Shen Yi swiftly turned his head to evade, his forelegs latching onto the opponent’s abdomen and effortlessly flinging it away.

Perhaps due to a hearty appetite during its larval stage, Shen Yi was noticeably larger than this prospective queen. Having emerged two days earlier, he also possessed a clear advantage in stamina and strength, practically pinning it down. Yet, frustratingly, the more he restrained the bee, the more aggressively it fought back.

Just as the stalemate persisted and Shen Yi pondered whether to get serious, another prospective queen arrived, bristling with aggressive intent.

The young queen bees within the hive had begun to awaken in succession. The instinct of a newborn queen was to seek out and eliminate other competitors.

The young queen entangled with Shen Yi could no longer spare a thought for this peculiar drone. It turned its head to confront the newly arrived rival.

Observing the same yellow, black, and silver striped pattern on this new arrival, Shen Yi was now utterly convinced: something was truly amiss with him.

But then again, if a human soul could merge with a bee’s body, any subsequent mutation wasn’t all that strange. Perhaps it was a mental mutation triggered by the reward from that side quest.

After all, as a chosen one by the transmigration gods, how could he not possess some unique, one-in-a-million distinction?

Seeing the two prospective queens locked in fierce combat, unlikely to cause trouble for the moment, he cautiously peered through the torn opening in the royal cell to observe the young queen inside. A prematurely opened pupal chamber would undoubtedly affect larval development, and Shen Yi worried this young queen might perish prematurely.

This was the only prospective queen he had bound, and his head still throbbed from the experience. He wasn’t sure if the demise of this young queen would impact him.

“Hang in there, you’re almost there.”

Shen Yi nervously rubbed his forelegs, hoping the young queen would survive. As his hope intensified, a mysterious channel seemed to open between him and the young queen.

Shen Yi entered a profound, mystical state. He felt as though he could perceive the larva’s mental fluctuations. For a fleeting moment, he even felt he had become the larva lying in the royal cell, fully aware of its every condition.

Compared to a normal royal larva, this one appeared underdeveloped, even more diminutive than an average worker bee.

Instinctively, Shen Yi knew this wasn’t because its pupal chamber had been prematurely opened, but because he had bound it during a critical developmental period, thereby disrupting this royal larva’s evolution.

After all, a hive sustains only one royal larva. Once suppressed by other royal larvae, its internal pheromones would automatically degrade, consequently influencing its differentiation towards becoming an ordinary worker bee.

It was strange—as a human, he had swatted countless flies and mosquitoes, ending the lives of insects without a ripple of emotion. Yet now, realizing that his single thought had interfered with the fate of a small life, Shen Yi felt a moment of profound helplessness.

He couldn’t help but wish even more urgently for its survival. Under this intense desire, Shen Yi distinctly felt something draining from his body and transferring into the young royal larva.

Immediately afterward, a fierce hunger gnawed at Shen Yi’s stomach—he needed to replenish his energy quickly.

Shen Yi promptly signaled his hunger to the surrounding worker bees, who secreted royal jelly for him to consume.

During this time, the young queen, which had nearly perished, crawled out of the royal cell. After unfurling its wings, it headed directly for Shen Yi, stopping with its head pressed against his body.

Shen Yi’s heart rate involuntarily quickened. He could distinctly feel that this young queen was different from other bumblebees; there seemed to be an intimate connection between them. Anxious yet hopeful, he asked, “Can… you understand me?”

The wait was an agonizing torment.

To his disappointment, the young queen showed no reaction.

It proved that even the bumblebees he bound couldn’t perform miracles. If even a prospective queen couldn’t communicate with him, there was no hope for ordinary worker bees. Shen Yi’s heart plummeted instantly.

He desperately needed a kindred spirit—someone he could converse with.

After eating, the weakness in his body significantly lessened. Briefly replaying the recent events, Shen Yi surmised that, under the influence of his strong will, he had inadvertently transferred a life-force-like energy to the young queen through their binding link, helping it successfully metamorphose.

And the fact that this young queen crawled directly to him upon emerging indicated that their connection was not one-sided.

In any case, bound bumblebees were certainly more closely aligned with him than unbound ones.

There was still much for Shen Yi to explore and research regarding his mental power and the psychic bonds with bound bumblebees.

The battle between the two prospective queens was nearing its end, with the later arrival emerging victorious.

The loser, with a wing bitten off, lay exhausted on the comb, only faint twitches of its legs indicating it still clung to life.

Worker bees soon arrived to clear the battlefield, casting this young queen—barely born yet already facing its end—out of the hive.

The victorious young queen quickly fixed its attention on Shen Yi. It crawled close, its antennae constantly probing him, repeatedly testing, like a program suddenly stuck in a bugged loop. It seemed Shen Yi’s pheromones confused it.

Shen Yi wasn’t afraid of it, but he preferred to avoid unnecessary trouble. However, he hadn’t expected the first to charge into a fight would be the little follower always trailing behind him.

Yet, both in appearance and pheromones, it was clearly an ordinary worker bee, even smaller than typical workers.

“Come back!”

Seeing his follower about to be pinned down and beaten, Shen Yi instinctively shouted and rushed forward.

The little follower, bravely engaged in combat, actually paused its attack and turned to crawl back toward him.

The young queen, its fighting spirit roused, had no intention of stopping. Shen Yi, too eager to verify his theory, disregarded everything else and quickly flipped it over. The young queen righted itself, antennae twitching, and crawled toward another royal cell.

Shen Yi waved his antennae at his follower: “Follow me.”

After crawling a few steps, he looked back—the follower was indeed keeping pace.

Reaching a corner, he stopped, suppressing his excitement, his forelegs involuntarily rubbing together: “You can understand me, right?”

The follower showed no reaction. This time, Shen Yi was mentally prepared. He said, “Turn in a circle.”

This time, it obediently turned a circle.

“!!!”

Shen Yi eagerly continued testing: “Lift your foreleg.”

“Flutter your wings and turn.”

“I’m hungry. Go to the honey storage comb and bring me some pollen.”

The follower complied with each command, even understanding and successfully executing the last, highly complex instruction.

So, the bumblebees he bound could receive his commands, even comprehend complex expressions, but couldn’t reciprocate with conscious communication.

It was akin to a newly developed AI program—only rigidly accepting instructions, requiring constant input to enhance its human-like qualities.

Still, it was much better than Shen Yi had imagined. Other bumblebees could only recognize his hunger signals.

Everything is relative, and Shen Yi felt a renewed sense of hope.

Moreover, he had a premonition that this binding relationship held even more practical uses awaiting his exploration.

＞

Two days later, the worker bee pupae he had bound also began to emerge as adult bees.

During this time, Shen Yi deliberately hid in various corners to experiment. The results were the same as with the young queen—no matter where he hid, they could accurately locate him.

Eleven bumblebees encircled him, forming a protective ring. This created an open space in front of Shen Yi, making these bumblebees seem like guard bees clearing the way for him.

In his Mental Sea, the psychic energy markers of the eleven bumblebees orbited around his Spirit Core, like eleven satellites guarding him.

Shen Yi could sense that these eleven bumblebees belonged entirely to him, including their will.

Now, apart from Shen Yi, only one newborn queen remained in the hive.

That newborn queen still ignored him completely. Shen Yi didn’t know what had gone wrong or what procedures the royal candidate had to follow before ascending the throne.

The royal candidates had inherited the queen’s biological instincts, but he had not. The Queen’s Guidance System offered no hints, so he decided to follow this prospective queen step by step, play it by ear, and seize the opportunity to eliminate it.

Under the protection of his bumblebee followers, he trailed the prospective queen through layers of honeycomb until they finally reached the hive entrance.

Staring at the faint light emanating from the entrance, he wondered—was this prospective queen planning to leave? Didn’t queens typically remain within the hive to oversee everything?

Filled with questions, Shen Yi followed it out of the hive, climbed to the entrance, and from afar, caught the distinct scent of the forest.