C City Official Base
Ning Yi had just returned from a mission outside when he received a message from his father.
“Dad.”
As Ning Yi walked into the study and saw his father sitting beside the desk with a grave expression, holding a satellite phone, his steps paused slightly.
“Ah Yi, something may have happened on the mountain.” Ning Wei handed the satellite phone to his son.
Ning Yi took the phone. A missed call record was displayed on the screen.
“A few days ago, there was a sudden mutant rat outbreak in the base. Your mother and I were both busy and didn’t have the phone with us. By the time things settled down, we discovered your grandfather had called. But when we tried calling back, we couldn’t get through no matter what.”
“You know your grandfather’s personality. He’s stubborn and prideful. If nothing happened, he would never make that call. So I suspect… something probably happened on the mountain.”
As he spoke, Ning Wei couldn’t help sighing.
Back then, because he and his wife had forcefully brought Ah Yi down the mountain, things had become very tense between them and the old man.
Later, after the apocalypse began, he had gone back to bring him to the base, but the old man refused. Left with no choice, he left behind a satellite phone to stay in contact. Yet for more than a year, the old man had never once taken the initiative to call.
Who would’ve thought that the first time he finally did call… they missed it.
“I’ll bring people up the mountain immediately.” Looking at the call record from three days ago, Ning Yi’s heart sank.
“Good. Make sure you safely bring your grandfather and your martial uncle back.”
Martial uncle…
Ning Yi’s departing footsteps stumbled slightly.
…
Meanwhile, Sheng Ge and Ah Bao had been wandering through the mountains for nearly half a month before finally approaching the foot of the mountain.
It wasn’t that the two of them were slow.
Rather, Sheng Ge had completely treated the forest before them as Ah Bao’s natural training ground. Along the way, she made him use mutant beasts to practice swordsmanship, lest once they got outside, she’d be embarrassed bringing around a sect master who couldn’t even kill a chicken.
The sky today was still gloomy and overcast.
It was said that ever since the apocalypse began, people had rarely seen the sun again. Cloudy days and rain had become the norm. The long-term damp environment bred more bacteria and poisonous organisms, while countless living things perished, unable to adapt to the new world.
Under the heavy black clouds, mist drifted through the forest. Thick moisture mixed with foul smells floated in the air.
It smelled like rotting animal corpses, mixed with the pungent stench of leaking industrial chemicals.
The once beautiful Wuji Mountain Range now looked utterly ruined. The towering trees had either withered or collapsed, strewn across the muddy ground covered in grass and moss. Huge spiders and insects occasionally crawled past, while bizarrely shaped, brightly colored plants grew between the tangled woods.
A giant ant crawled past a crimson flower while carrying a chunk of dripping flesh.
The next second, the beautiful flower suddenly snapped its blooming petals shut, swallowing both the ant and the meat whole.
A few seconds later, something like a swallowing sound seemed to echo through the air.
Then the forest fell silent once more.
Danger lingered everywhere.
Sheng Ge quietly used her divine sense to observe everything in the forest. Looking at the current state of Wuji Mountain—a place once like a paradise from her memories—she finally gained some real understanding of the apocalypse her little disciple-grandson had described.
Such a bleak scene of things changing beyond recognition…
Perfect for opening a hotpot to soothe the soul.
Sheng Ge took out a table and chair set, found a relatively flat spot, and started preparing a self-heating hotpot.
Not bad. Her little disciple-grandson might not be useful in other ways, but at least he had some foresight.
At her feet, Xiao Huang pecked a worm out of the dirt and ate happily.
The bugs outside were so considerate. Nice and fat.
Meanwhile, not far away, Ah Bao was currently pinned to the ground by a mutant wolf.
The mutated wolf stood over two meters tall. Its claws had turned metallic—sharp and deadly.
When it opened its mouth, rows of fangs and the disgusting stench of rot spilled out. Beneath it, Ah Bao looked as weak as a little chick.
The wolf’s claws slashed toward him.
He could only raise Fanshuang to block, then quickly roll to the side.
“Roar!”
The mutant wolf let out an angry howl and charged after Ah Bao again, its claws kicking up mud with every step.
Ah Bao dodged once more. At the same time, he circulated the cultivation method in his heart and wielded Fanshuang rapidly. Finally, when the mutant wolf exposed an opening, he thrust the sword straight into its skull.
“Haaah…”
Ah Bao collapsed limply onto the ground. He couldn’t even care about the injuries on his body anymore. All he wanted was to sleep.
At this moment, Ah Bao deeply regretted everything.
Really.
He only knew Grandma Grandmaster was powerful. He knew she cut mutant beasts like chopping vegetables. He thought following Grandma Grandmaster meant they could dominate the apocalypse effortlessly.
But he didn’t know that besides being strong…
Grandma Grandmaster was also incredibly shameless.
Grandma Grandmaster killed mutant beasts like chopping vegetables.
But the problem was—she didn’t kill them.
Not only did she refuse to kill them, she made him do it.
And not only did she make him do it, she sat there eating and drinking while watching him fight…
Smelling the hotpot aroma drifting through the rotten air, Ah Bao was completely devastated.
Wuwuwu… Master, Grandma Grandmaster abuses child labor!
“Don’t forget the crystal core.”
Just as Ah Bao was silently crying to his master in his heart, Sheng Ge’s voice rang out again.
Ah Bao: “…”
Ah Bao obediently climbed back up and used Fanshuang to dig the crystal core out of the wolf’s skull. As expected, it was a yellow metal-element crystal core.
“Fanshuang, I’m sorry. I got you dirty again. Ah Bao will wash you right away.”
Ah Bao lovingly stroked his Fanshuang sword before walking over to Sheng Ge and handing her the crystal core.
After accepting it, Sheng Ge casually tossed him a medicinal pill.
Ah Bao naturally caught it and swallowed it in one bite.
Over the past half month, every time he finished fighting, Grandma Grandmaster would give him one of these pills.
According to her, they could help cleanse his meridians and marrow. Maybe one day they’d even awaken the superpower he’d always dreamed of.
Superpowers…
Legendary superpowers…
He wanted them so badly…
Well, even if Grandma Grandmaster abused child labor, she was still a good Grandma Grandmaster.
Though these past two days his stomach kept hurting. He wondered if he had eaten something bad.
As for the deeply hidden contributor behind this—
Grandma Grandmaster: What’s wrong with a three-thousand-year-old pill causing a little stomach ache?
“Grandma Grandmaster, hungry hungry~”
Sheng Ge rolled her eyes at him in disgust and tossed him a loaf of bread.
“Let’s go. We’ve finally reached the mountain exit.”
After putting everything away, Sheng Ge stretched lazily and walked directly down the mountain. Soon, they exited the forest and arrived at the foot of the mountain, where two roads stretched ahead.
Behind her, Ah Bao hugged Xiao Huang while chewing bread. Seeing Grandma Grandmaster stop walking, he stopped too and looked at her in confusion.
Grandma Grandmaster, why’d you stop? Did you forget something back on the mountain?
A quarter hour later, two voices rang out simultaneously—
Sheng Ge & Ning Ah Bao: “You don’t know the way?!”
“Aren’t you the all-powerful Grandma Grandmaster?!”
“But you’re from this era!”
“This Venerable One slept for three thousand years!”
“I’m only eight years old!”
Sheng Ge and Ning Ah Bao looked at each other, then both turned away in mutual disgust.
“Move aside, people ahead!”
Right then, several figures suddenly came sprinting down the road in the distance. Looking closer, there was a massive swarm of mutant rats chasing after them at terrifying speed.
The densely packed rats made one’s scalp go numb.
The people in front were already in miserable condition. Leading the group was a young woman dressed in a black skintight combat suit. Her eyes were sharp and cold as she occasionally hurled frost attacks behind her to slow the rats.
The shout had come from her.
But before Sheng Ge and Ah Bao could react, the group and the mutant rats had already reached them.
This was Ah Bao’s first time seeing so many mutant beasts.
Even though they were only rats, he was small enough that one rat could probably finish him in a single bite. Naturally, he was frightened and failed to immediately strike down the rat that rushed at him with its mouth open, ready to taste him.
Seeing this, Sheng Ge was about to act when a blast of frost shot over. The rat attacking Ah Bao instantly fell dead.
“Run! Are you standing there waiting to die, idiots?!”
Song Siyu coldly shot the two of them a glance before turning back to continue killing mutant rats.
For the first time in her life, Sheng Ge had been called an idiot.
Her face darkened immediately.