["Yes, the flesh field represents turning the physical body into soil to nurture all things."]
Before the Queen Bee finished speaking, Ethan heard Poker Face's miserable scream.
"AHHHH!"
"Why can't my body move anymore!"
"Why can't I control my body, ahhh! Let go of me—"
However, as Poker Face kept shouting, he suddenly stopped.
That strange feeling was like someone had suddenly pressed the pause button on audio. Even Poker Face's body stopped struggling along with it.
If not for the slight rise and fall of his chest, Ethan would have thought he was already dead.
["Master, it seems he has been completely controlled by the Queen Insect,"] The Queen Bee continued transmitting, ["You should go prepare a large amount of Red Dragon meat now, and some spirit stone powder. Mix it into the Red Dragon meat and feed it to it."]
["He will soon fall into a state of hunger. It's best if you prepare some food for him in advance."]
["And water, preferably water with fire attributes."]
Ethan asked, "Would magma chili water mixed with hot spring water work?"
["Of course. As long as it's water and food with fire attributes, the more the better,"] the Queen Bee continued, ["After that, you won't need to tie him up anymore. His brain nerves have probably already been controlled by the Queen Insect."]
"Gulp!"
Ethan swallowed.
He thought of something and asked with a hint of horror, "I thought he had already been killed by the Queen Insect. Turns out it only controlled his nervous system."
"Then theoretically, does that mean he can actually know what's happening outside?"
"He can even see and hear, he just can't control his own body?"
["I'm not sure about that,"] The Queen Bee paused for a moment and said, ["But that possibility is very high. In a sense, he's more like a stroke patient from your original world."]
"How miserable."
Ethan let out a helpless sigh.
After this is over, if he can't recover, it's better to give him a quick end.
Living like that… just thinking about it is torment.
It's like... a soul trapped inside a shell, able to see and hear, yet unable to do anything.
That kind of helplessness might be a hundred times more painful than death.
———
After leaving the Pet Paradise, Ethan arrived at the cafeteria.
At this time, most of the citizens hadn't gone back to sleep yet. Some were helping the duty staff clean up the leftover trash in the cafeteria, while others were helping Cook Four wash the fire-attribute beast cores dug out from the ice gallbladders.
As for the scarecrow, it was stuck by the duty staff's side. But since it couldn't speak, it could only look left and right, serving as a background prop for the young lady on duty.
The attendant lady would occasionally say something to the scarecrow, for example…
"Scarecrow, how is the Lord so amazing? He actually knows the weaknesses of those ice gallbladders."
"Those things, just those spikes alone are enough to scare people to death."
"Only the Lord knows how to deal with them and still not get hurt. The Lord is so awesome."
Although the scarecrow felt something was a bit off hearing those words, as long as the attendant lady talked to it, it felt incredibly happy. Its eyes were even filled with a sense of pure bliss.
As for Daji, she was nowhere to be seen.
Ethan didn't even need to guess. That little cat is afraid of the cold, so she must have gone back early to curl up by the villa fireplace to sleep.
As for the white eagle…
'What an idiot.'
That guy was actually relying on the fact that it wasn't afraid of the cold, burying its whole body in the snow, flapping its wings from time to time, then using its beak to clean its feathers.
"Someone!"
Ethan called out.
Very quickly, Cook Four popped out from who-knows-where again and immediately ran over to Ethan, saying, "Lord, what do you need me to do for you?"
"Cook Four, you came at just the right time."
Ethan had been planning to have someone prepare food anyway, and naturally there was no one more suitable than Cook Four from the kitchen.
Hearing Ethan's words, Cook Four immediately beamed with joy, "Lord, did you come specially to find me? Is it because the weather is too cold and you need someone to warm your bed? I can—"
["Master, the Queen Insect has already awakened and is now searching for food."]
The Queen Bee's voice once again broke into Ethan's mind.
Hearing this, Ethan had no time to listen to what Cook Four was saying. He directly interrupted her, "I need ten portions of Red Dragon meat immediately, raw or cooked is fine."
"Also, chop up magma chili. Sprinkle some over the Red Dragon meat, and mix some into the hot spring water."
"For the hot spring water, just go to where I was bathing earlier and take the hottest bathwater."
"Once everything is ready, deliver it to the Pet Paradise immediately."
"O-okay, Lord."
Seeing how anxious Ethan looked, Cook Four didn't dare ask anything else and quickly responded before heading to the kitchen to prepare the food.
Meanwhile, Ethan thought for a moment, then took out a spirit stone from the warehouse, and also took out the Dragon-Slaying Blade. He raised it and struck the spirit stone.
Clang!
Originally, Ethan thought this Dragon-Slaying Blade would easily split the spirit stone.
But who could have expected… that the mighty Dragon-Slaying Blade of the Golden-Haired Lion King would actually be bounced off by a single spirit stone?
'What the hell am I supposed to do now?'
Although Ethan really didn't want to crush the spirit stone, he had no choice.
After all, the Queen Bee had said it was best to add some energy-supplementing materials like spirit stone into the food. After thinking it over, Ethan couldn't come up with anything cheaper or more practical than spirit stone.
He did have some life crystals, but those were rare and hard to come by.
There was no way he'd be willing to feed them to some insects.
"Lord, what are you doing?", Stone Six had just finished helping the attendant group clean up. Seeing Ethan looking troubled while staring at a small stone, he walked over and asked.
Seeing it was Stone Six, Ethan's eyes lit up immediately, "Stone Six, you came at just the right time! I remember you awakened that 'great strength creates miracles' skill. You're especially good with ores, right?"
"Uh, I guess I'm alright," Stone Six said modestly, "I just mine a bit faster than others, find a bit more rare ores, and occasionally dig up some special items that aren't ores. Other than that, there's nothing special about me!"
'So humble. Truly nothing special at all.'
Ethan smiled and said, "Then give it a try. Help me break open this spirit stone."
"Got it, Lord!"
Stone Six responded, then immediately took out a goblin fine steel pickaxe from his backpack.
After that, he spat into both hands, then raised the pickaxe high and smashed it down toward the spirit stone placed on the ground.
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