CHAPTER 435: CHAPTER 4: FARM DEFENSE BATTLE (PART 2)

The rogue leader grunted and was about to crush the sweet potato flower underfoot when the sound of buzzing insects fluttering their wings arose.

"Damn it, bees in the dead of night," the rogue leader took a closer look and got a fright, the "bee" perched upon the flower was unusually large.

The body of the bee had patterns of black, yellow, and brown, a short golden fuzz, and its transparent long wings were flapping nonstop, producing an incessant buzzing sound.

The rogue leader cursed, "What kind of freakish farm is this, sweet potatoes everywhere, and even the bees they keep are freaking huge."

No sooner had the swearing stopped than a severe pain struck the top of the rogue leader’s foot, "Ow, crap."

In the eerily silent night, his cry of pain sounded particularly jarring, frightening his minions who were carrying gasoline almost to the point of dropping their barrels.

"Boss, what’s wrong?" one of them sneakily glanced around, relieved that the noise had not disturbed anyone inside the house.

"Damn, my foot, it’s killing me," the rogue leader squatted in the sweet potato field, holding his right leg and crying out nonstop.

"Foot? Boss, ain’t you wearing shoes? Still got stung by a bee?" The other rogues abandoned their barrels, hearing the cries that sounded genuinely agonizing.

The rogue leader himself couldn’t figure it out; he was wearing a pair of genuine leather shoes that cost hundreds, could they really not protect against a bee’s sting?

"Stop gawking, are you guys pigs? Help me take off my shoes," the rogue leader tried to pull off his shoes with both hands clutching his foot but was unable to muster any strength, even taking off a pair of shoes became a problem.

Several grown men, at the witching hour, struggled mightily to take off their shoes in the sweet potato field. But strangely enough, the shoes that should have fit perfectly seemed stuck and couldn’t be pulled off.

"It’s no use, I feel dizzy and nauseous, my throat feels as if it’s being choked by two hands. Get me... to the hospital, call Boss Huang," the rogue leader’s face, illuminated by the moonlight, was pale as snow, his short-sleeved shirt soaked with sweat the size of beans.

The would-be arsonists were terrified upon witnessing this, scrambling in panic, some lifting the head, others tugging at arms, while the remaining two hurriedly carried the gasoline barrels back to the vehicle; the six-seater van drove off leaving a trail of stench, as if fleeing for their lives.

In the sweet potato field, upon the vines, trumpet flowers bloomed, and countless hornets flew out from them with a buzz.

One after another seemed to have received a command, following the queen bee that had first settled on the sweet potato flower which had stung the rogue leader. The mouth of the bee, with a needle-sharp stinger, glinted coldly.

Each of the hornets, vibrating their wings, flew in one direction. In a short while, they vanished without a trace, the flying speed and formation of this swarm of hornets were orderly, as if directed by someone.

The farm returned to its previous tranquility, and after a while, a strong buzzing noise emerged from a sweet potato flower bud about to blossom.

Emerging from a sweet potato flower, a young wasp larger than the average hornet shook its head as if pondering something. After a moment, having confirmed that it no longer heard the sounds of its companions, it burrowed back into the sweet potato flower.

The departing swarm of hornets flew swiftly. After half a night, they crossed the main urban area of Beijing from Yanqing and headed toward a small reservoir in the rural outskirts of Miyun.

Ripples danced on the water surface as Yezi sat by the reservoir, casting a slim bamboo fishing rod with deft hands. The rod was just over a meter long, its tip wrapped with a thin line tied to a piece of raw pork left over from cooking.

Yezi gave the fishing rod a light flick, and the pork bait entered the water with a soft plop, slowly sinking. Unhurried, he methodically baited and submerged dozens of similar rods in the water.

Suddenly, the line on the first rod tensed. Yezi, quick to react, lifted the rod with his left hand and grabbed a hand net with his right. As the line emerged from the water, only causing ripples, a Hairy Crab the size of a palm waved its eight legs, its front two pincers firmly grasping the piece of raw pork.

The hand net was swift and fierce, quickly entrapping the unsuspecting Yezi. Several rods simultaneously bent straight. Below Yezi’s feet, as if equipped with whirlwind wheels, he moved in one fluid motion, wielding the hand net like a flurry of small flags. Within two or three minutes, he had continuously caught more than twenty Hairy Crabs.

"Much faster than last time," Yezi looked at the crabs snapping their claws in the basket with satisfaction. These Hairy Crabs, swapped through a deceitful ruse, were slightly smaller due to issues with the aquatic plants. It wasn’t the season for catching them yet, and Yezi was just practicing.

When the proper season for crab harvesting came, with the Star Rhinoceros Stone in his hand, his crab catching would be both fast and accurate.

Yezi held down the crab’s two small legs and flipped over its belly to inspect it, "No good, is it a problem with the water or the aquatic plants? These crabs, by the time September and October come around, will probably still be ’water crabs’ with little crab roe." Having spent much time with Uncle Lu, Yezi had developed his innate superior ability with animals, gaining insights into animal husbandry. The crabs he selected were all top-notch.

A thick swarm of hornets, yellow against the dark sky, approached. That evening, Yezi ostensibly followed Uncle Lu’s advice and returned obediently to the small reservoir. However, behind the scenes, he had summoned his "darlings" to follow the little ruffians.

"Back? How did it go?" The largest Queen Bee in the swarm landed on Yezi’s finger, gently tapping his nail with its foot.

"Oh, not bad. Caught one, just one, but I reckon that alone gave that crooked boss a headache. They actually wanted to douse it in gasoline. Hmm, pretty clever, struck first before the fire even started," Hornets fear fire, and after hearing the news, Yezi held yet another grudge against Huang’s Breeding and their ruthless tactics.

This swarm of hornets was what he had brought out from the stone beach’s dense forest. After joint training by Fiji and Yezi, the hornets’ toxicity and Attack Power were comparable to those of a small-sized mercenary.

Although the Queen Bee reported that the swarm faced no retaliation, Yezi meticulously counted them, "Eh," he frowned slightly: "Why is one missing?"

After recounting, Yezi still couldn’t find another worker bee that had hatched this year in the swarm. That particular worker bee had not been long hatched and was still settling in. Yezi took notice of it because it was significantly larger for its age. Unlike regular honeybees, upon the Queen Bee’s demise, hornets usually choose the largest of their number to become the new bee queen. Originally, Yezi intended to cultivate that hornet in case of need.

"Sigh, such a shame," Yezi guided the swarm of hornets back to his Star Rhinoceros. He attributed the loss of the "new bee queen" to Huang’s Breeding.

**

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