Super Zoo

Overall, the two Queen Bees were like two giant sachets, both emitting a refreshing fragrance. However, upon closer whiff, Mi Hou's scent was of a sweet and cloying style, whereas the other Queen Bee's aroma was alluring and enchanting... If one were to compare them to popular perfumes on the market, the former would be similar to Chanel's 'Chance Eau Tendre,' while the latter would be akin to Dior's 'Hypnotic Poison.'

Nangong Yan usually preferred the former, and Hong Feifei also used similar ones occasionally when she wasn't cooking. Every time she met Ding Jing, she was wearing the latter.

Perfume is an essential for women, and the young clerks in the office and the nurses at the medical clinic would often emit various fragrances. Suming's nose was trained in such an environment, and his ability to appreciate perfumes had just about reached the level of an average girl, making him a semi-professional.

The scents from the two Queen Bees were no less impressive than those of branded perfumes.

It wasn't surprising they had such fragrances. Hundred Flowers Valley was filled with all kinds of fresh flowers, exuding a rich fragrance, so even a person living there for a long time would carry a hint of the scent. Considering that these two Queen Bees fed on the essence of flowers, the royal jelly, it wasn't odd that they would develop a unique fragrance over time.

This explained why their scent was much more pleasant than the perfumes available on the market, which are made from one or a few kinds of flowers mixed with chemical components. Conversely, the natural, pollution-free scent of the Queen Bees was a perfect fusion of the aromas of hundreds of flowers, clearly unsurpassable by ordinary perfumes.

Suming had come to Hundred Flowers Valley not only to visit the two of them but also for an additional purpose.

About two hundred Lure People were about to move into the back mountains. Aside from spending a day or two a week learning the language and acting as language tutors, the rest of the time, these Lure People had nothing to do. A small number of them had been allocated to work in a reservoir fishery company and as security staff at the zoo, but most were lingering in a state of idleness.

Patrolling the mountains didn't count as work for them—it was the same as taking a stroll.

Back in Iraq, the Lure People had to hunt, serve in the military, craft various living supplies, set up stalls in cities to make money, and participate in military training to defend against IS and Kurdish attacks, as well as be wary of being treated as cannon fodder by the government forces. In short, they lived busy lives under a great deal of pressure.

After arriving in Yangchuan City, their food, clothing, shelter, and transportation were temporarily provided by the Taoyuan Community Committee, making the Lure People's lives suddenly leisurely.

Not working might sound splendid, but on the contrary, people would deteriorate without anything to do, and these young individuals teeming with energy could easily stir up trouble if they had no outlet for it.

Therefore, Suming planned to have the Lure People start a cultivation area in the back mountains.

Beyond morel mushrooms, two wild boars had recently dug up many valuable crops in the mountains: wood ear mushrooms, shorter-aged ginseng, Lingzhi mushrooms, and more that could be attempted for cultivation. Besides, there was plenty of land in the mountains—establishing an orchard was also a good option, which could supply raw materials to the distillery and restaurant and sell fresh fruits in the market.

If in the future, the zoo developed into a comprehensive attraction, the orchard would indeed be a sight to see.

Even if it wasn't about making money, growing your own natural fruit gave peace of mind compared to buying from the market. These days, who knew how supermarket fruit was produced? Last time, Nangong had bought two lemons that looked bright and shiny, and Suming felt something was off. How could lemons be as glossy as glass balls? And to be slippery to the touch? In the end, he used a knife to scrape off a layer of wax from the surface of the lemons. With just one more wick, you could have made a small candle.

Either way, every time he returned to Sun Town, he found the fruit, grains, pork, and even the water tasted different from the city's offerings. To put it sentimentally, rice porridge from the mountains seemed more fragrant than that cooked in the city.

So, he found some free time, ordered a batch of fruit trees and young fruit plants—common fruits like apples, pears, peaches, watermelons, bayberries, and large sweet melons—almost a dozen varieties, enough to plant a few hundred acres.

It wasn't too technically challenging to get the Lure People to do the garden planting; just get an expert from the Agricultural Science Institute to come and guide them, and He from the Garden Bureau could lend a hand. Suming was ready to bring back a swarm of bees to spread the pollen. There were wild bees on the back mountain, but compared to those from the Hundred Flowers Valley, the ones in the valley were somewhat smarter, more like 'one of our own'.

"Let's go, take me for a stroll in Hundred Flowers Valley, and have a look at your subordinates. Pick out a group of effective workers for me while we're at it," Suming snapped his fingers, and two queen bees buzzed off to lead the way, leaving the forest.

The area of Hundred Flowers Valley was quite extensive—besides the vast central flower ocean, there was a forest in the deepest part where the Bee Allied Army used to be stationed. Now, it had become the main camp for the bee force and the honey storage location. Surprisingly, there was even a small waterfall behind the woods, with water cascading down the mountain cliff in several turns. At the bottom, it formed a small pool, about a hundred square feet, likely the source of Hundred Flowers Valley's water flow.

The pool was crystal clear to the bottom, with the deepest part only up to Suming's chest, and in the shallow areas around the edges, the water only reached the bend of his legs. Some silver fish frolicked in the water, darting about happily. These small silver fish were a specialty of the mountains—never growing large and not sought after for eating, relying mainly on the plankton in the water to survive and helping to purify the water source.

While inspecting his territory, he also took stock of the current development of the bee population. Hundred Flowers Valley had accumulated about three tons of honey and over a hundred pounds of royal jelly. If sold for factory production, it would definitely not be consumed, but Suming had no intention of doing that. Aside from his own consumption, the honey and royal jelly needed to be reserved for the bees' winter, and selling it wouldn't bring in much money, making it pointless.

Last time, out of boredom, these two queen bees underwent a reorganization.

There were many bees, split into thirty-five small tribes, each led by relatively intelligent bees, but without their own queen bee. Even the two queen bees couldn't quite keep track of the total number. Suming caught sight of a medium-sized tribe, estimating that this one tribe must have several tens of thousands of bees. Altogether, the tribes made up a million-strong force.

The wasps served as the combat troops, consuming without producing honey, so their numbers were deliberately controlled. There were a total of ten squads, each responsible for protecting the two queen bees, patrolling within Hundred Flowers Valley, and dealing with other threatening animals. Each squad ranged from a few thousand to ten thousand, totaling about seventy to eighty thousand wasps. As long as they didn't encounter human armed forces, Hundred Flowers Valley was one hundred percent safe.

Mi Hou allocated a small tribe situated on the edge of Hundred Flowers Valley for Suming to take with him, to be used for pollination work in the orchard, and to establish an interim liaison point between the zoo and Hundred Flowers Valley.

Seeing that it was getting late, he stayed overnight in Hundred Flowers Valley, chatting with the two queen bees about life and ideals. The next morning, he rode a wild boar back to the zoo.

He had thought of everything—except he had forgotten one important thing!