The Beehive

As he spoke, the huge mutated spider suddenly opened its mouth and leaped at Yang Xiao and the others with a whoosh. 

Chen Fei and Chen Lu's lightning and ice balls shot out to attack. The spider tried to dodge, but with its silk snagged by Yang Xiao's sword, its evasion was slowed. It took both strikes squarely.

Thinking of the giant mutant crawling up her hair to her head, Chubby felt her scalp tingle and didn't dare use her magic hair to attack.

Dai Yun was also nervous about close combat with the spider, afraid to approach.

Chen Fei's lightning and Chen Lu's ice ball numbed and stiffened the mutated spider. Its movements instantly turned sluggish, and strength was greatly reduced. The strands of silk it spat out halted mid-flight.

Seizing this chance, Yang Xiao darted forward, closing in on the spider. He raised his black sword and brought it down fiercely upon the spider's head. 

Crack! 

Yang Xiao cleaved the mutated spider's head in two. Its eight long legs collapsed limply, and the whole body slumped over.

Thud, a purple genetic fragment fell out.

Yang Xiao was too lazy to pick it up. Letting out a long breath, he glanced back at the four girls, both miffed and amused. 

"Ladies, we're fighting mutated beasts now. It's kill or be killed. You have to toughen up!"

The four knew they were in the wrong, faces filled with apology.

Chen Fei giggled. "We don't want to be tough girls. We just want to be Boss's women."

Chen Lu and the others quickly chimed in. Yang Xiao just rolled his eyes.

"Alright, to train your courage, go up there now, each of you touch the giant spider."

Though dead, its furry form was still unnerving. Chen Fei and the others gritted their teeth and barely managed a few pats.

A thought struck Yang Xiao. He grabbed the mutated spider and dumped it onto Chubby's head.

Then, a scream like a pig being slaughtered rang out.

"Ahhh!" 

Eyes clamped shut, Chubby shrieked wildly, hair flying about as she shook her head madly. 

But the spider's fuzzy legs just tangled up more the fiercer she shook. It wouldn't come off.

Chubby screamed for a full five minutes before realizing it was dead. She finally stopped, glaring angrily at Yang Xiao as she tremblingly pulled the spider from her head.

Chen Fei had wanted to help out of kindness, but Yang Xiao stopped her.

For some reason, Chubby approached Yang Xiao and suddenly plopped the spider onto Chen Fei's head.

Then came another slaughterhouse shriek...

...

Xiao Zhe's group was hunting mutants behind the mountain library, reaping quite a bountiful harvest. When the distant screams rang out, everyone was shocked.

"Xiao Zhe, those screams sound like Yang Xiao's girls. Should we go check it out?" 

Xiao Zhe smiled. "Let them enjoy themselves. We need to hurry up hunting mutants. Time's precious." 

Xu Hua was stunned. "What if Yang Xiao and the others get killed by the mutants?"

Xiao Zhe said coldly, "Xu Hua, Yang Xiao is expendable to us now. We just need to focus on collecting genetic fragments and raising our genetic potential quickly. Even ten Yang Xiaos won't match up to us. Hurry up and get to work."

...

After two minutes of screaming, Chen Fei calmed herself, removed the spider, and plopped it onto Chen Lu's head in turn.

Chen Lu cried angrily, "Chen Fei, I treated you like a sister! How could you do this to me?"

"Hehe, Boss's orders," Chen Fei said.

Chubby moved to Yang Xiao's side and suddenly hugged him from behind. "Chen Lu, hurry and give Boss a turn too! Let him get a taste of spider!"

Chen Lu successfully placed the mutated spider atop Yang Xiao's head.

Helpless, Yang Xiao pretended to shriek a couple of times to entertain everyone. 

After this commotion, the girls' courage grew considerably.

"Let's keep this big spider. When we get back to camp, I'll plop it on Huang Wen first," Yang Xiao said wickedly.

The girls cackled in anticipation.

Moving forward again, they killed many mutants along the way. 

Suddenly, a buzz sounded in the air as the Golden Queen Bee flew out of the fog, swooping at Yang Xiao.

This time, without Yang Xiao saying a thing, the four girls instantly attacked. The hornet dodged Chen Fei's lightning but was struck by Chen Lu's ice ball. Bang! The ice ball exploded, coating the golden bee in frost. Its body shook and froze up.

Yang Xiao leaped and swung his black longsword down at the frozen golden bee. 

Dai Yun's wolf claws also clawed at it from the side.

Crack! 

Yang Xiao cleaved the golden hornet in two.

He was surprised at how easily the Queen had been dealt with.

Thump, thump, thump! Three soft thuds rang out as they saw three items fall from the golden bee's corpse.

Delighted, Yang Xiao hurriedly picked them up.

A purple genetic disc. Unlike the irregularly-shaped genetic fragments from regular hornets, the Queen's was a perfect circle.

Strange, everyone thought.

"Hmm, I'll have to ask Gu Bo at the Gene Store about this," Yang Xiao muttered.

Of the other two items, one was a two-foot-long golden short sword, slightly heavy. It looked much finer than Yang Xiao's black longsword, though he wasn't sure of its traits. 

The other was a golden, paper-like item with the words "Golden Bee Sword Technique" on it.

Yang Xiao was ecstatic. As a gaming enthusiast, it seemed creatures in this post-apocalyptic world could drop genetic fragments, weapons, and cultivation methods when killed!

He really wanted to rush back and have Old Gu appraise this so-called Golden Bee Sword Technique. But thinking twice, he forcibly suppressed his eagerness.

The five continued exploring down the path. After just a few meters, they were stunned by an enormous beehive in a thorny bush up ahead. 

It was maybe three to four meters in diameter, densely packed with honeycomb holes.

"Fall back. Careful everyone, big trouble if there are hornets inside."

They immediately retreated several meters.

"Shouldn't be any now. If there were, they'd have flown out and attacked us already," Chen Fei said.

"I think so too. The Queen coming out alone to fight us was probably a last resort, afraid we'd find the hive," added Chen Lu.

...

After discussing, Yang Xiao picked up a rock and lobbed it at the huge hive from afar. It shook several times but no bees emerged.

Normally, if hornets were inside, they'd fly out instantly when the hive was attacked.

Yang Xiao's group carefully moved closer to observe the hive, finding no hornets as expected. But inside were hundreds of larvae in the midst of hatching. 

Using his golden dagger, Yang Xiao stabbed a larva's honeycomb and gently flicked it out. It was a larva over 10 cm long and 4 to 5 cm thick, oozing sticky honey.