Chapter 1 - The Young Insect Fighter

Green Sea City was a place where nature and civilization blended, a place rife with rich cultural heritage.

There, nestled between the Emerald Mountains to its east and the Green Sea to its south lay Red Leaf Park with a crowd gathered at its center. A large banner hung between the trees with “Insect Fighting Tournament” written in large letters.

A young girl squeezed her way into the crowd as it broke out in a huge cheer.

“Lu Ran won again!”

“He won last year too, right?”

“Yes! He dominated back then too!”

While the crowd was buzzing, a boy about sixteen or seventeen years old stood up on the stage under a bald old man’s reluctant gaze.

“Thanks for going easy on me,” he said with a smile.

Insect fighting was one of the folk traditions of the Xia Empire and it was referred to as “crickets fighting” in the northern regions.

Just now, at this insect fighting tournament held in Red Leaf Park, Lu Ran led his beloved insect general to victory against a group of experienced veterans, ultimately claiming the title of Insect King.

This wasn’t his first championship title.

The old man gave Lu Ran an annoyed look and scratched his balding head. “You little rascal.”

Lu Ran had never lost an insect fighting tournament ever since he started competing. How was that possible? How could a teenager have more experience with cricket fighting than a group of old men?

Lu Ran laughed. “It was just luck.”

Suddenly, he felt a gaze coming from the crowd. A chill shot down his spine.

“Well, everyone, I’ll be leaving first!” Lu Ran said, his expression quickly changing. He immediately put away his beloved general and squeezed through the crowd.

Before he could get away, however, he was blocked by a young girl who had taken a shortcut. She was tall and beautiful, with long dark brown hair tied into a ponytail and a pair of long slender legs. Her vibrant face set into a dark expression.

“So, you took a sick day just to attend this insect fighting tournament? Why didn’t you answer my call?” Fang Lan questioned. She then crossed her arms, waiting for Lu Ran’s explanation.

“I was too focused on the tournament, and my phone was on silent,” Lu Ran said wryly.

“You do know that you’ll be a high school senior soon, right?” Feeling a headache coming, Fang Lan started massaging her temples.

“I know, I know... I’ll go back and take remedial classes tomorrow,” Lu Ran replied helplessly.

“I’m telling you this for your own good!” Fang Lan exclaimed. She then looked at the jar in Lu Ran’s hands. “Well, at least you won the tournament again. Not bad. Green Sea City is a major city in the insect-fighting community. Every old man in this park has decades of experience, yet I heard you annihilated them all.”

Lu Ran smiled. “Sometimes, talent is more important than experience.”

“It wasn’t a compliment!” Fang Lan scolded. “I’m asking you to focus on your studies first. After you finish the college entrance exams, you can do whatever you want.”

“I know, I know,” Lu Ran said, waving her off, “but I’m not interested in insect fighting anymore. There’s just no challenge left. Say, should I take up hunting? My ancestors were hunters, so maybe I have the gene for it...”

He fell into deep thought. In the modern day, hunting helped develop the country’s wildlife resources, control wildlife populations, and maintain ecological balance.

None of those had anything to do with him, though. He simply had a pet at home that was naturally aggressive and needed a suitable place to vent its pent-up energy. To this day, the Xia Empire still had many places where hunting was allowed.

Thinking of this, Lu Ran opened the jar and released the treasured Insect King. Just as he said, this hobby has lost its appeal.

“Hunting...” Fang Lan looked at Lu Ran blankly. “You don’t want to use your husky as a hunting dog, do you?”

Lu Ran shrugged. “The only thing it has in common with a hunting dog is that it looks like one. It likes to fight, though, so I can still train it. It’s not good to keep that aggression pent up all the time. Talking about this is pointless, though. Getting a hunting license is too hard.”

“I hope you’re kidding,” Fang Lan replied in frustration. Suddenly, a thought crossed her mind. “Wait, you still haven’t let go of that matter yet, have you? Are you preparing to go to

that place

?”

“No. Even if I wanted to go, I could just hire a professional team. Why would I go through all the hassle?”

“Still...”

“Let’s go, it’s about to rain,” Lu Ran hurriedly said to avoid the topic.

“Huh?” Confused, Fang Lan looked up at the clear sky. It wasn’t remotely cloudy.

“It was on the weather forecast.” Lu Ran waved his hand and dragged her along.

Well, that was a lie. It was actually the insects in the park that had told him.

***

Soon, the sky over Green Sea City was overcast with dark clouds. Realizing that a storm was about to arrive, Lu Ran and Fang Lan ducked into a restaurant to avoid the rain and grab lunch.

“I’ll be attending school in Mystic City the day after tomorrow. Since you’ll be a senior this coming school year, why don’t you stay at my house and let my parents cook for you?” Fan Lang suggested. “That way, you won’t have to order takeout every day. It’s unhealthy.”

After taking a sip of the tea she was holding, she added, “My parents have talked to me about this several times.”

“I’ll be fine on my own. Tell our parents I said thanks, though,” Lu Ran replied. He then drank his tea as well.

“You mean godparents!”

“Okay, okay, thank my godparents for me.”

He and Fang Lan were childhood sweethearts, and their parents were close friends as well. Hence, when Lu Ran’s parents passed away, the Fang family adopted him. Lu Ran, however, moved out on his own as soon as he was able to. His parents had left him a large sum of money—enough for him to live comfortably.

“I give up. I’ll tell them to talk to you themselves.”

Considering how stubborn Lu Ran was, Fang Lan knew that she wouldn't be able to convince him. To put it nicely, he was a free thinker. To put it bluntly, he was rebellious in all things, big and small.

“Don’t worry, I can take care of myself. Just wait for me in Mystic City. I’ll come see you next year, and I’ll need my senior sister’s protection then!”

“You’ll need to pass the exam first,” Fang Lan said and crossed her white legs as she scrolled through her phone.

Thanks to her perfect grades, Fang Lan managed to get into Mystic University this year, the best university in the south. Influenced by her parents’ careers, she majored in veterinary medicine.

Although Lu Ran had decent academic performance, Mystic University had strict admission requirements. Thus, this coming school year would be crucial for him.

“It’ll be a breeze.” Lu Ran didn’t think much about how difficult it was going to be. In fact, he hadn’t even decided what major to apply for. He figured it was probably going to be something related to animals, though. Such as...

“Beastmaster?!” Fang Lan suddenly shouted.

Puzzled, Lu Ran looked at her. “What? What’s a beastmaster?”

Is that even a real major? Did she mean zoology?

Fang Lan’s sudden outburst made Lu Ran assume that she was talking to him. However, it soon dawned on him that she was actually reading something aloud from her phone.

“I saw a post. Wait, I just sent it to you,” Fang Lan said.

A second later, Lu Ran got a notification on his phone. He opened the link that came with it.

[Title: Help! Do you believe in the existence of supernatural phenomena?]

Huh?

Reading the title, Lu Ran frowned.