A hundred li outside the city, deep in the ancient mountain forests, a grayish-white mountain ogre corpse puppet with a face as scarlet as cinnabar stood upright like a man on a high slope, gazing into the distance with the bearing of a master.
Before the corpse puppet stretched a vast sweep of rolling mountains. Spiritual essence dispersed from scattered blessed lands nourished the mountains for ten thousand li, sheltering countless living creatures and forming the region's unique natural ecosystem.
Some time had passed since Li Chen entered the forest to develop his operations, and he had been in Cloudstride City for over a month. With these resources, he had swiftly and secretly established a base.
The surrounding mountain forests had already become his territory.
After a long while, the red-faced mountain ogre corpse puppet withdrew its gaze, scrambled nimbly down the slope, and moved like the wind to a densely branched tree just over a li away.
"Bzz, bzz, bzz..."
The buzzing of wild bees drifted down from the foliage three zhang above. The mountain ogre corpse puppet showed no intention of retreating. Instead, it shot up the tree and stood beside a beehive the size of a millstone.
Strangely, the wild bees did not attack it, ignoring the enormous creature approaching their nest.
But as spirit waves passed between them, feedback arrived on the results of the wild bees' efforts to gather spirit materials and distribute his creations.
"A loss rate of thirty-seven percent..."
Li Chen quickly calculated the approximate results.
Low-star microchips lacked powerful functions. With the communication network so weak, disconnections and delays occurred frequently. Moreover, these wild bees were not entirely under his control. He merely implanted microchips into their bodies and used simulated signals to exert rough control, which could not execute precise instructions.