Chapter 189: Chapter 177: Young Lady, the Honey on Your Dagger Is So Sweet

Azure Leroy looked at Flora Bloom, her eyes full of hope, and pleaded, "Flora Bloom, can you, can you please let me stay here? I—I promise I won’t cause you any trouble!"

Flora Bloom’s gaze hardened. She looked at Azure Leroy’s pitiful expression and said flatly, "No. Do you think I’m running a shelter? That anyone who wants to can just show up?"

"But... but if I go out there, Morgan Sterling will never let me go!"

"That’s your business. What does it have to do with me? Leave as soon as your injuries are healed!"

Shauna Wallace wasn’t at the villa, so healing her injuries would have to wait for her return.

Flora Bloom used her mental link to tell a nearby swarm of bees to watch Azure Leroy, then started wandering around the villa complex.

Aside from Da Bai, who was still sound asleep, even the two children, Caleb and Lisa, were nowhere to be found. With so many people around, there wasn’t a single soul in sight.

The courtyard where they had eaten last night had also been cleaned up. Everything was as if nothing had ever happened.

Feeling utterly bored, Flora Bloom started watering the stone path that ran between the two lawns at the gate of the isolation wall.

Flora Bloom noticed that in just one day, the root systems of the flowers, plants, and trees had extended quite a bit. Moreover, as the roots grew more developed, the wildflowers and weeds themselves grew much taller and larger.

Having skipped breakfast, she saw the beehive in the tree and, on a whim, climbed up to it.

When Little Bee saw her arrive, it crawled out of the hive to welcome her. Flora Bloom took out a dagger, cut an opening in the side of the hive, stirred it around a bit, and then dug out a piece of honeycomb coated in beeswax.

Little Bee had told her that the mutated swarms had a stricter hierarchical system than ordinary bees, and the queen bee had higher standards for the next generation.

To birth a higher-quality next generation, the worker bees needed to collect higher-quality pollen to bring back to the hive to make honey and secrete royal jelly. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

As a result, when the mutated Little Bee birthed the next generation, the numbers were much smaller. In such a massive hive, two-thirds of the cells were empty. Thus, the section of the comb Flora Bloom cut away contained no young bees.

Golden honey was separated by golden beeswax into hexagonal cells. The rich, sweet fragrance made Flora Bloom’s mouth water. She took a huge bite.

The fragrant, sweet honey melted in her mouth. Just one bite made Flora Bloom feel refreshed, but the most miraculous thing was that a strange wisp of energy gathered inside the blue Crystal Stone in her sea of consciousness. Although it was just a tiny thread, she definitely felt it.

’Even Crystal Cores can no longer increase my superpower energy, but this honey can?’

To confirm the actual increase in energy in her sea of consciousness, Flora Bloom devoured the entire six-inch-cake-sized piece of honeycomb from her dagger in one go.

Sure enough, another wisp of energy gathered in her sea of consciousness. Flora Bloom stared at the hive before her, a greedy glint in her eyes. ’Does this mean I can break through to the Middle Level just by eating more honey? I wouldn’t even need Crystal Cores?’

So, she cut another large opening in the side of the hive, this time digging out a piece several times larger than the last one. Watching from the side, Little Bee began to tremble.

Its master had just torn away nearly a seventh of its newly built nest. It could sense its master’s thoughts through their link—it felt like she was ready to devour the entire hive at any moment, and the thought sent a shiver through it.

Looking at the two large gashes in the hive, it immediately summoned a group of worker bees to repair the openings.

Unfortunately, after Flora Bloom finished the huge piece of honeycomb in her hand, her sea of consciousness was able to absorb energy at first, but the amount grew less and less. In the end, no matter how much more honey she ate, no new energy would gather.

’Looks like there’s a limit to the energy this honey can provide.’

Despite eating so much honey, she didn’t feel sick of the sweetness at all. In fact, she had actually managed to fill her stomach just by eating honey.

Chewing on the layers of beeswax in her mouth, she noticed that the wax from this mutated honey didn’t have the tough, unchewable texture of ordinary beeswax. Instead, after chewing for a while, it developed a bubblegum-like flavor and had a slightly springy, chewy texture, like she was eating chewing gum.

Flora Bloom continued to chew the beeswax in her mouth as if she had discovered a new world. The lingering sweet fragrance of the honey boosted the dopamine in her brain, and her mood improved considerably.

’This is great stuff! The beeswax could be made into a chewing gum-like snack. I’ll have Mom and the others try some later.’

With that in mind, Flora Bloom used her dagger to cut another large piece of honeycomb from the hive, took out a lunchbox, and stored it safely in her space.

After Vert detected the smell of honey in the space, it relentlessly conveyed its hunger to Flora Bloom. Even Monkey One, Monkey Two, Monkey Three, and the Golden Cicada expressed their craving for the honey.

But when she saw Little Bee perched on the hive, staring at her dagger and buzzing frantically, she chuckled and flicked its small, vibrating wings.

"Alright, alright, I get it! To think a mighty queen bee could be so stingy!"

Little Bee’s hive was newly built and really couldn’t withstand her pillaging. So, Flora Bloom communicated with the swarms through their mental link. She instructed the various swarms to build new hives in addition to their existing ones. Of course, she also told the queens that these new hives were only for making honey and that they shouldn’t raise any larvae in the new cells, which would make it easier for her to collect honey in the future.

PFFT! A man’s laugh sounded from under the tree. It was the first time he’d ever seen someone negotiate with bees just to get some honey. He found the sight of the woman in the tree with her mouth smeared with honey hilarious.

A man dressed all in black stood under the tree, looking up at Flora Bloom. His face had a somewhat soft, androgynous quality, but his features were rather boyish.

Sensing the dense Hidden Ability energy emanating from the man, the smile on Flora Bloom’s face vanished instantly.

"It’s you, the little thief who stole my Crystal Core!"

At her words, the man’s smile widened, no longer concealed in the slightest.

"Don’t be so harsh, miss. My name is Yue Mao, not ’little thief’! As for the Level 3 Crystal Core, it belongs to the one capable enough to take it. Besides, that Level 3 Crystal Core helped me reach Level 3. And I helped you kill a lot of the enemies who were bullying you that day, so doesn’t that make us even?"

Flora Bloom leaped down from the tree, her dagger a blur of steel as she aimed for the man’s vital points.

"’The capable should take it?’ That was theft! Robbery! And you’re telling me ’the capable should take it’? Then if I kill you, it’ll be because I was capable enough!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, don’t be so fierce. You’ll never get married if you’re this aggressive!"

Just looking at this man now made Flora Bloom furious. Every thrust of her dagger aimed straight for a vital point, making Yue Mao’s heart pound in fear.

"Miss, you’re being unreasonable! I helped you that day, and I was nearly electrocuted to death by you people. That should make us even, right?"

Relying on the enhanced physique of a Level 3 superpower user, Yue Mao nimbly dodged Flora Bloom’s attacks again and again. After disappearing on the spot, he reappeared and caught Flora Bloom’s dagger-wielding wrist between his hands.

His boyish face dipped down quickly, and his tongue darted out to lick the honey that still coated the blade.

"Wow, this honey is really sweet! Hey, miss, how about I just stick with you from now on? With honey this good, you shouldn’t eat it all by yourself!"

Flora Bloom stared at the new, circular gap in the layer of honey on her dagger, her temple twitching. While one hand held the dagger, an axe appeared in the other.

Seeing Flora Bloom burning with fury, Yue Mao knew he had gone too far this time. Licking his lips, he gave a smile that said he wasn’t quite satisfied, "Um, well, I just saw you enjoying that stolen honey so much that I wanted to try some too."

A loud BUZZING erupted from inside the hive.

About twenty large bees swarmed out of the hive and flew straight toward Yue Mao to attack.