Chapter 1 The Vanishing Mountain

What is it like to have a scream suddenly erupt in your ear while you're driving with complete concentration?

Chu Fan's heart nearly stopped!

Screech!

The tires rubbed violently against the ground, sending up a series of sparks and spinning the car around several times, almost sending it careening off the highway.

The SUVs behind him also slammed on their brakes, with several crashing into the guardrail.

If the road hadn't been so sparsely populated, it would have been a massive pileup.

Chu Fan was drenched in cold sweat, gasping for air, his chest feeling like it was about to explode, and his limbs weak.

It took a long while for him to recover. He turned and roared, "Qi Ge Yun, are you crazy!"

Qi Ge Yun also had blood streaming down her forehead, but she didn't seem to feel the pain. Her hand holding the binoculars was shaking uncontrollably as she repeated, "The mountain, the mountain is gone..."

"What mountain?"

Seeing her distraught, Chu Fan no longer felt like yelling. He opened the car door, pulled her out of the car.

The occupants of the SUVs behind them also rushed over.

Their faces were all filled with anger and lingering fear.

A burly man even started cursing from afar, "Chu Fan, if you can't drive, then don't!"

"Calm down, Brother Feng."

The burly man was huge and powerful, with large hands. His angry roar was like a bear's roar. Someone quickly stepped forward to hold him back.

Feng Mingtao casually brushed them aside, pushing them all away.

"What's going on?"

Chu Fan was at fault, so he couldn't argue back. He could only silently endure it, holding Qi Ge Yun's hand and asking softly.

The cold wind blew, and Qi Ge Yun calmed down a bit.

"Mount Mu... it disappeared. I, I saw a coffin falling from the sky..."

Qi Ge Yun's face was pale as she tremblingly handed the binoculars to Chu Fan.

"You, look..."

"What? Are you out of your mind?"

Feng Mingtao walked closer and, hearing her words, was taken aback. He snatched the binoculars from her hand.

"Mount Mu disappearing? You must be crazy!"

The shaking view steadied.

Between the extremely distant mountains, amidst the rolling clouds, countless tornadoes reached towards the sky, and overwhelming snow waves cascaded down from the peaks. The scene was terrifying.

"Such a huge avalanche?!"

Feng Mingtao was surprised. The weather station had clearly said that Mount Mu would not experience any major weather changes in the next two years.

They were too far away to be affected.

"Really, Brother Feng, I saw it. Mount Mu really disappeared. A, a blood-red coffin fell from the sky..."

Qi Ge Yun hurriedly explained.

There was an indelible fear in her eyes. In that moment, she seemed to see a boundless sea of blood and slaughter. Her body was still trembling.

"Really? Mount Mu can disappear? That's huge news..."

The others listened to her words with suspicion.

This was a million times more exaggerated than the rumors about the disappearance of the Golden Eagle Goddess statue. But Qi Ge Yun seemed too genuine. If she had this much acting skill, she wouldn't still be a nobody.

"I can't tell if Mount Mu disappeared, but there's a huge avalanche and tornadoes in the Himalayas. It's incredible..."

Feng Mingtao, holding the binoculars, was also suspicious.

How could Mount Mu, the world's highest peak, disappear for no reason?

Even a tectonic shift would take tens or hundreds of thousands of years to slowly evolve, and the resulting commotion would definitely be ten times greater than what was happening now.

Unless Mount Mu disappeared, not due to a tectonic shift, but by suddenly vanishing...

But that was even more impossible.

"Chu Fan, believe me, I really saw it. A blood-red, blood-red coffin fell from the sky..."

Seeing that no one believed her, Qi Ge Yun stamped her foot in frustration, grabbing Chu Fan's clothes.

"I believe you."

What could Chu Fan do? He could only nod and comfort her.

He could only grit his teeth and bear with his girlfriend's delusions.

"A blood-red coffin, did it have a lot of talismans on it? Like in the movies?"

Someone suddenly asked.

"Yes, yes, exactly."

Qi Ge Yun nodded repeatedly.

That person immediately laughed. "Ge Yun, weren't you recently in a zombie movie? Did you get too immersed in the role and haven't come out of it yet?

"A red coffin? Why don't you say that the one who fell down was the zombie king, Zhu Shang!"

Zhu Shang!

As soon as he said that name.

Everyone's expression changed.

They felt a bone-chilling gust of wind suddenly descend.

The cold wind was extremely Yin and cold, and everyone involuntarily shivered.

It was as if icy cold snakes were slithering against their bodies, constantly licking them.

Even Feng Mingtao's expression changed.

"This is..."

Chu Fan's pupils constricted, and a huge wave surged in his heart.

The others' faces also changed.

"Cheng Ji!"

Someone exclaimed in horror and retreated.

The youth who had just spoken the word "zombie" suddenly had an iron-blue, bloodless face, as if he had been frozen. His eyes had turned blood-red!

Fangs grew out, and long nails sprouted from his blue-black palms!

He transformed into a zombie right before their eyes!

"Ah!"

Everyone's face changed, and they retreated in panic.

They watched as their companion's body trembled for a while before suddenly leaping up.

He leaped straight up, his knee joints not bending at all, but he jumped a full ten meters high!

When he landed, the smooth highway cracked, and gravel flew everywhere!

"How is that possible!"

Feng Mingtao was dumbfounded. How could he jump so high?

Watching his 'companion' disappear at the end of the road, his worldview shattered.

"Cheng Ji!"

Chu Fan took two steps forward, then stopped, watching his companion disappear with shock written all over his face.

"What happened? What just happened?"

"Cheng Ji, how could Cheng Ji, how could he turn into that?"

"Zombies, are there really zombies?!"

Everyone was in an uproar, their faces filled with horror.

"It was, it was that name. Cheng Ji, he turned into that because he said that name..."

Qi Ge Yun's body trembled.

"That name, zombie king Zhu..."

Someone subconsciously wanted to repeat it.

But Chu Fan was quick to react and covered his mouth.

The rising Yin wind disappeared...

Everyone was drenched in cold sweat.

Saying a name would turn you into a zombie? What kind of principle was that?

"I, I keep wanting to say that name!"

Qi Ge Yun covered her mouth, tears streaming down her face.

The others' faces were also extremely ugly, because they felt the same way. That name seemed to be on the tip of their tongues, ready to come out at any moment.

"How can such a thing be possible?"

Feng Mingtao's face was pale, and he couldn't believe it.

Saying a name would turn you into that kind of monster? What was that?

Was it a virus?

Even the most powerful viruses in history didn't have such exaggerated contagiousness.

"Everyone!"

Chu Fan seemed to have realized something, and he stood up, covered in cold sweat.

He looked at everyone and said something even more horrifying.

"That name... think about it, when did you learn it?"

When?

The thought crossed everyone's mind, and their scalps tingled.

They had never seen or heard that name through any channel—television, movies, newspapers, or books.

But the name had suddenly appeared in their minds.

And they understood all the implications of that name!

"Ge Yun is right. Something big must have happened in the Himalayas. The owner of that name must be in that blood-red coffin..."

Chu Fan took a deep breath.

This kind of existence reminded him of a certain term: meme.

"Then, is Cheng Ji going there to save that person?"

Someone shuddered.

An existence whose name could not be uttered.

If it were to be released, what kind of terror would it bring?

"I don't care, I don't care what it is..."

Someone couldn't stand the immense pressure and turned to run back to the car.

"You can't leave!"

Chu Fan stepped forward and grabbed that person's shoulder, holding him down.

"Chu Fan, let me go, I want to leave, this place is too dangerous, too dangerous!"

That person struggled.

"Brother Feng!"

Chu Fan gritted his teeth and looked at Feng Mingtao, the strongest among them.

Feng Mingtao practiced Xing Yi Quan (Form-Intention Fist), and taking on ten people at once was commonplace for him.

"What is it?"

Feng Mingtao's face was gloomy.

He never dreamed that coming out for a relaxing trip would lead to such a bizarre incident.

"No one, no one can be allowed to leave. Everyone, no one can run away on their own..."

Chu Fan gritted his teeth.

"What?"

The others were shocked.

Qi Ge Yun, trembling like a quail, also looked at Chu Fan with tearful eyes.

"If we leave, we might cause a huge disaster..."

Chu Fan released his distraught companion and shakily took out a cigarette, trying to light it several times without success.

Feng Mingtao came over and lit it for him.

"What you're saying is just your speculation, it might not be accurate."

Feng Mingtao said and turned his head back and coldly shouted:

"Anyone who dares to run, I'll break their hands and feet and throw them down the road!"

Hearing this, several people who wanted to escape were too frightened to move.

They all knew how powerful Feng Mingtao was.

"Have you thought about why Cheng Ji didn't hurt us..."

Chu Fan's hands were trembling, and his body was trembling too.

He was scared, very scared.

But compared to the extremely horrifying thought in his heart, this fear was insignificant.

"Maybe he's going to save that person... no, that monster..."

That person sat on the cold highway.

"Staying here means certain death!"

"Have you thought about another possibility..."

Chu Fan's heart trembled.

"That the owner of that name wants us to infect more people..."

"We are all walking plagues!"

Everyone's hair stood on end.

........

Boom!

Rumble!

In the Himalayas, avalanches occurred everywhere. Thick snow, carrying countless large rocks, rolled down, engulfing everything like a giant wave.

Millions of tons of snow slammed into the earth, creating a collision sound even louder than thunder.

Beneath the azure sky, clouds churned, and tornadoes roared, stirring up even more snow, filling the heavens and the earth.

The scene was as terrifying as the end of the world.

And in the place where Mount Mu used to be, now a deep ditch with howling winds and snow pouring in, like an infinitely deep vortex in a boundless sea of snow.

A glimmer of red light flickered, accompanied by a voice that was like a murmur, yet colder than the sky full of wind and snow:

"A thousand years, a thousand years. Old Heavenly Master, you must live,

You must live until I return........."