King of Beasts

Actually, Roasted Pig Eyes are quite tasty.

Putting the whole pig eye into your mouth and biting down suddenly, the black eye fluid and juices burst into your mouth, creating a thrilling sensation…

Plus, the chewy texture… Initially, Summer was repulsed, but after taking a bite, she found it unexpectedly acceptable, as if she had opened the door to a new world.

Next to her, the dark crow also tried a few bites and found it decent, casting a few more approving glances at the female chef.

However, Lu Ran, General Ha, and the sudden death king refused to taste it.

Dark artistic conception is inherently unsuitable for culinary intent.

The dishes cooked up are typical Dark Cuisine; even normal ingredients get twisted in the process, and the result is suitable only for dark pet beasts.

It’s far less versatile than flame-type culinary intent.

As normal people, they definitely couldn’t accept that taste and artistic conception.

Lu Ran looked at the dark crow and Summer, who were already engrossed in eating Roasted Pig Eyes, and fell silent for a moment.

Cursed Crow, Evil God’s Eye, paired with the sanity-draining Dark Cuisine of roasted eyes, it indeed suited the dark crow’s style.

Moreover… Summer, who had turned into the leopard woman… Although she had strongly refused earlier, her body was now quite honest. Obviously, after fusion, her taste had aligned with that of the Black Panther pet beast…

…

In the following days, Lu Ran stayed home to rest, read novels, and browsed forums.

Every evening, he enjoyed the Barbecue made by Summer with sun culinary intent, accompanied by honey water, living a very leisurely life.

The high-pressure life of daily culinary and forging practice, along with exploring the Legendary Secret Realm, was gone for good.

Apart from occasionally showing Summer a few culinary skills and keeping an eye on the dark crow’s training, there was hardly anything else he needed to do.

Lu Ran’s laid-back, homebody lifestyle baffled Summer. Was this really the daily life of the Strongest Fourth Generation on Blue Star?

If not for the fact that under Lu Ran’s guidance, her mastery of spear intent had indeed progressed rapidly, she would have doubted his authenticity.

“Um—” Another day, Summer, bringing Barbecue to Lu Ran, could no longer stand this side of him. Facing Lu Ran, who was yawning and scrolling through his phone on the sofa, she said:

“‘Professor Lu,’ can you stop scrolling through your phone every day?”

“What’s wrong?” Lu Ran rubbed his eyes.

“Don’t you need to train? Aren’t you afraid the other Fourth Generations will catch up with you?” Summer didn’t know why she was anxious for Lu Ran, but seeing him like this was unbearable.

The media had practically put Lu Ran on a pedestal, yet here he was, reading novels every day.

“What’s so great about these novels anyway?”

Summer glanced at a few titles, such as Unscientific Beast Taming and Beast Taming Master, all wish-fulfillment beast taming novels that emerged after the spiritual energy revival. What was so interesting about them? Lu Ran’s own experiences were no less bizarre than these stories.

“They’re really good. You’d know if you read them… never mind, just go train.” Lu Ran said.

“What about you?”

“Alright, alright.” Lu Ran stretched lazily again, feeling he was almost ready to get back into action. Seriously, this woman had no idea how hard he had worked the previous month.

He had worked overtime for a month and was just taking a break for three or four days. Wasn’t that normal?

Balancing work and rest is important too.

Moreover, Lu Ran wasn’t entirely resting. He often kept an eye on world affairs and managed Green Sea City’s development through the dark crow in the shadows.

In a few days, without leaving the house, he had reshuffled and reorganized the power structure in Green Sea City, making it more efficient for some supernatural species to provide tributes.

Lu Ran did some calculations. The natural resources that the various species in Green Sea City could produce each month were worth hundreds of thousands of crystal coins.

That was quite significant.

Of course, Lu Ran couldn’t take everything, or the ecosystem of Green Sea City would collapse.

Besides, to be honest, Lu Ran wasn’t in urgent need of these resources right now.

What Lu Ran was doing now was selling the surplus resources produced by the wild supernatural beings in Green Sea City, then exchanging them for suitable resources in Infinite City. He would then reward these beings, creating a positive cycle of strength and resources.

As a result, the supernatural species in Green Sea City would undoubtedly grow stronger and stronger.

Perhaps, one day, they might rival the ferocious beasts in human-restricted zones.

After all, they were essentially leveraging Lu Ran as a “middleman” to trade with humans and Infinite City.

Now, Lu Ran was treating Green Sea City like a farming simulation game—building high walls, stockpiling food, and slowly strengthening Green Sea’s forces.

“It’s time to get moving,” Lu Ran said, standing up in response to Summer’s reminder.

“I’ll go on a trip for a couple of days. I’ll take the dark crow with me. You can stay here if you like, or go back to school, or challenge some secret realms for practical training.”

Summer: ???

“A trip???” Summer had thought Lu Ran would get serious and do something the Strongest Fourth Generation should do, but it turned out to be a trip?

“Fine, do whatever you want,” Summer said. It didn’t really matter to her what Lu Ran did. Why was she even concerned? He would realize the urgency once others surpassed him.

“Wait, before my trip, you come with me to Infinite City,” Lu Ran said, looking at Summer.

“To check my training results?” Summer’s expression turned serious.

“That too. I also want you to go all out against the sudden death king in the arena, to boost its record. I almost forgot to switch the leaderboard and get it to Rank 1.”

Summer: ???

………

Infinite City No. 3.

[Regional Announcement: Commander Divine Beast Leaderboard updated.]

[Newly Listed Divine Beast: Scaled Dragon Lizard.]

……

[Reason for Listing: Evolved and mutated from a small lizard, it fused the traits of “Red Lightning” and “Overlord Body.” In the arena, it faced the upper commander species, the fusion state of the Blackfire Phoenix parrot, and emerged unscathed.]

[Rank: Ascended to Rank 1 on the Commander Divine Beast Leaderboard!]

In Infinite City No. 3.

Many people looked at the updated Commander Divine Beast Leaderboard in silence.

Passerby A? Then it’s no big deal.

But then, a wave of confusion followed.

How did Summer end up in a one-on-one match against Lu Ran in the arena of Infinite City No. 3? She seemed to have lost badly.

Of course, the most bewildered was the Older Sister with spear intent. She never imagined there was such a quick way to reach Rank 1 on the Commander Divine Beast Leaderboard.

Using herself as a boss to farm?

What she didn’t expect even more was that her full-force attack had no effect on that lizard… she couldn’t break its defense at all.

Summer had been worried that Lu Ran’s lax attitude might cause him to be overtaken by other Fourth Generations. But now, she was speechless, realizing that she couldn’t even catch up to Lu Ran herself.

What kind of monster is this guy?

…

General Ha took Rank 1 on the commander leaderboard in Infinite City No. 7, and the sudden death king secured Rank 1 on the commander leaderboard in Infinite City No. 3. Lu Ran, satisfied, didn’t prepare much and set out with the dark crow for LuJia Village.

This time, Lu Ran didn’t take a plane or high-speed train, mainly because LuJia Village wasn’t far from Green Sea City—they were in the same province.

His chosen mode of transportation was… General Ha!

After fusing with the nature control trait, General Ha didn’t even need to conjure Wind Wing to fly anymore. Riding the wind was enough—very convenient.

“Woof!!”

“Woof woof!”

General Ha ran wildly on the wind high in the sky, with Lu Ran sitting on its back…

Currently, General Ha was quite displeased. There was a large dark crow nearby, and while the dark crow wasn’t big enough for Lu Ran to ride, it could certainly grab Lu Ran with its claws and fly, right?

Why was it being used as the mode of transportation?

“Caw!” The dark crow flying alongside looked innocent.

“General Ha, don’t be mad. Isn’t it more comfortable to sit on your fluffy fur?” the dark crow flattered.

“Woof!” General Ha glared at the dark crow. Damn crow.

It’s clearly a bird, yet it let its beastmaster ride a dog to fly, without even trying to carry the beastmaster itself. This grudge, it would remember!

Lu Ran realized that all three of his pet beasts could potentially serve as mounts.

General Ha could fly by running in the air.

The sudden death king, once transformed into a dragon, could likely grow wings and become a true giant dragon.

And the dark crow, after another round of enhancement, might just be large enough to carry a person.

Among them, he felt that being a Dragon Knight would be the coolest…

For now, though, the conditions didn’t permit it. Although the sudden death king could use energy shaping to become a Thunder Dragon, sitting on it would conduct electricity. So, for now, he would make do with riding General Ha.

Lu Ran and his companions set off in the morning and arrived at LuJia Village before noon.

LuJia Village was located at the foot of a mountain. It was not only far from the city but also relatively distant from nearby villages and towns.

Normally, this area saw very few outsiders and was a very peaceful village.

After landing in LuJia Village, Lu Ran put General Ha away and began to wander around aimlessly.

Despite its remote location, LuJia Village’s various facilities were not outdated. Many of the two-story buildings were quite exquisite, and the roads were well-built. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to rely on farming to trade with the outside world.

As Lu Ran walked, he arrived at a small park within LuJia Village. Although it was almost noon, many elderly people were still playing with children, not in a hurry to go home for lunch.

“It’s developed much better than I imagined,” Lu Ran thought.

However, as he continued to observe, he frowned. In the small grove of the park, several sika deer walked out in groups, grazing nearby.

“Sika deer?” Lu Ran was slightly stunned. Weren’t sika deer a level 1 protected animal in the country? Was LuJia Village raising deer?

And it seemed like they were being free-ranged?

“Dark Crow, let’s go over and take a look at them.”

Lu Ran became interested. Although he hadn’t heard Lu Bing or others mention it, the presence of deer in LuJia Village must hold some special significance.

However…

“Caw? Look at what? Them? Who?” The dark crow, circling in the sky, was confused by Lu Ran’s invitation. Following Lu Ran’s gaze, it saw nothing.

“The sika deer,” Lu Ran said.

“What sika deer?” The dark crow was puzzled.

What was going on? Was Big King seeing things?

It thought that Big King should eat some Pig Eyes to supplement his eyesight.

“Are you blind? There’s a whole group over there,” Lu Ran pointed.

However, the dark crow remained bewildered.

“But… I don’t see anything,” it said.

After the dark crow spoke, Lu Ran suddenly fell silent. Not see it? What kind of joke was this? He looked again; there was clearly a group of sika deer wandering over there!

“You better not be messing with me,” Lu Ran said, summoning General Ha again.

“General Ha, look over there,” Lu Ran pointed in a certain direction.

But…

“Woof?” General Ha, like the dark crow, looked bewildered. What’s the matter?

“You guys can’t see them???”

Lu Ran was stunned. Were these two deliberately pretending not to see, or did they really not see? There was clearly a group of sika deer over there.

At this moment, with General Ha’s grand appearance, children from LuJia Village also noticed Lu Ran and his companions.

“Wow, a big doggy!!!”

The children of LuJia Village didn’t seem to fear large dogs. Seeing the majestic Erha, they ignored their elders’ attempts to stop them and ran over in groups.

Seeing the two small children running over, Lu Ran, in a desperate move, decided to ask the little ones, “Kids, do you see a group of sika deer over there?”

“Huh?” The two kids, who had just come over, were confused by Lu Ran’s question. They looked in the direction he pointed but didn’t see any sika deer.

“…” Seeing that they couldn’t see them either, Lu Ran felt a deep sense of unease. This was incredibly strange. However, he still said, “Don’t worry, it’s very gentle. You can pet it.”

Saying this, he ignored General Ha’s look of despair and turned to look at the elders who had followed the children. These were two elderly ladies in their sixties or seventies.

“Oh my, you little rascals, slow down…” They were anxious seeing the children approach the unfamiliar large dog, but they couldn’t keep up with the nimble kids.

Although every household in LuJia Village had the habit of raising dogs, and the children weren’t afraid of them, that was because the family dogs were gentle. The danger with unfamiliar dogs, however, couldn’t be guaranteed.

Fortunately, after approaching, they found General Ha to be quite good-tempered.

“Elderly lady, are there any sika deer in our village?” Lu Ran asked the two elderly ladies who had come over.

“Sika deer?” The two elderly ladies looked at Lu Ran, feeling he seemed somewhat familiar. Seeing the mighty General Ha, they thought it was quite extraordinary. However, perhaps due to their age and limited exposure to information in the Age of Beast Taming, they had only seen Lu Ran briefly on television and didn’t immediately recognize who he was.

“Sika deer? How could there be any in the village?”

“You’re not from the village, are you?” The two elderly ladies felt that Lu Ran didn’t seem like a young man from the village.

“Hmm…” At this moment, Lu Ran’s attention was entirely elsewhere. He had just spotted two sika deer behind a nearby swing, grazing together.

They appeared suddenly and eerily, seemingly completely ignoring Lu Ran and the others. Besides Lu Ran, it seemed that no one in LuJia Village could see them…

At this moment, Lu Ran’s heart raced. Damn, what was going on with LuJia Village? It felt like a ghost village. Although he came to LuJia Village to trace some myths and legends and explore his ancestral land, he didn’t expect it to be this eerie right from the start.

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