Mei Wu was not happy. Not at all. To say that she was terrified would be an understatement, in her opinion, and understanding what Kasumi Ai was telling her through motions and how the Alraune's Qi was changing to show her emotions, along with the overpowered smell of all the other sources of Qi around as well, it was obvious why she wasn't thrilled.
'A hive. I was dragged into a hive of bee beasts, holding many Silver-ranked ones, and a fucking Gold-ranked Level 6 Queen Bee on top of that!' she thought as she looked as pale as a ghost from the sheer terror of the mere idea.
She wanted to just scream so hard her throat would tear itself, to scream that this was not even real, that she was not in a place where she is nothing but a mere ant that could be killed with the same effort one uses to throw away pebbles on their path, that this was nothing but a highly vivid dream she was experiencing due to Kasumi Ai's sleeping pollens.
She would have preferred death by Kasumi Ai's hands instead if this nightmare she was in!
But, reality was such a cruel thing. Not only was it too vivid for her to deny as a mere nightmare, but her senses were clearly telling her in the bluntest way imaginable that this was true, as honey almost drowned every other smell she could sense.
Easily overpowering both her and Kasumi Ai's Qi that the only reason she could notice it was due to the physical closeness between the two, allowing her to even sense the Qi of nature.
Mei Wu was badly shaking at the news, knowing that her life had turned much worse than she had ever imagined. It wasn't even like she was going to be killed by the Queen Bee or her army, or even by this alraune that was even now trying to help her calm down.
This terror was too much for even Kasumi Ai's made fruits to subdue, too much for Mei Wu to be able to shove down so easily.
A part of her mind wondered on if she had been brought here to be killed, or if she was just betrayed by the beast in front of her, then maybe she wouldn't feel so terrified, that she would just feel resigned and accept death as nothing but a random, forgotten meal to a Golden King Beast, if she had been killed instead of just being brought here to be what is basically a slave for a Gold-ranked beast.
But of course, a treacherous part in her mind, fueled by her desire to live almost mocked that very notion. People prefer death over slavery, but only after they find themselves enslaved and tortured do they truly think that death could be a better alternative.
If they knew there was a genuine chance of death, a true and basically guaranteed probability that they would die in the next minute, they would attempt to offer anything to spare themselves the threat of death, that as long as it wasn't so extremely against their morals, they tell themselves that they would gladly do it just to live another minute.
Mortals would gladly do that, just to get an extra moment of life. Weak beasts would do that, when they are so outgunned and outnumbered, and would gladly accept a given contract just to survive. Only the few that had abnormal egos and desires would even dare to look at death as it gazed at them, much less spit in its direction.
Not even the warriors and Rankers she met were that different in that regard, and only a few were so brave, so prideful, so self-centered and self-absorbed and so foolish that they laughed at the threat of death when it truly loomed at them as they fought an enemy they knew for certain was way out of their league, when they fully understood that this wasn't a trick but an actual deadly opponent they have no chance to even injure, and only when they wanted to mock their killers or succeed in what they defined as a victory did they smile even as they died.
That, was death.
A presence so overwhelmingly all-encompassing that only those who love themselves to an obnormal degree, or care about their pride or another thing in their lives as much, would even start to ignore its existence.
And even then, death's presence could return at any moment, never truly leaving them alone as long as they lived.
And Mei Wu would easily admit that she was nowhere as brave or prideful as any of these people. How could she be, when she can literally sense the powers of any being around her, when she can sense the changes of their moods? When after all this time, her life was nothing but a series of prisons with different torture methods? When even now, she was so pathetically weak compared to even her two former 'teammates' that she could probably only severely injure Xie Yu if she tried her best at the cost of her life?
Even if she was still arguably stronger than many of the servants and some of the lower-level clan members, was that a great achievement to be proud of?
No, it wasn't. And she knew very well that if she was given the choice to either serve or die someone so superior, with no other options, she would definitely choose obedience, not only due to her instincts, but it was the only thing she knew so far, and what allowed her to survive since she was brought to the Xie clan.
There was no other choice for her now, other than to hope that the Queen Bee wasn't as cruel as her imagination and her Qi senses made the beast feel like. Even if rejecting the 'offer' still allowed her to live, but what kind of life would that be? Surviving with only an arm or leg? Having a deadly poison that would permanantly cripple her? She might as well be dead in that case!
And even if she managed to survive, there was nowhere for her to go. The Xie clan would have her head on a pike after weeks of torture due to the young master who had strong beasts and a grimoire dying while she, a random daughter of a prostitue survived instead of sacrificing herself to save him. And in the chance one of the more level-headed elders defended her, that still made her a pariah and an even worse nobody to the other clan members.
'Either way... I have no more choices.' she bitterly thought as she followed the bees and Kasumi Ai to get her 'golden chance' to meet the queen of bees face-to-face.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
The sensation of honey and poison started getting even stronger and purer with every step she walked, and the presence of Kasumi Ai was in no way helping, despite her wanting to believe it would be better to face the Queen Bee with another person on her side.
How could she hope it could help when her senses are telling her that her and Kasumi Ai's Qi are practically being dyed upon by the sheer intensity of the power of the queen of bees, after all? How can she feel safe when the only person she would even give some trust to protect her is just as terrified as she is, if only to a slightly less extent?
"Here we are..."
Despite not knowing what the Alraune said, the intent behind the words was clear as day, and even more so as they felt the power condensed so heavily that Mei Wu would have fainted had she not prepared herself for the meeting, and the very, very lucky fact that the queen of bees just wanted to meet her.
Heart throbbing in her heart so violently she feared it would explode, steps beginning to shake from the terror as it intensified, Mei Wu swallowed as she met the Queen Bee, and terror followed as the sensation of being drowned in honey and poison filled her view.
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"Urghhh...! Ha... ugh...! Oh, gods...! I can't believe that happened...!"
Heaving, Mei Wu panted as her body shook as she finally stopped puking. She would rather not deal with this kind of experience again, and many others if she was honest, but if knowing that she would almost definitely stay here for a long time, it would be more prudent and helpful to adapt.
Giving a shuddering breath, she gratefully took the nectar that Kasumi Ai gave to her, the taste calming her just slightly, and taking away the awful taste of bile in her mouth.
"Hah... That feels better..." she sighed with a sick sensation of relief even as her body dropped on the ground, still shivering from the sheer stress the whole experience gave her.
Just seeing the Queen Bee made her feel she would die, and the queen paying attention to her made her feel like her very soul would be cracked until nothing remained.
Truly, Gold-ranked beasts are on a completely different level.
Yet, despite all her expectations, she survived, if only because the queen of bees felt like it, but she still survived. Now, she can only hope that the Queen Bee would be a bit more reasonable than most the people she had the misfortune to meet in her life.
Despite intellectually knowing that not every beast is so casual and welcoming as the Alraune that dragged her into this place, but she hoped that the Queen Bee would be similar, if only slightly.
She pushed down the feeling of hurt that rose at the idea of Kasumi Ai dragging her here without even waking her up and telling her first to choose.
That only reinforced the fact that despite them talking and interacting calmly, they only knew each other for only a few hours at most, and that of course, unless there was a very good and real reason to connect to each other so strongly, such as a battle against an impossible threat and the two barely surviving by working together, such a short moment that was spent on just talking wouldn't be enough to give that kind of understanding and trust between her and Kasumi Ai.
The heavens are truly intent on throwing her expectations out of the way at this period of her life, it seemed.
A change in the sensation of Qi around her awoke her from her thoughts as she looked at the Large Rainblossom Alraune that brought her to this situation.
Kasumi Ai's Qi twisted, showing disgust as the alraune looked at the vomit before her lower half started spewing acid on it, disintegrating it in seconds. Clearly, she didn't like having to clean the vomit of another being, unless they were her next meal, in which she would gladly consume everything of them.
Ignoring a bunch of words that clearly meant that the Alraune wasn't enjoying the really close smell, Mei Wu shook her head, and decided to prepare herself for whatever the Queen Bee would have her and Kasumi Ai do a couple of hours later.
Who knows what kind of hellish things such a beast could have them do?
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'I can't believe it...' Mei Wu thought in shock as she tried her best to hide her annoyance.
Her hands moved as Kasumi Ai's vines dropped sweet nectars along with some of the potent healing ones, and she put the nectars into thin yet relatively durable containers, membranes made by the Worker Bees, carefully closing them, before putting them on the ground. One of the dozens she had to make.
Mei Wu felt her veins throb in rage, the amusement she could easily sense from the alraune definitely not helping her mood one bit.
'This almost feels so safe it's practically insulting!' she inwardly fumed as she closed another container as it was filled with nectar.
She had expected many horrible things, such as being tortured, being forced to work in extreme conditions where a single mistake would result in death, maybe a test that would have her crippled and make her even more dependant on the Queen Bee's 'hospitality', but in reality?
It seems that the heavens seemed to take a lot of joy of breaking all her expectations that she had ingrained into herself for more than two decades.
Mei Wu's first and current job to help the Queen Bee was... to be a packager of Kasumi Ai's nectar...
From the equivalent of a Level 1 [Apprentice] compared to Rankers/summoners, to some beast's equivalent to a mere janitor. Oh, how humiliating! It's like the queen of bees decided to have them begin with a job that apparently not even the Worker Bees can be bothered to do! The Worker Bees didn't even have the decency to stay for a moment with them; they had all the membranes prepared the night before!
"You know, I thought you'd love having this job. Why are you angry? Sure, it's not fun for you, but we're alive and not-tortured and that's the most important thing, right?" despite the words still being incomprehensible due to the language barrier, Mei Wu fully understood the meaning due to the change of Qi of one Kasumi Ai.
"Yeah, if only things made sense and acted consistently, maybe I'll be dead, but happy with the benefit of hindsight!" she found herself glaring at her 'co-worker' as even angry as she is, Mei Wu still delicately put the package on the ground.
"How tragic~ Do you want some nectar to cheer you up?"
Bristling as the nectar was offered to her (despite loving the taste), she growled.
"No, I don't want it right now, just let me finish this job then see what to do with my free time." oh, yeah, the Queen Bee even gave them free time, because from what the Qi of the queen of bees said, the two are so fragile and nowhere as driven or loyal to be given all-time work in the hive.
Kasumi Ai had the sheer gall to roll her eyes at that, "Can you be consistent, please? Do you want to live without being tortured, or you want to die? Seriously, you'll die from whiplash if you keep moving between the two like that."
Mei Wu scowled at that, as she understood the meaning very well.
"If only you were weaker than me and had a butt so I can just spank this cheek ouf of you..." she murmured under her breath.
"Wow... If I had a copper coin for every time spanking entered our conversations, I'd have two copper coins. Which isn't a lot, but it's strange it happened twice so for."
Mei Wu's forehead throbbed at that remark. She didn't even need her senses to tell her that this alraune was thoroughly enjoying herself.
'Just for that, I will get stronger to make that hollow threat into reality...' now fueled by nothing but spite at both the heavens and Kasumi Ai for throwing away any semblance of common sense, and having to deal with this bout of insanity, Mei Wu found herself promising whatever and whoever brought this fate on her.
This is going to be a long hours of work, won't they?