Chapter 1168 - 1165: Nectar Bee

"Tap tap..."

The mighty twin-ponytail army marched down the quiet street, their steps going "tap tap," like neat ranks of heavy cavalry charging, radiating an intense sense of pressure.

"Bzz bzz～"

Perched on the windshield, the squad leader [Ponytail], seeing the panic and shock on everyone's faces, smiled till her eyes curved and waved her forelegs, letting out a series of wing-buzzes.

Hey now! Don't look at us like that, we're Spirit Beasts with official positions, okay.

How could we possibly be running around covered in germs? We have strict hygiene regulations—morning and night we clean each other and supervise.

With our hygiene standards, our bodies might be a bit short of being directly processed into Recovery New Fluid, but give us two more washes and we'd be fine.

The American Cockroach threw a flirty look, covered her mouth with her forelegs, imitating the shy pose of a mature lady.

"...You lot really are particular about hygiene. Anyway, my main target isn't you."

Standing on the roof of the car, Master Fuli looked helplessly at Sister Horse Tail, waved his hand, telling her to wait off to the side and also rein in her little brats.

Dozens of thousands of antennae probing out from the greenery, one after another—that scene was honestly a bit creepy.

Master Fuli had just finished complaining about the roaches when the manhole cover beside them started going "clang clang" with a strange noise.

A crocodile claw tentatively pushed at the cover; after confirming there were no cars passing over, a crocodile head with red gradient along the side of its face poked out from below.

A big snake that looked part crocodile and part lizard squatted down beside the manhole, turned back, hauled out two cubs, and scampered over to the car to find a spot to squat.

"Hiss..." The croc-lizard stared at Master Fuli, full of curiosity, and asked.

Brother Hu, we haven't even hit the flood season yet this year—why is the Security Bureau calling us up early? Don't tell me the higher-ups are planning to distribute disaster-relief grain ahead of schedule?

"We're from the neighboring province's Security Bureau. Your relief grain isn't under our jurisdiction..."

Master Fuli waved a paw at the croc-lizard; what it brought up didn't surprise him.

Spirit Beasts like them, though not formally on the Security Bureau payroll, are all registered there, usually roaming the city or doing freelance work.

If the city gets hit by a natural disaster, Spirit Beasts like them go to the Security Bureau to collect disaster-relief grain.

But they have to help the Bureau keep a close eye on the city, to prevent weird things from escaping after floods wash out farms—like some soaked and puffed-up geckos (crocodiles).

"Buzz buzz buzz..."

Spirit Beasts from the old town wriggled out of every kind of crack and unexpected corner, crowding around Master Fuli to ask what orders the big brother had.

After waiting in place for a moment, a bee of ordinary Golden Ring hornet size fluttered out from inside Jinyu District, landed on the car roof, tilted its head at Master Fuli and rubbed its little hands.

"There really is a bee, huh!"

Seeing that pitch-black bee, a hint of surprise crossed Master Fuli's face; he clearly hadn't expected to lock onto the Spiritual Particles criminal this easily.

"Do you know the girl in the car?" Master Fuli raised a paw and pointed at Yang Xinyan, asking the black bee.

"Bzz..." The black bee froze for a moment, as if spending great effort to understand Master Fuli's meaning, then gently nodded, buzzing, and stammered:

"I know her..."

"Sting her, get chicken legs; inject pheromones, swap the lower body in for the brain, organs do the thinking; human female said, once the job's done, she'd take me to a club to pick out male models."

Under Master Fuli's questioning, the black bee, newly awakened to intelligence, didn't hold back at all and directly confessed everything it had done.

"I've got lots of free time. My kind says I'm a land of bliss. You got any connections to help me find a mate?" The black bee rubbed its forelegs, staring blankly at Master Fuli as it spoke.

"You are..."

Ansheng looked puzzled, patted the car window to signal Momo to loan her phone, opened the image-recognition app, and took a full-body shot of the black bee.

After a brief buffer, an entry popped right to the top of the screen: [White Moth Zhou's Nectar Bee].

Zhou's Nectar Bee is a parasitic wasp, a natural enemy of many lepidopteran pests. So far, the largest observed adult was female and only 1.5 millimeters long.

"A body length of 1.5 millimeters?"

Looking at the info on the screen, Ansheng froze and glanced at the Nectar Bee in front of her.

The black bee in front of her was clearly about as thick as an adult man's thumb, obviously no less than five centimeters.

Yet the largest of its species was only 1.5 millimeters.

"Damn, talk about a little pony pulling a freight train. I thought the Golden Leopard's blind-date situation was bad enough, but who knew Lingnan would have masters among masters..."

Ansheng snapped a photo of the Nectar Bee, pointed toward Jinyu District, and had it go play the temporary mole.

The Nectar Bee had no objections; it actually wasn't all that close with He Sisi.

The two met out of town; He Sisi had raised a slipper, ready to end the Nectar Bee right there.

Driven to the edge, the Nectar Bee bit He Sisi, making her turn into a CNC machine tool in the hotel; in three days she nearly ground every cylindrical edge in the room smooth.

Realizing how uncanny the Nectar Bee was, He Sisi tempted it with food and goods, promising to bring it to the big city to make a fortune.

The result...was all work and no pay, and at night it had to take some Xia Country general-language class.

"Uh, so..."

Just as they reached He Sisi's door, Yang Xinyan, who'd been walking in the back of the group, suddenly flushed, and looked at Momo and Master Fuli, saying:

"She and I are sisters. Could you give me ten minutes? I want to talk to her."

"I promise I'll come out within ten minutes..."

As she said this, the blush on Yang Xinyan's cheeks deepened, but it clearly wasn't shyness; it was more like her blood was boiling.

"Almost forgot about you..."

Seeing Yang Xinyan starting to get "high," Ansheng finally slapped her own forehead, put a paw on Yang Xinyan's, and drew out the pheromone bee venom through Flesh Power.

The Nectar Bee's toxin can manipulate pheromones—no matter if it's some ninety-year-old leaning on a cane, one sting from it and they can return to their eighteen-year-old prime, turning into a beast.

Though Yang Xinyan was female, under He Sisi's orders the Nectar Bee used pheromone commands to make Yang Xinyan develop a crazed obsession with He Sisi's existence.

"...Thank you, Fox Immortal."

As the toxin was pulled out, Yang Xinyan, who'd just been all wound up like a monkey in heat, suddenly froze, and clarity returned to her eyes.

"But I still hope everyone can give me ten minutes to talk with her."

Yang Xinyan pressed her palms together pitifully and spoke to Master Fuli and Momo.

"Well...all right then!"

Ansheng glanced at Momo; seeing the subtle look on Momo's face, she herself grew curious, and helped Yang Xinyan unlock He Sisi's front door.

Yang Xinyan strode into the house, yanked off her white jacket, undid her belt, kicked off her pants entirely, revealing the shorts underneath.

"Is this territorial friction?"

Ansheng's expression turned odd as she glanced sideways at Momo and asked.

"Didn't I say before, this old sister's got a rather spicy personality..." Momo slightly tilted her head to the sky, her tone going strange as she said:

"Her family used to run a logistics company. The firm's long gone now, but genes are what they are..."

"Even if she can't cosplay a forklift, unloading twenty-plus tons of cargo in a day's no big deal for her."

As Momo spoke, a crisp slap already rang out from inside, with a springy echo to it.

"Smack——"

The Spirit Beasts who'd come to watch the drama were all startled by the sudden explosion of sound from inside the apartment; after a brief panic in the hallway, they immediately crowded around the doorway, staring curiously into the dark room.

"Smack smack smack——"