As Shen Yi had anticipated, with the first hint of dawn, the industrious bumblebees were already bustling with activity.

Less than half an hour after Shen Yi arrived at the hive, the system notification chimed.

【Side Mission—Hive Construction completed. Mission reward “Queen Bee Heritage Fragment*1” has been issued. Please check, Host.】

【Hive Construction—Build 10 nests, has been added to daily missions.】

Shen Yi’s consciousness was abruptly drawn into his Mental Sea. Simultaneously, his Spirit Core, suspended amidst starlight, was infused with a torrent of unfamiliar yet profound information.

The sensation was extraordinary; knowledge he had never encountered before suddenly permeated his understanding, as if it were common sense he had always possessed.

The Queen Bee Heritage Fragment, awarded by the mission, contained the legacy of creation and implantation.

In essence, he could compile any knowledge he possessed or any awareness he wished the bee colony to acquire into a heritage, and then implant it into larvae during their creation.

This ability, however, felt somewhat superfluous to him. The larvae he created were all players, and players had their own minds. What was the point of infusing them with heritage?

Just as Shen Yi was feeling a pang of disappointment, his thoughts abruptly halted, and he hastily asked, “System, if I don’t summon players, what will happen to the larvae I create?”

【The Host does not possess an egg-laying function. All larvae created via the system are avatars for players to operate within this world. Should no player consciousness inhabit them, the avatars will maintain the basic biological functions of ordinary worker bees—they cannot level up, cannot develop sapience under the Host’s influence, and cannot provide experience to the Host.】

“But they can gather nectar, care for larvae, guard the hive… perform all activities within the bee colony?” Shen Yi’s heart fluttered slightly.

The system affirmed: 【Yes.】

Shen Yi was struck by this sudden, unexpected boon, and his previously subdued mood finally brightened with joy.

Expanding the bee colony wasn’t merely about blindly summoning players. Player avatars had to be nurtured from larvae, and all their needs—feeding, waste elimination—required care from adult bees.

Initially, with fewer summons, he and his subordinates could barely manage. But once player numbers reached hundreds or thousands, compounded by those who died and were re-spawned, it was clear that even if his ten subordinates were split into ten, they wouldn’t cope.

Shen Yi had originally planned to issue daily missions to compel players to care for the larvae. But these were players—they thrived on chaos, acted on impulse, and were the most unruly, prone to wandering off the moment supervision lapsed.

Once they entered the game and witnessed such a realistic and wondrous world, Shen Yi doubted whether his fellow players would possess the patience to remain in the hive and tend to larvae.

Not to mention the larvae’s plump, worm-like appearance. Shen Yi suddenly quivered with dark amusement, his antennae twitching. Forget direct mouth-to-mouth feeding of larvae—he suspected players would immediately start jumping around the hive performing erratic movements.

Fortunately, a reliable alternative now existed. Larvae unable to develop sapience were akin to ordinary bumblebees in a natural colony—expendable assets for the colony’s growth and expansion, like bio-robots. Once given instructions, they would execute them meticulously.

Shen Yi gazed at the small piece of comb hanging vertically above the hive, his fingers brushing the lotus seed in his embrace, and an idea sparked in his mind.

Upon his subordinates’ return, he would have them enter the newly constructed nests. Then, he would grind the lotus seed into powder, mix it with the Flower Fairy’s nectar, and fill the nests.

He would then carefully select and edit a suitable knowledge heritage, infusing it into his subordinates’ Spirit Cores—including an understanding and common sense of players and the game—before finally sealing the brood cells.

As the bumblebees ingested the liquid, a rich and tranquil energy slowly permeated their bodies. A grand and wondrous transformation began to stir within their tiny forms.

After his subordinates fell into slumber, Shen Yi stood guard, pulling up the system interface to continue editing videos.

While clicking through the interface, his gaze accidentally fell upon the system logs. He finally remembered—he still hadn’t settled accounts with the system that had interfered and almost gotten him and the Flower Fairy killed!

“What does this auto-loot function mean? Why did you trick me into enabling it?”

The system disagreed with Shen Yi’s use of “trick” and sent a lengthy explanation of the auto-loot function. After reading it, Shen Yi was momentarily stunned.

Both he and the players could level up by acquiring life energy—the game’s experience points—from defeating monsters. Indigenous life forms in this world did not gain energy this way. Thus, many creatures that died accidentally or were preyed upon released unclaimed life energy at the moment of their demise.

Within a certain range, this energy could be automatically collected once the system’s auto-loot function was enabled.

Like the bird stung to death by the hornet last time. The system update required energy, which had to be drawn from Shen Yi. He had been killing insects to charge the system, but the energy he could obtain was limited. During that critical period, to protect the Host, the system actively absorbed the ambient energy.

In short, the energy collected by the system belonged to the system and had nothing to do with Shen Yi.

【Maintaining game operation requires energy. Does the Host not wish for the game to evolve and improve?】

“I do, but…” Although he coveted such easily acquired experience, the system had obtained it through its own means, so he couldn’t forcefully demand a share. However, “Did you auto-loot the remaining lotus seeds yesterday?”

【The Moon Spirit Butterfly consumed 2, the Host and the Flower Fairy obtained 3. The system only auto-collected the remaining unclaimed lotus seeds, totaling 4.】

Incredible—after all that life-and-death struggle, the system ended up acquiring the largest share.

Shen Yi immediately lifted his head, his dark compound eyes gleaming. “For experience released by creatures dying in the wild, fine—letting it go to waste is a shame, so you might as well collect it to upgrade the game. But for spiritual items like the Lingyue Lotus with special properties, converting them into experience points is such a waste. Can you share some with me? Or record it, I can exchange experience for them.”

【It will not be wasted. The system has already absorbed them completely.】

“…” What a tremendous waste! Shen Yi was deeply dismayed.

Thinking of the Flower Fairy’s torn wings, Shen Yi felt even more distressed, his slender forelegs absently stroking against the nest.

Collecting unclaimed energy seemed to have no downside for him. In fact, the system collecting energy for game upgrades could even benefit him. So why did enabling this function require his consent?

And the timing of the system’s proposal made Shen Yi suspect it had intentionally asked him when he was panicked and disoriented. At the time, he had hastily agreed without even clearly hearing the system broadcast.

Shen Yi pondered for a long time. The conspiracy theories and doubts that flashed through his mind in that brief moment, he revealed not a hint of, feigning ignorance as he asked, “System, will you harm me?”

【No.】

“Not in the future either?”

【Never.】The system’s synthesized voice remained monotone, as if stating the most ordinary fact. 【The system will always obey the Host’s will.】

“Don’t say ‘system’ and ‘Host.’ Say ‘you’ and ‘me.'”

The system paused, as if processing Shen Yi’s words, then repeated, 【I will always obey your will.】

Shen Yi was taken aback. Though he had requested it, hearing the system refer to itself as “I” gave him a strange feeling, as if he were conversing with a living being rather than a program: “Will this be written into your code?”

【The system exists because of the Host. The Host is the system’s core code.】

Before Shen Yi could speak, the system repeated, 【I exist because of you. You are my core code.】

The rigid mechanical tone, surprisingly, carried a sense of unwavering conviction, making one instinctively want to believe it.

Whether he believed it or not, he had to use the system and run the game. Shen Yi chose to believe.

But he still had to confirm: “In the future, when you auto-loot, you won’t snatch my experience, right?”

【The system will calculate and collect unclaimed energy beyond what the Host intends to acquire.】

Like the four lotus seeds collected this time—the ones taken by the Moon Spirit Butterfly and the Flower Fairy couldn’t be collected. The system’s built-in program calculated that the Host only intended and could only collect one seed. The rest were what it could collect.

＞

While editing videos, whenever Shen Yi saw clips of the Flower Fairy flitting gracefully through the forest, she often lifted her chin, looking exceedingly proud.

He edited all the clips of the Flower Fairy and saved them separately. After hesitating for a moment, he ultimately followed his heart and decided not to include the Flower Fairy in the promotional video.

He could imagine the immense surprise and enthusiasm his fellow Earthlings would express upon seeing the beautiful, delicate little fairies—it might even attract a lot of people to play the game.

…But he didn’t want that.

After editing the video, Shen Yi watched it a few times and was very satisfied. With special effects and scenes like these, it could easily hold its own in a fairy tale movie. He immediately drafted a description for the video and uploaded it to the official website.

#The Real Domestic Holographic Indie Game Is Here#

【The world’s first holographic game, featuring fully realistic scenes, complete sensory realism, and 100% free exploration. Welcome to the Dream Forest! You will become a member of the hive, experience a fantasy world from a bee’s perspective, fight alongside your companions, expand the swarm, and embark on a magical journey through the insect world!

To collect user experience data, we are now opening a free beta server. Spots are limited—first come, first served. Hurry and sign up now!】

This seemed to be how mobile games were promoted. After checking for typos, Shen Yi confidently clicked “publish.”

Once it was posted, all his attention was glued to the official website. He couldn’t focus on anything else, refreshing the page every couple of minutes to take a look.

However, half a day passed, and nothing happened.

Daily page views: 0.

Compared to his earlier confidence when posting the video, Shen Yi felt somewhat defeated.

After asking the system, and confirming that he couldn’t promote it on other platforms or websites, Shen Yi had no choice but to spend spiritual energy to have the system perform targeted pushes.

【Host currently has enough spiritual energy to push to six targets. Would you like to set target tags for precise promotion?】

Shen Yi thought about it. While holographic games were eye-catching, most people would assume it was just a gimmick and wouldn’t take it seriously or click on it. Besides the holographic aspect, what other advantages did his game have?

After pondering for a while, Shen Yi’s gaze accidentally swept over his little buddies sound asleep in the nest, and suddenly, he had an idea!

As everyone knew, the three major struggles of contemporary young people were: insomnia, hair loss, and weight gain.

When players entered the game, their physical bodies would fall into deep sleep while their consciousness immersed in this world, bathed in miraculous revitalizing energy. Not only would there be no burden, but it would also soothe their minds and relax their entire bodies.

Players would essentially be playing a game while having a wonderful dream, waking up the next day refreshed and ready to embrace a new day.

In his previous life, Shen Yi had struggled with insomnia too. Stubbornly believing that “all medicine is three parts poison,” he refused to take medication. During his worst bouts of insomnia, he even tried many folk remedies. If his phone had promoted a game that could help with sleep back then, he would’ve probably downloaded it to give it a try.

“Push it to people with severe insomnia,” Shen Yi emphasized, “target young people first, under 25.”

It wasn’t that he was ageist—it was just that young people should be more receptive to games… right?