To Lon's utter stupefaction, the bees began to land in heaps on top of the raft, covering every inch of its body above water.

And then, a furious hum spread across the swarm as the bees began to propel the raft forward across the water. Every bee that had landed on the raft had used one of its icicles to penetrate the surface of the bamboo. And now, they were using the icicles as steerings, sitting on top of them and fluttering their tiny wings at their highest possible speed.

The bees were taking the raft away, and along with the raft left the boy, still sticking beneath it.

Thousands of bees flew around the raft like escorts, practically forming a shield. There was no way Lon or any of his teammates could hope to penetrate that shield and extract the boy from his hiding place.

The swarm of bees disappeared into the north of the stream, their destination unknown. Lon checked the map of the sacred ground in his communicator and realized that there was no way anyone could follow that swarm on foot.

The stream would continue to grow larger and larger as it entered the deeper regions of the sacred ground. Dozens of other streams would join it, dividing the land and making it incredibly hard for one to follow its course.

Despondent, Lon swam back to the bank and kicked Zimu's snail shell away.

"Get the fuck up. They're gone."

"Thank the Darkchild!" Zimu stood up, dusting off his clothes, only to freeze as he got a good look around them.

"Where is the boy, Lon?"

"The bees took him away."

"...What?" Zimu said in a weak voice, expression uncertain.

"The bees carried him away, Zimu. Now stop looking like a fool and help me track him. Release your Crow. I've already sent mine to tail the swarm."

Zimu took several seconds to digest the mental image. Then he summoned his Stormfront Crow and ordered it to fly North as fast as it could.

"Where's Miss Suko? Miss Suko! Hey, are you there?!"

Both of them looked around the bank, searching for the familiar woman amidst the sparse eucalyptus trees. But she didn't respond.

"Did she try to follow the swarm?" Zimu wondered aloud.

"She won't get far if she does that...unless she has a companion creature that can carry her and fly."

"Ssss...how much would a companion creature like that cost? Even a grade- 1 would be worth tens of thousands, right?" Zimu clicked his tongue enviously.

"Tens? I'd not be surprised if its price reached a hundred thousand. And grade- 2 might even cross a million."

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

"...." Zimu shook his head and opted out of the conversation. Talking about million-unit companion creatures suited the children of the aristocrats sitting inside the Circle of Commonwealth, not ordinary Transcenders like them.

"Do you think the boy will live? The boss won't blame us, right?"

Lon didn't reply, staring at the screen of his communicator gloomily instead.

"Lon?"

"The boy...might live. The bees didn't seem like they were attacking the raft randomly. The method they've used to steer it forward shouldn't be something ordinary bees can come up with. I'm sure that someone was controlling the swarm...but who? Who would help this no-name kid? His brother couldn't have returned from the depth of the sacred ground so fast..."

"Wait, Lon, what do you mean by that? Hasn't the main team already caught the older brother? They had him cornered, right?" Zimu shouted in sudden panic. Until now, he had remained relaxed about the loss of their target because he knew that the main team had almost completed the mission. But if that wasn't the case...

"Yeah, Boss sent me a message while I was hiding. Says they lost both the boy and the trace of the diary. But the older boy has been fatally injured. It wouldn't be possible for him to return here so fast."

"Could it be the other teammate of theirs? You know, the kid that ran into the Northwest mountains and disappeared in a waterfall? He could have circled around us and-"

"Terry and Noq are still on his trail. They'd know if the boy came out of the waterfall. And if the boy had the ability to control a bee swarm so huge, why would he fear us anyway? He wouldn't have run in the first place."

"Then WHO?!"

"Isn't that what I've been asking myself?" Lon shouted in annoyance and slung his bags over his back.

"Come, we need to hurry up. The bee swarm won't be waiting for us. And the boy has to come up to breathe, no matter how much air his jacket has inside. If the bees don't attack him and let him stay attached to the raft, it'd be enough to confirm that-"

"Oh it's confirmed, Lon. No need to speculate anymore," said a woman's voice from a dozen feet ahead.

Startled, the two of them searched the area in front of them cautiously, and shuddered for a second as Miss Suko stepped out of empty air, her features twisted in wrath.

"...What's confirmed?" Lon said hesitantly.

"That the entire swarm of the bees is indeed under someone's control. I ran behind them just to check what happens when the boy comes up for air. He did so, very soon."

"They didn't attack him?" Lon's voice rose. He had speculated on that possibility, but he hadn't expected it to really come true.

Miss Suko shook her head.

"Not only did they not attack him, they even carried him out of the water and threw him on top of the raft, showing to him the same reverence they'd show to their Queen. It's as if he's controlling the Queen bee of the swarm."

Dumbstruck, both Lon and Zimu tried to rationalize the development in their minds. After a long silence, Zimu said, "So the boy was a transcender this whole time? No, that's impossible. His report in the gateway station was abysmal. Not even his brother could reach the Transcendent tier so fast..."

"Our sources told us that these brats attacked a Purplevein beehive during its most dangerous period, right? That means, the person assisting the boy right now was with them at that time...and he has formed a contract with the Purplevein Queen," Miss Suko growled. "It's just that they never revealed that there was a fourth team member."

"With a Transcender helping them from the shadows, we can't be as straightforward as before. We need to come up with better plans," Zimu mumbled.

"It doesn't necessarily have to be a transcender," Lon whispered.

"What?"

"What did you say?"

Miss Suko and Zimu turned to look at him sharply.

"If it was a transcender, they'd have made their move earlier. It seems more like a desperate kid on the Evolution Standard Scale who found a way to make a contract with the Purplevein Queen bee, risking his life and sanity in the process. This entire move of trying to take the hostage away without attacking the real enemy seems like an amateurish plan. He had to have known where we are, the boy could have told him where we're hiding. But this was a desperate escape, a plan concocted recklessly."