Savage Planet

In the savage, humid jungle, enormous trees blocked out most of the sunlight. In the dimness, a figure fled frantically, weaving through the trees in an attempt to shake off the threat behind him.

The ground trembled faintly. As soon as the figure ran past, a massive black shadow gave chase. The poor trees crumbled at the slightest touch, utterly incapable of slowing it down.

The shattered trees left a small clearing, and sunlight happened to stream down, revealing the massive shadow's appearance clearly.

It was a bizarre four-limbed monster, its body twice the size of an ordinary elephant's. Its enormous, elongated face had eight eyes, a gaping maw large enough to swallow a bicycle whole, and a row of constantly writhing tentacles beneath its jaw.

Terror and ugliness were Shen Jun's entire impression of the monster.

Shen Jun had been transported to this hellish place for three days already. Strange Alien Beasts were everywhere, and the one chasing him now was not even the largest.

He had not slept a wink in three days. Every moment, he had been avoiding these monsters. Fortunately, there seemed to be no small creatures here. He had not seen anything like mosquitoes or insects, so he had not been too miserable during the first two days. Hidden by the trees, he had never been discovered.

But ten minutes ago, Shen Jun's thirst had become unbearable. He had gathered his courage and gone to drink from a small stream in a relatively open area. He did not care whether the water was safe to drink; he simply scooped it up and gulped it down.

As a result, the four-limbed monster had spotted him, and the tense, thrilling chase had begun.

Shen Jun fled in a panic, knowing only to run toward where there were more trees. Yet he encountered other monsters and nearly got surrounded. However, they seemed to fear the four-limbed monster greatly and did not dare fight over its prey. Whenever they saw it, they retreated on their own.

That was how Shen Jun had survived until now. But when he passed through a thicket, a second four-limbed monster appeared before him...

"Roar!"

With a howl, the monster opened its gaping maw and pounced straight at Shen Jun. By then, Shen Jun had no time to dodge!

The monster's enormous body covered the sky above Shen Jun. It was so close that he could almost see every tentacle writhing beneath its jaw, and he could smell the rank stench pouring from its bloody mouth.

Am I going to die...

Shen Jun felt like crying without tears. Why was heaven messing with him like this? Being inexplicably transported here was one thing. Not being given a cheat ability was another. And now it was not even going to let him keep his life!

No, if you wanted to kill me, why did you make me transmigrate in the first place? Wasn't that completely pointless?

Just as Shen Jun closed his eyes and waited for death, a mechanical voice rang out beside his ear.

"Quickly crouch down, human."

Instinctively, Shen Jun crouched. Then he remembered that the monster's neck was long and extremely flexible. Even if he lay flat on the ground, it could still swallow him. What use was crouching?

A bitter smile appeared on Shen Jun's face. He had not expected to suffer auditory hallucinations even at the moment of death. Perhaps it was simply his unwillingness to give up.

"Bang!"

Death did not come. Shen Jun heard a violent collision and hurriedly opened his eyes, only to see the bushes before him flattened and the two four-limbed monsters crashing into each other.

It turned out that, aside from the one pouncing from the front, the one pursuing him from behind had also leaped at him. Had Shen Jun remained standing, he would have been torn apart by the two monsters. But when he crouched, they collided in midair instead.

The one behind him was clearly larger and sent the other flying with a single blow. Yet the smaller one had quite the temper. The collision had obviously enraged it, and the two monsters began grappling with each other, allowing Shen Jun to escape death.

"Rooaaar!"

A completely different roar rang out. Upon hearing it, the two monsters immediately stopped biting each other and turned solemnly toward the direction from which it came.

A colossal beast resembling a six-eyed Sabertooth Tiger emerged from the depths of the forest. Its body was even larger than those of the four-limbed monsters, and the ground shook with every step it took.

Unfortunately, the Sabertooth Tiger had come from directly opposite the four-limbed monsters, with Shen Jun trapped between them. There was nowhere to go, above or below.

From the very beginning, the Sabertooth Tiger's gaze had been fixed on the two monsters. It did not even spare Shen Jun a glance.

"Roar! Roar! Roooar!"

The two monsters howled madly, trying to drive the Sabertooth Tiger away.

"Rooaaar!"

The Sabertooth Tiger seemed not to care about the four-limbed monsters at all. It let out an even louder roar, and the monsters lowered their bodies. They seemed deeply wary of the Sabertooth Tiger, retreating with unwilling snarls before vanishing into the jungle.

Shen Jun lowered himself to the ground, trying not to draw the Sabertooth Tiger's attention as he slowly made his way toward the forest in another direction.

Heaven, please bless me. Don't let it see me...

Reality proved that he had been overthinking it.

The Sabertooth Tiger reached Shen Jun in just two or three strides. However, it did not attack him immediately. Instead, it circled Shen Jun twice, seemingly quite curious about this species it had never seen before.

Shen Jun's legs would not stop trembling. All he could hope was that this giant six-eyed Sabertooth Tiger had already filled its stomach and would leave quickly once its curiosity was satisfied.

"Human, sense the psionic energy within your body."

The mechanical voice rang out again. Shen Jun was startled. So it had not been an auditory hallucination earlier?

What the hell is psionic energy? I don't have any! Have you played too much StarCraft or something?

"Human, your body contains an immense amount of psionic energy. You can control it. Try to sense it. This is your only hope of surviving."

"What? Who exactly are you? How am I supposed to sense psionic energy?"

Shen Jun vaguely felt that his cheat ability might finally be arriving. Looks like heaven does favor me after all.

"En Taro Adun! Human, I am Rohana, the Highest Protector of the Protoss."

"What? You said you're Rohana! Could this be Aiur?"

Shen Jun was stunned. And that honorific... had he been transported into the universe of StarCraft?

"No. More precisely, I am Rohana's Purifier Copy, existing within your body in the form of an Overmind. In terms you would understand, I am similar to... a chip? Or some sort of system."

"This is not Aiur either... But I suggest we discuss these matters after the threat has been eliminated. First, I will teach you how to sense and control psionic energy."

A stream of information entered Shen Jun's mind. Under Rohana's control, he did not feel as though his head were exploding. On the contrary, he understood the information with ease.

"Psionic energy is an innate gift possessed by all living beings. This gift is like a fuse or an electrical wire; it determines a creature's upper limit of psionic energy from birth. Later effort can only improve one's ability to control it."

"The mind is the hand that manipulates psionic energy, the body is the hand's strength, and psionic energy exists within the universe..."

At that moment, after observing Shen Jun for a long time, the giant Sabertooth Tiger decided that aside from being small, Shen Jun possessed no other distinguishing traits. It immediately lost patience, its expression turning savage.

Despite its enormous size, the Sabertooth Tiger was faster than a cheetah. In almost an instant, it swallowed Shen Jun whole, too lazy even to chew.

It stuck out its tongue and licked its lips. The Sabertooth Tiger felt that Shen Jun had not even been enough to fill the gaps between its teeth, so it prepared to go elsewhere for a snack.

"Awoo!"

After taking only a few steps, the Sabertooth Tiger collapsed onto the ground, crying out in agony. A deep blue glow radiated from its abdomen, seemingly the source of its pain.

"Rip!"

A tearing sound rang out. A hand burst from the Sabertooth Tiger's abdomen, ripping open a huge gash. Shen Jun crawled out drenched in blood, his hands covered in a layer of deep blue light.