Chapter 70 - Unifying the Animals of Green Sea City
"Who are you calling king? Shut up!" Lu Ran's mouth twitched.
"Huh?" The crow was puzzled. Weren’t you the one to tell me to call you that? Now you want to deny it? I’m not stopping!
However, the crow wasn't the only one to recognize Lu Ran. The armored cricket, cloaked in metallic energy, was also staring at Lu Ran. It instantly recognized him as the man who had kidnapped it.
In its youth, the cricket had already been crowned the king of the rear mountain in Red Leaf Park. This man had discovered its talent and abducted it. At first, the cricket thought its life was over.
To its surprise, however, Lu Ran treated it to delicious food and drinks, and even taught it how to fight. In a short period, its combat abilities improved significantly, making it unrivaled among crickets. Winning the title of Insect King in the Insect Fighting Tournament came easily.
Despite this, crickets were naturally solitary creatures and preferred not to socialize unless it was mating season. They didn’t live with others of their kind, let alone other species. When crickets met in the wild, they usually ended up fighting because competition for resources and mates was fierce. Cricket fighting capitalized on this instinct. Often, these battles ended in death.
The cricket king retained only fragments of its memory of Lu Ran, as its intelligence had been quite limited at the time. Still, it knew that Lu Ran had treated it well and that its current fighting prowess was thanks to his training. Without Lu Ran, it would have been difficult to attain the title of king among crickets.
Most importantly, after teaching it to fight, Lu Ran had returned its freedom. The cricket king reminisced about its days fighting alongside Lu Ran and let out a hiss, wondering if Lu Ran was here to vie for the dandelion or if he had come looking for it.
"Your intelligence has improved quite a bit," Lu Ran remarked, seeming to mock the cricket king.
"Chirp————!" the cricket king raged.
If you want this, I can give it to you as a payment for training me. If you came for me, however, I can't go with you. I have seven wives to take care of now.