Reincarnated To Evolve My Bee Empire - Chapter 90

Chapter 90: What came first, the mite or the egg?
There was nothing good in letting those ugly gnomites feed on my daughters even a second longer, and there was little I could do to prepare for the cell-opening operation.

And that little I did.

All bees who weren’t involved in the cell opening were told to avoid this part of the hive until further notice. All bees that *were* involved had to thoroughly wash themselves, and not just in the nearest suspicious rainwater pond, but with boiled water!

Our pottery didn’t develop far enough to make bathtubs, yet, so it was just a sponge bath.

But hey, sanitation, right?

And we all wore leather masks, of course—for all the good as they did without gloves.

There were only three bees involved in the first operation: me, Tabletina, and Writingdown. If all went well, Writingdown would document the operation, and Tabletina will teach others how to do it.

All three of us gathered in an empty cell in the brood comb for the last check.

“Are the tools ready and still clean, Tabletina?”

“Yes, Father.” She showed me two sharp knives and long wooden tongs for picking mites from hard-to-reach parts of a cell.

Well, before this infestation, we used tongs like these for cooking—they were part of the “stone tools” tech. I wouldn’t cook a mite, though. They were too disgusting even to eat!

(Plus, I was sure it was cannibalism. Like eating pigs who were used to dispose of bodies…)

“And the writing tablets are ready, too, Father.” Writingdown showed the stack she carried.

I was the assistant carrying candles. One was in my hand, already lit, and half a dozen were waiting their turn. There wasn’t enough light for an operation otherwise. I also brought a jar to put mites in.

I took a deep breath.

There was just one last thing I could do. Maybe.

‘Hey, system, can I *now* create a physician title?’

<No, this title cannot be created, user—the requirements haven’t been met.>

Great, amazing, awesome.

‘Screw you, system.’

“Alright, let’s go. Tabletina, you know what to do—I’m just your assistant today.”

“Yes, Father. Don’t worry, I have steady hands. I’ve already cut one varroa mite into parts yesterday, and almost didn’t nick any by accident,” Tabletina said proudly. “It had a stomach full of blood!”

I winced.

“Thanks, Tabletina. I guess I’m going vegetarian for next week… Ahem. Remember, you can’t nick the pupa *at all*!”

I flew out of the cell and led the team to a pupa cell nearby.

There was no way to tell whether a cell was infected without looking inside. This cell was just a random one from the last-capped brood. I hoped it meant that in the worst-case scenario, the damage to the pupa will be minimal.

Now, I lit another candle for extra light, put it in the same hand as the first, and gestured Tabletina on the wax cap with a free hand.

“Go on, dear.”

She nodded and hung on the wall of the comb. After stabilizing herself, she carefully sunk a knife into the soft surface. It barely pierced the cap—Tabletina was extremely careful to not cut anything inside.

She cut half a circle and peeled it out—then gasped.

“What a disgusting, awful sight. And I thought these creatures were ugly before!”

I peeked from behind Tabletina’s head and swore.

Good luck or bad, but we hit an infected cell on the first try!

The pupa inside—well, it looked as yucky as I imagined. It took most of the space in the small brood cell—a fat baby that resembled a human infant in all the worst ways, and an insect in all the others. Her white cocoon mercifully hid most of the details.

〔Bee Pupa〕 〔Ally〕 〔Progeny〕

〔Health〕: 3 / 4

〔Stamina〕: 0 / 0

And right over her…

〔Mite〕

〔Health〕: 8 / 8

〔Stamina〕: 5 / 5

A varroa mite was hugging the pupa’s chest, sucking life out of my baby daughter in open view!

Then, like a cockroach spooked by a light in the room, it let the pupa go and tried to crawl away.

“Catch her, Tabletina!”

“It won’t get away!”

Tabletina’s tongs shot out, and she deftly caught the mite. It waddled its limbs in silent panic, but Tabletina’s hold was tight.

She had the latest set of my genes, like most Researcher Bees, right now. I didn’t think most of them would come in handy for Researchers, but some did!

“Great job, Tabletina! And it even let go of the pupa by itself—now get it away so we can close the cell!”

Tabletina nodded and pulled the mite out with the tongs, then passed it to me.

I clenched the mite tightly so it wouldn’t escape.

〔You deal 1 damage.〕

With an evil grin, I clenched it even tighter.

〔You deal 1 damage.〕

“Wait, Father, I can see something else,” Tabletina said, leaning back into the cell. “Looks like an egg. We need to search carefully.”

She pulled it out, too, and passed it to Writingdown before looking back into the cell. As Tabletina searched for eggs, I did, too.

〔Bee Pupa〕 〔Ally〕 〔Progeny〕

〔Health〕: 2 / 4

〔Stamina〕: 0 / 0

“Tabletina, get back! We must close the cell immediately!” I shouted.

The pupa must’ve been harmed by the atmosphere outside its brood cell. It was just what I feared!

Tabletina obeyed immediately, leaning back and began carefully putting the wax flap back.

Meanwhile, I was hit by a notification.

<User, you can create a title: ‘Physician Bee’. Confirm title creation?>

〔Physician Bee〕: +10% to base intelligence and agility. Increases immunity and healing speed of treated patients by 10% for a day. Requirements: understanding of all medical technologies of the current technological era; operating or assisting operation on at least 10 patients.

‘Wait, so *now* you give it to me? Well, I will take it! Confirm creation!’

The title was mine. I eyed Tabletina…

<Target doesn’t fit the ‘Physician Bee’ title requirements.>

‘Yeah. Not yet.’

Meanwhile, Tabletina finished smoothing the wax back into shape and turned to me, biting her lip.

“Father, I *think* there was only one egg inside… But I’m not sure. It makes no sense for something like that to lay only *one* egg! Queen Ambrosia lays 3000! Father, please, tell me—can we just check again?”