Parallel world, Star Blue Continent, Hidden Dragon Empire.
Ah!!!
A bloodcurdling roar suddenly rang out in the quiet classroom, where only the teacher's lecture could be heard.
Holy crap!!
The sudden roar startled quite a few students into cursing. They all glared angrily toward the sound.
In the third row by the window, Gu Qijue was drenched in sweat. He looked around at the familiar yet unfamiliar surroundings, his mind in turmoil.
"Gu Qijue, shouting in class? Do you have a problem with me? If you don't want to listen, you can sleep. I've taught for years, and I've seen plenty of hopeless cases like you."
The teacher was a bald, middle-aged man. He fixed Gu Qijue with a cold, piercing stare.
Gu Qijue paid him no mind. He sat down in silence and turned to look outside at the sun-drenched sports field.
A flash of ferocity crossed his eyes—a look that didn't belong to someone his age.
He pulled his phone from his pocket and checked it.
A grin spread across his face.
"I actually came back from that living hell of an apocalypse to my college days? Three hours before the global mutation?"
Disbelief showed in Gu Qijue's eyes, then gave way to excitement. "The mutation hasn't started yet. It's a little past two in the afternoon. I still have three hours to prepare."
With that, he got up. "Teacher, I need to use the bathroom!"
Without waiting to see whether the teacher agreed, he hurried out of the classroom.
Once outside, he picked up his pace, until he was practically running.
He left the teaching building and sprinted straight for the school gate.
After leaving campus, he headed straight for the hills behind the school.
As he ran, he muttered, "Three hours left. I wonder if that'll be enough."
He vaguely remembered that at exactly five that afternoon, when an aurora like a river of stars swept across Blue Star,
roughly sixty to seventy percent of all plants, animals, and humans around the world would mutate into all kinds of terrifying monsters.
In just a few hours, the order humanity had built over thousands of years would collapse.
To survive in that hellish apocalypse, Gu Qijue had swallowed rats from the sewers. He had even tried eating mutated monsters, but they were impossible to stomach.
He had struggled to survive for eight long years, only to have a mutated monster bite his head clean off.
"Whether this is a dream or I really have been reborn... It's do or die."
Gu Qijue's gaze turned cold, and he ran faster.
Twenty minutes later, he finally reached the hills behind the school.
He vaguely remembered that after the global mutation began, a Black Dragon had emerged from these hills.
That Black Dragon was terrifying. In his previous life, it had nearly wiped out humanity's Super Martial Warriors.
What was a Super Martial Warrior?
People, animals, and plants that survived the mysterious aurora without mutating had a chance to awaken Super Martial.
This Super Martial power took the form of a mark. Once activated, it could summon powerful armor around its bearer.
In his previous life, Gu Qijue hadn't awakened Super Martial. Surviving eight years in an ordinary human body had been his limit.
Since he had been given another chance, if he still couldn't awaken Super Martial, he would have to find another way.
He needed to find the black snake that would mutate into a Black Dragon in the hills behind the school.
If it could become a dragon, it had to be a snake.
But how could he find it in such a vast stretch of hills?
Gu Qijue ran through the woods, scanning the area, drenched in sweat...
Perhaps fortune was on his side...
Two hours later, he spotted a terrifying-looking black snake coiled beneath a tree in the bushes ahead, taking a nap.
"Is that... a Black Mamba?"
Gu Qijue knew a thing or two about snakes, and recognized it at first glance.
Despite the word "black" in its name, Black Mambas were rarely black. Most were gray, grayish blue, dark green, brown, reddish brown, or ocher.
He hadn't expected to run into a rare black Black Mamba.
But what was a Black Mamba doing here?
Gu Qijue couldn't figure it out. This kind of snake shouldn't be found in the Hidden Dragon Empire.
As he wondered about that, he began to worry about how to catch it.
If he made the slightest mistake and got bitten, he'd be dead before the mutation even began.
Gu Qijue didn't want to alert the snake. He leaned against a tree and thought it over, frowning.
He couldn't kill it.
He had to swallow it alive just before the aurora swept across the world.
Of course, he'd need to knock it out first.
That way, when the aurora shone down, he might acquire the Black Mamba's genes and mutate along with it.
Unable to awaken Super Martial, Gu Qijue could only risk everything.
He had no idea whether it would work.
But even if it didn't, the worst that could happen was death.
In the Mutated Apocalypse, people who couldn't awaken Super Martial were worse off than beasts. Gu Qijue couldn't bear to go through that again.
Succeed, or die trying.
Death was the only alternative.
Fortunately, the Black Mamba seemed to be a juvenile. It wasn't very long or thick.
That would make it easier to swallow.
Meow!!
Just as Gu Qijue was fretting over how to catch the snake,
he suddenly heard a meow nearby.
Gu Qijue looked up.
A rather plump Tabby Cat seemed to have spotted the Black Mamba. Its eyes lit up, and it crept toward the snake with a sly look.
Hiss!!!
When the two were less than thirty centimeters apart, the Black Mamba suddenly sprang up and lunged at the Tabby Cat with terrifying speed.
But the Tabby Cat reacted even faster. It leaped back, dodging the bite, and slapped the snake away with a paw.
The cat and snake began fighting.
A moment later, the dazed Black Mamba tried to flee.
But the Tabby Cat wasn't about to let such a delicious treat get away.
It pounced and swiped at the snake several more times.
"Talk about a godsend!!"
Hidden nearby, Gu Qijue watched the Black Mamba get beaten to a pulp. He planned to wait until it could no longer fight back before emerging and chasing the Tabby Cat away.
It wasn't long before the Black Mamba was battered and near death, lying on the ground and twitching feebly. It couldn't fight back anymore.
Just as the Tabby Cat strutted up to feast, Gu Qijue suddenly rushed out with a loud shout.
Meow!!
The Tabby Cat jumped in fright and darted several meters away, then turned to stare at Gu Qijue.
Gu Qijue ignored it. He wrapped his right hand in a snake-skin bag and slowly approached the Black Mamba. Its body writhed weakly, and its glossy black eyes were full of unwillingness.
Gu Qijue was cautious. He picked up a stick and prodded the snake from half a meter away. Only after confirming it had no strength left did he reach out and grip it behind the head.
Even after picking up the Black Mamba, Gu Qijue wasn't reassured. He flicked it on the head again, weakening it further.
Then he pulled out his phone to check the time.
16:59!!!
"Phew! I made it!"
Gu Qijue let out a long breath. He looked at the dazed Black Mamba in his hand as if it were a bright future.
He wasn't afraid of failure.
The worst that could happen was death.
In the Mutated Apocalypse, being an ordinary person was worse than being dead.
Meow!!
The Tabby Cat was still watching Gu Qijue from a distance, glaring resentfully.
If it weren't for this two-legged creature, it would already be eating its tasty snake treat.
But Gu Qijue knew it wouldn't get to eat.
It was already 16:59 and twenty seconds. The aurora was about to arrive.
Once the Black Mamba mutated... how could the cat eat it?
Gu Qijue's heart pounded. He had to swallow the Black Mamba, more than a foot long, in his hand in the last twenty seconds or so.
When the time reached 16:59:30, Gu Qijue flicked the Black Mamba on the head a few more times, then took a deep breath. When the countdown reached twenty seconds, he saw the sky begin to brighten. Knowing the aurora had entered the atmosphere, he opened his mouth without hesitation—
Swallow the snake!!!
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