Yuncheng, Yuncheng University of Technology, inside a classroom.
"Clang!"
A small wire cage fell to the ground.
Chen Jie held a bamboo pit viper in his hand and extended it toward the campus belle Xia Wanrou, saying calmly:
"Swallow it whole. You must swallow it whole! Hurry!"
The green little snake writhed frantically in his grip.
This insane act caused an uproar in the entire class, and many people began furiously condemning Chen Jie.
"Chen Jie, are you crazy? You want Xia Wanrou to swallow a bamboo pit viper whole?"
"No way! Are you sick? You're making the campus belle swallow her own pet?"
"Why don't you swallow it yourself?! That's just cold-blooded and cruel!"
"I've already swallowed others."
Chen Jie sneered and replied calmly.
The moment those words came out, the entire class exploded.
Everyone thought he was just talking nonsense—who knew he was serious!
Seeing this, the female teacher sternly reprimanded him:
"Student Chen! This kind of joke is not acceptable. If something happens to Xia Wanrou, you will be held responsible!"
Yet Chen Jie remained unmoved even after the teacher's warning.
The students began to speculate.
Maybe… he really had swallowed something!
Ignoring the uproar, Chen Jie lifted the bamboo pit viper in his hand again.
"Hurry! We're running out of time!"
His tone was firm, his expression nothing but cold.
As he spoke, both hands gripping the snake tightened.
Everyone thought he had gone mad!
In reality, he had been reborn!
In less than a minute, all life on Earth would undergo mutation.
In his previous life, the sun had erupted in an electromagnetic storm that defied scientific understanding, sweeping across the entire human world.
All living beings, including plants and animals, were affected!
Whatever a person ate before the mutation occurred—they would gain a corresponding extraordinary ability!
In his previous life, the last thing Chen Jie ate before the mutation was a few mutton buns.
As a result, he awakened the "Wool Growth" talent!
Aside from being able to consume mental energy to continuously produce wool to withstand extreme weather, it had no other use!
At first, when the apocalypse had just arrived and people lacked food and clothing while extreme weather was frequent, this ability to create wool using mental energy still had a bit of use.
But as the mutated monsters grew stronger and stronger, he truly became nothing more than a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.
Now, having been reborn, he had already made preparations in advance.
In his previous life, he had once seen a giant dog possessing the power of Pangu!
With a single roar, mountains collapsed and the earth split!
With one claw, heaven and earth were torn apart!
And that dog had only been an ordinary mutt raised by the owner of an antique shop in the southern part of the city!
What had it eaten to gain such power?!
Driven by curiosity and a stroke of luck, Chen Jie learned from the shop owner that the dog had accidentally swallowed a piece of Bu Zhou Mountain dragon vein jade while protecting him!
After being reborn, the first thing Chen Jie did was go to the antique shop in the southern part of the city.
Scraping together money from everywhere, he finally bought that piece of Bu Zhou Mountain dragon vein jade.
At the time, the customers in the shop and the antique dealer all mocked him as an ignorant fool who didn't know what he was doing.
But only Chen Jie knew—this was a genuine piece of Bu Zhou Mountain dragon vein jade!
According to myth, Bu Zhou Mountain was formed from the body of Pangu, who possessed the power to create heaven and earth!
And the dragon veins of Bu Zhou Mountain were naturally formed from the bones and blood essence of Pangu's limbs!
According to the rules of mutation through consumption, as long as he swallowed this piece of Bu Zhou Mountain dragon vein jade, he would inevitably obtain the bloodline talent of the Father God Pangu!
Once the apocalypse arrived, he would absolutely become one of the top talents in all of Yuncheng, even the entire Great Xia!
As for why he was forcing the campus belle Xia Wanrou to swallow her pet bamboo pit viper—that had to be explained from Xia Wanrou in his previous life.
Because Chen Jie knew that Xia Wanrou actually liked him.
She had been secretly in love with him all this time, but never dared to confess!
When the mutation came in the previous life, Xia Wanrou never abandoned him.
Even though she had awakened an ice and snow talent sufficient for self-protection, allowing her to survive well in the hellish post-mutation world, she still followed Chen Jie wholeheartedly.
Protecting him—someone with only a useless talent—at the very bottom.
Xia Wanrou had even, in order to protect him from the jaws of mutated monsters, ultimately been torn apart and devoured by a mutated beast!
What kind of unwavering devotion was that?
She had given her life for him.
Now that he had been reborn, Chen Jie could not possibly treat her as nothing.
He would protect this girl whose eyes held only him.
He would prevent all the tragedies of the previous life.
And all of this would begin with making Xia Wanrou awaken a stronger talent!
In his previous life, Xia Wanrou's pet bamboo pit viper had been affected by mutation and transformed into a flood dragon!
If it hadn't lost in battle to the watchdog of the antique shop in the southern part of the city, there was a high probability it could have evolved into a five-clawed divine dragon!
As for why it had to be swallowed alive—that was also a lesson humanity had learned in the previous life.
Because swallowing something alive yielded the best effect in obtaining abilities!
If it weren't for the fact that the dragon vein jade couldn't be cut by human means, Chen Jie would have wanted to split it with Xia Wanrou.
Now, even a slightly inferior flood dragon was several times stronger than the ice and snow talent Xia Wanrou had awakened in the previous life!
Facing Chen Jie's insistence, Xia Wanrou's expression was complicated.
On one side was the boy she had loved for years, and on the other was her beloved pet.
She was torn with indecision.
Looking at Chen Jie's resolute attitude,
Xia Wanrou made up her mind.
I'm sorry, Xiao Qing!
For Chen Jie, I can do anything.
She took the small bamboo pit viper in one swift motion.
Gripping its head, she swallowed it directly in front of the entire class, like slurping noodles!
Mad!
They were all mad!
It would be one thing if only Chen Jie had gone mad.
But even the campus belle Xia Wanrou had gone mad along with him.
The entire class was so shocked they couldn't say a single word, only letting out stunned cries.
They felt like they were going insane too!
It wasn't until Xia Wanrou rushed to the water dispenser, frantically gulping down several cups of water, and leaned against the wall retching repeatedly, that the class finally reacted.
"Holy crap! Xia Wanrou, you actually did it?"
"Are you crazy? Chen Jie told you to eat it and you really did?!"
"I must still be dreaming—why am I seeing something this absurd?"
"Oh my god! That was Wanrou's precious pet! She loves these exotic pets the most! What kind of charm does a lunatic like Chen Jie even have?!"
"You can't just swallow a living thing like that! It'll cause massive internal bleeding!"
The teacher herself had yet to recover from the shock.
She simply couldn't understand young people's thinking.
Amid the chaos, Chen Jie had already walked over to Xia Wanrou.
At this moment, her delicate, fairy-like face was deathly pale.
Strands of her hair, damp with sweat from the pain, clung to her forehead, making her look exceedingly fragile and pitiful.
Chen Jie, whose face was equally pale, endured the churning pain in his abdomen and pulled her into his arms.
"Mmm… Chen Jie, I… I did it."
Xia Wanrou let out a pained groan, smiling faintly as she wrapped her arms around his waist.
Chen Jie gently stroked her pale face.
As she spoke, blood continuously seeped from the corners of her mouth.
The sight terrified the teacher, who hurriedly called for emergency assistance.
Meanwhile, Gao Junhao, the persistent suitor who had always pursued Xia Wanrou but was constantly rejected, felt his mind buzz as overwhelming rage nearly blacked out his vision.
Tall, well-built, and muscular from years of training, he immediately charged forward with heavy, pounding steps!
"Chen Jie! You deserve to die!"
"You knew she liked you, and you still forced her to eat a snake!"
His roar was like thunder, making the entire class tremble.
But Chen Jie didn't even spare him a glance.
He simply held the increasingly weak Xia Wanrou, took out his phone, and looked at the time on the screen.
Gao Junhao pushed through the crowd, rushing toward Chen Jie.
"Three…"
Chen Jie softly began counting down while holding Xia Wanrou.
Even as Gao Junhao approached, he did not move an inch.
Gao Junhao leapt over the tiered desks.
"Two…"
As the tall figure drew closer to Chen Jie, many people instinctively held their breath.
"One!"
As the time struck exactly ten o'clock, outside the window, a burst of light containing immense energy exploded!
The dazzling brilliance was so intense it was nearly impossible to keep one's eyes open!