Every beast in the spirit beast circle knew that the c.o.c.kroach gang and the cat group couldn't exist alongside each other.

For so many years, the c.o.c.kroach gang had been despised for their gross habits. For example, they liked to live in greasy and unbearably foul-smelling sewers and didn't care one bit for their own hygiene. They contaminated food with their greasy and bacteriridden bodies, carrying deadly germs to all corners of the city.

How terrible were c.o.c.kroaches in the cultivation world? They were more tenacious than normal c.o.c.kroaches and had a strong reproductive ability, and cultivators were defeated one by one when they ran into c.o.c.kroaches. Many cultivators even chose to move out right away after discovering a c.o.c.kroach nest at home. Once they were discovered, it didn't take more than a few days for these c.o.c.kroaches to get into every corner of the house; when you opened the door, you would see these black things flitting haphazardly through the air on their steel wings.

Hence, getting rid of c.o.c.kroaches and protecting the environment of the cultivation world required all cultivators to work together. The c.o.c.kroaches reproduced so rapidly that it was impossible to eradicate them, so at the very least, they had to be suppressed through a cull of their numbers every year.

There was now a cultivator Pest Control Guild specially responsible for dealing with all kinds of pest problems, which would put up mission announcements in the lobby depending on the pest situation in various regions. Cultivators who undertook these a.s.signments would receive a soul collector in the shape of a watch, which recorded the number of c.o.c.kroaches killed. The a.s.signment was considered complete once a quota was reached.

When the a.s.signment was completed, cultivators would receive an official certificate issued by Huaxiu Alliance as well as immortal fate merit points which could be directly exchanged in the guild for cultivation resources.

This was easier said than done; several years after this operation was launched, Huaxiu Alliance and the Pest Control Guild realized that it was difficult to completely suppress the pest problem by relying on the strength of cultivators alone. Moreover, they incurred additional losses.

Given how widespread these pests were, a lot of cultivators who undertook these a.s.signments chose to directly use their killer moves to get rid of them, some even using holy magic weapons to kill c.o.c.kroaches… In the end, a huge number of c.o.c.kroaches were eliminated, but their deaths were followed by major building damage…

Thus, the gains didn't make up for the losses.

After careful consideration, Huaxiu Alliance decided to start using spirit beasts in some areas to help kill pests, and the results of such a measure were exceptional!

A large part of the reason why the independent regiment was able to grow was due to support from Huaxiu Alliance. Not only was Lee Zheng Tan leading all cats in protecting the environment, it had also found a way for its cat group to survive and expand.

Of course, there was another very important reason the group was able to develop to this extent apart from the support from Huaxiu Alliance, which was that Lee Zheng Tan had caught the c.o.c.kroach gang leader, c.o.c.kroach Wenqiang, himself.

Like the Monk said, when it was caught, it was a huge c.o.c.kroach the size of two human adult palms.

But the truth was that this wasn't c.o.c.kroach Wenqiang's ultimate form.

Lee Zheng Tan had gone to a lot of effort to catch it. When c.o.c.kroach Wenqiang was caught, this guy had shrunk into a corner and stopped moving. Lee Zheng Tan had estimated that c.o.c.kroach Wenqiang was about to shed its skin at that moment, and it ordered the nearby cats to surround and take the weak c.o.c.kroach Wenqiang down.

And then, that was it. c.o.c.kroach Wenqiang was now imprisoned inside a gla.s.s fish tank and couldn't escape at all. After it was caught, Lee Zheng Tan had used waterboarding on it right away.

Of course, it was impossible to directly drown c.o.c.kroach Wenqiang. As the king of c.o.c.kroaches, there was no need to explain how tenacious it was; even immersing it in wine was useless, and it would still live as well as ever. Thus, quick-witted Lee Zheng Tan had dissolved some oral contraceptives in water and immersed c.o.c.kroach Wenqiang in it for seven days and nights… directly making it sterile.

After finding out that it could no longer have children, c.o.c.kroach Wenqiang flew into an indignant rage. "You've gone too far!"

"What rubbish – our country only just implemented the two-child policy, while you have hundreds of millions of kids. You have some nerve." Lee Zheng Tan flung the words at c.o.c.kroach Wenqiang, and the latter was dumbstruck.

Given how tenacious c.o.c.kroach Wenqiang was, there was no way to kill it directly. Lee Zheng Tan simply decided to keep it in order to control its underlings; as long as Lee Zheng Tan had c.o.c.kroach Wenqiang, the other c.o.c.kroaches would stay in line. The most important thing was that Lee Zheng Tan could even use c.o.c.kroach Wenqiang as bait to continually draw out nearby c.o.c.kroaches; all that the cat regiment had to do was just wait for them to come out.

After seeing the news about Magic Treasure Development University, Lee Zheng Tan's feelings felt tumultuous for some reason. Sitting on that tree branch, it felt disconsolate for a while, before it went down to the fish tank to stare at c.o.c.kroach Wenqiang inside, its eyes glowing strangely.

c.o.c.kroach Wenqiang wasn't the least bit concerned since it knew that Lee Zheng Tan wasn't able to kill it, and it gloated. "Did you find a way to kill me? It's impossible – your realm is no more than peak late Foundation Establishment stage at most. A Soul Formation cultivator hit me with his palm before and thought that I would be crushed to dust, but I didn't die."

"I know." Lee Zheng Tan cut off c.o.c.kroach Wenqiang's drivel. The latter just wanted to remind Lee Zheng Tan not to bother wasting the effort; of course, Lee Zheng Tan understood this fact very well.

"I've come to negotiate with you. If you agree to my request, I might even let you go," Lee Zheng Tan said to c.o.c.kroach Wenqiang in front of the fish tank.

"You'll let me go?" c.o.c.kroach Wenqiang didn't dare believe it; its mouth opened and closed several times, while the two tentacles on top of its head trembled slightly at the words.

"The condition is that you must be able to fulfil my request," said Lee Zheng Tan.

"Let's hear it." c.o.c.kroach Wenqiang's feelers swayed rapidly like two winds.h.i.+eld wipers; this was a particular habit it had when it was pondering a problem.

"A serial killer case – you might have already heard of it. I know that you have subordinates wherever there are humans. So, can you find a witness?" Lee Zheng Tan didn't beat around the bush and directly asked the question.

"Humans treat us like bugs and kill us without mercy. Why should we testify for them?" c.o.c.kroach Wenqiang laughed.

"Every living creature has the right to live, and you aren't an exception. But your fault is that you overproduce, which is a problem for other living creatures. This is why they want to exterminate you. If you can find a suitable witness, this may be a good opportunity to improve the situation." Lee Zheng Tan gave a serious a.n.a.lysis.

c.o.c.kroach Wenqiang pondered it.

Finally, it agreed to the request. "I can try looking, but you need to fulfil a request of my own."

"What is it?"

"The food you gave me in the past two days was subpar. I want better food."

"What do you want to eat?"

"There is a villa in the eastern suburbs owned by a fan of crispy noodle snacks. I want to eat his crispy noodle snacks. I don't need a whole packet, the remains is good enough. Get people to search for the plastic packaging at the nearby garbage point; even some crumbs will do." c.o.c.kroach Wenqiang started to drool as it spoke.

When it had still been a small c.o.c.kroach, it had fed on these crumbs daily before growing to its current size. The later generations it produced were in turn several times larger than normal c.o.c.kroaches.

So why had southern c.o.c.kroaches become bigger and bigger over the years?

Everything could be traced back to the moment w.a.n.g Ling fell in love with crispy noodle snacks as a kid…