A short year passed.
This was Ke Lan's first year in the village.
Lin Fan didn't know Ke Lan's birthday, but in his view, her birthday would be counted from the day he took her in. He had been caring for Ke Lan as if she were his own child.
He would scold her when she did something wrong.
If she performed well, he would praise her lavishly, making Ke Lan blush and exclaim, "Don't praise me anymore, I feel like I'm not that great after being praised so much."
The villagers also liked Ke Lan very much.
They had witnessed Ke Lan becoming lively. At the beginning, Ke Lan was indifferent to everyone, with an expressionless face. The villagers all felt that something must have happened to the child to make her become like this.
But later, the villagers found that the child gradually became cheerful.
She would smile at everyone she saw.
Just like her cheap father, he always had a smile on his face, as if the smile would never disappear.
Early morning.
Lin Fan stood in front of the house, stretching and saying, "What a beautiful day today."
"A beautiful day? What kind of beautiful day? I want to know," Ke Lan asked curiously after finishing washing up.
Lin Fan squatted down, pinched Ke Lan's upturned nose and said, "I won't tell you."
"Humph!" Ke Lan snorted, proudly turning her head away, "If you don't tell me, then don't tell me. I don't want to know. I'm going to school, bye."
Watching Ke Lan's running figure, Lin Fan smiled and then walked towards the village chief's house. Of course, as he left, he flipped the sign hanging on the blacksmith shop's door.
"Closed for one day."
After coming out of the village chief's house, the village chief patted his chest and vowed, "Don't worry, leave this matter to me. I'll go talk to them."
The village chief was in good spirits now. His crutches had been burned as firewood, and when he usually went out, he walked briskly, his physical strength even better than that of a young person.
He could even perform his old tricks when chatting with the ladies, holding them and spinning in the air.
With this physical strength and this ability, he was still as sharp as ever.
Lin Fan wanted to give Ke Lan a surprise.
It was her first birthday in the village, and he had to make it unforgettable. Happiness was the most important thing, and he also hoped that Ke Lan could fully integrate into the village.
The people here were very good, they were all family.
Iron Smelting City!
Lin Fan had never been to a big city before. This was the first city he found, a bit far from the village, but after inquiring, he learned that only in such a big city could he find the best-looking and most delicious cake.
He hoped Ke Lan could have such a treat.
With all his belongings.
A total of forty silver coins.
This was his savings over the years, saved frugally, and he planned to use these silver coins to buy Ke Lan the best-looking cake.
He was full of confidence.
But if he knew that with these forty silver coins, wanting to buy the best cake was just a dream, he would feel despair.
Arriving in the city.
"Eh!"
Lin Fan found something was wrong. According to his idea, such a big city should be like Yanhai City, crowded with people everywhere. But now, walking until now, he hadn't even seen half a person.
He didn't know where they had gone.
Soon.
He saw a dessert shop, the door was closed. He knocked on the door.
"Hello, is anyone there?"
Lin Fan asked softly.
After a long time.
Still no one answered.
Lin Fan couldn't understand. It was broad daylight, why weren't they open? Had something happened? If that was the case, it would be really troublesome.
He still had a lot to do.
He needed to prepare a cake for Ke Lan, buy her a beautiful dress, and prepare some meat for the villagers to eat together. These all needed to be prepared.
He blamed himself a little.
Why didn't he prepare earlier?
Why did he have to prepare on the same day?
Inside the dessert shop.
The shop staff huddled together, trembling, with expressions of despair on their faces. They lived in Iron Smelting City, and were very happy. Moreover, this was the second largest city in the Lanyuan Empire, very safe. But who could have imagined that the moment they woke up, news of a crisis was spreading throughout the city.
A Saint-level Demon Beast Lord was going to launch a beast tide against Iron Smelting City.
That was a danger enough to destroy everything.
Even if they wanted to escape, they might not be able to escape.
Therefore.
They could only pin all their hopes on the city guards and the important figures in the city, hoping they could defend it.
And at this time.
There was actually a fool knocking on the door. They all wanted to curse. If you want to hide, don't hide here, go hide somewhere else.
Get out!
Get out!
A moment later.
They finally breathed a sigh of relief when they didn't hear the knocking. At a time like this, anyone who dared to knock on the door must be crazy. If they let him in, who knows what this guy would do if something really happened.
Seeing that the dessert shop wasn't open, Lin Fan walked forward. If this one wasn't open, the clothing store should be open, right?
Not long after.
He stood in front of a clothing store, the shop was also closed. Looking to both sides, a row of shops were all closed. This made him very desperate. What was going on?
Why were they all closed?
Couldn't they just open one shop and let me buy my things?
"Hey! What are you doing?" At this moment, footsteps came from afar, and then a voice sounded beside Lin Fan.
Lin Fan looked back and found a group of soldiers running hurriedly with weapons in their hands. Every soldier's face was grave, as if something major was about to happen.
Lin Fan said, "I want to buy a cake and clothes. Why aren't they open?"
An enthusiastic soldier said, "The beast tide is coming, you should quickly find a place to hide. If you want to help, hurry to the city wall and help us carry things. Here, take this weapon, don't just stand there dumbfounded, come with us."
The soldier threw a spear to Lin Fan.
After catching the spear, Lin Fan was pulled into the formation by the soldier. He was a little confused about this situation. He came to buy things, not to be a soldier.
But from what the other party said.
He heard something else.
"You mean, if the beast tide retreats, these shops will open?" Lin Fan asked while jogging with the soldiers.
The soldier said, "Nonsense, if it weren't for the beast tide, this place would be very lively. If we can really repel the beast tide, I'll treat you to a drink. If the beast tide breaks through the city, this place will become ruins, and we will become food for the demonic beasts."
"I see, it seems we've encountered trouble. They're really an unfriendly bunch." Lin Fan nodded, not having a good impression of these demonic beasts. I just want to buy Ke Lan some birthday presents, why couldn't you pick another day?
But he liked to help others.
Seeing the grave and desperate expressions on the faces of the people around him, he decided to make them smile again.
Boom!
The ground trembled.
The roars of the demonic beasts were deafening.
"Quick, the beast tide has begun, the demonic beasts are attacking." The soldier beside Lin Fan said nervously.
This kind of scene was very frightening.
For ordinary soldiers, even if they had some strength, they had no resistance against the beast tide. Only those truly strong people could fight against powerful demonic beasts.
Whether the commander could kill powerful demonic beasts would determine the outcome of a battle.
On the city wall.
The City Lord of Iron Smelting City, clad in armor, held a large giant sword. The giant sword was extraordinary, inlaid with a magic core, containing an astonishing power.
The situation ahead was not good.
The vanguard of the demonic beasts charging were all low-star demonic beasts, and among these low-star demonic beasts, there were some mid-star power-type demonic beasts specialized in destroying city walls.
The sheer number of them put immense psychological pressure on the defending soldiers.
At the same time, there were flying demonic beasts circling.
This was the most well-prepared beast tide in history. Demonic beasts were not stupid, some of them also knew how to deploy troops.
The City Lord shouted, "Mage Corps, pay attention to the air raid, cast earth magic to reinforce the city walls, everyone move!"
A large city had sufficient combat power.
The mages in the Mage Corps might not be very strong individually, but gathered together, they could generate immense power. At this moment, a group of mages were chanting spells, casting earth magic to reinforce the city walls. At the same time, spikes appeared on the city walls, these were all basic pre-war preparations.
And the most important role of the Mage Corps was air defense.
To prevent flying demonic beasts from gaining air superiority and causing devastating blows to the city.
At the same time, several Grand Mages were also ready.
Their responsibility was to work with the City Lord to contain the powerful demonic beasts.
The Royal Saint Mage was on his way. As long as they could hold out until then, they would have a chance to win.
After all, a Saint Mage casting super-tier magic could cause devastating damage, definitely enough to repel the beast tide.
Suddenly.
A golden light illuminated the world.
When the City Lord saw the situation in the distance, his expression changed drastically, as if he had seen a ghost. He couldn't even believe the scene before his eyes.
"That's... that's..."
He started to stutter.
They had known earlier that it was a Saint-level Demon Beast Lord who launched the beast tide, but when they saw the huge figure in the distance, the City Lord was completely dumbfounded, as were the Grand Mages around him.
"Three-Headed Golden Saint Dragon..."
They didn't expect that it was a demonic beast of this level that launched the beast tide.
Although it was also a Saint-level demonic beast.
But a demonic beast of this level was even stronger than ordinary Saint-level demonic beasts. And there was another terrifying thing, just as they had thought.
Among the beast tide, they saw two more Saint-level demonic beasts.
A giant bear whose entire body was burning with flames.
"Saint-level demonic beast, Blazing Hell Bear."
"Saint-level demonic beast, Azure Wolf King."
Instantly.
Everyone's bodies turned cold.
The pre-war preparations they had made seemed like a joke.
"This city... I'm afraid we can't hold it." The City Lord muttered to himself.
He couldn't understand why this was happening.
The Three-Headed Golden Saint Dragon belonged to a branch of the dragon race, a hybrid.
The Lanyuan Empire had an agreement with the dragon race.
In fact, all empires had agreements with the dragon race.
If the dragon race actively launched a beast tide.
Then all empires would unite and jointly crusade against the dragon race.
But now this...
Could a hybrid not be considered a member of the dragon race?