he can tell them to return to their own nest.
Jiu Feng stared fixedly at his little two-legs. He was afraid that those annoying bugs would hurt Yan Mo and curious why the annoying bugs didn’t sting Yan Mo. He tried waving his wing, wanting to disperse the bugs around the little two-legs.
Wind rises, ashes and some sparks of fire fluttered up. Some of the man-eater bees scattered but they quickly resumed their formations. They continued to fly around the teen as if protecting the young man was the most important thing for them.
Yan Mo wiped the ashes that had flown to his face. His hand had found the door edge, then his feet accidentally kicked Yuan Zhan.
Yuan Zhan noiselessly toppled over.
Yan Mo tested the surrounding with one foot, and got startled, “Who? Er Meng?”
“No…” Meng’s eyes opened wide, why is there suddenly a small mound on the doorway? The mound wasn’t high, but it was taller than the two stones piled up near the wall. But since Yuan Zhan toppled over onto it, it got flattened.
Knowing Yuan Zhan couldn’t move right now, Yan Mo stepped on his face — He’s blind right now, it’s really not on purpose.
The other’s breath puffed on his foot arch, it felt a bit itchy, but it told him that he’s still alive.
Yan Mo stamped down and grinded on the other man’s high nose bridge. He then changed direction and stamped on the man’s lips while fumbling to open the door. These are all also not on purpose, really.
He stopped for a bit. He didn’t feel the bees’ attacks and didn’t hear Meng warning him, so he started repeating in his head: Go back! All of you, go back!
He focused hard until this thought seemed to be pressed on his forehead, slowly raised his hand and pointed to the outside.
Suddenly he felt like he got a message, weak, but can’t be ignored. This message, even he himself has no idea how he received it and how it can be read in his brain. But he did interpret the message, and ‘heard’: Nest, warm, good here.”
Eh? The reply was a bolt from the blue!
These man-eater bees actually didn’t want to go back anymore, they want to make a nest in the stone house?
Yan Mo walked out, not forgetting to step on Yuan Zhan’s face. Most of the man-eater bees followed him out but some flew in circles in the house, looking reluctant to leave it. Then they too fly over to face Yan Mo, reporting to their new king that they had found a suitable place for a nest.
Yan Mo couldn’t see the little bees fluttering about, he only figured from that hard to comprehend pheromone or smell that the man-eater bees wanted to stay here.
His brows started to hurt again. He had been using his ability a lot and in a careless way today, but he just started to feel the toll now, which showed that his body was definitely much better than before.
What on earth did Jiu Feng feed him?
That thing made Jiu Feng go through so much trouble to bring it back, the man-eater bees didn’t hesitate to fly out in winter to chase after him, and it also replenished Yan Mo’s energy this quickly. Each of these is proof that this thing can’t be ordinary.
Yan Mo tried walking further away, those bees kept following closely. When he walked back to the house, those bees also followed him into the house.
Yan Mo did this test several more times, walking inside then outside of the house. In the end, Yan Mo threw up his hand and gave up, he could only take the man-eater bees into the house again — it’s simply too cold outside.
“You want to stay here, okay then, but you can’t attack any of the humans and that big bird. In other words, you can’t attack any living beings in this house. Also, don’t crowd around me!” Yan Mo said, not caring whether the bees can hear him or how they will react.
The strange thing was, right after Yan Mo said so, those man-eater bees seemed to have received a clear-cut instruction. They all flew to a wall opposite of the fire, even the small man-eater bees on his back.
Meng’s mouth hung open, although the sight of a wall full of bees was terrifying, what was more shocking was how the teenager stood in front of the wall like nothing was wrong.
The little slave really can command the man-eater bees!
Priest! This is the power of a real ancestral god’s priest! He can even control man-eater bees!
No wonder the little slave… No, no, no. No wonder the great priest suddenly couldn’t see, it’s because he had awakened a new ability!
That these man-eater bees suddenly came out and madly attacked everyone must be because the priest hadn’t mastered his new skill. He had just gained control over the man-eater bees now!
Meng felt so excited he almost couldn’t control himself. It’s a good thing that he can’t move nor yell now or he’d already be hitting his chest and howl out.
At this moment, he had completely forgotten that the youth was the reason they were in this miserable state. The guy even started to think that everything that happened today was a trial of the ancestor god to test them, these warriors of their future tribe, of their loyalty to the priest and mountain god.
Meng felt rather regretful. He seemed to have said a few disrespectful words to the priest and mountain god? In any case, he wasn’t scared of dying anymore. With great priest Yanmo with them, loyal warriors as them will definitely live longer than in their original tribe!
Although Meng’s mind worked in strange ways, he came close to reality in the end.
Having settled down the man-eater bees, Yan Mo worried about how to remove the bee toxins from Yuan Zhan and Meng’s bodies. He didn’t know what the bee toxins effects were. He can’t come up with a proper diagnosis just relying on his touch and tongue and Meng’s out of context remarks.
Though it’s not life-threatening, judging from their pulses. He could even feel that their pulses were getting stronger over time.
There’s no tool at hand to suck out the toxins, he also can’t pick out the stingers from their bodies, so Yan Mo can only prick them with golden needles to let out toxins. This seemed to lead to another effect.
Jiu Feng was the hardest to treat. The toxins didn’t affect this bird much, but his wings and claws were injured. It hurt so much that he never stopped making low calls. When Yan Mo came over to check on him, he prodded his face into Yan Mo’s chest and cooed, tattling like a little kid.
Jiu Feng was telling on Yuan Zhan and the bees, “Chiek! Wing hurts so much, that big one is too bad. Peck him out! Throw off the cliff!”
Yan Mo kept comforting him while sweating, “He didn’t do it on purpose, he was also trying to help you.” Gotta keep him alive for now, the little guy’s still useful.
“Chieek! Peck him! Catch him! Throw him away, don’t want!”
“Okay okay okay, once he recovers I’ll help you beat him up, drive him away!”
“Chieek! Also drive away annoying bugs! Too bad!”
“This is a bit hard, I’ll slowly discuss it with them ah?”
“Cheeik! Kill! Kill them all!” Jiu Feng cooed brutally.
“Can’t kill them. They may have become my allies, do you understand? Ally? They’re my… uh…”
“Chieek?” Jiu Feng tilted his head. “Grururu… You want to raise those annoying bugs?”
“Not that I particularly want to, but they seem to have decided on me. By the way what did you feed me?”
“Chieek?” Jiu Feng’s mood turned bright when it’s about food. “Tasty, eat then can fly, all white, smells good!” When he was small and couldn’t fly, mother bird accidentally kicked him off the nest. He broke his wing, but after eating that, his wing healed and he also could fly!
Later, mother bird left him. But before that, she took him to many places with good food, so that he can remember them. The clearest memory he had was where this tasty, very white very fragrant, food can be found.
Yan Mo asked some more but couldn’t get to the bottom of it. He could only give up on this topic, leave it behind for now, he’ll slowly fish the information out of Jiu Feng later.
Like this, it became afternoon. Yuan Zhan and Meng’s bodies did slowly recover their senses on their own.
In the later days after Yan Mo gets his vision back, he will study the bee toxin for a while and discover the categories of the toxins. The big fist-sized one can paralyse their prey, and one stinger can make a healthy adult man become paralysed for about an hour. The time of paralysis will add up with more stingers. If they got stung too many times the victim can die from asphyxiation.
While the worst and brutal venom type was the small man-eater bees’ stingers. Their stingers are used to break down the prey. It can turn the prey’s bones and flesh into liquid form that the whole colony can drink.
Usually the bees would hunt in this way: The smaller bees will look for prey, then the bigger ones will attack and paralyse them. The small bees will then start to break down the prey and everyone will feast on it. They would continue flying after eating their fill.
Yan Mo will also find that these man-eater bees are not like the usual honeybees who will die after they sting. They can sting their prey many times. Even if they lose their stingers, it will grow back again after some time. They can also control it and shoot it out. The best distance they can reach is about one metre and a half.
This had made Yan Mo’s heart itch badly. If he utilised the big bee toxins well, maybe he can use it as anaesthetics. While the small bee toxin, of course had its own use.
These researches are all in the future, we won’t say too much now. Let’s look at the present.
Yuan Zhan and Meng recovered one after another. They both looked at the room that was now in a mess, not saying anything for a long while.
Yuan Zhan rubbed his face with a complicated feeling. Meng’s mood was a simple excitement in addition to worrying.
At present, the smallish stone house was packed to brim.
Great master Jiu Feng’s bird body occupied most of the room, and won’t let anything and anyone aside from Yan Mo get close to him.
About no less than one thousand man-eater bees covered one of the walls. This was also after Jiu Feng had killed some, or else there would be even more.
Whether that kid A’wu got too scared or couldn’t move because the bee toxin was just taken out of him, he curled up in a corner looking blankly at Yan Mo.
The fire in front of the little kid was going to go out soon, there were only embers left.
Yan Mo heard Yuan Zhan and Meng recovering and felt relief, he blurted out at the same time, “The dead or dying bees on the ground, gather them for me, I need them for something.”
Meng made a sound of agreement then started to move immediately. He went to pick up the firewoods near the door, wanting to start up the fire again, but after getting them he didn’t dare to come close to the fire. To go to the fire pile, he would need to pass by a wall full of bees.
Man-eater bees’s hatred to Meng and Jiu Feng hadn’t subsided. If it weren’t for the new king’s order, they would’ve already stung these two until they’re all red and swollen.
Yuan Zhan quietly turned to the door and started fixing it. Since Jiu Feng would come in and out, he didn’t close the gap on the stone wall. He reinforced the frame, naturally, they would need another door.
There’s not enough time to make a door now, Yuan Zhan took the partly tanned animal skins and made holes in them. He tied them together with leather cord and very quickly made a simple beast skin curtain big enough to cover the entire doorway.
After hanging up the leather curtain, the interior of the house warmed up significantly.
And so, a strangely peaceful scene appeared in the room, with distinctively different animals living in it.
“The house is unsuitable for us now!” Meng felt troubled and reluctant.. Sleep in a house where there’s a mountain god and man-eater bees. Others may be able to, but he can’t, not even if the house is warm.
“I’ll try digging out a cave in the small mountain later, we’ll stay there for the time being.” Yuan Zhan said expressionlessly.
“Alright, we can only do that.” Meng sighed, but then said excitedly, “Little sla… Yanmo is so awesome! He can actually control the man-eater bees!
“Mn. He’s really great.” Yuan Zhan casually went along with his words, but his right fist slowly clenched.
Yan Mo happened to call out right then, “Er Meng, come here and help me set Jiu Feng’s bone, I’ll tell you how. Also, Jiu Feng’s claw was hurt, describe what it looks like to me.”
Due to Yuan Zhan’s leg injury and his own leg that got broken twice, he had gathered a lot of medicinal materials for bone and skin injuries. There are some that he had made directly into a paste that’s easy to spread. Although he didn’t know if it would have any effect on a bird, he’s right next to Jiu Feng. If Jiu Feng feels any discomfort afterwards, he can easily wipe away the medicinal paste. He had the paste stored in his healer pouch.
“Me? I can’t!” Meng got scared when he heard Yanmo wanted him to set Jiu Feng’s bone, he immediately shook his head. “You should get Zhan, Zhan’s not scared of him.”
Yan Mo frowned. “No, Jiu Feng’s wing was broken by Ah Zhan. It’s already good if he doesn’t attack him. Come here, I have medicine to stop bleeding and reduce inflammation, take them to Ah Zhan for now.”
Yuan Zhan’s hand that was about to lift up the door curtain paused. He didn’t expect that the youth would pay attention to his injury, and was even willing to give him medicine.
He thought that the little slave hated him. Although he doesn’t know why, he sensed it. Compared to him, the youth acted more familiarly to Meng, he even lost to that… silly human faced-bird! The little runt even stepped on his face on purpose just now!
“In addition, if you guys aren’t going to live here anymore, take the little thing with you.” Yan Mo said again. Yan Mo doesn’t want to be the one who has to deal with the mess on the off chance the kid gets so scared he loses his mind or does something bad out of fear.
Meng scratched his head and hesitated to go there. Yuan Zhan’s foot that was about to step out of the house retracted and turned towards Jiu Feng and the youth while Meng’s still hesitating.
Jiu Feng saw him come over and let out a furious screech.
Yuan Zhan kept his eyes on the bird’s as he walked closer step by step.
Edited by Padam and Silversun.
Author’s note (translated):
Yuan Zhan: “Slave, look, I can make an earth mound now!
Yan Mo brought his foot down on it. “And it’s gone.”
Yuan Zhan: “…They say that people falling from cliff and cave holes might actually become god, which one do you think I choose?”
Yan Mo flipped out a scalpel, “Actually nowadays it’s more popular to get a virus infection or microchip in your brain, which one do you choose?”
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