Reincarnated To Evolve My Bee Empire - Chapter 92

Chapter 92: Great Purge of the brood cells
〔Bee Empire〕

〔Wellness〕: 44 %

〔Population〕: 444 thousand

〔Territory〕: 48042 sq. kilometers

〔Settlement count〕: 22

〔Development level〕: 4

〔Development points〕: 287 / 1000

〔Species〕: Common Honey Bee

〔Attributes〕

> Workpower: 1517

> Military: 230

> Brainpower: 569

> Logistics: 255

> Resilience: 385

〔Resources〕:

> Food: 4726 units

> Building materials: 314 units

> Crafting materials: 22 units

〔Colony Council〕

〔Military Adviser〕: increases total military by 10%. (Bloodhero)

〔Science Adviser〕: adds 10% of total workpower to brainpower. (Researchina)

〔Industry Adviser〕: increases total workpower by 10%. (Things-Things)

〔Economics Adviser〕: adds 10% of total workpower to military. (Workharder)

〔Culture Adviser〕: increases all total attributes and wellness by 3%. (Ambrosia)

〔Technologies〕

Dance Communication, Hive Building, Food Preservation, Forager Posts, Rank-Based Hierarchy, Border Patrols, Candles, Primitive Spiked Armor, Primitive Medicine, Work Camps, Literacy, Scientific Method, Basic Hygiene, Technology of Stone Age, Archives, Medicinal Plants

〔〕〔〕〔〕

Wellness was still low, and also…

‘Wait, didn’t I hear that 4 was a bad omen in Asia? Doesn’t it mean “death” or something?’

I shivered.

‘And with our current population, the food stores will last only for 10 days. Worse, most of them are in Hive Supremo. A day or two later, we will have to transport all that food from Hive Supremo to other hives if I want older generations of bees there to survive.’

***

Next day, Tabletina declared everything was ready for a mass opening of the pupae cells.

111 future Physician Bees with knives and thongs were assisted by 333 Nurse Bees, who also came from the quarantine village and had some experience picking mites. Those Nurse Bees carried jars and candles—today they were nurses in the most medical term of the word.

Today they all hung on a wall opposite thousands upon thousands of pupae brood cells. Besides them, there wasn’t a single soul in this usually bustling area of the hive.

I *physically* couldn’t take part in *every* operation, but I hovered near Tabletina to do my best helping. Until heart monitors were invented, my system was the best way to measure when someone was on the verge of dying.

“Alright, girls!” I clapped my hands. “Do you need a rousing speech from your dead dad?”

Tabletina shook her head.

“No, Father, leave that to the hammerheads. We know what to do, why to do it, and *how* to do it.”

All the bees nearby nodded in agreement.

“That’s right, Lieutenant Tabletina!”

“‘Morale’ isn’t as important as knowledge!”

“Empty words are just words. If you have good advice, Father, then say it—or don’t distract us!”

I choked on air.

“H-hey! I was trying to do you good—there’s no need to attack your father like that!” Since nobody could see under my leather mask, I shamelessly pouted. “Little brats. All other bees like my rousing speeches and my headpats.”

“Alright, enough of that, Physicians! Father is actually affected by morale, and we still need him in good shape!” Tabletina shouted. “Now let’s get to work, squads. We need to finish before the sun sets!”

In an organized manner, the Physicians-in-training and Nurses split into threes and spread out. Almost synchronously, each approached a brood cell and began cutting into its wax cap.

Tabletina and two Nurses, one of them a Lieutenant Nurse, were the only bees who didn’t operate themselves. Instead, they were coordinating other bees, giving pointers, and preparing to help their sisters if things went wrong.

In minutes, the first hundred cells were opened.

“Move, move!” Tabletina shouted. “We can’t leave the pupae breathe outside air for long!”

I hovered around anxiously, peeking inside the cells, but the Physicians-in-training moved so quickly, I barely could see anything before they were already closing the wax caps back!

The healthy cells were closed almost immediately. But there were others—infected ones.

Out of a hundred cells, 4 were infected. 4%! That number was haunting me today, like an omen of encroaching doom.

Because if those 12000 pupae emerged as is, 480 of them would be sick. And who knew how many mites there would be crawling outside?!

Even if bees with the thick skin gene were immune to their bites, there were still enough older bees for the mites to feed on and lay more eggs.

480 could turn into 4800 in no time at all.

The infected cells took slightly more time to close, as the bees had to pick out the mites and their eggs.

‘It’s a good thing that candlelight scares the gnomites off. The operation would’ve been much riskier if the Physicians had to pull the sucking mite off the pupa! They could wound her by accident.’

The synchrony broke as the teams that didn’t open infected cells on their first round climbed to the next row of cells.

The slower bees caught up with their peers only a minute later; meanwhile, some Nurses flew away to deposit captured mites and their eggs for temporary storage.

Some will become research samples, while others will be killed and thrown out with other biodegradable garbage. Hive Supremo had some nice compost bins, which bees from Hive Hornet’s Nest used to feed the trees that wilted thanks to aphids sucking juices out of them.

I was sure it was at least *slowing down* their deaths.

The Great Purge of the brood cells continued row after a row, a column after a column. Their speed was faster than I expected—but things changed after a dozen rows.

Ten operations later, all the Physicians-in-training turned full-fledged Physicians! Their agility rose by 4, and their movements became more precise and assured.

Perhaps only by 10%, but their speed increased even more!

Suddenly, cleansing 12000 cells in front of them didn’t feel like an insurmountable task.

‘And I… I’m not doing anything to help here, am I?’ I huffed to myself. ‘Well, I’m more of a Grand Strategist, anyway. *Macro* manager, not a *micro* one!’

With that thought, I felt like I could leave Tabletina to finish the work here with an easy heart.

She was going to finish this quickly and smoothly!

I only had a *small* worry left for all these pupae…

‘I better check on all the other bees—does *their* cleansing go quickly enough?’