Chapter 11
The secret realm was complex and diverse. On a grassy slope, a boy with a close-cropped haircut was intently commanding his sunflower to battle a Qingfeng silkworm.
This sunflower was something he had barely managed to tame after ten whole hours, during which he even suffered some minor injuries. But in the face of owning an E-rank extraordinary beast, none of that mattered.
With the sunflower by his side, Xiao Zhun was brimming with confidence, certain he would score highly in the upcoming beast-taming exam.
As the boy daydreamed, the sunflower on the other side had already toppled the Qingfeng silkworm.
“Yang~yang~”
“What’s wrong, sunflower?”
Detecting a sharp urgency in the sunflower’s voice, Xiao Zhun snapped back to reality and turned his head, only to see a black shadow flash by. The sunflower at his feet had vanished without a trace.
“Ah! My flower!” the boy screamed in despair.
—
Leaves rustled softly, drawing nearer.
Zhou Wanli tilted her head in surprise—she hadn’t expected the Taunting Monkey to locate someone so quickly—and looked over with joy. But in the next moment, her expression froze.
The Taunting Monkey was darting swiftly through the trees, alternating its hands to grab branches. Its upper body seemed fine, but clamped between its two feet was… what exactly was that?
“???”
The Taunting Monkey jumped down and stood before the girl, then casually tossed the sunflower onto the ground. The flower was utterly disheveled, its petals wilted, its once vibrant face pale as death.
“Squeak squeak!” Here you go, what you wanted.
“Yang~” The sunflower’s pink face was drained of color, its five white petals drooping sadly. Tears welled in its eyes, making it look utterly pitiful.
A vein twitched on Zhou Wanli’s temple. “Is this really the time? You’re still off chasing flowers! Didn’t I tell you to find someone? Find someone, got it?”
“Squeak squeak!” The Taunting Monkey spread its hands innocently.
[Yes, find someone, that’s right!]
[This little white flower is a human’s pet beast. After I caught it, the human has been chasing behind me. They should be arriving any moment now.]
Zhou Wanli stared in disbelief. “...?”
Just then, a faint male voice echoed from the nearby dense forest, breaking down in anguished shouts.
“Flower! My poor flower! Damn monkey, why did you steal my flower?! Ahhh!!”
Zhou Wanli: “...” Even though it wasn’t her doing, she somehow felt guilty.
From a distance, Xiao Zhun spotted his beloved pet being carried like a chicken by a monkey, hanging upside down, battered and bedraggled as if caught in a violent storm.
“Little Flower! What happened to you? Are you okay?” The boy rushed over, snatched the sunflower into his arms, then turned to glare angrily at the girl.
“Why do you have a pet beast already, yet you still steal my sunflower?!” Xiao Zhun demanded furiously.
Zhou Wanli twitched at the corner of her mouth. “...If I said this was a misunderstanding, would you believe me?”
Xiao Zhun gritted his teeth. “Can’t you come up with a more believable lie?!”
Zhou Wanli sighed, “I’m serious. That monkey is not my contracted pet beast.” She then pointed to the little rock-chewing baby dragon beside her. “This is my contracted pet beast.”
Hearing his beast’s owner speak, the baby dragon lifted an eyelid and tapped the ground with its tail, asserting its presence. “Arooo—Yes, it’s me!”
Xiao Zhun was stunned. “Then how did you make that monkey so obedient that it would come steal my little flower?”
Zhou Wanli: “...I told you, it’s a misunderstanding. I really didn’t want to steal your flower.”
After a long and exhausting explanation, Xiao Zhun finally believed the girl wasn’t lying, and that she actually wanted to invite him to the Hundred-Flower Bee Queen’s nest to search for the exam questions.
“Just the two of us? When are we going?”
Zhou Wanli gave him a surprised glance. “Just the two of us? Didn’t expect you to be so confident!”
—
Xiao Zhun’s face darkened. “I’m asking you that right now!”
As a rigorous researcher, Zhou Wanli lived by one motto: Preparation is the key to success, lack of it leads to failure.
Before doing anything, she always outlined several possible plans and chose the best based on the facts.
Going into the Hundred-Flower Bee Queen’s nest to find something was no easy task. Waiting for the bees to leave naturally was unrealistic. They had to either use external forces to drive them off or directly attack and lure them out.
Zhou Wanli thought both methods were worth trying.
Besides that, they had to consider how to escape and evade relentless pursuit if they found the exam questions inside the nest.
The Hundred-Flower Bee Queen’s clan was notoriously vengeful; chasing prey for days on end was nothing to them.
Zhou Wanli wanted to survive, get into the Beast-Tamer University, and bring glory to her family. So the plan had to be meticulous!
The first step of a meticulous plan started with choosing teammates.
Zhou Wanli intended to gather pet beasts representing all five elemental attributes.
Baby Dragon was earth element, Sunflower was grass element, so they still needed to find contestants who had contracted water, fire, and steel element beasts.
Thus, the two of them and their three beasts set off separately.
Watching Xiao Zhun and his sunflower disappear over the hill, the Taunting Monkey gave a couple of squeaks and leapt back into the trees.
Zhou Wanli commanded Baby Dragon to use the Earth Escape skill and set off to find their target.
Considering the three beasts’ attributes and possible battles, Zhou Wanli and Baby Dragon were assigned to find the contestant with a water-element pet beast.
—
Half an hour later, near the black mud pool at the secret realm’s center.
Before approaching the edge, Zhou Wanli heard sounds of a battle ahead.
Her eyes brightened. “Little Bao, get ready to assist or fight.”
Baby Dragon bared its teeth. “Aro~ Got it!”
In the center of the black mud pool lay a pale blue Water Maze Serpent, its body as wide as two palms. It had its eyes closed, head tilted, and a deep purple fruit in its mouth.
About a meter away, a Steel-Clad Crocodile lay on its back, motionless, half-floating in the mud.
A boy with chestnut short hair sat cross-legged on the shore, attentively watching the Water Maze Serpent. He pulled a yellow tree fruit from his bag, poured some water from a bottle, wiped it carefully, then bit into it.
The instant the fruit’s skin broke, a sharp, indescribable sour and bitter taste flooded his mouth. Nan Liu Jing’s brow furrowed tightly, but ingrained habit forbade spitting it out, so he swallowed hard.
Only after finishing did he stick out his tongue in disgust.
“That’s called a bitter orange fruit. Only the ones with red veins are sweet; the rest are all bitter,” Zhou Wanli observed for a while, then stepped forward as he hadn’t noticed her.
“Mi~” The Water Maze Serpent suddenly opened its eyes, straightened up, and its cold vertical pupils locked onto the girl.
“Oh, so there’s such a thing,” Nan Liu Jing suddenly understood, touched his little curls, then shyly smiled and said, “Hello, I’m Nan Liu Jing. You are...?”
“I’m Zhou Wanli. I mean no harm coming here. I just want to discuss something with you.”
She pointed to the Water Maze Serpent in the mud pool. “Is this your contracted pet beast?”
Nan Liu Jing nodded.
Zhou Wanli clapped happily. “Then you’re the one. Come with me!”
“?”
—
Outside the Hundred-Flower Bee Queen’s nest, behind a tree about a hundred meters away.
Five heads peeked out furtively.
“Hey, do you really think there’s such a thing here?” Xiao Zhun asked excitedly.
“How would we know? We haven’t searched yet!” Bai Jiajing replied dryly.
Nan Liu Jing and Zhu Feng said nothing, their faces tense.
When Zhou Wanli heard a strange monkey call nearby, her eyes lit up. She waved her hand. “Let’s move!”
“Yes!” four voices answered in unison.
The Taunting Monkey truly lived up to its name, with unparalleled ability to attract hostility.
Zhou Wanli didn’t even know how it did it, but it had managed to lead away more than half the bee swarm.
Watching the dense swarm of Hundred-Flower Bees pour out, blotting out the sky as they flew away, Bai Jiajing swallowed nervously, gazing at Zhou Wanli with utmost admiration.
“Sis Li, you’re amazing! How did you get the Taunting Monkey to work so hard for you? You’re not even its beast tamer.”
Zhou Wanli: “...” It just enjoys itself.
“Alright, now that most of the swarm is gone, the next step will be much easier.” Zhou Wanli looked at Bai Jiajing. “It’s your turn with the Fire Cloud Dog.”
“No problem!”
The Fire Cloud Dog had been waiting. Seeing its tamer’s signal, the pair charged out together.
Bai Jiajing was responsible for directing the Fire Cloud Dog to set fire to the beehive.
“It’s my turn.” Nan Liu Jing smiled, gently stroking the Water Maze Serpent’s head. “Let’s do our best.”
The beehive quickly caught fire, while the Water Maze Serpent used its water curtain skill to contain the thick smoke inside.
“Perfect!” Xiao Zhun grinned at the remaining two, then charged off without looking back. “Little Flower! Let’s go!”
“Flower~”
Under Xiao Zhun’s command, the Sunflower first used Seed Shot to attach vine seeds onto several hives, then used Entangle. The blue-green vines wrapped the hives completely, turning them into giant green balls.
With no grip left, the hives fell from the trees, crashing heavily to the ground.
Zhou Wanli and Zhu Feng exchanged a glance and charged forward together.
“Little Bao, try using Sand Raise to build up earth energy.”
Zhou Wanli had noticed several vine-wrapped hives trembling violently. “Everyone be careful!”
The Fire Cloud Dog, Water Maze Serpent, and Sunflower had already spent quite a bit of energy.
Zhou Wanli signaled them to fall back. She and Zhu Feng stood at the forefront with their beasts.
“Little Bao! When the Hundred-Flower Bee Queen appears, use Sandstorm immediately, then claw attack.”
Zhu Feng also commanded his beast, “Steel Rat, use Burrow to dig under the hive, harden your body, then use Metal Bite to attack the appearing Queen.”
Both Baby Dragon and Steel Rat nodded.
The vine-wrapped hives trembled continuously. On the ground scattered were nearly a hundred F-rank Hundred-Flower Bees, stunned, burned, or suffocated.
After this, the swarm’s strength would be severely diminished.
Crack.
Two green balls on the edge were violently torn open from within. A deep purple Hundred-Flower Bee Queen burst out, emitting an angry screech. Its ghostly blue compound eyes contracted wildly, locking on the humans before it.
Seemingly understanding the situation, it flapped its wings fiercely and charged at the group at once.
“Little Bao!”
“Arooo—”