King of Beasts

Chapter 37: Sudden Death King

Lu Ran looked at the Sudden Death King with kindness.

Although his plan was to test the awakening leaf on every familiar animal in Green Sea City and select a second pet from there, he couldn’t help but be discouraged by the current scarcity of awakening leaves.

The appearance of the Sudden Death King reminded Lu Ran that, apart from General Ha, he still had another pet, didn’t he?

He had once discussed with Fang Lan whether lizards could evolve into giant dragons… Now, it seemed like a good time to see if the Sudden Death King had the potential for supernatural evolution.

Of course, Lu Ran wasn’t holding out much hope.

After all, an animal that could awaken to supernatural powers with just an awakening leaf without relying on a beastmaster’s contract was one in a hundred.

This Sudden Death King… didn’t seem to have the qualities of a strong contender no matter how one looked at it.

His feelings were correct. After Lu Ran extended his invitation, the Sudden Death King’s eyes widened.

Then, its body slowly fell over, as if it had breathed its last…

Lu Ran: ?

Lu Ran looked at the lizard lying on top of the television, showing no signs of life, and took a deep breath.

“Get up, or I’ll bury you.”

Sudden Death King startled: !!!

At those words, it immediately scrambled to its feet.

Speaking of this Sudden Death King, Lu Ran sighed.

He was actually the third owner of this particular pet.

Initially, the Sudden Death King was the pet of one of Fang Lan’s close friends.

However, red-eyed eagle lizards are extremely fragile creatures, easily affected by their environment.

If their habitat changes even slightly or doesn’t meet their living requirements, they can become uncomfortable and may even drop dead on the spot.

Thanks to Fang Lan’s friend’s improper care, the Sudden Death King almost really did die suddenly – and not just playing dead.

It was also fortunate that Fang Lan came from a family involved in animal medicine and had a wide range of expertise, so she managed to save the Sudden Death King after her friend sought help.

In the end, knowing she couldn’t keep the Sudden Death King alive, Fang Lan’s friend gave the pet to Fang Lan to care for.

However, although Fang Lan also had experience raising lizards, those were the kind that were easy to keep alive; this was her first time trying to raise a red-eyed eagle lizard. She found the creature’s tendency to die suddenly quite troublesome and wasn’t sure she could successfully keep it alive.

When Lu Ran saw her distress, he used the excuse of asking for a birthday gift to take the red-eyed eagle lizard off her hands.

Although he lacked experience in raising red-eyed eagle lizards, he was able to hear the creature’s inner voice and knew its environmental needs, which greatly increased its chances of survival.

In fact, that’s what happened. Lu Ran took good care of it and even had a huge artificial habitat custom-made for it.

It could be said that if the Sudden Death King hadn’t had such incredible luck in constantly finding more reliable owners, it might not have survived to this day.

“Waka.” The Sudden Death King feigned death nervously, afraid that Lu Ran might actually bury it.

“Feed me.”

Lu Ran extended his left palm, and the red-eyed eagle lizard hesitated before climbing onto it.

Then, Lu Ran brought an awakening leaf to the Sudden Death King’s mouth with his right hand.

The awakening leaf was a high-quality supernatural resource. Even if the Sudden Death King lacked the potential to awaken, its vitality would be greatly enhanced by the leaf, enabling it to better adapt to external environments.

That way, Lu Ran wouldn’t have to worry about it actually dying suddenly.

“Waka…” The Sudden Death King reluctantly started to nibble on the awakening leaf.

Lu Ran shook his head. Unlike General Ha, who was omnivorous and indiscriminate in his eating habits, this little creature was a strict carnivore.

Every time Lu Ran brought home bug-fighting insects like crickets or rhinoceros beetles for training, the creature would watch secretly.

Once, it even tried to steal a bite but ended up being knocked out by the Bug King rhinoceros beetle, which made it even more timid.

Before long, the Sudden Death King had finished eating the entire awakening leaf.

After it finished, there seemed to be no change.

Lu Ran held it in his hands and observed it for several minutes, but still, there was no change.

Seeing this, he made eye contact with the Sudden Death King’s red eyes… and then sighed.

“It seems you don’t have that kind of luck.”

“Go on, go on, don’t stay away from your habitat too long, or you’ll feel unwell.”

Lu Ran placed it on the ground, signaling for it to crawl back on its own.

Meanwhile, Lu Ran took out his phone again, planning to call Fang Lan to arrange a meal together.

“Waka…”

However, the Sudden Death King, after being set down, didn’t leave but continued to look up at Lu Ran.

With a cry from the Sudden Death King, suddenly, a brown light flickered on its body.

“Huh?” The change immediately caught Lu Ran’s attention.

Lu Ran looked over and was stunned. Could it actually evolve?

A one percent chance, and he had actually encountered it!

“Nice!” Lu Ran put down his phone once again.

His mood instantly improved.

He felt that all the time spent practicing with Pig Raiser was not in vain.

However, as the brown light enveloped the Sudden Death King’s body, under this glow, its size… Hm? It didn’t get bigger?

While it’s not a universal rule that ordinary animals grow in size when they evolve to supernatural, most do tend to get a bit larger.

The light continued to envelop it, yet there was still no trend of growth.

Seeing this, Lu Ran pondered, was its potential not high enough?

No, that’s not right! Gradually, Lu Ran realized something was off.

“Damn, it’s not getting fiercer and bigger, but it’s actually shrinking!”

In just a moment, Lu Ran’s eyes widened in shock as he saw that in the blink of an eye, the Sudden Death King’s body length had shortened by a segment, becoming even more petite.

“What’s going on…”

However, although the Sudden Death King’s body had shrunk, Lu Ran’s expression became grave again.

He sensed a fierce beast’s aura emanating from the light.

After undergoing super beast mimicry, Lu Ran had acquired some traits of wild beasts, allowing him to feel the threatening presence of nearby creatures.

The shrunk Sudden Death King… was not simple!

“General Ha, come out and take a look.” Lu Ran took a step back and summoned General Ha with a wave of his hand.

General Ha was stunned, with a confused expression on his face, wondering what was happening.

As the light faded, a “Red-Eyed Eagle Lizard” the size of a finger appeared before them.

This guy, why does he look so familiar, General Ha wondered.

Could it be, is this the Sudden Death King that had just taken one look and then suddenly died? Why had it become smaller!

“Waka!!!” The Sudden Death King moved a bit, its red eyes looking towards Lu Ran and the others, which made General Ha frown.

“Uh-oh—” At this moment, seemingly sensing the threat emanating from the Sudden Death King that rivaled the supernatural Manchurian Chinchilla, General Ha focused his gaze and positioned himself in front of Lu Ran, asking what was happening.

But who would have thought, just as General Ha bared his teeth in a grimace, the Sudden Death King immediately succumbed to its namesake fate and peacefully passed away…

General Ha: ?

Lu Ran, stomach aching with frustration: “Damn it, even after becoming supernatural, why hasn’t its temperament changed?”

“General Ha, did you feel that?”

“Woof!” General Ha nodded, stepping forward and prodding the “deceased” mini True Red-Eyed Black Dragon with his paw.

Such a strong body strength.

General Ha felt that at this moment, the armor of the Sudden Death King was no less hard than the rock-type body of that wild boar, and the touch even had a slight tingling sensation.

“Indeed, no wonder I sensed a powerful aura.”

Lu Ran seemed to have realized that he had encountered another exceptional creature.

He wasn’t sure whether it was his own luck or Fang Lan’s that was good.

If Lu Ran wasn’t wrong in his judgment, the species level of the Sudden Death King after its initial awakening to supernatural power was… upper supernatural!

To self-awaken to the level of an upper supernatural without any Beast Taming contract feedback!

This level of talent was perhaps even stronger than the tigers and black bears on the Divine Beast Leaderboard that were evaluated as “species mighty.”

Keep in mind, before its awakening, it was only a lizard the size of a palm.

So to a certain extent, the talent of this Sudden Death King and that of Fang Lan’s Mutant Wolf Spider were even more terrifying.

Could it be that all the pets Fang Lan has raised start off as members of an upper supernatural species…

Lu Ran stood on the floor, silently observing the Sudden Death King feigning death without a single flaw. However, with this kind of temperament… Although its species talent was against the heavens, it didn’t seem easy to cultivate.

When provoked, couldn’t you make the one provoking you succumb instead of doing so yourself???

And also… why is it so small? It didn’t match his vision of a domineering giant dragon at all. Although its species level might be high now, what could a lizard smaller than the size of a palm do?