V2C20

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The ants surging in from all sides left them with only one choice.

Song Hanzhang took a deep breath. “There’s no alternate route.”

Gu Fengyi adjusted the metal bar in her hand and turned southeast. “There’s only one place left to go.”

The place where the bees gathered was the path they could do nothing but take.

The six ran through the rainforest, Gu Fengyi holding Liu Qingqing’s hand in one hand and clearing the path ahead with her other. Chen Lu and Xia Huan followed close by, also holding hands, and Song Hanzhang and Lin Jue guarded the rear. The forest was filled with their pants and the sound of wet mud squelching under them. All around them was fog and never-ending darkness.

They were being preyed on by the jungle; they were isolated without even the potential for help.

Crossing the water system outside the student recreation center, almost just after they crossed the bridge, they found Lu Ren hanging upside down from a short tree.

He had hooked his feet onto a thick branch, his head hanging down, still carrying his dao in his arms as he smiled at the six who were panting from exertion. “Here for shelter? This won’t be a good place.”

“Why are you here?” Song Hanzhang asked coldly.

Lu Ren tensed his core and flipped up onto the branch before jumping down in front of Song Hanzhang. “You’ll see if you turn around.”

Lin Jue turned, and a shocked expression appeared on his face. The originally aggressive army ants seemed to have been blocked by some invisible barrier as they paced around on the other side of the bridge, unable to step onto the seemingly ordinary structure.

Gu Fengyi let go of Liu Qingqing’s hand and walked over to the end of the bridge. She gave a heavy swing with the metal bar- the weapon crossed the barrier, sweeping ants to one side, causing the colony to wave their mutated claws at her angrily, but they still didn’t cross that unseen line.

“It’s the bees’ territory.” Lu Ren sat underneath the tree and stabbed at the soft, moist earth with a stick. “It’s going to get noisy soon.”

“What do you mean?” Song Hanzhang asked him.

Lu Ren looked up, a certain mischievous glee dancing in his eyes as he smiled without answering.

In the silence, Lin Jue’s ears captured the light vibrations and hums of wings. He looked up in alarm, trying to use his eyes to locate the approaching bees, but he was blocked by the fog. He looked to Song Hanzhang for help, but he seemed to have no intention to do anything.

Lu Ren was the same, simply glancing in the direction the sound came from. “It’s no good letting it get a message back.”

Chen Lu immediately held the tattoo on her left wrist, a shimmering light emerging from between her fingers. The air was disturbed by colorless yet sharp wind blades and in a flash, a soccer ball-sized bee fell in front of her.

Xia Huan took a few trembling steps backwards with her medicine kit. Chen Lu crouched down and flipped the bee over with a fruit knife, trying to take a closer look.

Suddenly, the bee started struggling, springing up from the ground and onto Chen Lu’s face. She shrieked and knocked the bee down. One step, two steps, three steps; she trampled on the worker bee’s soft abdomen frantically, sticky liquid spurting everywhere. She rubbed vigorously at her face, trying to clear it of pollen, her expression wild.

“Chen Lu!” Gu Fengyi growled. It was like Chen Lu had been electrocuted; she looked down at the worker bee’s mutilated corpse and suddenly knelt down and vomited to the side.

Xia Huan was shocked by her reaction; her legs trembled and she hesitated, unsure whether or not to step up and comfort her.

Lu Ren suddenly laughed, swinging the dao onto his shoulder. “I can smell that things are going to get exciting. I’ll take my leave first; if the chance comes, let’s grind the boss together!”

Song Hanzhang nodded curtly and let him strut off.

Lu Ren hummed an off-tune song and moved nimbly through the forest; he easily evaded the roots and shrubs appearing beneath his feet like he was walking on flat ground.

Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks.

“You’ve followed me all this way, haven’t you had enough?” Lu Ren stood between two huge oaks, asking without even a glance back.

He was met with silence.

“Do I have to drag you out myself? I don’t have a problem with that either, but…” Lu Ren slowly turned around and looked, half-smiling, at a corner of the woods.

“How did you find me?” Dan Liang’s figure appeared from behind a tree.

“Your tracking skills are praiseworthy, but the way you looked at me was far too revolting.” Lu Ren cocked his head and stared down at Dan Liang, malice filling his words. “It was like a bug looking up at a beast- pathetic but still filled with useless schemes.”

Dan Liang smiled, not enraged in the least.

“The happiest thing in your life is probably lying to others. A liar who wouldn’t even forget to lie to his own diary.” Lu Ren pierced through Dan Liang’s disguise without mercy.

“Don’t say it like that, we’re the same type of person. We wear the skins of normal people, but inside we have our own set of rules, living out of place in this world. You should be thankful for this game because here, you can live the way you want to live. Your jungle rules work here…”

Dan Liang’s words were suddenly cut off. Even though he tried to hide it, the shock was still evident in his eyes.

Lu Ren, who was supposed to be a good ten metres away from him, suddenly appeared right in front of him, the dao in his hands against his throat. The sharp blade had already pierced his skin, drawing out a thin line of red blood; not deadly, but enough to rouse fear.

Lu Ren smiled a cold smile. “Are we familiar with each other?”

Dan Liang raised his hands above his head, his expression innocent. “Did I say something wrong? Or…”

——Was I completely correct?

Dan Liang’s eyes said it clearly.

A sharp pain came from his throat and Dan Liang couldn’t help but take a step back against the tree trunk. Lu Ren moved his dao aside, replacing it with cold hands that choked Dan Liang’s thin neck, so easily broken with the slightest effort. He was just inches away, his breath tickling his face, a true terror.

Dan Liang was also smiling, bright and sunny and fearless as if the person being choked wasn’t him at all.

“I said, I dislike your eyes. The dead should have the expression of the dead,” Lu Ren narrowed his eyes.

“What if… my life isn’t supposed to end here?” Dan Liang squeezed out.

“Who knows?” Lu Ren commented, then let go of his neck. He took two steps back and said lazily, “But hopefully you’ll make things a little more interesting. Or I’ll kill you, got it?”

Dan Liang rubbed the bluish bruise on his neck. It was the first time that he faced death head-on, and it was only now that he realized he had been completely in the wrong. He would never be able to gain cooperation from Lu Ren- that man was a solitary beast who saw him only as trash, unworthy of standing by.

Dan Liang lowered his head with not a trace of his resentment being shown. “I won’t disappoint you.”

&&&

In front of him was the giant beehive. Song Hanzhang leaned against a branch from up high and looked down at the monstrosity standing in the middle of the collapsed theater.

It was like an inverted lotus pod, a tall tower standing far away amidst the rain forest and rubble, too high to reach and too far to touch.

The fog obstructed his view, but even then, it was a terror not to be underestimated.

Song Hanzhang returned to the ground and the group started discussing strategies. First though, Song Hanzhang explained the characteristics of a bee.

“A colony of bees is divided into three categories: the queen bee who holds absolute authority, the female worker bees which are unable to reproduce, and the male bees which are born from the self-reproduction of the queen. The newly-born queen will kill any queen bees born later than her, and the old queen will leave with part of the bees to form a new hive. The new queen will then mate with the strongest male bee and after the mating process, the genitals of the chosen male bee will break off within the body of the queen. The queen can then choose whether to produce fertilized or unfertilized eggs. The remaining males won’t contribute to the growth of the colony and will eventually get driven out by the worker bees. Of course, this only applies to bees in the normal world.”

Song Hanzhang took a sip of water and continued, “The hive now is in the theater. From the hint on the easter egg, the bees here have a special liking towards human brains, especially the queen bee.”

“Then what should we do? If we just wait here, sooner or later we’ll get surrounded.” Lin Jue’s brows furrowed.

Gu Fengyi’s plan was surprisingly simple, and violent. “Burn it. There should be a few cars in the theater’s carpark, so it won’t be hard to get petrol. Combined with the moistness of the rainforest, even if it doesn’t burn, the smoke will be enough to drive off the bees.”

“And then we’ll face a swarm of maddened bees,” Song Hanzhang objected.

“We can try to hold out underwater since there’s not much time remaining,” Gu Fengyi said. “It doesn’t sound particularly reliable, but I believe that there’s a possibility that it’ll work.”

“The water might not be safe either,” Lin Jue said out of instinct. “There could be bugs in the water as well, like dragonfly larvae, or water spiders. If that’s the case, we’d be at a disadvantage. Also, the weather is really cold so our bodies might not be able to make it if we stay in the water for too long.”

Gu Fengyi looked at Liu Qingqing in concern and the latter raised her arms to flex her muscles in feigned cheerfulness. Gu Fengyi couldn’t help but smile and ruffled her hair gently without speaking.

“Liu Qingqing’s power is also very useful against the bees- if we’re underwater, even disregarding our stamina’s ability to hold up, her power will be rendered useless as well. The gains don’t make up for our losses.” Song Hanzhang voiced out Gu Fengyi’s own concerns as well, adding to the list.

Gu Fengyi agreed, then suddenly turned to look in the direction of the beehive.

“Bees, a lot of them,” Gu Fengyi alerted them to the anomaly she sensed.

Not soon after, humming noises sounded from all around them in deep harmony.

In the fog, a huge bee crossed the sky above, piercing through the sky like a roc in flight. A huge colony covered up the sky like locusts behind it, following it.

While they were still immersed in the shock from the huge colony, Song Hanzhang whispered, “Nuptial flight- the queen’s mating season has arrived.”

Not only were the males chasing after the queen bee, but even the worker bees were out in full force, travelling around the rainforest. Compared to the forest which was now filled with bees, the safest place was…

Gu Fengyi swatted away a worker, her expression turning serious. “There’s no other choice- the beehive, let’s go!”

|TOC|

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