Chapter 10

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The name Hundred-Flower Bee Mother sounded wonderfully gentle, but anyone with even the slightest understanding of them would never say such a conscience-soothing thing.

In fact, whether in secret realms or out in the wild, social insect-type transcendent creatures were the existence that gave Beast Tamers the greatest headaches. And among them, the Hundred-Flower Bee Mother clan stood head and shoulders above the rest—terrifying enough to make people flee at the mere mention of them.

From the name alone, one could probably guess that this was a transcendent species dominated by females, or one in which females vastly outnumbered males. Yet that was merely one stage in the development of the Hundred-Flower Bee Mother population.

Newborn larvae that had yet to evolve were first-stage, F-rank, dual-attribute creatures of the insect and psychic types known as Little Flower Bugs. Little Flower Bugs had no sex. Only after they had foraged on a certain number of energy flower buds could they evolve.

After evolving, a Little Flower Bug would first transform into a male bee. A month later, only those with outstanding potential could evolve once more, becoming E-rank, high-level Hundred-Flower Bee Mothers.

A Hundred-Flower Bee Mother was more than twenty times the size of an ordinary male bee. Not only could it lay eggs and reproduce, but its combat power was also among the very best of creatures in the same rank. It possessed extraordinary command abilities as well, earning it the title of Commander of the Insect World.

More frightening still, because of the Little Flower Bugs’ special nature, a Hundred-Flower Bee Mother colony would generally contain multiple bee mothers—in other words, several queens jointly overseeing the colony.

This directly caused the colony’s expansion speed, range, and offensive power to rise at an astonishing rate, leaving no one willing to provoke them lightly.

Thus, Hundred-Flower Bee Mother colonies rarely appeared. But whenever one did, it would be a regional overlord.

Zhou Wanli had once heard her teacher explain their unusual sexual differentiation in class. Her curiosity had been piqued, so she had privately searched for more information afterward.

The more she learned, however, the more clearly she understood just how terrifying a Hundred-Flower Bee Mother colony was!

She simply could not understand it. A Provoking Monkey had only one life, so why did it enjoy running through the streets with a manure basket on its back so much? Was it looking for death—or rather, dung?

From a distance, the nests of the Hundred-Flower Bee Mothers looked like enormous balls of earth, pressing down on one lush, leafy tree after another until the trees could barely straighten their backs. At a rough estimate, there were more than a dozen of them.

That meant this Hundred-Flower Bee Mother colony had at least a dozen E-rank, high-level queens.

Zhou Wanli’s vision went dark. She nearly slung her backpack over her shoulder and went straight home. Perhaps it would be better to take Baby Dragon and leave right now.

Even if she gave the Provoking Monkey the benefit of the doubt and assumed it could truly follow her commands, what use would the strength of one human and two beasts be?

Seeing that the girl intended to withdraw, the Provoking Monkey immediately grew anxious. It darted to her side, gesturing with its hands. Its tail even draped itself over Zhou Wanli’s head, attempting to imitate the function of a neural tentacle.

Zhou Wanli: “…”

With dark lines across her face, she yanked the long tail off her head, then silently materialized a neural tentacle. She wanted to hear exactly what nonsense the Provoking Monkey was spouting.

The Provoking Monkey scratched its ears and cheeks. “Squeak, squeak, squeak!”

[There really is treasure in the Hundred-Flower Bee Mothers’ nest! It’s the thing you humans are looking for! I’ve already asked around. I’m not lying to you!]

Baby Dragon cast it a sidelong glance and let out a derisive snort from the side.

The Provoking Monkey glared back at it with an unfriendly look.

Zhou Wanli said, “…Then tell me. What exactly is the treasure in the Hundred-Flower Bee Mothers’ nest? What does it look like?”

“Squeak—”

[A square white card? It seems to glow when touched, and it smells faintly sweet.]

[I heard it drifted down from the sky this morning. A great many appeared at the time, but the Hundred-Flower Bee Mothers picked up most of them.]

The Provoking Monkey described it in painstaking detail, as though it had witnessed the scene with its own eyes. Zhou Wanli listened with half-belief and half-doubt.

“That does sound plausible. But you wouldn’t happen to have some other motive, trying to trick me into entering the hive, would you?”

“Squeak?!” How could that be?! This great king is helping you!!

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The Provoking Monkey angrily tossed its head. What an abominable human! How dare she question the integrity of its monkey character?

Zhou Wanli lowered her head and began to think.

To be honest, if the Provoking Monkey’s description was accurate, then there was indeed a very high chance that the square white cards in the Hundred-Flower Bee Mothers’ nests were the examination questions she was looking for.

They were white and square, and lit up when touched, somewhat resembling an electronic screen or something similar. As for the sweet smell, she guessed it might be an insect attractant. It was not impossible that the Federation had designed something like that to increase the difficulty of the examination.

But even if that was the truth, with the strength of one human and two beasts, they would probably be surrounded and torn apart by the swarm before they even reached the Hundred-Flower Bee Mothers’ territory.

Besides, the additional question was worth only fifty points, while the total score for the entire global examination was six hundred.

If they fell into danger for the sake of an examination question whose contents they did not even know, were forced to terminate the competition, and ended up with their final results invalidated, Zhou Wanli would probably cry herself to death.

Thinking about it that way, wasn’t it a terrible bargain?

Zhou Wanli stroked her chin, pondering this strange situation.

If the examination really worked this way, then candidates who knew even a little about the Hundred-Flower Bee Mothers would probably choose not to continue searching for or completing the additional question, just to be safe.

After all, even candidates from certain Beast-Taming clans had brain development levels sufficient to contract only one pet beast at this stage. No matter how excellent that pet beast’s potential was, it could not possibly stand against more than a dozen Hundred-Flower Bee Mothers.

In that case, this had been an impossible question from the very beginning.

The Federation could not possibly have made such a low-level mistake.

—

The Twenty-Third Tonghai Province Candidate Conference.

Major Huo Ming sat upright in the military district delegation’s section. Several other Federation officials and Beast-Taming College Entrance Examination examiners arrived one after another.

At that moment, a woman wearing a Beast Tamer’s uniform walked to the main seat of the round conference table. She calmly swept her gaze over the dozen or so Beast Tamers in the room—people who were about to determine the fate of every candidate in the Tonghai Secret Realm—and spoke in an even voice:

“All examination questions have now been distributed. The preliminary secret-realm survival test is complete.”

“The Global Super-Large-Scale Novice Beast Tamer Unified Hazard Examination, together with its simultaneous online live-streamed evaluation, officially begins now!”

“All examiners, take note! Scores must be assigned according to the following rules:

“1. Candidates who locate an examination question may receive no more than ten percent of the total score. (≤60)

“2. Candidates who obtain an examination question may receive no more than twenty percent of the total score. (≤120)

“3. Candidates who complete the first two requirements and provide an answer, but answer incorrectly, may receive no more than thirty percent of the total score. (≤180)

“4. Candidates who complete the first two requirements and answer correctly may receive no more than fifty percent of the total score. (≤300)”

“The remaining fifty percent will be awarded after the candidates leave the secret realm, based on an assessment of the potential of the transcendent pet beasts they have contracted.”

“As for the examination, the Heavenly Domain Network will record and preserve detailed evaluations from every session. Every high-school graduate taking this examination will become one of our future Beast Tamers. Please treat this matter with the utmost seriousness!”

“Now, all examiners, materialize your neural tentacles and connect to the Heavenly Domain Network.”

More than a dozen high-level Beast Tamers simultaneously manifested neural tentacles and connected them to the spherical holographic display at the center of the round table, which was composed of countless tiny screens.

In front of Colonel Huo Ming’s retinas appeared the figures of hundreds upon hundreds of candidates. Some had already entered the center of the secret realm, while others were still wandering around its outskirts. Most of them, however, had a contracted pet beast at their side.

Through the Heavenly Domain Network, the brain’s ability to process information increased dozens of times. A few seconds later, Huo Ming had already grasped the current situation of every candidate.

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Immediately afterward, he noticed a girl in the very corner of the display.

It was not because she had encountered any danger. Rather, her situation was somewhat strange.

Every other candidate had only one contracted transcendent creature accompanying them, but she was different. She had two transcendent creatures by her side.

One of them was even a Provoking Monkey, a species with a rather poor reputation in the human world.

How should one put it? If not for the serious flaws in their temperament, then with the extraordinary intelligence of monkeys and their superb growth potential, they would certainly have become creatures that countless Beast Tamers fought to contract.

Unfortunately, the problem lay precisely in the Provoking Monkey’s personality. They were arrogant, paranoid, and volatile, constantly stirring up trouble. Most of all, they loved provoking beings stronger than themselves.

Because of this temperament, Provoking Monkeys had nearly played themselves into endangerment as a species. Nowadays, they were rarely seen in the wild or in secret realms.

If Zhou Wanli had known what Major Huo Ming was thinking, she would probably have nodded in emphatic agreement. As someone who had been hounded by a Provoking Monkey, she had more than enough authority to speak on the matter.

Endangered was nothing. They could very well play themselves into extinction!

The man shifted his gaze to the right, then suddenly narrowed his eyes in confusion.

Why was there a Baby Dragon here?

As far as he knew, any transcendent creature possessing dragon blood had immense potential and excellent aptitude, but also extremely demanding environmental requirements for growth. A fragmented world like a secret realm would only restrict its development.

Moreover, since the Tonghai Secret Realm served as an examination site for the global college entrance examination, transcendent creatures above D-rank could not possibly enter.

The Baby Dragon had probably found some way to sneak inside. This candidate certainly had good luck, to have contracted such a rare pet beast.

As this thought occurred to him, Huo Ming’s eyes flickered again. If the girl performed well in the final examination, perhaps he could invite her to apply to West Capital Military Beast-Taming University.

After all, good resources should stay within the family. Promising young talent ought to be reserved for one’s own side first.

At that moment, Zhou Wanli had no idea that someone had already begun coveting her as a promising talent.

When the Provoking Monkey once again began recklessly testing the limits of death, attempting to rush forward and provoke the Hundred-Flower Bee Mothers, Zhou Wanli grabbed it and dragged it away.

She had no intention of taking on an entire population by herself.

She definitely had to complete the question. The examination broadcast had mentioned the additional question, to one degree or another, on both occasions it had played.

The education system could not possibly have designed so many pointless details. Zhou Wanli felt certain there had to be a trap hidden within them.

If she did not even attempt it, she feared it might affect the evaluation of her final score.

But if she truly intended to do it, she would need to think very carefully about how.

In any case, Zhou Wanli certainly would not risk herself alone.

As the old saying went: let a fellow cultivator die in your place, and save yourself the trouble.

With that thought in mind, the girl turned to look at the Provoking Monkey, which was idly picking at its fingers beside her.

The Provoking Monkey tilted its head. “Squeak?”

Zhou Wanli smiled brightly.

“Good boy! Go find us a few people. We’ll fight the monsters together later.”

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