Under themand of the great marshal Suming, the battle soon drew to its conclusion. With the cooperation of the decoy hos, the Bee Legion achieved a sweeping victory, leaving the ground littered with the carcasses of bees and Asian Giant Hos.


    Out of the horde of more than a hundred Asian Giant Hos, only a scattered twenty or thirty remained, the vast majority being decoy Hos. The few survivors could not mount any effective counterattack and werepletely surrounded by the decoy force and the Bee Legion, with no opportunity to escape.


    Nearly a thousand bees had also suffered heavy losses, but due to theirrge initial numbers, around five or six hundred survived the battle.


    Commander Suming sat on the ground, somewhat weary. Even the simplest bee and ho were still lives, and controlling so many of them in battle was a considerable drain on him.


    But there were benefits. Spiritual power was like a ''skill''—the more it was used, the more proficient it became, and it would gradually increase. Throughmanding this great battle, Suming''s use of spiritual power had clearly advanced to a new level. His control over numbers, precision, and range had all improved since before.


    Thus, the remaining few Asian Giant Hos, without any surprise, fell under Suming''s control and joined the ranks of the decoy army.


    Only the Bee Legion and the decoys were left; with no enemies remaining, the battle naturally came to an end. The remaining hos and bees, like a troop standing for inspection, flew in front of Suming.


    After fighting side by side in a ''bloody battle'', it seemed that a kind of radeship'' had formed between the decoy Asian Giant Hos and bees. Although not intimate, they clearly divided into two groups, yet they refrained from attacking each other.


    "Go and see if there are any remaining enemy forces in the woods!" Suming issued themand, and the hos, leading a group of bees,zily flew into the forest to scatter and search.


    Animals don''t have as many cunning thoughts as humans. In battles, they either swarm together or scatter in disarray; they don''t engage in behavior like watching fires from across the river or sabotaging their teammates. After searching the woods for a while, no remnants of the enemy were found.


    Suming gestured grandly, "That''s settled, then. From now on, the bees will live in this forest!"


    Located in the wilderness, the area was less likely to be disturbed by humans. Meanwhile, the surrounding flora was lush, an ideal ce for the bees to settle. The bees had originally lived here, and now, reiming their lost territory and returning to their homnd, they were visibly overjoyed and buzzed around Suming excitedly.


    Attracting bees and butterflies was precisely what this meant. Although there were no frivolous butterflies, there were indeed several hundred frenzied bees.


    "I am not Xiaolongnu, stop buzzing around me all the time; go settle down!" Suming clicked his fingers at the bees.


    The bees flew away, leaving the twenty to thirty remaining decoy hos with nowhere to go. They buzzed around Suming pitifully, as if to say ''considering our service to the Party-State, give your brothers a hand'', ''we may not have the merits but we did the hard work''.


    "I need to find a way out for you too..."


    Suming thought for a moment, "This is what we''ll do: you will live here too. The bees will share some of their honey with you; after all, there''s so much they can''t eat it all. You, on the other hand, will protect the bees, but you are forbidden from harming them again!"


    Humming contentedly, the hos dashed into the forest. Now in sheer numbers, the hos were at an absolute disadvantage. Moreover, after a battle under spiritual power control, the bees had gained experience inbating the hos and were somewhat stronger than ordinary bees. Should these hos cause trouble while he was away, the bee swarm would be capable of suppressing them.


    The Asian Giant Hos buzzed away happily, content with the idea of living peacefully without having to fight to the death. In the past, though the bees were weak, they would rather die than provide honey to the hos, even if it meant moving or fighting to the end rather than submitting. The hos had no choice but to take risks and plunder, which was both troublesome and risky.


    Now that Suming had given hismand, it was foreseeable that this group of hos would soon be living the easy life of having everything handed to them.


    One ho,rger than the others by a size, lingered behind. Just as it was about to fly into the woods, its body shook and it stopped midair.


    "Er Gouzi, follow me from now on and serve as my liaison!" Suming snapped his fingers.


    The ho turned its head and flew back to Suming, perching on his shoulder as they walked down the mountain together.


    Thisrger ho was one of the first ''defectors'' to side with Suming during the battle, fighting its kin most eagerly, thus earning the honor of being named by Suming.


    As soon as Suming and Er Gouzi returned to Whisperwind Pavilion, they found arge crowd waiting, including Mr. Song, Mrs. Tong, Mr. Peng, the animal keeper Li from Xiongshan, and Mr. Dong from the zoo''s security department.


    "Huh, what brings all the leaders here?" Suming was caught off guard and subtly instructed Er Gouzi to hide under the pavilion''s eaves without making a sound, allowing it free movement but forbidding it from hurting anyone.


    Seeing Suming appear, everyone in the room breathed a sigh of relief, looking as if a great weight had been lifted. Mrs. Tong, with her quick tongue, spoke first: "Gosh, we heard you lured the bees away with honeb to protect the otherrades. The director immediately sent people to back you up, but when we couldn''t find you after a long search, we were all frantic, fearing something had happened to you!"


    Mr. Peng gave Suming a solid punch on the shoulder. "You rascal, not answering your phone had me really scared." He circled Suming, looking him over and asking, "You''re not injured, are you?"


    "No, I led the bees to the back mountain and then tossed away the honeb, making a detour before running back here," Suming shook his head as he said.


    "That''s good to hear. Just as I thought, Su has his ways. What could a bunch of bees do to him?"


    Mr. Song stood up with a chuckle, nodded at Suming, and then his expression turned serious as he looked at Mr. Dong and Li, "Dong, with bees causing a ruckus in the zoo, as the head of security, you''re the one responsible if anyone gets stung. And Li, if Su hadn''t risked his own safety to divert those bees, you''d be the one failing at your job. Both of you owe Su the most thanks."


    "Master Su, I can''t thank you enough. Ah, it''s all my fault for being careless at work." Li stood and gave Suming a deep bow, his head wrapped in bandages that were still seeping blood, indicating he had taken a hard tumble during his escape.


    He was genuinely grateful to Suming. Escaping from Xiongshan, he had crashed into a rock and copsed, stars exploding before his eyes, unable to even tell directions. If Suming hadn''t turned back to pull him up, he might have indeed been stung badly by the bees.


    Though bee stings weren''t as poisonous as wasps'', being surrounded and stung by hundreds of bees was no joke; even three lives wouldn''t be enough.


    His bow was exceptionally deep. Suming chuckled and quickly steadied him, "Mr. Li, you''re too kind."