Chapter 26: Empathy

Chi Sui rubbed her eyes in disbelief. When she opened them again, the little queen bee’s affection level remained at 1%.

The plate she held in her hands was spotless, as if the pudding had never been there at all. The little queen bee, having finished her meal, lay flat on her back once more, limbs splayed as she gazed up at the sun. The sight of her ravenous eating just moments ago felt like nothing more than a hallucination.

Taking a deep breath, Chi Sui stood up abruptly. This was not her first time feeding a magical beast, but it was the first time she had encountered one so stingy with its affection.

"I'll come back tomorrow."

That 1% affection level had deeply ignited Chi Sui's competitive spirit. However, that "tomorrow" easily turned into a cycle of "tomorrow after tomorrow."

"Today is honey cake~"
Affection +1%
Chi Sui: ...

"I'm back again. Today, it’s honey bread rolls."
Affection +1%
Chi Sui: ...

"Honey milk candy."
Affection +0.5%
So it could go even lower.

"Honey cookies."
Affection +1%
Chi Sui: ... T_T

Before she knew it, Chi Sui had been at Cecil's Wind-Bell Ranch for five days, spanning from the end of spring into early summer. The little queen bee's affection had successfully climbed to 4.5%...

It wasn't that Chi Sui could only make one type of dessert per day, but that the little queen bee could only manage to eat one. Fortunately, the little queen bee's condition was visibly improving. Although Chi Sui hadn't seen it leave that flower in all these days, at least when they last met, it had moved from lying flat to lying on its stomach. After so long, she finally saw it roll over—a cause for celebration.

During these five days, worried that the animals at her ranch weren't being cared for, Chi Sui had specifically sent Mr. Stone back once. Later, sensing she would be staying longer, she asked Bertha for help. In the meantime, Byron had come to conduct an exclusive interview with her, and at her request, he placed the introduction to Fufeng Town at the very beginning. Before long, this newspaper would appear in every street and alley of the Breezy Territory. Village Chief Ella had also sent a message through someone a couple of days ago, telling her that because of her excellent performance at the Summer Welcoming Festival, merchants were already visiting the town to scout locations for shops. Given the construction speed of the floating islands, she believed that by the time she returned, she would see a very different Fufeng Town.

Things were trending in a positive direction, yet the problem Chi Sui currently faced remained unsolvable. That time she brought the honey milk candy, because the portion was small, she had included a small serving of pudding on the side. The little queen bee had been gracious enough to finish it all, ending up so full she was hiccuping. But only the honey milk candy had triggered the 0.5% increase in affection; the pudding had caused no movement at all, likely because it had gone toward satiety instead.

The biggest problem right now was that with her current ingredients, she couldn't make sixty different desserts. If she really scraped by, sixty dishes might be possible.

Pushed to a point of extreme headache, Chi Sui learned from the little queen bee and lay flat on the ranch's grass.

Cecil walked over slowly, eating one of the honey cookies Chi Sui had made that day. Over these past five days, Cecil had been living quite well. Whatever the little queen bee ate, he would receive an identical portion of dessert. Occasionally, when Chi Sui made extra, the daily rations for the other magical beasts were also covered. The nutritional value of the floating island's food was significant; just by eating and not moving, Cecil’s face had successfully rounded out in just a few days.

"What’s wrong? You look so dejected."

Chi Sui stared blankly into space, silent for a moment before saying, "Cecil, how exactly did you form a contract with the Powder-Ring Bee Queen in the first place?"

"It was already by my side when it was just a magic core."

Chi Sui knew the concept of a magic core; every magical beast was born from a core and would eventually dissolve into dust. The magic cores of different beasts varied in size, color, pattern, and so on.

"Then did you know from the very beginning what would be born from the core?" Having never seen a magic core, Chi Sui was filled with curiosity about the unknown.

"No. If I had that ability, I would have established a breeding house at the ranch long ago." Cecil gave her a look of annoyance and continued, "When Nini was first born, it was even smaller than it is now. Perhaps it was because I was the first thing it saw when it opened its eyes, but it has always been very close to me. However, I also put a lot of effort into the food it ate."

"The way the Powder-Ring Bee Queen propagates its colony is very unique. The queen bee divides her own magic to form small magic cores. In about a day or so, the Powder-Ring bees hatch from the cores. You could say that all the Powder-Ring bees are the queen's vassals."

"Because a large part of a bee queen's energy source comes from food, every bee queen has one common trait: they are gluttonous."

Chi Sui sat up, listening to Cecil intently, feeling puzzled. "If that’s a common trait, then how is it possible that it only eats a little bit every day and feels full?"

Cecil paused at this question, looking into Chi Sui's eyes with complete sincerity. "In order to propagate, it consumes energy, but when it feels that the surrounding environment is no longer suitable for survival, it stops propagating."

...

With Mr. Stone's help, Chi Sui climbed the cliff again. This was her second time here today.

On the flower, the little queen bee lay quietly, just as it had been when Chi Sui left in the morning. Cecil's words seemed to linger in her ears: "I am very sorry that it feels this way, but standing from my position, I will unconditionally support Nini's decision."

"And I am very grateful that you can cook food that entices it to eat, giving it a chance to survive. In this way, the guilt in my heart will be a little less."

Chi Sui walked over slowly and crouched down on the empty ground closest to the little queen bee.

"I didn't bring any food this time. I just realized that we haven't really had a proper chat."

The little ball of fluff on the flower turned its head slightly to glance at her, rolled over, and returned to its previous flat-lying posture.

Chi Sui didn't mind. Like the bee, she watched the sun gradually sink in the sky and continued, "I've been here for so long, and I haven't asked you: do you still want to keep living?"

As if reacting to Chi Sui's words, the little queen bee's wings twitched.

"Look, you've been in this ranch since you were born. In this little world meant for your survival, your kin drove you away, your subjects ignored you, and in your moment of greatest despair, the master of this little world stood by and watched coldly."

"From the moment you were born, all you could feel were negative emotions: grievances, loneliness, sadness, and pain. You had no pillar of support, and these negative emotions trapped you like a swamp."

Chi Sui reached out her finger and gently placed it on its antennae. This time, the little queen bee did not refuse.

"I have no way to truly empathize with your experiences. After coming to the floating island, I have only met kindness; you could say I am a lucky person."

"I also can't truly understand your pain, nor do I know how many times you struggled before making this decision."

"You seem to have never felt kindness. If fading away is your choice, then I respect it."

"It's just... let me accompany you to the end, okay?"

"Consider it a stranger wanting to release some kindness for you one last time before parting."

The queen bee on the flower learned from Chi Sui and crouched up, but the antennae on its head never left Chi Sui's finger.

"Even if it’s a mistake in your eyes, I still hope for a seemingly perfect ending."

"Even if... it is just my own self-righteousness."

Was there something wrong with Cecil? Standing from his position, favoring the magical beast he contracted was human nature. Was there something wrong with Nini? Every Powder-Ring bee in the hive was created by it and was its subject; expelling the "other" was its rule of survival.

Then what was wrong with the newly born queen bee?

Rejection, expulsion, exile.

It carried the innocence and kindness of its birth, yet in the face of overwhelming negative emotions, it did not become twisted; instead, it chose to give up.

Why was the affection growing so slowly?

Someone who hates themselves has no strength left to love anyone else.