Transmigration: The Straight-Man Prince Was Driven Crazy by My Overachieving - Chapter 6

Shen Shangling sensed the maid’s awestruck gaze and was just about to maintain the original owner’s persona and put on airs, when his stomach growled loudly again.

“Is there anything to eat?”

Unable to keep up the pretense, he simply asked outright. The maid blushed instantly, but after calmly replying, she quickly brought in a food tray with help from others.

Shen Shangling fell silent. The black lacquer tray was painted with cloud patterns in gold powder that were very layered and looked quite exquisite, but the food on it left him speechless. Although the plating was refined and the arrangement looked nice, the portion was small and lacked meat! Both last night’s dinner and this morning’s meal had been so vegetarian. Fortunately, after transmigrating, his emotional fluctuations had been intense and his body wasn’t great, so he hadn’t had much of an appetite, and just eating a little had sufficed.

But now, he was starving, and this tiny amount of food simply wasn’t enough. Before transmigrating, even when he was in the entertainment industry, he had a hearty appetite he was the kind of person with a super-enviable metabolism who could eat anything without gaining weight.

Shen Shangling abandoned his reserved attitude and grabbed a small, pancake-like item with his chopsticks, shoving it into his mouth. After swallowing a few bites, his stomach finally felt a little better.

“Is there no meat?” he couldn’t help asking after swallowing that bite. “Any kind of meat will do.”

The two maids waiting to the side had been stunned while he was wolfing down his food; hearing his question, the long-faced maid hurried over to answer.

“Returning to you, Master, there is slow-simmered partridge soup, cooked until tender and soft,” she replied, her voice trembling slightly. “There is also red-roasted mutton in a clay pot, and chicken, duck, and fish in various meat preparations are all available.”

This Master Shen had always had a very small appetite and was extremely particular; he hadn’t liked meat dishes, saying that such “fishy and rank” things would sully his refined writing… In any case, they, as servants of the Prince of Dingbei’s estate, didn’t understand. Why was Master Shen now taking the initiative to ask for meat?

“Fine, bring more,” Shen Shangling said, nodding with an air of refined composure. “I’ve troubled you.”

Even though he had played minor roles in melodramatic ancient dramas and memorized a few flowery lines, he couldn’t possibly mimic the tone of an ancient scholar. The maid’s face turned bright red, and she hurried to bow and retreat, nearly tripping over her own feet: Master Shen, who usually wouldn’t even give them a proper glance, had actually said “I’ve troubled you”… That beautiful face, resembling plum blossoms in the snow, with such a soft and pleasant voice—it sounded much better than it had in recent days.

Soon, the meat dishes were delivered like a flowing stream; there was indeed plenty of chicken, duck, fish, and pork. Shen Shangling was overjoyed.

“Buzz~”

Perhaps sensing Shen Shangling’s joyful mood, the earth bee also grew happy, taking flight and buzzing around, seemingly wishing it could draw circles in the air.

“Oh,” the maids who had just delivered the food were startled. “Why is there a bee in the room… I’ll chase it out right now, servant-girl.” As she spoke, she hurried to grab something that looked like a flyswatter made from thin leather.

“No need,” Shen Shangling was startled and hurriedly stopped her. “I…” He paused, and, suppressing his conscience, said, “I like this little insect… leave it be, ignore it, you may leave”

The maids looked at each other, but didn’t dare ask any more questions and retreated silently. This small episode made Shen Shangling realize a problem: the earth bee was, after all, just a small insect. If it were accidentally killed by someone, would his spirit-transformation have been in vain?

While stuffing meat into his mouth in an unrefined manner, he hurriedly asked the system in his mind. The system gave him a very reassuring answer: once the spirit-transformation was successful, the targeted creature became a “spirit-object.” As long as Shen Shangling existed, this earth bee would never die. Even if someone smashed it with a swatter, it could be reborn at any time, complete and whole, without a single scratch.

After hearing this, Shen Shangling swallowed a big mouthful of chicken leg meat, feeling both fortunate and frustrated: fortunate that the thing wouldn’t die and he wouldn’t lose his spirit-object; frustrated that… why did it have to be an earth bee, hey! If it had been a fine horse, he would never have lacked a horse to ride for the rest of his life.

“Buzz~”

Sensing Shen Shangling’s disdain for it, the earth bee flew around him, feeling wronged, and desperately wanted to dive into his arms. Seeing that Shen Shangling wasn’t paying attention, it landed on the table, its fat little body trembling pitifully, as if it were about to curl into a ball.

Shen Shangling: “…”

That sense of grievance felt almost tangible in his mind. Remembering the system’s warning that he must communicate more with his spirit-object to discover derivative abilities, he cautiously tried to communicate with the little fat bug again: “Hi~”

The little earth bee instantly came back to life, its wings flapping rapidly in excitement, as if it were about to play a buzzing concerto. By then, Shen Shangling had eaten quite a bit, and the over-hungry feeling had finally receded. He slowed down his eating and communicated with the bee. The bee had no language, but it shared a sense of telepathic perception with him, making communication highly efficient.

“A swarm?” After a moment, Shen Shangling was stunned. “You want to create a swarm?”

The little earth bee’s intention was that it wanted a bee colony. However, honeybees were ancient social insects, and living in groups was their nature. He understood that. But at the thought of possibly needing to conjure up a hive… he felt a little dizzy. His trypophobia meant that just thinking about that image made his skin crawl.

“System, does it want to be a queen bee?” Shen Shangling asked the system instead. Although he didn’t know much about bees, he had heard that queen bees had a special appearance, and this earth bee, at a glance, didn’t look like one. The system quickly provided an explanation: this spirit-object would not be the queen bee, but in the swarm it “promoted” and built, it would have the ability to control the queen and the entire swarm.

Perhaps fearing that Shen Shangling would have an emotional breakdown from a failed binding, the system’s milky voice was very active, answering three times for every question he asked, telling him everything it knew without reservation.

“Controlling a swarm…” Shen Shangling pondered the system’s explanation, looking at the fat little earth bee, and began to feel conflicted. A swarm—meaning he indirectly controlled a colony, a huge, dense mass of earth bees… and they would all follow his commands?

“Hiss.”

At this thought, Shen Shangling couldn’t help but gasp. It really was a trypophobia nightmare. If it really came to that, would he have to bring a swarm of bees to sting everyone in this era? How embarrassing. To tell the truth, Shen Shangling felt a bit resistant; where would he put a swarm? In his courtyard? Cannot bear to think.

But the little earth bee’s will was particularly strong. Thinking of the system’s warning, Shen Shangling bit the bullet and agreed.

“Buzz~”

The little earth bee crawled toward him on the desk, looking incredibly excited. Shen Shangling was also quite excited, but in his excitement, he hurriedly called a halt: “Don’t come over.”

“Besides wanting to create a swarm,” fearing the little earth bee would feel wronged again, Shen Shangling hurriedly diverted its attention, communicating carefully in his mind, “what else can you help me do?”

The little earth bee flapped its small wings and proudly conveyed another meaning. It was slightly vague, but after communicating with the system, Shen Shangling understood: the little earth bee and he could undergo a short-term assimilation.

“Congratulations, Host,” the system was especially proud, its milky voice chirping. “This might be a special derivative ability of an SSS-level spirit-transformation.”

Shen Shangling’s eyes lit up. The meaning of short-term assimilation was that his consciousness could briefly reside in this earth bee. That meant the earth bee was like a tiny drone he could control to go to certain places, to see, to touch…

“Slap!”

Shen Shangling patted the table in excitement; this was exactly what he needed right now! He had to put it to use immediately, let the earth bee help him search everywhere in the estate to see if he could get the system to sense where that “Qi” (Fortune) product was!

Sensing Shen Shangling’s joy, the little earth bee wagged its fat tail happily, spinning around like a little ball. Feeling happy, Shen Shangling engaged in further communication, which gave him a sort of indescribable, shared-destiny feeling with the little creature, leading to a sense of “my own people” familiarity. At the very least, it seemed… he wasn’t quite as afraid that the little guy would sting him anymore.

Just then, Shen Shangling realized that the table full of food… had been eaten up without him even noticing. This caught him by surprise. His appetite wasn’t small, but… this was a table full of chicken, duck, fish, and meat! He subconsciously touched his stomach; he didn’t feel bloated, but rather felt a warm current flowing through his blood, which was quite comfortable.

Surprised, he asked the system again, only to learn that after binding the spirit-transformation system, his appetite was no longer limited. His body would rapidly convert the food he ate into energy, and the excess energy he couldn’t consume would naturally dissipate into the outside world through his pores. To put it bluntly, he wouldn’t be bloated no matter how much he ate, but the surplus was basically wasted and couldn’t be stored.

Shen Shangling: “…”

I’m embarrassed to say it out loud, but this ability… makes me look very much like a bucket for food.

With the table cleared, the maids came in to tidy up, and Shen Shangling maintained a calm, natural, and reserved demeanor. The maids also tried their best to maintain a natural appearance, but they nearly stumbled out of the room.

Shen Shangling: “…” Fine, be a bucket then.

Full and satisfied, Shen Shangling stayed alone in the room, feeling slightly relaxed for the first time since transmigrating: he didn’t need to walk around the entire estate himself; he was going to try to assimilate with this little guy.

He prepared himself, leaned back against a large pillow on the couch, and stared at the little earth bee that was moving restlessly on the bird-and-flower fine-gauze screen, taking a deep breath.

“Come on.”

Closing his eyes, Shen Shangling followed the perception of the earth bee in his mind, and his consciousness began to move closer, closer… then, whoosh, like his feet suddenly stepping into thin air, he felt his body become abruptly light.

When he opened his eyes again…

Shen Shangling let out an “Ah,” and with a wave of dizziness, his consciousness returned to his body. It wasn’t anything else; when he assimilated, his perspective fell onto the earth bee, and this shift in perspective was too much for him to handle.

Dizzy.

The little earth bee flapped its wings with concern, and the humming emotions it conveyed were very… filial. Shen Shangling felt a strange warmth in his heart: having suddenly transmigrated to this world, it was the first time he had felt such pure concern, other than from the system it was impossible not to be moved at all. He reflected on his previous attitude toward the little guy, and his heart felt a bit guilty: Was he being too… superficial?

After adjusting his emotions, Shen Shangling rubbed his face and tried assimilating with the little fellow again. The assimilation went smoothly, but when he felt the sensation of taking flight, he still closed his eyes in fear: he was a bit afraid of heights. This kind of flying without his feet on solid ground… it even made him feel a sense of weightlessness.

Shen Shangling immediately lowered the flight altitude. Consequently, the little earth bee flew almost against the ground. The earth bee’s emotions were full of bewilderment, so Shen Shangling hurriedly calmed it down, and man and bee finally stabilized from their stumbling flight.

The estate was huge. Fortunately, the spirit-transformed little earth bee seemed to have super-energy and showed no signs of fatigue no matter how far it flew. Shen Shangling wanted to grasp the layout of the entire estate, then find key areas to explore one by one in detail.

After flying a circle around the estate, Shen Shangling found that there were indeed very few female relatives in the entire Prince of Dingbei’s estate; even the maids and nannies were few in number. Even on the side of the main courtyard where Lu Xiao lived, the atmosphere was extremely somber and cold; not a single plant was to be seen.

Wasn’t Lu Xiao away on a business trip? Shen Shangling felt a bit chilled: the atmosphere was so somber when Lu Xiao wasn’t here, he didn’t know if this place would be like an ice cave if that “God of War” were here.

The estate’s layout was not small. When Shen Shangling flew by chance into one area, he realized he seemed to have flown to a place of “official business”? Moreover, it was heavily guarded, looking like a very important, secret place in the estate. He landed in the corridor nearby, not daring to “buzz” and fly, and crawled over quickly.

Although the perspective was a bit strange, could it be possible to find that “Qi product” in this secret place… with that thought, he moved even faster.

There were three people inside the room discussing something. Shen Shangling crawled carefully into a corner to hide, and then listened to the conversation.

After listening, he was a bit shocked:

To summarize in one sentence, the Prince of Dingbei was secretly raising money and grain… and it wasn’t a small amount, but a huge sum. What made it awkward was that one of the people also took the opportunity to complain about his “male concubine” persona, saying he was spoiled and overbearing, possessing a scholar’s name in vain, and that he wasted money and didn’t know how to exercise restraint.

Shen Shangling: “…6.”