Chapter 756 - 455: A Loosening Seal, More and More Problems

Chapter 756: Chapter 455: A Loosening Seal, More and More Problems

Under the bright sun, a group of people bustled about in a large earthen pit.

Holding a large bag in one hand, each person used the other to pull the white, wriggling pupae from the massive honeycomb before them, stuffing them into their bags.

After more than half an hour, nearly all the pupae had been taken from the giant honeycomb. Everyone’s large bag was filled to the brim.

"Phew..."

A long, gentle sigh brought a wave of relief to body and mind.

Between digging up the ground and gathering the pupae, the entire process had taken nearly two and a half hours. At long last, the work was finished.

Looking at the full bags of their harvest, everyone was in high spirits.

"Even if my family of four eats some of this every day, we won’t be able to finish such a huge bag any time soon!"

The Exotic Beast Hunter with thick eyebrows said, scratching his head as he looked at the huge bag of white pupae, which had to weigh dozens of pounds.

"You dummy," someone laughed. "When you get home, have your wife process them. They can be stored for a long time..."

"How do you process them?" the thick-eyebrowed Exotic Beast Hunter asked.

"The method is simple. Blanch the pupae in salted boiling water, drain them well, and then freeze them. Whenever you want to eat some, just take them out to thaw in advance."

"Oh, so that’s how you do it. That really is simple!"

"It is simple! But your freezer better be big enough, or you won’t be able to fit that huge bag of pupae."

"You don’t have to worry about that for me. My wife and I specifically picked out a high-capacity refrigerator when we went shopping. It has more than enough room for this bag of pupae."

The Exotic Beast Hunters chuckled as they discussed how to preserve the pupae. Although Lin Li stood off to the side without joining the conversation, he was secretly listening in, ears perked to catch the method.

After committing the preservation method to memory, Lin Li looked toward the captain of the Exotic Beast Hunter team, who was still busy in the distance. ’Haven’t they gotten all the pupae? What is he still so busy with?’

"Found it!!!" Just as Lin Li was wondering what the team captain was doing, the man—who had been hacking and slashing at the honeycomb with his Spiritual Longsword—suddenly stopped and shouted to everyone in pleasant surprise.

"What did you find?" Lin Li walked over and asked curiously. The other Exotic Beast Hunters stopped their conversation and came over to see.

"The queen," the team captain said with a chuckle, pointing at the unearthed Tiger-headed Wasp Queen.

"So you were looking for the Tiger Bee’s queen. What do you want with it?" Lin Li’s objective from the very beginning had been the Tiger Bee pupae; he had no interest whatsoever in the queen.

"I was looking for it so I could kill it. Whenever a swarm of Tiger Bees appears in the wilderness, it causes a lot of trouble for Exotic Beast Hunters like us who hunt out here.

"So, thanks to you, we now have a chance to find the most important core of this swarm—the queen. We can’t let it get away..." the team captain explained to Lin Li.

"Oh, so that’s how it is!" It finally dawned on Lin Li as he nodded.

After all, these Tiger Bees posed no threat to him, so unlike the Exotic Beast Hunters who had been threatened by them and forced to flee in panic, he held no particular grudge against them.

Just as the captain had said, it was thanks to Lin Li that they had this opportunity to take out the queen of a Tiger Bee swarm. It was a rare chance they couldn’t afford to miss.

After killing the Tiger-headed Wasp Queen, they could return to the city. In his spare time, the captain could even log into the Exotic Beast Hunter exchange forum, post about his experience taking down the queen, and boost his reputation among his peers. An opportunity like this was too good to pass up.

Ordinary Tiger Bees, influenced by Spiritual Energy, had mutated to become the size of a chicken egg. But as the core of the entire swarm, the queen was even larger than a normal Tiger Bee—about the size of a duck egg.

Furthermore, if one extended their Spiritual Perception, they would discover that the unearthed Tiger-headed Wasp Queen was actually emitting a faint Spiritual Energy Wave.

Based on the intensity of the Spiritual Energy Wave it was emitting, this Tiger-headed Wasp Queen had Awakened its Spirituality. It was a Mutant Beast on the verge of breaking through to the First Rank Middle Stage.

According to research reports from the Spiritual Energy Research Institute, an entire Tiger Bee swarm typically consists of ordinary creatures. Only in very rare cases does the queen Awaken its Spirituality and become a Mutant Beast.

And once a swarm’s queen Awakens its Spirituality and becomes a Mutant Beast, its own reproductive capabilities are greatly enhanced.

The Exotic Beast Hunter with the thick eyebrows looked at the Tiger-headed Wasp Queen, which was emitting the aura of a First Rank Initial Stage beast on the verge of a breakthrough. A question in his mind was finally answered, and he remarked with emotion.

"The Tiger-headed Wasp Queen has Awakened into a Mutant Beast. No wonder this swarm is several times larger than the last one we encountered..."

The Tiger-headed Wasp Queen looked at the humans surrounding it. It was filled with both fury toward these enemies who had destroyed its home and taken its children, and immense fear of them.

"BZZZ..."

Noticing the increasingly intense malice emanating from the humans watching it, the Tiger-headed Wasp Queen immediately beat its wings and took flight, desperately trying to escape into the distance.