Surviving the Apocalypse with a Snake

[Human office drone bottom x chuunibyo black king snake top. See the author's notice for important details before reading.]

"Hah... hah..."

Chang Anle sits in the corner with his back against the wall, breathing in short, ragged gasps. When his breathing finally steadies, the pain he'd been holding back surges through him. He lets out a soft hiss and lowers his eyes to the wound on his right leg, where a mutated beast has clawed him.

Blood is still seeping out. He places his right hand over the wound, and green specks of light appear where they touch.

Under the effect of his wood-type ability, the wound heals in no time.

As soon as the wound closes, a rustling sound comes from outside. Chang Anle picks up the knife beside him, uses the wall to get to his feet, and watches the right-hand side warily, where the sound is coming from.

"Pff, hiss..."

The sound of a snake flicking its tongue. The knife slips from Chang Anle's hand. He drops back down, exhausted, and looks at the black king snake slithering in.

"Great King, did you take care of everything outside?"

The black king snake, whom he calls Great King, nods its enormous head and speaks in a human voice. "With this great king on the job, of course it's all taken care of!"

Chang Anle's mouth twitches. He wants to laugh at Great King's words, but he's too exhausted to manage much of an expression.

Looking at the scales dotted with patches of light, Chang Anle can't help wondering: How did things end up like this? He used to be the one raising Great King. Now he has to rely on Great King's help just to survive.

One year and two months after he started raising Great King, a sudden transformation turned everything upside down.

The land expanded, and all kinds of buildings collapsed as their foundations gave way. Roads tore apart like clothes, and human civilization was transformed beyond recognition in just two days.

Trees and plants grew to ten times their original height in a mere two days, as if they'd been pumped full of growth hormones. Cities with plenty of greenery became primeval forests, where people who hadn't managed to evacuate struggled to survive.

Once the government grasped what was happening, it quickly organized the military to carry out rescue operations. But first, changes in atmospheric pressure caused vehicles to consume several times more fuel. Second, the transformed environment was so different from before that even simple rescue work became difficult.

Then mutated beasts appeared, making an already difficult rescue effort harder still.

Animals had changed, and humans hadn't escaped the transformation either. The emergence of special abilities fueled human ambition. Civilized cities became jungles, and people began living by the law of the jungle.

With civilization collapsing and the law of the jungle taking hold, death became commonplace for ordinary people who couldn't protect themselves.

An unprecedented apocalypse had finally pulled back its veil before the world.

Danger, bloodshed, violence... These things were everywhere. Yet some still believed that if they could just get through the painful adjustment period that accompanies every great change, everything would return to normal.

But the longer it went on, the harder it became to believe: Could life ever really go back to the way it was?

--Two months into the apocalypse

Looking at Great King, who had grown to six meters long in only two months, with its thickest part wider than Chang Anle's waist and still growing, then at the mice and rabbits on the ground, each three or four times their usual size...

Chang Anle, who never changed his expression even when the sky fell at work: I have nothing to say about this.

"Smack, smack."

The snake's tail slaps the animal carcass twice, then pushes it toward him, apparently telling him to eat.

Chang Anle, who doesn't eat raw meat: Thanks, very polite of you.jpg, but I'm not hungry yet!

Theme: No matter the circumstances, keep fighting to survive.