Chapter 626 - 623: A Special Youngling

Chapter 626: Chapter 623: A Special Youngling

Mo Ling had lost track of how long he had been living among the flowers...

Every day, he smelled something new. The scents here were far more varied than before. The aroma of the flowers changed with the environment, so every time Mo Ling was let out, he would roll around everywhere with curiosity.

The Fragrance Bees among the flowers grew familiar with this strange newborn. Some of them wanted to take Mo Ling to play elsewhere, but Grass and Wood Fragrance refused them all.

"We don’t have many newborns left. Every single one is precious, and we can’t afford any mishaps..."

It responsibly denied every Fragrance Bee’s request.

It had been so ruthless when killing the newborns tainted by the scent of blood, yet now it was so responsible. Mo Ling found it incredibly contradictory.

As Mo Ling learned more and more scents, his thoughts grew clearer. He could now precisely discern a scent’s "direction" and "concentration." He still rolled around in the scents, but now he could roll to exactly where he wanted to go.

Every time Grass and Wood Fragrance wanted to grab Mo Ling and take him back, it was quite an ordeal. Mo Ling had learned to dodge and hide, often concealing himself within strong floral aromas, making Grass and Wood Fragrance search high and low for him.

However, Grass and Wood Fragrance seemed to know Mo Ling very well. It always found him in the end and stuffed him back into his swaddling.

Mo Ling’s waking hours grew longer and longer. Perhaps because his body was developing, he became more and more energetic, and his playtime gradually increased.

Moreover, Mo Ling noticed that the other newborns in the swaddling were also becoming more active, though Grass and Wood Fragrance had never let them out.

「And so, some more time passed.」

Mo Ling could now stay awake for long periods. His sleeping time had become very short, and he was full of energy.

One day, when Mo Ling was wriggling about as usual, trying to get Grass and Wood Fragrance to let him out, it didn’t respond.

"The time has come..."

Grass and Wood Fragrance drifted up from among the flowers.

Soon, it found the leader of the Fragrance Bees. Mo Ling remembered the leader’s scent—a rich, fruity fragrance, sweet and almost cloying. The first time Mo Ling had smelled it, he had nearly been knocked out.

"Is it time for them to solidify?" The leader immediately guessed the purpose of Grass and Wood Fragrance’s visit.

"Yes, this batch of newborns is ready for solidification. I see that a solidification ceremony for newborns is being prepared among the flowers. Can they join in?" Grass and Wood Fragrance unfolded the swaddling, showing it to the leader.

The rich, fruity fragrance probed inside, circling carefully within the swaddling a few times.

"Let them join," the leader said bluntly.

"Thank you."

"Are there any requirements for the solidification scent? I can have them added," the leader asked nonchalantly.

"No requirements... just follow the rules of the flowers."

"Fine."

The communication between Grass and Wood Fragrance and the leader was very efficient. Their scents intertwined for just a moment, and all the arrangements were made.

"Should this little one join as well?" As it was leaving, the leader lightly tapped Mo Ling a few times and asked.

The potent fruity fragrance was making Mo Ling uncomfortable. He rolled back and forth in the swaddling, but he couldn’t escape the overwhelming scent. He had no choice but to curl up, trying his best to resist its effect.

"It can’t solidify. If it participates in the ceremony, it might cause trouble. It’s better if it doesn’t join," Grass and Wood Fragrance replied earnestly after a moment of thought.

The leader didn’t respond, just continued to tease Mo Ling.

"It seems it doesn’t like me very much."

"It has an aversion to strong scents," Grass and Wood Fragrance explained.

"I see..." The leader stopped tormenting Mo Ling and retracted its scent. "Let it join. It’s just a cub. No matter how much trouble it causes, it can’t be that big of a disaster."

"But even if it participates, it can’t solidify..."

"It’s fine. At least we will have tried." The leader’s scent slowly drifted away. "This is something it should experience, regardless of what its future holds."

"Understood."

...

Mo Ling had no idea that his destiny as a Fragrance Bee had just been altered in an intertwining of scents. He was still curled up, the lingering fear of the potent fruity fragrance fresh in his mind, completely unaware of what was to come.

It was back to the daily routine of playing and learning scents.

The Fragrance Bees among the flowers often brought strange scents to Mo Ling to play with. They loved watching his reaction when he smelled them.

However, those scents weren’t exactly normal...

’The smell of rotting leaves, animal droppings, sour fruit, stink bugs...’

Although Mo Ling found these smells foul, he still sniffed them earnestly, recording each one.

The nearby Fragrance Bees found this fascinating.

"Doesn’t it think that stinks? Why isn’t it running away?"

"Other newborns would be immediately tainted by this kind of smell, wouldn’t they? It’s really something else."

"That’s not right... last time I let it smell my scent, it ran away immediately. Am I smellier than all this?"

"It’s because your scent is too strong. It doesn’t like strong scents."

"Its way of judging scents seems different from ours... We like fragrant smells and hate stinky ones, but it hates strong scents and likes faint ones."

"That doesn’t seem right either, does it? The stink bug smell is so strong, but it’s still leaning in for a sniff. I really don’t get it. How can a newborn be like this..."

"What are you all doing!" Grass and Wood Fragrance discovered the group of Fragrance Bees teasing Mo Ling. It had just been tending to the other newborns and hadn’t noticed what was happening. In that short time, Mo Ling had been surrounded and made to smell all these pungent odors.

Grass and Wood Fragrance was furious. It immediately chased the other Fragrance Bees away, then snatched Mo Ling, who was rolling in the sour fruit scent, and brought him back.

"Why do you go up and smell everything?" Grass and Wood Fragrance demanded, exasperated that it couldn’t get through to him.

Mo Ling wriggled his body. He felt wronged. He had only gone closer because he found the scents novel.

Mo Ling desperately wanted to defend himself, but he couldn’t make his scent fluctuate like the other Fragrance Bees, so he was naturally unable to convey information or answer Grass and Wood Fragrance’s question.

There was nothing Grass and Wood Fragrance could do, so it could only start inspecting Mo Ling’s body.

Despite being exposed to so many pungent odors, Mo Ling’s body was completely unaffected. It was tough and incredibly healthy.

As it conducted the examination, Grass and Wood Fragrance’s anger subsided quite a bit.

It soothed Mo Ling, speaking gently, "From now on, when other Fragrance Bees ask you to smell the scents they bring, you have to be on your guard, understand? Scents are dangerous. We experience the world through scents, but the world can also harm us through them. Remember that."

Mo Ling wriggled his body, only half-understanding. He hadn’t felt that the recent scents were dangerous at all, but he still took Grass and Wood Fragrance’s warning to heart...