Return Before the Mutation, Swallowing the Black Mamba Viper Alive

Chapter 1: Returning Before the Mutation, Swallowing a Black Mamba Alive

Parallel world, Star Blue Continent, Hidden Dragon Empire.

Ah!!!

A chilling roar suddenly erupted in the quiet classroom where only the teacher was lecturing.

Holy crap!!

The sudden roar startled many students, who let out exclamations and glared angrily towards the source of the sound.

In a window seat in the third row, Gu Qijue, covered in sweat, looked around the familiar yet unfamiliar environment with uncertainty.

"Gu Qijue, shouting in class, do you have a problem with me? If you don't want to listen, you can sleep. I've seen plenty of people like you, useless as mud on a wall, in my many years of teaching."

The one lecturing was a bald middle-aged man, his sharp gaze coldly fixed on Gu Qijue.

Gu Qijue ignored the bald teacher, sat down silently, and turned his head to look at the brightly sunlit sports field outside the window.

A fierce glint flashed in his eyes, a look that didn't belong to someone his age.

He pulled out his phone from his pocket.

He grinned.

"I've actually been reborn from that living hell of an apocalypse back to my university days, three hours before the global mutation?"

Disbelief flashed in Gu Qijue's eyes, followed by excitement: "The mutation hasn't erupted yet. It's just past two in the afternoon. I still have three hours to prepare."

Thinking this, he stood up and said, "Teacher, I'm going to the restroom!"

Without waiting for the teacher's reply, he got up and quickly walked out of the classroom.

Once outside the classroom, his steps quickened, and he eventually broke into a run.

He left the teaching building and ran straight towards the school gate.

Running out of the school, he headed straight for the back mountain.

As he ran, he muttered to himself, "Three hours left. I don't know if it's enough time."

He vaguely remembered that at exactly 5 PM this afternoon, when aurora lights like a galaxy swept across Blue Star, almost sixty to seventy percent of all plants, animals, and humans on Earth mutated into various terrifying monsters.

In just a few short hours, the order that humanity had built over thousands of years collapsed.

In that hellish apocalypse, to survive, Gu Qijue had eaten rats from the sewers and even tried to eat mutated monsters, but they were too disgusting to swallow.

He had barely survived, struggling for eight years, only to have his head bitten off by a mutated monster.

"Whether this is a dream or a true rebirth, one must go mad to achieve enlightenment..."

Gu Qijue's gaze turned cold, and his running speed increased.

Twenty minutes later, he finally reached the school's back mountain.

He vaguely remembered that after the global mutation began, a Black Dragon appeared in the school's back mountain.

This Black Dragon was terrifying, almost sweeping away all of humanity's Super Martial Warriors in the previous life.

What were Super Martial Warriors?

Those humans, animals, and plants that were swept by the mysterious aurora lights without mutating had a chance to awaken - Super Martial.

This Super Martial was a mark, and upon triggering it, one could summon a powerful armor to possess them.

In his previous life, Gu Qijue had not awakened Super Martial. Surviving for eight years as an ordinary person was his limit.

Since he had been reborn, and couldn't awaken Super Martial, he had to find another way.

He needed to find the mutated Black Dragon in the school's back mountain, a type of black snake.

If it could transform into a dragon, it must have been a snake.

But how could he find it in such a large back mountain?

Gu Qijue, sweating profusely, ran and scouted through the mountain forest...

Perhaps it was fate...

Two hours later, in the bushes ahead, Gu Qijue saw a terrifyingly black snake coiled under the shade of a tree, resting.

"Is this... a Black Mamba?"

Gu Qijue, who had some knowledge of snakes, recognized it the moment he saw it.

Although the Black Mamba had "black" in its name, snakes of this species were rarely black. Most were gray, bluish-gray, dark green, brown, tan, or earthy yellow.

Gu Qijue hadn't expected to encounter such a rare black Black Mamba.

But why would a Black Mamba be here?

Gu Qijue couldn't figure it out. This type of snake shouldn't exist in the Hidden Dragon Empire.

While confused, he also worried about how to catch it.

If he made the slightest mistake and was bitten, he would die long before the mutation even arrived.

Gu Qijue didn't alert the snake. He leaned against a large tree, frowning in thought.

He couldn't kill it.

Because he wanted to swallow it whole just before the aurora swept across the globe.

Of course, he had to knock it out before swallowing it alive.

Only then would it be possible to obtain the Black Mamba's genes and mutate and evolve along with it when the aurora shone down.

Unable to awaken Super Martial, Gu Qijue could only try his best to fight.

He didn't know if he would succeed.

But even if he failed, it would only mean death.

In this world of mutations, not being able to awaken as a Super Martial Artist was worse than being a beast. Gu Qijue didn't want to go through that again.

Succeed or perish.

There was only death.

Fortunately, this Black Mamba seemed to be only a juvenile, not very long or thick.

It would be easier to swallow.

Meow!!

Just as Gu Qijue was racking his brain on how to catch the snake...

Suddenly, a meow came from not far away.

Gu Qijue looked up.

He saw a rather sturdy Tabby Cat that seemed to have spotted the Black Mamba. Its cat eyes lit up, and it crept forward stealthily.

Hiss!!!

When they were less than thirty centimeters apart, the Black Mamba suddenly leaped up, its speed monstrous as it lunged at the Tabby Cat.

But the Tabby Cat reacted faster. As it dodged backward, it swatted the snake away with a single paw.

The cat and snake began to wrestle.

A moment later, the dazed Black Mamba tried to escape.

But how could the Tabby Cat let go of such a delicious spicy strip?

It went up and swatted it a few more times.

"Heaven is truly helping me!!"

Gu Qijue, hidden in the shadows, watched the Black Mamba being beaten to a pulp. He planned to wait until it completely lost the ability to fight back before coming out to scare away the Tabby Cat.

Before long, the Black Mamba was beaten to the brink of death, lying on the ground, twitching slightly, completely unable to fight back.

Just as the Tabby Cat proudly stepped forward, about to feast, Gu Qijue suddenly rushed out and shouted.

Meow!!

The Tabby Cat was startled and shot several meters away with a whoosh, then turned to stare at Gu Qijue.

Gu Qijue ignored it. He found a snakeskin bag, wrapped it around his right hand, and slowly walked towards the Black Mamba, whose body was limp and whose dark eyes were filled with unwillingness.

Gu Qijue was very cautious. He picked up a wooden branch and poked the snake from half a meter away. Finding that it truly had no strength left, Gu Qijue confidently reached out and grabbed its head.

After picking up the Black Mamba, Gu Qijue was still uneasy. He flicked its head again, making it even weaker.

Then, he took out his phone to check the time.

16:59!!!

"Phew! Luckily, I made it!"

Gu Qijue breathed a sigh of relief, looking at the dazed Black Mamba in his hand as if looking at a bright future.

He wasn't afraid of failure.

It was just death.

In this world of mutations, living as an ordinary person was more terrifying than death.

Meow!!

The Tabby Cat hadn't left yet, staring hatefully at Gu Qijue from a distance.

If it weren't for this two-legged beast, it would already be eating its spicy strip.

But Gu Qijue knew it definitely couldn't eat it.

Because it was 59 minutes and 20 seconds, and the aurora was about to arrive.

How could it eat the Black Mamba after it mutated...

Gu Qijue's heart raced. He had to swallow the foot-long Black Mamba in the last twenty seconds or so.

As the time reached fifty-nine minutes and thirty seconds, Gu Qijue flicked the Black Mamba's head a few more times. Then, he took a deep breath. When the countdown reached twenty seconds, he saw the sky begin to brighten. Gu Qijue knew the aurora had descended into the atmosphere. Without hesitation, he opened his mouth wide—and swallowed the snake!!!