The Shiwang had actually prepared a retreat. The streets around the TV tower were all sealed off, and even the sewers were blocked. It seemed there was no escape. However, the city was now filled with mutated birds, making ground movement impossible. They could escape through the sky!
The Shiwang gathered the remaining two hundred-plus mutated zombies and ascended to the top floor of the TV tower. Along the way, they set fires, engulfing the entire building in flames. Any ability users attempting to advance would be halted by the thick smoke and fire. Seizing this opportunity, the Shiwang reached the thirty-second floor of the TV tower.
At this moment, the mutated birds also converged, circling the skies above Yanjing. They had not left immediately after dropping zombies and plague-ridden corpses into the city, but instead remained near the TV tower. When the Shiwang appeared with the mutated zombies, they immediately swooped down, grabbed the Shiwang and mutated zombies, and flew away.
The congregation of hundreds of mutated birds was abnormal. Fighter jets also noticed this and five fighter jets flew towards the TV tower. The powerful engines roared through the air. Before they even got close, the fighter jets opened fire, a stream of bullets first sweeping across the mutated birds.
The mutated birds immediately dived towards the streets, narrowly dodging the machine-gun fire. Then, the more than two hundred mutated birds, carrying the zombies, scattered and fled. The fighter jets present were only five, with limited pursuit capabilities. They had no idea where the Shiwang was. In an instant, the Shiwang was carried away by the mutated birds.
At this time, Shen Feng and the other two had only reached the fifth floor of the building. Looking at the chaotic battlefield on the ground, all three knew they were too late.
"Damn it, we missed by a mile. We watched the bounty slip away!" Yang Chang said dejectedly.
Lu Xian also shrugged and shook his head helplessly, saying, "We entered the sewers when the battle hadn't started yet. Who knew that as soon as we entered the TV tower from a blind spot, the battle would already be over? We can only say that the speed of battles between ability users is far beyond our imagination."
In the eyes of Yang Chang and Lu Xian, this was watching the bounty slip through their fingers. Given Shen Feng's combat power, not to mention one Shiwang, even ten Shiwangs together would not be his match. Yet, they were a step too late, and there was nothing left.
Just then, more than fifty survivors descended from the rooftop, crying as they walked downstairs. Their clothes were dirty, and their skin bore traces of corrosion. They walked down crying, clearly very sad.
Shen Feng couldn't help but step forward and ask, "Elder brothers and sisters, do you know what happened to the battle upstairs? We are here to save you, don't be afraid!"
At this moment, Shen Feng thought these survivors would cry because they were frightened by the Shiwang's presence, so he planned to offer a few words of comfort.
However, his words made the survivors glare at Shen Feng with fury. Their red eyes stared intently at Shen Feng, as if they wanted to tear him apart. Of course, they ultimately did not do so, as they had assessed their own strength and knew that even if they fought desperately, they could not threaten Shen Feng.
An elder sister pointed at Shen Feng's nose and began to scold him, "You bastards, just because you've become ability users, does that mean you don't care about our lives? We asked you to save us, and what did you do? The zombies were already killing people and threatening us, and you were still rushing upwards. Now, only a few dozen of us have survived in the TV tower. Are you satisfied?"
Shen Feng felt wronged and explained, "I haven't rushed up yet, this wasn't done by me!"
"But it is precisely the ability users who disregard the lives of us common folk. This time you didn't look down on our lives because you were too slow. Next time something like this happens, you'll be rushing faster than anyone else!" the elder sister's anger did not subside, and she continued to criticize Shen Feng.
Shen Feng felt that he hadn't done anything wrong, but in the eyes of others, Shen Feng was no different from the ability users who had rushed up. They were all ability users, all people who wanted to earn merit regardless of their lives. Moreover, if Shen Feng hadn't rushed up, it must have been because he was too slow. If he had run faster, he would have been among those who rushed up.
Yang Chang couldn't stand it anymore, rolled up his sleeves, and prepared to argue. As he walked, he said, "We came here with good intentions to save you, but instead we get scolded. What are we doing this for? I don't usually hit women, but..."
Shen Feng reached out and stopped Yang Chang, preventing his violent action. He took a deep breath and said to the elder sister, "I'm sorry, we were wrong. Please forgive us."
The elder sister ignored Shen Feng's apology and walked away, covering her face. She could not forget the scene of the spray zombies spewing stomach acid into the rooms, how many people died screaming, and how many more died directly in the fire. Now, counting them, there were fewer than fifty survivors.
The group quickly exited the TV tower, completely ignoring Shen Feng and the other two.
Yang Chang could no longer hold back, clenching his fists and saying, "I can't stand this kind of thing. Boss, you shouldn't have stopped me. You should have let me teach them a lesson, see if they still dare to look down on us!"
Shen Feng gently shook his head and said, "No need. In their eyes, we are no different from the group before, all ability users who charged upwards without regard for their lives. Explaining is useless, and beating them will only increase the conflict between us. Forget it, being scolded a few times is no big deal."
Lu Xian spread his hands, looking disappointed, and said, "Now it's good. We came out for nothing, got no benefits, and instead got scolded."
Shen Feng shrugged, leaned against a nearby window, and said calmly, "Perhaps a rift has already formed between ability users and ordinary people. Ability users are high and mighty, while ordinary people have no ability to resist when disaster strikes. This is what they cannot accept the most."
Just then, Lu Xian pointed at a group of mutated birds outside the window and said, "City Lord, look quickly, the Shiwang is there! It's being carried away by the birds!"
Lu Xian suddenly saw the birds outside the window. One of the birds had a zombie with a large head in its claws. Wasn't this the Shiwang? It had escaped the siege of various ability users, and the fighter jets were pursuing the mutated birds, but they missed the mutated bird carrying the Shiwang, allowing the Shiwang to become a small fish that slipped through the net!
The Scarred Shiwang was caught by a white crane and flew towards the direction outside the city. It still wanted to live, so seeing that it couldn't stay in the city, it could only choose to leave. It was still being held by the white crane and heading towards the outside of the city.
In the air, the Scarred Shiwang could see the chaotic scenes on the ground. Ordinary people were fleeing in the streets, soldiers were clearing the zombies that were everywhere, and people were transporting corpses from the city. Almost half of Yanjing was in chaos. The Scarred Shiwang was quite proud of this.
"Hmph, with this much chaos, if it continues for a while, Yanjing will fall without a fight!" the Scarred Shiwang muttered to itself.
However, at this moment, a person riding a bird rapidly approached. This person was covered in black armor, and their eyes flashed with cold light.
Seeing this, the Shiwang was stunned. When did humans and mutated birds start cooperating? The person wearing armor seemed to be riding a mutated crow, with wings of completely black feathers. No, this was a person! This was an ability user, an ability user who had grown wings!
"Fly faster, someone is chasing us!" the Scarred Shiwang quickly reminded the white crane holding it, hoping the white crane could shake off the pursuers.
The Scarred Shiwang had clearly forgotten a very important point: the white crane could not understand human language. No matter what it said now, the white crane would not understand. Therefore, the white crane continued to fly leisurely. As long as there were no fighter jets pursuing it, it would fly slowly. It couldn't fly too high, as flying too high would make it an easy target.
"Damn it! I really don't understand how Ma Jing Shuang managed to successfully negotiate cooperation with a bunch of beasts. There's no communication at all!" the Scarred Shiwang was enraged. Now that it was flying in the air, it had neither the ability nor the energy to escape, so it could only entrust its life to this uncomprehending bird.
Li Xiankang knelt on Zhang Jue's back, his entire body covered in armor. His armor was not made of steel but of carbon fiber. After all, his ability was to manipulate carbon elements, so it was reasonable for him to use carbon fiber to create armor. The biggest advantage of carbon fiber was its extremely light weight for its volume.
Fortunately, Li Xiankang's armor was made of carbon fiber. If it were metal armor, Zhang Jue would definitely not have been able to carry it.
"Brother, get closer. I can take down the Shiwang with one strike, and then the bounty will be ours!" Li Xiankang said anxiously to Zhang Jue below.
Zhang Jue was flapping his wings hard, but he was just an ability user. The white crane, on the other hand, relied on flying for its livelihood. One considered flying a skill, while the other considered flying a means of sustenance. In comparison, it was very difficult for Zhang Jue to catch up to the white crane.
Zhang Jue was already trying his best to pursue the Shiwang. The moment he saw the TV tower catch fire, he thought the credit had already fallen into someone else's hands. He heard that the ability users from the Chosen Bureau had all participated in this rescue plan, clearly making killing the Shiwang their goal. A Shiwang targeted by so many ability users was bound to die.
However, as Zhang Jue and Li Xiankang searched cautiously in the air, they unexpectedly found the Shiwang's trace. The Shiwang, under the cover of hundreds of mutated birds, had broken through and actually dodged the fighter jets' gunfire. At this point, the two knew that the credit would be theirs.
A Shiwang, carried by mutated birds, was flying in the sky. No one else could fly, so they couldn't catch up to the flying Shiwang. The fighter jets had also missed this white crane. Now, as long as Zhang Jue and Li Xiankang pursued it, they would definitely be able to kill the Shiwang.
Zhang Jue was flying with all his might, but he watched the distance between himself and the white crane grow farther and farther apart, his unwillingness becoming more and more apparent. Could a cooked duck fly away?
Just then, as the white crane was about to reach the city wall, a forty-story building opened fire with a large-caliber machine gun. "Da da da," hot bullets swept towards the white crane in the sky. The ground's anti-aircraft defenses were now playing their role.
A stream of bullets shot into the sky, instantly hitting the flying white crane. One of the white crane's wings was riddled with more than ten bloody holes, and bright red blood flowed out, scattering on the ground like a blood rain.
"Yeee..." The white crane let out a mournful cry and plummeted towards the ground.
"Damn it, you bastard, let go of your claws!" the Scarred Shiwang cursed. It was falling along with the plummeting white crane.
Zhang Jue seized this opportunity and quickly flew up, diving towards the white crane's falling point. Li Xiankang, on the other hand, smiled and shot at the soldiers firing from the rooftop, saying, "Well done, keep it up next time!"
The two dived towards the Shiwang to attack, but Li Xiankang couldn't stand steady. Before, when flying level, he could still manage to maintain his balance. Now that Zhang Jue was diving, he suddenly couldn't stabilize himself and slid off Zhang Jue's back.
Fortunately, Li Xiankang was quick-handed and grabbed Zhang Jue's belt, shouting, "Brother, stop quickly, I'm going to fall!"
Zhang Jue also panicked and cursed, "Damn it, don't pull my pants down, let go quickly, we'll be on the ground soon."
Li Xiankang refused to let go. Falling from such a height would surely mean death. He couldn't care about his dignity anymore; he had to hold onto this lifeline!
After falling from the sky, the Shiwang landed on the white crane's belly. Fortunately, there was a buffer, and it was not injured. However, it was still within the city, and there were no mutated zombies available to use. The situation had become extremely critical.
Li Xiankang saw the Shiwang from afar and, stimulated by the bounty, disregarded everything else. He shouted, "Die!" and the armor on his body instantly turned into sharp spikes, shooting towards the Shiwang. This move had great destructive power, but its drawback was that without carbon elements, the moves were difficult to use a second time.
Li Xiankang's ability was to manipulate carbon elements, but he could only extract the ability from charcoal or coal, not from all products containing carbon elements. Therefore, after using the carbon elements on his body, Li Xiankang could not use his ability again for a short period.
"Chichichichi..." Countless spikes shot towards the Shiwang. Blood mist erupted around the Shiwang. Zhang Jue and Li Xiankang landed on the ground in a very awkward posture, raising a lot of dust.