To call Mir a surprised man would be an understatement. He was absolutely gobsmacked, squatting on the raft and watching the purple-streaked golden swarm orbiting him closely.

The top of the raft was filled with sharp icicles occupied by countless bees. Many more were constantly throwing icicles at the four sides of the raft, creating more spots for their compatriots to sit on and...steer the raft?

Was he inside an illusion or something? How the hell did Bees come up with a tactic like this? And why was he not being turned into a sieve by those icicles?

The more he thought about it, the more it felt like a rescue mission rather than an angry rampage. The raft was already as fast as a human running at a moderate pace. Had the stream not been littered with boulders and trees, he was sure that its speed would have been faster.

Within a minute or so, they reached a new junction where another larger stream had joined their channel from the Northwestern mountain clusters, forming a body of water that could practically be called a river. The swarm took a sharp turn here, guiding the raft towards the mountains at the west.

Mir checked the map and realized that they were headed toward the waterfall where Reno had disappeared.

Hadn't some men been sent after Reno too? They'd be able to find him if the raft really went there, right?

Worried, Mir tried to leap off the raft, only to face a fierce concentration as dozens of bees dived out of the swarm, pointing their stings at his face.

"Sorry! Sorry! I won't try that again. I'll just...sit here."

Desperate, yet terrified, Mir continued to squat on the small spot he had been allotted.

Soon, the new channel began to grow narrow, forming smaller branches leading into valleys. The woods grew denser and the terrain became even more difficult to tread on. That was a good thing for Mir, because it meant his pursuers wouldn't be able to chase after him easily.

The Bees slowed down their speed of steering and swiveled towards one of the small branch channels. There was a sense of purpose in their movements, making Mir's curiosity spike up. Where were they taking him? Was somebody other than a Purplevein Queen controlling them? Who could it be?

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One obvious answer to that question had already appeared in his mind. But it wasn't quite a believable scenario. He would reserve his judgment until he saw who it was with his own eyes.

The raft hit a large tree that had fallen across the channel, blocking its path forward. All the bees left the raft and flew towards a bank and formed an unmoving tornado there, as if waiting for Mir to follow.

Sighing, Mir jumped on the trunk of the tree and tiptoed towards the bank. Seeing him comply, the bees let out a collective loud hum and began to head into the woods.

Mir continued to follow, delving deeper and deeper into the mountains until he lost all sense of direction. Had it not been for the map in his communicator, he would have been completely lost here. And with a rising sense of alarm, he noticed that the data signal wasn't smooth in this place. It took several attempts to process commands that required the network's assistance. His location icon also jumped around often, making him unsure of the actual directions of his movements. The sun wasn't really visible from where he stood either. He would have to leave the low regions and climb one of the hills nearby to determine his position.

The Bees led the way to an inconspicuous valley that he wouldn't have noticed normally. This Valley was quite possibly the lowest area around. Several streams had pooled together at its bottom, forming a small, but deep pit of pitch-black water.

Halfway down the narrow, slanted route leading to the bottom of the valley, Mir realized that the swarm had stopped moving forward. As he surveyed his surroundings, the sound of heavy coughs alerted him to another person's presence here. The source of the sound was right ahead, past a large rock.

Cautiously, he walked over to the other side of the rock.

Murray was sitting there, hunched over on the ground. His clothes were ruined, and his misshapen face reminded Mir strongly of the dead stranger they had found after their first attack on the beehive. In a flash, a lot of things suddenly made sense.

"You tried to take the hive down on your own?"

Murray looked up at him and nodded.

"It was difficult. But their queen is still barely an adult. She couldn't control the hive well enough to maintain a good defense."

"You haven't yet reached the peak of the Evolution Standard Scale, right?" Mir enquired just to be sure.

"No. I haven't gotten much chances to eat and sit through hallucinations. My stats are probably still stuck in the same place."

"Why would you take that risk, man?" Mir sighed and sat down beside him. Murray slapped him on the back with a short laugh.

"I figured that if my younger brother could do it with the help of an artifact, I could do it too without one. It's not as if you were the only explorer to have ever formed contracts before reaching the peak of Evolution Standard Scale. Plenty of people do it every year. I don't think I am any worse from them in terms of mental fortitude. Besides, we need more power to contend with our pursuers, see? The people they sent are even stronger than we'd assumed. Taking risks isn't a choice now, it's a foregone conclusion. What matters now is whether the risks taken provide us with equivalent returns. And look what my risky attempt resulted into! You'd most certainly be under their claws if I hadn't taken control of the swarm through the Queen Bee. The risk was worth it, I'd say."

Mir felt a warm sensation in his heart. His brother had directly gambled his own future for him there. But one question continued to bug Mir, a very puzzling detail.

"Murray, how did you know I needed help? I never told you I got caught. I only said that I managed to avoid them, but I failed to escape their radar."

Murray chuckled. "For someone as smart as you are, little brother, you overlook the most obvious problem too often. Do you remember telling me about the plant you made a contract with?"

Mir nodded, feeling puzzled.

"Have you forgotten that the Witchweed Plant you encountered was labelled as a grade- 2 mutant in the database?"

"...."

Mir's eyes bulged out as he recalled the memory again.

"Your dumb ass couldn't recall the consequences of bonding with a creature that has mutated multiple times?" Murray snorted disdainfully.

"Curse the sun! I'm dead, I'm so fucking dead, shit!"

Mir's panic shot through the roof.