Deep Sea Starship Apocalypse

The intense training was like an invisible hammer, pounding every inch of Yu Moyan's bones until they ached terribly. The spiritual energy in his dantian flowed slowly through his meridians, carrying an almost stagnant fatigue, even his fingertips felt weak and sore. He staggered towards the soft bed worth tens of thousands, the silk bedding clinging to his weary body, but it did nothing to alleviate the exhaustion deep in his bones.

The hellish training of the past few days had completely drained his energy. From dawn till dusk, from basic breathing exercises to practicing techniques, the system's rigorous training plan gave him no room to breathe. At this moment, Yu Moyan only wanted to fall into the deepest sleep and let his tired body and mind get a moment's rest.

"System, remember to wake me up to cultivate at seven o'clock tomorrow morning." He mumbled into his pillow, his voice hoarse like sandpaper rubbing, carrying an undisguised weariness.

"Yes, host. Wake up at 7:00 tomorrow at the latest." The system's cold, electronic voice rang in my mind, devoid of any emotion.

In the instant Yu Moyan fell into a deep sleep, he was unaware that the system he was bound to had subtly adjusted the laws of this planet to provide him with a more suitable cultivation environment. This seemingly unintentional act, however, was like a boulder thrown into a lake, unleashing a devastating wave that swept the globe.

The distortion of planetary laws provided an opportunity for mutated creatures lurking in the rifts of spacetime and the abyss of the universe to descend. These terrifying beings, corrupted by the decay of stars and tainted by cosmic curses, surged into the human world through the cracks in the laws, transforming into a horde of skeletal remains that devoured everything. In just one night, bustling cities were reduced to infernos, vibrant lives were crushed, rotted, and devoured like ants, and the global human population plummeted at an alarming rate. Cries of despair were swallowed by torrential rain and bloody winds, leaving only carcasses and endless deathly silence.

When the system notification sounded in his mind on time, Yu Moyan's consciousness was almost instantly pulled from his slumber. The instinct he had developed through years of cultivation woke him up instantly. Without the slightest procrastination in bed, he sat up abruptly, his eyes still showing lingering fatigue, but his determination to cultivate had already been ignited.

He rolled out of bed, his bare feet touching the cool floor. He quickly straightened his wrinkled clothes and stepped out of the room. The hunger pangs in his stomach reminded him that he needed to replenish his energy before starting his cultivation for the day. However, when he reached the living room, he unexpectedly saw two familiar figures—his father, Yu Yaohui, and mother, Shen Ci'an, were sitting at the dining table, not having left for work early as usual.

Yu Moyan frowned slightly, a hint of doubt in her eyes, and asked, "Mom and Dad, why didn't you go to work today? Are you on holiday?"

Shen Ci'an raised her head, a gentle smile on her face, and patted the seat next to her lightly. Her voice was as soft as a spring breeze: "Look outside, it's raining so hard, with thunder and lightning. The roads are difficult to travel on, so I simply asked the company for leave and didn't go."

Upon hearing this, Yu Moyan subconsciously turned to look at the French windows. Outside, the torrential rain poured down like a celestial river, the dense curtain of rain obscuring the sky. Large raindrops pounded against the glass, making a crackling sound. Every now and then, blinding flashes of lightning streaked across the sky, illuminating the dim heavens in a stark white light, followed by deafening thunder that made the windows tremble slightly.

Amidst the surging rain and flashing lightning, a massive figure, sometimes bright and sometimes dim, loomed deep within the clouds, radiating a terrifying and chilling pressure.

Yu Moyan's heart skipped a beat, and a strange chill ran from his feet to the top of his head. He immediately called out to the system in his mind: "System, what's that outside the window? Is it a living thing, or am I seeing things?"

"Oh, you mean that, host?" The system's voice remained calm, even slightly nonchalant. "That's a dragon called the Star-Shattering Bone-Rotting Dragon. Don't even mention your current strength; even if you tied a hundred thousand of yourself together, it wouldn't be enough to fill its teeth."

Yu Moyan's pupils suddenly contracted, and his voice trembled almost imperceptibly: "System, what realm is that dragon? What are its abilities?"

"Host, the Star-Shattering Bone-Rotting Dragon's realm is the Profound Realm, far beyond your current capabilities," the system slowly reported. "Its abilities are twofold: first, Star-Shattering Breath, which spews out a mist of decaying starlight, causing all living beings within its range to be corrupted and reduced to nothingness; second, its wings can slice through the air, tearing apart starfields and scattering its prey into different spatial rifts. As for its form, its dragon bones are formed from condensed starlight, its flesh has long since rotted away, its wing membranes are formed from star-corrosion membranes, its eye sockets burn with starlight fire, and its breath is a deadly mist of star-corrosion. Host, I advise you not to even dream of taking it down. This level of being is not something you can easily mess with. It was merely searching for scattered fragments of spacetime and should have already left by now."

After listening to the system's words, Yu Moyan stared intently out the window once more. The rain continued to pour down, and lightning still flashed, but that enormous, terrifying figure had indeed vanished without a trace, just as the system had said, as if it had never existed, leaving only the raging wind and rain.

He suppressed the turmoil in his heart, slowly turned around, and walked to the dining table to sit down. Shen Ci'an had already pushed the warm porridge and snacks in front of him, and Yu Yaohui also told him to eat slowly and not to rush. His parents' gentle concern was like a warm current, temporarily soothing the fear in his heart. He silently lowered his head and ate his breakfast, chewing mechanically, but the information about the Shattered Star Corrupting Bone Dragon and that terrifying silhouette that was faintly visible in the rain clouds kept replaying in his mind.

The Profound Realm was a realm he couldn't even be worthy of looking up to. Before such an existence, he was no different from dust, no different from an ant.

After a quick breakfast, Yu Moyan got up and returned to his room. He walked to the window, slowly drew back the curtains, and gazed into the distance once more. The rain showed no signs of letting up; muddy water flowed into rivers on the streets, churning up unidentified debris. And on the distant horizon, a blurry figure seemed to appear and disappear, only to be swallowed up by the rain in an instant.

Yu Moyan frowned, assuming it was just a hallucination caused by over-cultivation over the past few days, and didn't take it to heart. He turned and lay back on the bed, intending to close his eyes and rest for a while before starting today's sign-in and cultivation.

"System, sign in," he whispered in his mind.

"Host has completed today's check-in. The corresponding Star Crown will be deducted." The system's voice sounded.

Yu Moyan was already used to this kind of operation. Since binding himself to this system, less than a month had passed, and he was already heavily in debt, owing a total of 118 million Star Crowns. Not only did he not receive any rewards for daily check-ins, but he was also deducted Star Crowns. This absurd setting had once driven him to the brink of collapse, but now, all that remained was a numb acceptance.

Just as he closed his eyes to rest and try to calm his mind, a strange and loud heartbeat suddenly came from outside the window.

"Thump...thump...thump..."

The heartbeat was incredibly heavy, like the beating of an ancient war drum. Each tremor seemed to strike Yu Moyan's heart, causing his blood to surge, his internal organs to ache, and an indescribable feeling of suffocation to instantly engulf his entire body.

He suddenly opened his eyes, staggered to the window, and looked out again.

That one glance froze his blood instantly, every hair on his body stood on end, and fear, like a cold, venomous snake, coiled tightly around his heart, making it difficult for him to even breathe.

In the pouring rain, an enormous figure slowly walked towards them.

It stood a hundred meters tall, its body utterly mangled, like a rotting corpse crawling out of the abyss of hell. Only a pale white sternum remained of its intact skeleton, desperately protecting the half-heart that still beat stubbornly amidst rotting flesh. Some terrifying being had severed half its head; the eye tissue was completely rotten, exposing murky fluid and decaying brain matter, emitting a pungent, nauseating stench. Wisps of smoke rose from its rotting skull, dripping down with the rain.

Its muscle tissue had long since rotted and turned black, with large chunks of decaying flesh hanging precariously from its bones. Countless maggots writhed and crawled wildly within the rotting flesh, falling along its mangled body and crashing into the murky floodwaters below, where they were instantly swept away by the surging waves. With each step it took, the ground trembled, and sewage splashed everywhere. The heavy heartbeat emanated from the half-heart within its chest, each beat carrying a terrifying, overwhelming pressure that seemed to freeze the very air.

Half a celestial skeleton, a vast abyss.

The system's voice rang out in Yu Moyan's mind with terror, carrying an unprecedented solemnity: "Host, it's Half-Heavenly Skeleton - Cang Yuan Mi! Just its heartbeat is enough to cause an ordinary person's heart to explode and them to bleed from all seven orifices to die!"

Yu Moyan's body stiffened, as if he had been frozen in place by a spell, unable to move even a finger. His gaze was fixed on the terrifying figure outside the window, his mind blank, filled only with extreme fear and despair.

He subconsciously turned his head to look at the living room. His parents were still sitting there, but their faces had lost all color, and bright red blood was slowly flowing from their seven orifices. Their eyes were empty, and their bodies were rotting at a visible speed. Countless maggots crawled out from under their skin, gnawing at their flesh.

"No...no..." Yu Moyan wanted to scream, wanted to rush over, but his body was locked in place by that terrifying pressure, and he couldn't even move half a step. He could only watch helplessly as the family affection he had just acquired and cherished was once again ruthlessly taken away.

In his previous life, he was lonely and helpless, never experiencing the warmth of family. In this life, bound to a system and reborn, he thought he could finally have family and warmth, but fate cruelly snatched that warmth away from him once again.

Having something and then losing it is far more painful and despairing than never having had it at all.

Half-Heavenly Skeleton Cang Yuanmi slowly walked to the window. His festering head turned slightly, and his empty eye sockets met those of Yu Moyan inside the room. A single glance from him sent a chill down Yu Moyan's spine. In the eyes of this terrifying being, he was no different from an insignificant insect.

A moment later, Cang Yuanmi seemed to lose interest, slowly withdrew his gaze, and with heavy steps, turned and disappeared into the torrential rain, leaving behind only a trail of stench and chaos.

When the overwhelming pressure disappeared, Yu Moyan instantly regained his mobility. He staggered out of the room, rushed to his parents' side, and looked at their already rotten bodies, which were being eaten by maggots, and let out a hoarse scream.

"Mom and Dad!!!"

Tears of blood slowly slid down his cheeks, dripping onto his parents' cold, decaying bodies. He knelt on the ground, his hands clenched into fists, his nails digging deep into his palms, drawing blood. His face was contorted in agony, his pain reaching its peak. The loneliness of his past life and the loss of this one, a double despair, overwhelmed him like a tidal wave, pushing him to the brink of collapse.

He knelt there for an unknown amount of time, the torrential rain continuing to fall, tears mingling with blood, blurring his vision. Yu Moyan slowly stood up, his eyes vacant, like a walking corpse, and walked out of the house.

Outside, a light rain drizzled, and the puddles on the road were already above knee-deep. The murky water shimmered with a glaring crimson—the color of blood mixed with putrid fluid. The entire city was deathly silent, devoid of its usual hustle and bustle, except for the howling of the wind and rain.

This city is deserted.

Yu Moyan walked aimlessly through the puddles, his feet occasionally stepping on soft, foreign objects. Looking down, he saw rows of rotting corpses, maggots wriggling frantically on them, gnawing at the remaining flesh. A pungent stench filled the air, making one want to vomit. Yet, he seemed oblivious, his eyes lifeless, his steps mechanical, like a puppet devoid of its soul.

He walked for an unknown amount of time until he arrived at the gate of his former school.

The dilapidated school gate leaned precariously, and the campus was a scene of utter chaos, with puddles and blood mixed together, and debris and severed limbs floating in the water. Amidst that mess, a familiar figure stood forlornly—it was Jiang Duyue.

His clothes were tattered and stained with blood and mud. His hair was disheveled, his face was covered in filth, and his beard was unkempt, clearly having not been cleaned for days. He stared blankly ahead, just like Yu Moyan, devoid of any spirit.

"Jiang Duyue...is that you?" Yu Moyan stopped in her tracks, her voice hoarse and strained, each word filled with deep sorrow and helplessness.

Jiang Duyue slowly turned his head, and the moment he saw Yu Moyan, a ripple finally appeared in his empty eyes, only to be swallowed up by endless sorrow. He opened his mouth, his voice hoarse and broken, but he could only utter six words.

"Brother Yu, I have no home anymore."

These six short words encapsulate all the despair and sorrow, mirroring Yu Moyan's own experience.

We are both wanderers in this world, why should we need to have known each other before?

Yu Moyan walked step by step to Jiang Duyue. The two young men, who had experienced calamities and lost everything, could no longer hold back their grief and embraced each other tightly.

Tears, like a burst dam, gushed from their eyes, soaking their clothes. They wept bitterly, their cries heart-wrenching, transforming all their fear, despair, pain, and sorrow into endless tears, venting the deepest pain in their hearts amidst this hellish landscape of blood-soaked stars and swarms of corpses.

The torrential rain continued, the bloody winds raged on, the prosperity vanished, leaving only a living hell. The cries of two boys echoed through the deathly silence of the city, becoming the only sound in this land of death, telling the story of the sudden disaster and everything that had been taken from them.