The Max-Level Sacred Mountain Begs Me to Save the Interstellar [Apocalypse] - Chapter 1

December 12, 2500, Earth Era. Saturday.

Shen Ye was currently at the Academy of Agricultural Sciences, pruning his latest research achievement: the Datang Palace Pink.

For these rare orchids, valued at 30,000 units per plant, Shen Ye could earn a 15% commission. That is right; this was the side hustle he managed under the table. He had no choice. After six years of being a mortgage slave, a quick look back revealed that his principal remained untouched while his interest payments had been utterly obliterated.

To make matters worse, some genius had consulted the almanac and declared this an auspicious day. Three couples from his department were stepping into their graves, or rather, their marriages, at the very same time. These three Red Wedding Invitations were like a bounty hunter’s death warrant, hacking his already scarred wallet into pieces.

But clearly, overtime is an affront to the heavens.

Outside the window, an asteroid plummeted from the sky, tearing through the Blue Planet’s ozone layer and heading straight for the building where Shen Ye stood. High-energy ultraviolet rays poured through the atmospheric breach, instantly melting the silicated glass. Unprotected humans were carbonized into powder in the blink of an eye.

Shen Ye stared at the boiling, blood-red sky and muttered to himself, “The house I took a loan for has collapsed.”

Star Era 3000.

Shen Ye had been stranded on this land for a very long time.

He was no longer human, literally. If he had to describe it, Shen Ye felt like a conscious soul. Because, in all likelihood, he was eighty percent sure he was in Hell!

The land before him was shrouded in grey and black mist. Not a living thing could be seen for miles. Other than Hell, he could not imagine what else this place could be. Reflecting on how his life of diligent hard work had ended like this, he figured those damned real estate developers must have a direct line to the 18th level of Hell.

Oddly, Shen Ye felt a strange sense of peace.

Suddenly, a muffled thunder echoed from deep underground. It was low and sustained, like something that could no longer be contained and was about to burst from the earth! Shen Ye peered curiously into a massive rift; it was actually a mountain rising up!

Shen Ye did not understand it, and he certainly could not respect it. His geography was not great, but is this how plate tectonics works?!

As the mountain’s elevation climbed higher, the world seemed to suddenly roar to life. Long, tube-like monsters made of rebar and concrete, humanoid mushrooms scattered across the canyons, and a blob of unidentifiable slime sped past his eyes. Some monsters leaped off thousand-foot cliffs mid-run; even more performed red fireworks by exploding on the spot.

Shen Ye shrugged. “This fits the Hell stereotype perfectly.”

The mountain ridges finally settled as they reached a certain peak, and the surrounding clamor faded into silence. It was a magnificent sight, yet Shen Ye felt something was off.

“Huh? What was I doing just now? Why can’t I remember?”

Shen Ye reflexively reached up to scratch his forehead, intending to do a “Whisper” dance to liven up this irrational performance, but his hand met empty air. It turned out his brain had been bitten, and only half of it remained.

Shen Ye was instantly furious! This was too much! Couldn’t they have just bitten his whole head off? What was the point of leaving half? Did they want to see him weep and beg for mercy?

Unfortunately for the creature, it had miscalculated. Shen Ye was a man brave enough to shoulder a 50-year mortgage; did they really think he could be scared by a ghost? A broke ghost is far more terrifying than a vengeful ghost.

Hmph! An eye for an eye. If he got bitten, he was biting back!

“Chomp!” Shen Ye snapped at the air in front of him. Nothing. He turned and took another bite! And another!

[AAAAHHHHHHHH!]

Shen Ye’s eyes lit up. “Got something!”

He chewed. It was five parts sweet, a bit fresh, and had a nice bounce to it; it was like a Japanese omakase!

[BAD! BAD! BAD! HURTS, WAH]

“You know it hurts, yet you still bite people’s heads,” Shen Ye thought. “This is self-defense. It is not against the law!”

However, there is always a price for eating mysterious things. Shen Ye suddenly saw a pack of Golden Retrievers wearing suits and ties, carrying briefcases as they walked toward him. A small paw opened a briefcase and handed Shen Ye a document.

“This is? A NOTICE OF OVERDUE LOAN PAYMENTS!”

Shen Ye, well-versed in internet memes, paled in shock. This was not right!

“Did I just eat a ‘Neonothopanus’ mushroom? It was actually quite fresh, though.”

Before he could savor the flavor, his pupils dilated, and he fell straight backward. A milky-white fluid condensed from the mountain, tangling, merging, and flowing into him. Finally, the entire mountain vanished, dissolving directly into the boy’s body.

[Sob, no, no, he is a noob, a noob, whimper]

Silence was as thick as syrup, turning into pale fingers that nudged the sleeper’s eyelids awake.

Shen Ye woke up on a flat piece of ground. There were no towering mountains in sight, only a wasteland shrouded in thick mist extending to the horizon.

Shen Ye: Who am I? Where am I?

Before he could untangle his chaotic thoughts, a massive rabbit suddenly appeared at the edge of his vision. It hopped toward him in an absurd rhythm, its limbs tangled messily in fur, with bone visible beneath.

Suddenly, Shen Ye understood! It is common knowledge that certain wild mushrooms contain neurotoxins that cause distorted perceptions. Therefore, this must be a hallucination from eating poisonous mushrooms!

He straightened his clothes, composed his face, and stood politely. He asked sincerely, “Hello, are you the doctor here to save me?”

The Moon-Weeping Beast screeched to a halt, its crimson pupils locking onto the human meal that had delivered itself. It was a lowly Servant-class anomaly born from this mist. Its only food source was the humans protected by those plants, that sweet, delicious flesh! The mere thought of it made the beast dizzy with desire.

Just moments ago, a terrifying power had appeared in the east and vanished instantly. Along with it, the auras of several powerful anomalies that usually guarded their territories had disappeared. With the restrictions gone, the beast’s tiny brain immediately claimed the surrounding land as its own and decided to reward itself with a few humans.

Then, on its way to feed, it saw Shen Ye approaching voluntarily.

Shen Ye assumed this rabbit monster was likely an emergency doctor. Thus, he asked politely. But clearly, Shen Ye was wrong. No doctor turns into a red-eyed rabbit that can jump three meters high.

Watching the rabbit charge at him like it was wound up on a spring, Shen Ye’s inner monologue kicked in: “This time, I think I am actually going to die!”

At the very moment the Moon-Weeping Beast was about to swallow him, Shen Ye’s left hand seemed to develop a mind of its own. Dense, white root systems erupted, blotting out the sky as they slammed into the beast’s body. The not-so-cute creature turned into a pool of bloody water in the blink of an eye.

Shen Ye: “The world is full of wonders. I just got a body, and now I have a magic left hand. Maybe I really did go crazy from overtime?”

[Lick.]

“Lick what? Be a ‘simp’? I think not.” Shen Ye reflexively answered the voice coming from nowhere.

Silence returned. Shen Ye thought he was hearing things. His left hand felt itchy, and just as he went to scratch it, he looked down to find his entire palm splitting open. A thin slit appeared in his palm, pitch black inside, but at its center floated a triangular object. Looking closely, it looked like a mountain!

“It could not be the one I just saw, could it?”

Shen Ye realized the truth. He had thought everything he experienced was a hallucination. But if the mountain was real, that meant the monsters on the mountain were real too! Had he traveled to another world?

Shen Ye, a man with no strength who only wanted to make a little money and ideally be filthy rich, could only let out a long sigh. “I wonder if property prices are high in this world.”

[Zhouzhou, eat.] The voice rang out again, sounding quite anxious this time.

In fact, it was very anxious. Shen Ye’s left hand pressed uncontrollably against the flesh of the rabbit monster, and he watched as the blood on the ground slowly vanished.

Shen Ye marveled, “Wow, I am actually living like a savage!”

[Not enough, find, Zhouzhou, hungry.]

“No,” Shen Ye refused flatly. Ridiculous. Without pay, who would listen to it?

[Synchronizing, Hunger.]

The moment the voice spoke, a wave of hunger like a tsunami crashed over Shen Ye. In that instant, he even abandoned the idea of making money to buy a house! He just wanted meat, any meat! To alleviate the hunger, his left arm rose voluntarily, as if searching for a direction. After a moment, it locked onto a spot.

[Go.] The voice urgently prodded him to move toward the direction his hand was pointing.

Three minutes later, Shen Ye looked out and saw the food his left hand had found. It had a mantis body and spider legs, covered in oozing pustules. Yellow-green pus dripped all over it, landing right on the face of a human whose lower body had been bitten off by the monster!

Shen Ye immediately turned to leave. He would rather starve to death than take a single bite! But the left hand had no sense of aesthetics; it moved straight toward the monster.

The human being eaten: “AAAAAAAAAH!” Shen Ye, about to eat the monster: “AAAAAAAAAH!”

The Mantis-Monster, enjoying its lunch, heard the screams and saw a new human approaching. It immediately abandoned its half-eaten meal and crawled toward Shen Ye. Three seconds later, the Mantis-Monster likewise turned into bloody water under Shen Ye’s left hand.

Shen Ye closed his eyes and savored it. “Chicken flavor, crunchy.”

What if this ugly thing actually tastes good? “No, I am eating random things again!” Shen Ye regained a sliver of sanity. He wanted to chop off this left hand! He would show it who was the master of this body!

“Heh, hu, take it back.” The man whose lower half had been eaten was actually still alive.

Shen Ye moved over. Humans were good; humans were allies. “What did you say?” Shen Ye asked.

“Central Base, hu, 134.4528/43.40527. Mission, complete.”

“Huh? Don’t die yet! I can’t remember all that! 13443 what? What is it?” No matter how much Shen Ye asked, the man had stopped breathing.

As a fellow human, Shen Ye dug a pit with his bare hands, placed the man’s remains inside, and covered them with earth. This was the custom of the ancient Eastern lands: to rest in the soil is to find peace.

After finishing, Shen Ye rummaged through the man’s backpack; it was his rightful reward. The backpack seemed to be made of some metallic material that had the malleability of gold but the strength of rebar.

“Unknown weapon, a short blade, biscuit?” Shen Ye took a bite, and the biscuit immediately flew in a beautiful arc. “Disgusting.”

“Why is there a dead plant?” When it came to professional matters, Shen Ye was an expert. This was a Guest-Greeting Pine, placed inside a semi-transparent container. The container had two sections; one held soil, which was now scattered everywhere. Shen Ye saw the pine’s root system; it was completely rotted. There was no saving it.

Shen Ye was curious. This man carried multiple weapons and high-end gear, clearly belonging to a formal organization. Why would he carry a plant? Did he just want the extra weight?

Just as he was about to stand up, the sound of rushing wind sliced past his ear.

“Whoosh!” “Ah!”

An arrow suddenly pierced the air, tearing through Shen Ye’s shoulder. The arrowhead sank deep into the dirt, the force of the impact pinning Shen Ye to the ground.

The archer, Xie Songnian, walked toward him, silhouetted against a light.

“Bodhisattva? A Bodhisattva has come to deliver me!”

This was not Shen Ye being stupid; the man before him was strikingly handsome, and the backlighting made him look like a god descending to earth. Before his frozen brain could restart, the Male Bodhisattva pulled out a weapon, pointed it at Shen Ye’s forehead, and asked, “Who am I?”

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