Chapter 113: Colored Mist

Chapter 113: The Colored Mists

The drone's megaphone blared at ear-splitting volume. Sheng Qingquan glanced at the tattooed guy and realized he had already stopped trying to climb the tree.

Apart from the swarms of insects marching down the streets, smaller bug squads popped up from other places, merging like tributaries into a flood, joining the main force as they surged toward their destination.

If one wasn’t careful, it would seem like insects were everywhere, making people triple-check before taking each step.

And it wasn’t just the ground—the sky kept getting crisscrossed by thick, drifting "mists."

On closer inspection, these weren’t mists at all, but swarms of flying insects.

Since the bugs varied in color, the 'mists' took on different hues—gray, gold, green—one after another.

The drone dodged and weaved through the air, barely escaping a gray swarm only to nearly collide with a golden one. Just barely escaping it, it soon faced an emerald-green swarm...

The rainbow swarms kept coming. Despite the drone’s efforts to fly higher, it couldn’t completely avoid the insect paths, having to zigzag constantly.

Even without seeing it firsthand, Sheng Qingquan could imagine how cramped the operator’s fingers must feel.

Their voice was probably just as shot.

Yet, they still had to yell their lungs out warning residents.

Like now—a swarm of bees just happened to buzz right under the tree where the tattooed guy stood.

Honey was delicious, but the more people loved honey, the less they wanted to deal with bees. Though bees were among the most chill of the stinging bunch—far less so than wasps or hornets—a sting still packed a punch.

And now, these bees had not only turned meaner but their venom got nastier.

In the past, a sting might not even require a hospital visit if the stinger was removed in time. But now, without immediate treatment from a medical device, just washing with soapy water wouldn’t do squat—it could turn serious, even fatal.

Because of this, and because the bees had grown more violent, the former busybodies of pollination had abandoned their work, turned into pint-sized punks. Instead of making honey, they preferred stinging animals and people.

Sting cases went through the roof, and even the price of honey had surged.

Before, people would shoo bees away or avoid them.

Now, Sheng Qingquan totally got why the guy was freaking out.

The guy flailed his arms wildly, trying to drive the bees off.

But that was the wrong approach. In this situation, freezing like a statue would’ve been best. Might seem dumb, but it worked.

That way, the bees, in a hurry, would simply ignore him like a piece of wood.

If he lacked the courage to stay still amid the swarm, even running blindly out of their path would’ve been better than trying to fight them off.

At least then, the bees wouldn’t chase him, and he could escape easily.

But fear had robbed him of reason.

If this continued, the bees would interpret his flailing as an attack—an obstacle to their journey. And in their rush, they’d stop to eliminate the nuisance.

The drone was frantic, dying to zip right up to the man and knock some sense into him.

But it couldn’t risk startling the bees, so it held back, only shouting warnings. Yet no matter how loud it yelled, the man just kept swinging his arms blindly.

As the bees began to assume an attacking stance, Sheng Qingquan quickly manipulated the tree the man had tried to climb earlier. A branch hooked onto the back of his collar, lifting and placing him safely on a clear spot nearby.

"S-safe?" The burly man finally stopped waving his arms blankly as the bees around him vanished completely, oblivious to what had just happened. He was flooded with relief at having narrowly escaped disaster.

The drone’s operator sighed in relief over the speaker and quickly reminded him, "Please remain calm and do not panic. Don’t swat at the insects. Nearby officers are already on their way. You are safe."

This time, the man finally heard the drone's announcement and froze in place.

Across the street from where the man stood, Sheng Qingquan had just intervened. A young man who had been scrolling through his phone looked up at the broadcast and began scanning his surroundings, trying to locate the person mentioned in the announcement.

Just as he spotted the man, a falling leaf drifted past, blocking his line of sight for a second. By the time the leaf fluttered to the ground, the man across the street was already safe.

Assuming the man had finally come to his senses under the drone's relentless reminders and moved to safety on his own, the young man didn’t think twice about it.

The only ones who knew the full story were the drone operator and the street surveillance cameras. The authorities would handle the rest.

Only after witnessing the arriving officers escort both the burly man and the young man away did Sheng Qingquan feel at ease, turning his attention to other plants.

Beyond YunTeng City, Sheng Qingquan had quietly rescued others by relying on plants.

Thanks to the nation's excellent greening rate, his actions were made incredibly convenient.

An aerial view would reveal YunTeng City split into six even sections, with insects in each area converging toward their respective centers.

At each destination stood a massive incense burner resembling an ancient tripod cauldron.

A light, subtle scent wafted from the burners, barely noticeable from a distance. Only up close could one detect a faint metallic tang.

Not far from the burners stood a figure.

Every insect avoided him like he wasn’t even there.

He gazed at the swarming masses with the grin of a farmer counting his bumper crop.

Ground-dwelling insects clambered up the burners without hesitation, while airborne ones plunged in faster than seagulls after fries.

Wave after wave. The Gu Master's lips curled uncontrollably into a grin, his eyes gleaming. "This trip hit the jackpot—so damn many!"

"Before this, trying to breed a Gu King was exhausting. Even deep in the mountains, high-quality insects were scarce. Even if I settled for ordinary ones, the sheer quantity needed for qualitative transformation was staggering. Gathering enough in one go was nearly impossible."

"Every time crops were infested, I had to rush there before the farmers resorted to pesticides. Sure, it was two birds, one stone—farmers saved on pesticide costs, their produce had fewer residues, making it easier to earn organic labels, and I got plenty of insects."

"But too many mouths, not enough food. Despite TianLanXing's vast farmlands, newly hatched insects are too weak. I often had to scour multiple fields and plantations across provinces just to barely refine a single Gu General."

"A Gu King was out of the question."

"And with so many Gu Masters and so few insects, we couldn’t harvest recklessly without disrupting the ecosystem. It’s a dog-eat-dog scramble—getting a decent haul is tough."

"It’s not like we can root for bug infestations just to breed Gu."

"If not for a few trips to the rainforest, I wouldn’t even have a single Gu King."

"But now," the Gu Master smiled, his gaze at the insect tide so tender it seemed to drip affection for his precious sweethearts, "after this haul, I won’t need to catch new insects for the next year or two. This will keep me busy for a long time."

"Plus, my stock of insect-attracting incense is spent after this. To refine more, I’d need fresh materials and another round of bloodletting. It’s a hassle."

Truthfully, authorities had acted as soon as the insect anomaly was detected. The delay was due to insufficient insect-attracting incense.

But the effort was worth it.

This many high-quality insects? Far from a crisis—this was a godsdamn goldmine!

The incense burner was big, but only waist-high. With bugs pouring in nonstop like that, you'd think it'd be overflowing by now.

Yet, the Gu Master showed no intention of replacing it with a new one.

The incense burner seemed like a bottomless pit, devouring every insect that entered, no matter how many.

Unlike the quiet scene outside, where only the sounds of crawling or fluttering wings could be heard, the huge burner didn't budge an inch, yet weird-ass noises came from inside.

It sounded like the clashing of insect exoskeletons, or perhaps the impact of insects against the furnace walls. Even more unsettling, it resembled the wet, crunching sounds of something feeding.

Honestly, if there had been outsiders present, this shit would've scared people senseless. Even the insiders were getting goosebumps.

To the uninformed, it might have looked like some supervillain's evil lab.

No wonder in martial arts novels, those Miao tribes from the borderlands, who practiced gu sorcery, always got the side-eye. Even seasoned martial artists would give them serious space.

Who wouldn’t be afraid after witnessing this?

No wonder, when selecting candidates to learn gu sorcery, aside from resilience, fearlessness toward insects, perseverance, and determination, the authorities prioritized rock-solid morals as the top requirement.

Anyone with even the slightest flaw was deemed unfit.

It must be said, this foresight was indeed wise. Once a Gu Master grows powerful, one bad apple could wreck everything.

For instance, if these insects were to go berserk, they'd wipe out half the town no problem.

Sheng Qingquan was watching this whole show carefully. He trusted the authorities’ selection criteria and wasn’t worried about the Gu Masters’ integrity. His concern lay in whether they could handle such a massive swarm without backlash. After all, these practitioners had only been studying gu sorcery for about half a year. Had it been seventeen or eighteen years, Sheng Qingquan wouldn’t have been so uneasy.

Fortunately, the authorities had gone all-out training them. Beyond moral character, these individuals were genuinely suited for gu sorcery, displaying remarkable talent. Many were former entomologists, harboring an unparalleled passion for insects.

In the end, Sheng Qingquan’s worries proved unnecessary.

The disappearance of that apocalyptic novel made perfect sense. The insect crisis was resolved without incident, wrapping things up without a hitch.