Chapter 111

Chapter 111

[Zheng Fangxing]: "Your Majesty, your wisdom is as profound as the magma sea behind you, vast and boundless, radiant and dazzling, guiding us toward prosperity and flourishing..."

"???" Shen Yi: What kind of nonsense is this?

[Wang Napao]: "Your Majesty, your countenance is like, like the moon in the sky, pure and flawless, inspiring reverence, making one dare not look directly..."

"..." Shen Yi: You dare not look directly because your eyes are glued to the cheat notes on the chat interface. You can't even read smoothly from the script, let alone distract yourself to look elsewhere.

This group of players suddenly appeared out of nowhere, forming cliques with hundreds of others, surrounding him and launching into a frenzied poetic recital. Shen Yi was so embarrassed that the fur on his back stood on end.

His gaze swept over the increasingly excited expressions of the players, and he directly opened the nearby channel.

[Brother Pidan]: "Tsk, Old Wang, you're so corny. You're making my skin crawl with disgust."

[Papa Orange]: "Wasn't Jiusi just like this earlier? He blew rainbow farts and managed to scam 100 Starlight Points from His Majesty."

[Wang Napao]: "That's why it's called a rainbow fart gift pack."

Shen Yi's mouth twitched at the words "rainbow fart gift pack." Earlier, when [Jiusi] presented him with the Spider Queen's silk gland, he thought merely giving a title pending activation would seem petty, so he casually awarded 100 Starlight Points. Little did he know it would give players the illusion that flattering him with rainbow farts would earn them gift packs.

Shen Yi inwardly groaned. If players were determined to figure him out, would he ever have peace again?

The players finished their chaotic recital of rainbow farts, their eager eyes glancing over, waiting for Shen Yi to distribute gift packs.

Shen Yi laughed in exasperation. These guys were even more ruthless than him at getting something for nothing. At least he would reciprocate with some favorability points and flashy titles, but these players thought they could pluck his bee feathers just by flapping their lips.

Xi Ye's patience had reached its limit. A fierce spiritual pressure erupted, sweeping toward the players.

"Ouch—"

"Damn—"

Amid the cries of pain, players flying around A Fu were all swept to the ground, watching helplessly as their Bee King smiled, waved at them, and vanished.

[Wang Napao]: "His Majesty's spirit is too violent!"

[SlyFox]: "Hahaha, didn't you see? His Majesty went into the magma fissure without him earlier. He's been holding a grudge, and you just had to bump into him."

[Jiangnan]: "Jiusi offered a treasure dropped by an level 80 boss. What use is just flapping your lips..."

[Broke Merchant]: "What do you know? His Majesty isn't a bee who lacks treasures. For a ruler like him who lacks nothing, what matters most is sincerity. If the sincerity is there, the gift pack will come."

[Wang Napao]: "That makes sense. I suggest we make a spreadsheet, cast a wide net, and test what gifts His Majesty likes most..."

...

Shen Yi was temporarily unaware of the players' wide-net plan. He intended to open the magma fissure to players after the life form nurtured by the [Life Crystal] was born, so for now, he built the other half of the Teleportation Circle in Moon Valley to avoid players.

If it weren't for the fact that Teleportation Circles couldn't be built in the Bee King's Nest, he would have placed it directly inside.

After building the Teleportation Circle, Shen Yi took Xi Ye, Lao Er, and their entire family into the magma fissure again.

Aside from Shen Yi, who could travel freely throughout the map, the others could only reach the second-layer tunnels. Perhaps once the Moon Spirit Butterfly evolved further, they could delve deeper, but only Shen Yi could enter the Life Crystal space at the bottom of the magma.

Afterward, fairy and her siblings practically moved into the magma tunnels. Through devouring fire essence and training in the magma, the little ones improved rapidly. The blue parts on fairy's body increased day by day, and BanBan and the others fully evolved into orange-yellow, with the flames at the tips of their ears tinged with a hint of blue.

After Spider Queen's death, her lingering aura gradually faded. Without her presence to intimidate them, the [Spirit Fire Spiders] entered a mating frenzy. After the frenzy, all the female spiders, each accompanied by several males, instinctively left the cave to establish their own nests and territories.

Many spider dens of various sizes appeared behind the rock wall tunnels.

Shen Yi's Bee King's Nest still held six blue-tier [Spirit Fire Spiders] bound tightly. Releasing them could likely intimidate the lower-tier spiders in the dens and prevent dispersal, but Shen Yi chose not to do so.

Players had already woven [Flowing Fire Fabric] from the collected spider silk, which could be made into clothing to ward off cold—ideal cold-resistant gear for exploring icy environments.

To explore the frigid seas in the future, spider silk collection needed to be stabilized. Players might even develop [Spirit Fire Spider] farming, similar to how they raised [Ice Silkworms]. In this case, the spiders dispersing into smaller groups actually made it easier for players to subdue them.

The thing that made Shen Yi happiest these days was the bee colony's prosperity reaching 257,468, upgrading the Bee King's Nest to level 6 and unlocking a new [Law] function.

Within the Bee King's Nest, Shen Yi's thoughts and wishes became law.

Before this, the Bee King's Nest was more like a portable space for Shen Yi. He could control the nest but not the items inside.

Now, the Bee King's Nest was like a small world under his control. He could distribute spiritual energy with precision—giving more to one spiritual plant, less to another—and even control the life and death of every plant inside.

Xi Ye and Xiao Qi didn't notice any changes, but according to feedback from A Fu and the Moon Spirit Butterfly, they were filled with an overwhelming, compulsory awe toward Shen Yi while in the Bee King's Nest.

Aside from anything else, this new function made raising creatures in the Bee King's Nest much easier for Shen Yi.

The Bee King's Nest was truly Shen Yi's wish-fulfilling package, with each upgrade providing exactly what he needed most at the time; it was truly attuned to his needs.

Shen Yi untied the six blue-tier [Spirit Fire Spiders], sectioned off an undeveloped area in the Bee King's Nest, piled [fire spirit hearts] and [fire crystals] there, and collected rock ore and calcined rock ash from the volcanic range, allowing the six [Spirit Fire Spiders] to freely build their nests.

Shen Yi was busy planning the Bee King's Nest, and time flew by. Meanwhile, players were up to their tricks again.

After being swept away by Xi Ye's autumn wind scattering leaves following their rainbow fart incident, and returning in defeat, players reflected on their failure, formed groups, made spreadsheets, and prepared various small gifts to test the King's preferences and explore the complete strategy guide for rainbow fart gift packs.

But despite having everything ready, they couldn't find the King anywhere. Determined to cause trouble, players specifically established a King's whereabouts investigation team to search the entire map for him.

However, Shen Yi had been shuttling between the magma fissure, Moon Valley, and the Bee King's Nest during this time, so players naturally couldn't catch a glimpse of him.

After [Jiusi] obtained the [Space-Attribute Starlight Points] and trained twenty to thirty Space-Attribute players, others grew envious. With no other way to obtain [Space-Attribute Starlight Points], they could only focus on rainbow farts. Unable to find the King or the spirit, they settled for ambushing the queen and elders.

Lao Si and the others were the most restless in the Bee King's Nest. When they went out alone without using stealth, they were tormented by the players' incessant rainbow fart chanting.

"Big brother, save me!" Lao Si rushed into the Bee King's Nest as if fleeing for his life, hugging Shen Yi and complaining. "They wait right outside the Teleportation Circles now, catching us every time without fail."

Lao Wu wailed in agreement: "Every Teleportation Circle has someone lying in wait. As soon as we show our faces, they call for backup."

Shen Yi was busy crafting [Fire Starlight Points] to feed the crystal egg he was nurturing in the Life Crystal space. A week had passed, and the apricot-sized crystal seed had grown to the size of a peach, round and plump, translucent and gleaming, orange-red with hints of blue—clearly the most dazzling one of the bunch.

Without stopping his work or looking up, Shen Yi said, "Just deduct their favorability points as a warning."

Lao Si tugged at the fur on his belly and muttered, "It's no use! I've almost deducted all their favorability points."

Since Lao Si and the others no longer handled daily tasks, favorability points had indeed become less necessary for players.

Shen Yi: "They're trying to win your favor for gift packs. If you ignore them, they'll quiet down on their own after a while when they see no benefits."

Lao Wu chimed in: "There seemed to be fewer people today, though."

"But what they said was even weirder," Lao Si muttered.

Shen Yi stored the crafted [Fire Starlight Points], planning to make more of other attributes to restock. Just as he took out the spirit stones, he heard Lao Si ask brightly: "Big brother, what is *mala hot pot*?"

Shen Yi instinctively swallowed, his hands stilling: "Huh?"

"A player said I'm spicier than *mala hot pot*..."

"!" Shen Yi's eyes glared fiercely, mixed with hesitation and disbelief as he looked down at Lao Si.

Lao Wu added beside him: "So spicy that his heart almost melted."

*Crack*—the wood spirit stone in Shen Yi's hand snapped. His face turned dark and fuming. "Which player said that?"

He had almost forgotten—what kind of morals could players possibly have in a game? To win over NPCs, they would go to any lengths, sparing no effort. In this "game," where NPCs' intelligence was comparable to real people, what more effective and lasting method could there be to win over a female NPC than making her fall in love?

Damn it!

Shen Yi felt like cursing. Those shameless dogs had no other strategies up their sleeves. He quickly ordered the system to lock onto the player Lao Si mentioned and monitor them closely. If they harassed any NPCs again, their account would be banned immediately. This unhealthy trend had to be stopped.

After this incident, Shen Yi began to take the players' "rainbow-praise tribute event" more seriously. Rather than letting the players run wild, it would be better to open an official channel for it, making it easier to manage.

Since "cyber incense" was trending, he decided to create a "cyber offerings" system. If the players liked offering tributes, he would allow it.

And so, the players who had been searching everywhere for the Emperor finally welcomed a new in-game feature.

"In response to players' strong suggestions, a new feature has been launched—NPC Tributes."

"Players can choose an NPC to offer tributes to. If the NPC is satisfied with the tribute, they will randomly give out rewards."

In the players' game interface, a "Tribute" option appeared next to "Cultivate." In this section, after selecting an NPC, players could drag tribute icons from their backpack into the interface and click "Tribute" to complete the offering.

If the tribute disappeared, it meant the offering was successful, and the player would receive a reward from the NPC.

Otherwise, it meant the offering had failed.

World Chat:

[Brother Pidan]: "Damn, who suggested this? Did they send an email? The developers are actually this easily swayed?"

[Qiqi]: "I tried offering tributes to every NPC, but none of them worked."

[Guoli Chen]: "You must have been too stingy. This is a tribute, not a garbage disposal."

[Guoli Chen]: Shared information—"Congratulations! Your tribute has been accepted by the Queen Bee. Received [Old Father’s Care Package]."

[Guoli Chen]: "Succeeded on the first try—got a Starlight Point from the Emperor."

[God Bless]: "@Guoli Chen, Sis Chen, what did you offer? Please, I want the Old Father’s Care Package too."

Soon, players realized that the Emperor’s preferences were impossible to guess, but the Elf’s tastes were clear—he loved small pottery figurines of the Emperor in various forms!

As long as you offered a small figurine of the Emperor, you would receive an Elf’s Gift Package.

For a time, pottery figurines of the Emperor were in high demand, and Xi Ye became the most popular NPC in the tribute interface.

At first, the [Elf’s Gift Package] contained at least one rare attribute Starlight Point. Later, if players offered duplicate figurines of the Emperor, they would receive an [Elf’s Message]: "Already have this."

The tribute would still be accepted, but no gift package would be given.

Demand drove innovation. Crafting players began enthusiastically making adorable figurines of the Emperor with various expressions and poses, along with embroidered and cloth dolls. As Shen Yi put it, there were hidden talents among the players.

One day, [SlyFox] had a sudden idea and offered the Elf a pair of custom-made figurines she had specially collected—one of the Emperor and one of the Elf, both puckering their lips. They were her most treasured pair, and she wouldn’t have parted with them if not for the Elf.

The tribute was successful, and she immediately received a generous [Elf’s Gift Package]—the Elf’s Blessing buff, which increased HP recovery by 2%.

It was the only HP recovery buff in the game at the time.

The players finally understood—the Elf was into this kind of thing. It confirmed the couple’s relationship!

Since the tribute feature was launched, Shen Yi also developed a new hobby—occasionally browsing the players' tribute interface to pick out interesting items.

Especially since players often didn’t recognize valuable items and treated it like a trash bin. Some of the tributes they casually tossed in might turn out to be rare treasures not even recorded in the system’s database.