"What!?"

  Fly's breath hitched.

  "There's actually a Roach Matriarch staring at us from the shadows!"

  In an instant, a dead silence fell. Both Fly and Dean Sterling subconsciously held their breath, lightened their footsteps, and cautiously observed their surroundings.

  Apart from the whistling of the wind, there was no other sound in the cave for a moment. But to Fly's ears at this moment, this indistinct wind sounded like the screeching of ghouls.

  Perhaps driven by this subtle atmosphere, Fly looked at the endless sea of egg cases in the cave, and a thought suddenly rose in his mind.

  Ruthless!

  This Cockroach Totem is just too ruthless!

  Dean Sterling, on the other hand, frowned slightly. He cupped his chin with one hand, putting on a scholarly air. "I have a feeling that not all the larvae here can survive."

  Although Dean Sterling had never seen such a scene, the education he had received over the years and his deep background in Beast Warrior research supported him in reaching this conclusion.

  "How so?" Fly's interest was piqued by Dean Sterling's words, and he asked in a low voice.

  "Generally speaking, social insects have a Hive Mind Synergy. That is, within the hive, the hierarchy is distinct, and all subordinates will obey the orders of the Queen. But..."

  "Larvae possess no intelligence, after all. Once egg cases of this scale hatch, the number of larvae will inevitably be earth-shattering. Once such a massive number of larvae are born, where will the food come from? Presumably, there is only one way out, and that is cannibalism. In the end, only the strongest and luckiest batch of larvae can survive."

  "Although this is the mental world, I think the basic philosophy should be the same," Dean Sterling added. "I just don't know what this flourishing hive army uses for nutrition..."

  "This..." Hearing Dean Sterling's words, Fly couldn't help but suck in a breath of cold air. Looking at the cave full of egg cases, his eyes held a few more traces of sympathy in addition to shock.

  "However, I think this is also beneficial to you," Dean Sterling continued to add. "Although I don't know what these larvae will feed on, since they live in your Sea of Consciousness, the food they need must be related to you. Their mutual slaughter like this also reduces the burden on you. Those that remain will be the elite soldiers, which is beneficial to you."

  "Better to have few and elite than many and mixed."

  "These cockroach Spirit Constructs are usually raised in your Sea of Consciousness. When needed, they can be summoned out to be used by you, just like Skaar did."

  "With the reproduction speed of cockroaches, these new egg cases will definitely come crop after crop. And the majority of the larvae hatched from them will serve as nutrients to support a small portion of strong cockroach Spirit Constructs. This... this is simply a 'perpetual motion machine'!"

  After saying these conclusions in one breath, Dean Sterling was beaming with excitement for a moment. His scholar's soul was burning furiously, cheering for his latest discovery.

  "Uh... Vic?" Fly gently tugged at Dean Sterling's sleeve.

  "What is it?" Dean Sterling shouted somewhat annoyedly, seeming unhappy that Fly had broken his joy.

  "Do you still remember you said that there is a powerful Roach Matriarch watching us like prey from the shadows?" Fly lowered his voice as much as possible and said resentfully.

  "That's right, what about... Hiss!" Dean Sterling sucked in a sharp breath. He had been so engrossed in studying these insect eggs that he had momentarily forgotten about that!

  As a high-level Beast Warrior, his senses were naturally very keen; but as a scholar, he always invested one hundred percent when researching and thinking, entering a state of "selflessness." In other words, his eyes only saw the subject being studied, and he even forgot where he was for a moment—so how could he guard against imminent danger?

  This mode of one hundred percent devotion to thinking allowed him to repeatedly overcome difficulties in study and research, but in this critical moment, it obviously held him back.

  Dean Sterling looked in the direction Fly pointed. He saw a tunnel opening that seemed to be breathing; the surrounding rock walls pulsed up and down, and the tunnel opening expanded and contracted along with it.

  Subsequently, a sharp Screech— broke through the air, sounding like sharp claws scratching on a blackboard.

  Clang! Clang! With two sounds, two sharp claws resembling the forelimbs of a mantis extended from the tunnel opening, firmly grasping both sides of the hole, and with a Crash, tore the opening wider instantly.

  Then, under the dumbfounded gaze of Fly and Dean Sterling, a gigantic cockroach exceeding six meters in length drilled out of the hole!

  Her body was massive, and her sixteen legs, as thick as steel pipes, made loud thumping sounds as she stepped. Her abdomen was particularly distended, obviously still carrying quite a few cockroach egg cases; her mouthparts opened and closed, emitting a sharp, ear-piercing booming sound towards the two of them!

  For a moment, Fly felt that the shock brought by the giant wolf howling at the moon in fairy tales was probably nothing more than this.

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  "V-Vic... is this... the Roach Matriarch you mentioned?"

  "She seems... indeed not very friendly towards us."

  ...

  Inside Fly's dorm room.

  At this time, Lance Wolfe had not yet left.

  He looked at Fly and Dean Sterling, who were sitting motionless on the sofa, his heart itching to act.

  As mentioned before, the so-called Inner Realm was nothing more than a virtual world connecting to the Sea of Consciousness, specially opened by the school to facilitate students' cultivation.

  Since this was the case, the Inner Realm naturally only related to the human spirit. The so-called entering the Inner Realm, in the eyes of outsiders, looked like entering a deep state of meditation, or more like falling asleep.

  Therefore, in Lance Wolfe's view, the current state of Fly and Dean Sterling was just like taking a nap on the sofa.

  Lance thought to himself: Although President Preston York said to recruit this Fly, the hatred between him and the Student Council has already been forged. Trying to completely resolve it will probably be quite difficult. Now is exactly the time when he is weak. I am also a Beast Warrior with some strength; if I take the opportunity to tamper with him, this Fly will probably fall completely.

  Even if he survives, he will become a vegetable. In this way, a major future trouble is completely removed for the Student Council, and I won't have to rack my brains to win him over in the future.

  Thinking of this, malice took hold of Lance. He walked gently towards Fly step by step, his expression gradually becoming hideous.

  No, no, no!

  Just as he was about to act, Lance hesitated again.

  If I act directly like this, any fool could guess that I did it. In that case, my troubles will certainly be endless. I might even... ruin my life right here.

  As for the police, let alone with such ample evidence, even without evidence, they sometimes fabricate evidence just for the sake of their performance metrics. If I really did it, that would be an easy quota filler delivered right to their door. I don't have a big family with the power to rule the roost supporting me from behind, so how could there be any reason for me to escape judgment?

  But...

  Lance stared at Fly's face, his expression changing unpredictably.

  Such a golden opportunity once in a thousand years... if I miss it, I'm afraid there really won't be another one...

  Lance paced uncertainly in Fly's dorm room, time ticking away second by second.

  ...

  "Waaahhhhhh—"

  "Vic, think of something, quick!"

  In the Inner Realm, inside the cockroach nest, Fly and Dean Sterling were chased by the Roach Matriarch, running wildly.

  "What can I do? This is your Sea of Consciousness, the source of your Beast Totem! You should be the one to solve this! If I take action, it would be an external factor. One wrong move and you'll become an idiot!" Dean Sterling roared at the top of his lungs while running for his life, his usual elegant demeanor long thrown out the window.

  "What? You want me to fight this big guy myself?" Fly's eyes were full of disbelief. "If I could beat it, would I need to call you for help?"

  It wasn't that Fly hadn't thought about resisting, but just now, whether it was the Steelbone Blades or the black sickles, they were all bounced off one by one by the Roach Matriarch's solid shell. If not for Dean Sterling providing cover from the side, he would have nearly failed to retreat.

  Under these circumstances, Dean Sterling telling Fly to figure it out himself, in Fly's view, was no different from murder.

  "What do you expect me to do? This guy is invulnerable to swords and spears; she's simply impeccable!" Fly yelled, his voice cracking from anxiety.

  "I don't care. This is your turf. If you want to break through to become a Level 3 Beast Warrior, you have to find a way to subdue it yourself," Dean Sterling said with a hint of teasing in his tone. "If you can't solve it soon, I'm going back and leaving you here alone."

  "You bastard!" Fly "cursed" through gritted teeth, thinking in his heart: Turns out having a powerful Beast Totem isn't all good news. Look at this, leveling up is simply threatening my neck! When I used the Insect Fusion System to upgrade the Beast Totem, I never thought there would be such a situation today...

  Fly turned his head to glance back at the relentlessly pursuing Roach Matriarch. Her surging mouthparts opened and closed, and he felt only a wave of despair in his heart.

  I didn't expect that today I would lose my life in the mouth of a bug...

  Wait, a bug!

  "Vic, tell me, does this Roach Matriarch count as a bug?" Fly asked suddenly.

  "Uh... I suppose so. Why are you asking this?" Dean Sterling was speechless for a moment, thinking, How does this kid still have the leisure to ask this now?

  "Then there's no problem!" Fly said with overflowing confidence. He quickly ran to a small high ground inside the cave, turned around dashingly, and shouted loudly at the Roach Matriarch: "Halt! Behold my secret weapon!"

  Fly fished a can of insecticide out of his pocket and sprayed it right at the Roach Matriarch's opening and closing mouthparts.

  With a miserable wail, the Roach Matriarch's massive body instantly began to convulse. She was like a drunken giant who couldn't find her bearings; her huge body scurried around wildly. Those legs, thick as iron rods and sharp as rivets, trampled clack-clack-clack through who knows how many egg cases.

  In an instant, hundreds and thousands of milky-white cockroach larvae surged out from the ruptured egg cases. Their whole bodies were white except for two black dots where their eyes were, crawling around in panic.

  "Hiss..." Fly's expression twitched. "This seems a bit too spectacular..."

  "What did you spray? Insecticide?" Only then did Dean Sterling hurriedly climb up the high ground and stand with Fly.

  "Yes," Fly waved the bottle in his hand triumphantly. "Essential for home, travel, and official business—the holy grail of pesticides: CleanSweep! One spray clears the way, and Mom never has to worry about me getting bullied by roaches again!"

  "Uh..." Dean Sterling's gold-rimmed glasses nearly fell off. "So you carry insecticide with you wherever you go? Your dorm doesn't look like it has cockroaches."

  "You can't say that," Fly said with a serious face. "Cockroaches, these things, won't disappear just because your own residence is clean. What if there's a sloppy neighbor who doesn't like cleaning? The cockroaches will still run into your home through small cracks. Even if all neighbors love cleaning, the sewers can't be cleaned all the time, right? Cockroaches just love to lurk in the sewers and invade our homes from time to time... So, just cleaning is not enough; chemical prevention is also needed..."

  "Alright, alright," Dean Sterling couldn't bear it anymore and interrupted Fly's long-winded speech. "Aren't you afraid of actually killing the Roach Matriarch by spraying insecticide? She is the source of your Beast Totem."

  After speaking, Dean Sterling pointed at the Roach Matriarch struggling violently in the distance.

  "Uh..." Fly looked somewhat awkward. "I saw she was so big, she shouldn't be killed by this little bit of insecticide, right? If this insecticide can even kill a Roach Matriarch, I'll definitely buy another dozen later!"

  "I'm not joking with you," Dean Sterling said seriously. "Fly, you have to understand, you are currently at the critical moment of breaking through to become a Level 3 Beast Warrior!"

  "Oh, oh!" Only then did Fly wipe the smile off his face. "Vic, what should I do?"

  "Try to feel her heartfelt voice, try to subdue her, try to connect your heart with hers," Dean Sterling said.

  Fly turned to look. He saw that the Roach Matriarch had slowly returned to that tunnel opening. Her huge body heaved up and down, and whimpering sounds came from her mouth, as if she were sobbing.

  Fly took a step forward, closed his eyes, extended his palm, and mobilized his Psychic Energy to slowly approach the Roach Matriarch.

  "How is it?" Dean Sterling asked with a face full of concern.

  "She told me, she is afraid..." Fly kept his eyes closed and answered with a grave expression.

  Thank you for your reading!

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