220: Soul-Eating Bee

“Husband!”

Tie Shengnan pushed open the conference room door and strode toward Huang Chen, saying seriously, “Husband, I think we must establish a comprehensive intelligence network... We can gather a lot of information during the current arena competitions! We need to arrange this now...”

“Hah!”

Huang Chen smiled lightly upon hearing this, pulled Tie Shengnan closer, and had her sit on his lap.

During this time, Tie Shengnan had been busy reorganizing the military and capturing the little japanese's Satellite Cities, so he had neglected her a bit.

“An intelligence network? Doesn't our Forbidden City already have one?”

Huang Chen gently reached his hand down her V-neck while saying softly, “Take off your battle armor...”

“No! Wait a minute!”

Tie Shengnan held down Huang Chen's restless hand and said seriously, “The recent battle against the Locke Clan wouldn't have resulted in such heavy casualties if we hadn't known absolutely nothing about them.”

“While no one dies in the arena, what if we encounter them on the battlefield later?”

“We just won by relying on overwhelming attributes. If both sides had similar equipment and strength, we might have lost if you hadn't intervened.”

Tie Shengnan looked slightly anxious. She was afraid Huang Chen was being blindly arrogant, which could lead to huge losses at a critical moment later on.

“Be a good girl, take off the armor...”

Huang Chen was still intoxicated, lingering between the 'mountains' and completely ignoring Tie Shengnan's urgency.

“Hus... er...”

Tie Shengnan opened her mouth, intending to say more, but Huang Chen immediately grasped the key point with one hand, causing her to let out a moan.

She glanced faintly at the person on her chest. It seemed if she didn't satisfy him first, he wouldn't be willing to discuss intelligence.

With a flicker of thought, the battle armor disappeared.

However, just as Huang Chen began his deep exploration, Tie Shengnan endured the tingling sensation and said, “The eighth round of the arena competition starts in less than an hour. Are you sure you have enough time?”

“We'll both cancel our participation for now, and let Lan Ling take charge of the command...” Huang Chen said calmly while continuing to explore downwards. “With the war pet here, we can't lose...”

A wonderful performance is usually followed by warm applause.

An hour and a half later... After the deed was done, Tie Shengnan suppressed her fatigue and stubbornly said to Huang Chen, “Husband, the intelligence network I mentioned... it's really, really important!”

Only then did Huang Chen contentedly stroke Tie Shengnan's short hair and say lazily, “I know intelligence is important!”

“I established the intelligence network right when we first occupied Satellite City No. 21. Yang Nuo has always sent intelligence reports to Chun Yan; it's just that the information during this period wasn't military-related, so Chun Yan didn't mention it to you.”

“Moreover, when the arena competitions started, I already instructed Yang Nuo to focus specifically on the Low Martial Race Group guild arena matches. I believe detailed intelligence will be delivered to you tomorrow.”

Hearing Huang Chen's words, Tie Shengnan couldn't help but bite his arm fiercely, saying indignantly, “Why didn't you tell me earlier? You made me distracted the whole time!!”

“Hahahaha!”

Huang Chen burst into hearty laughter, and after a moment, he said, “I'm used to you all being so focused. Occasionally tasting distraction has a unique flavor.”

Glaring at Huang Chen, Tie Shengnan struggled to expel the foreign body, stood up, put on her battle armor, and then said with slight shyness, “Being gone for so long, Sister Ning and the others must have guessed something. I need to prepare for the ninth round of the competition.”

“Alright!”

Huang Chen also dressed neatly, preparing to participate in the ninth round with Tie Shengnan.

After all, when facing the Low Martial Race Group, who knows what kind of cheats they might pull?

Although losing one match wouldn't be a big deal, it would ultimately negatively affect the Forbidden City Guild's reputation.

Just as he finished putting on his equipment, his expression suddenly changed drastically.

Then, with a thought, he instantly appeared next to his clone.

The moment he landed, Huang Chen immediately activated Gale Step and concealed himself in the bushes with his clone.

What reached his ears was a continuous, noisy buzzing sound.

Huang Chen focused his gaze. What met his eyes was a vast, dense swarm of creatures resembling mosquitoes.

Huang Chen estimated that there were at least a thousand creatures per cubic meter.

“It can't be that thing, can it!”

Huang Chen shivered, then cast a detection spell toward it.

[Soul Devouring Bees lv80 Rank: Epic Grade]

“Holy crap... it really is!!”

For a moment, Huang Chen nearly used Teleportation to leave immediately.

The reputation of the Soul Devouring Bees was something he had heard about constantly in his previous life.

Although they are called bees, the volume of these creatures is only the size of an Earth mosquito.

They feed on the souls of living beings. It is said that once these creatures are provoked, they will absolutely fight to the death.

Moreover, the feeling of being stung is like having a piece of your soul ripped off alive—it's a pain worse than death.

Although there is no definitive statement about the soul in the Star Abyss, according to fragmented records from some High Martial Race Groups, all people possess souls.

The soul experiences three stages throughout a person's life. The first is the growth period before adulthood, during which the soul gradually strengthens as age increases.

The second stage is the nourishment period, during which the soul grows stronger as one's power increases.

The third stage is the decline period, which generally occurs in old age, where the soul gradually weakens as bodily functions deteriorate.

Once the soul is consumed by the Soul Devouring Bees, it rapidly weakens, directly leading to accelerated physical aging and a cliff-like drop in strength.

In his previous life, there was a major incident where a nest of Soul Devouring Bees built a hive in the wilderness outside a High Martial Race Group's main city. Because the people of that High Martial Race Group tried to destroy it, the Soul Devouring Bees launched a full-scale attack on the main city.

Although the Soul Devouring Bees were finally destroyed with the help of a Main God-level NPC from Central City.

However, nearly everyone attacked by the Soul Devouring Bees during that battle was crippled.

Furthermore, the most terrifying thing was that during that battle against the bees, these creatures were almost invincible, like GMs in a game; any attack could only deal one point of damage to them.

Had the Main God-level NPC not used a Super Divine Artifact to confine them and slowly refine them, that High Martial Race Group's main city would likely have been completely lost.

Looking at the Bee Swarm in front of him, the estimated total number was no less than tens of billions, hundreds or even thousands of times more than the swarm in his previous life.

“Can't provoke them...”

Huang Chen shook his head, still feeling lingering fear. He quietly marked this location, knowing that Forbidden City members must avoid this spot when leveling up or searching for treasures in the future.

After instructing his clone to continue searching Fengling Plateau, he also prepared to turn and leave.

Just as he was about to activate Teleportation.

Suddenly, two “Great Soul Devouring Bees,” whose bodies were at least a hundred times larger than the other Soul Devouring Bees, appeared at one of the hive entrances.

“Huh!”

Huang Chen forcefully stopped the thought of activating Teleportation and cast a Detection Skill toward the two Soul Devouring Bees.

[Soul-Devouring Bee King SS]

[Soul-Devouring Bee King (Young) lv30 Rank: Saint-level Boss]