After resolving the plant's heart, there were no more threats in the underground cave. Shen Feng then had people begin searching for survivors. If any living people could be found, that would be good.
However, during this time, Shen Feng actually found Jin Zijue. It was this guy who had betrayed him yesterday, indirectly causing him to be injured. If he hadn't been lucky enough to survive after his fourth evolution, he would have died here.
When Shen Feng saw Jin Zijue, a mocking smile appeared on his face. He then grabbed him by the collar, unconcerned that Jin Zijue was covered in sticky digestive fluid.
"You brat, you caused me a lot of trouble before!" Shen Feng said coldly, looking at Jin Zijue.
"It's a misunderstanding, all a misunderstanding. I just wanted to ask for help back then." Jin Zijue forced out a smile. He hadn't expected Shen Feng to double back and, what's more, be able to disperse the mist. Such a method was simply outrageous. Now, Jin Zijue could only pray that Shen Feng wouldn't be too impulsive.
Shen Feng didn't care about any of that. He punched Jin Zijue in the face. *Bang*. After landing the punch, Shen Feng continued to question him, "If you wanted to ask for help, why did you expose our location? Do you think I'm easy to fool?"
After speaking, Shen Feng grabbed Jin Zijue and began slapping him from side to side, cursing as he did, "When I was still gathering information, you abducted a thousand of my subordinates, killed them all, and then had them bomb me! If I hadn't been fast, I would have been blown to death by you!"
Chu Chaoyan did not stop Shen Feng because she also disliked this guy. They had traveled hundreds of miles to Rongcheng, leaving almost every morning upon waking, often transporting abandoned vehicles along the way. When they arrived in Rongcheng, they were immediately met with a show of force. Who could tolerate such treatment?
"Shen Feng, hurry up. Don't let outsiders see. It will be difficult to explain later!" Chu Chaoyan reminded Shen Feng. If his own people from Luzhou saw Shen Feng taking action, it wouldn't matter. But if anyone from the artillery battalion was still alive and saw this scene, it would be difficult to explain.
Shen Feng nodded. Seeing a hidden corner not far away, he dragged Jin Zijue towards it. This way, even if there were still people from the artillery battalion alive in the distance, they wouldn't be able to see what was happening here. To not avenge an insult is to be no gentleman.
"What do you want to do? I'm telling you, I'm from the Special Ability Administration, a direct subordinate agency of headquarters. If anything happens to me, headquarters will not let you go." Jin Zijue shouted loudly, but this was a typical case of being brave on the outside but cowardly on the inside.
Shen Feng threw Jin Zijue aside and said calmly, "How does the saying go? Never bully a poor young man! Back in Rongcheng, you publicly humiliated me, making me lose face in front of my subordinates. A man's face is his most worthless and most valuable possession. To salvage my honor, I can only let you die!"
"I was also acting under orders. The higher-ups told me to test you. I was just following orders, so you can't blame me. You also publicly humiliated me, so let's just let our grievances go." Jin Zijue could only submit now. He was only twenty-four years old, a recent university graduate. He hadn't enjoyed the good life yet, and now it was about to end. He was unwilling!
Hearing this answer, Shen Feng suddenly thought of something and nodded gently. "So that's how it is. Tell me more. How is the Special Ability Administration? How many ability users are there? What are their ranks? And what are their abilities? Tell me everything!"
"You... you want to get information about the Administration from me? What are your intentions?" Jin Zijue immediately realized when he heard Shen Feng's questions. Shen Feng actually wanted to extract information from him!
Shen Feng didn't coddle Jin Zijue. He kicked him, hitting his broken leg. With a cold face, he said, "Get your situation straight! You are my captive now. Answer me honestly, and I might consider letting you go. If you don't cooperate, then prepare to die."
Jin Zijue had dozens of fractures all over his body. When Shen Feng kicked him, the pain was unbearable, and he couldn't help but wail.
"Go ahead and scream. Even if you scream your lungs out, no one will come to save you," Shen Feng said coldly.
Jin Zijue was truly in pain, but Shen Feng continued to threaten him. He could only try to act tough. So he directly said, "Even if you kill me, I won't reveal the Administration's secrets. I am loyal to the Administration!"
"Alright, you asked for it. Come, get ready. It will only take a moment. I promise not to cause you too much pain." Shen Feng shrugged and raised the steel pipe in his hand. Since Jin Zijue would rather die than reveal the Administration's secrets, he had no choice but to oblige him. After all, Shen Feng had no intention of leaving him alive.
Shen Feng found a pair of rubber gloves and put them on to avoid being electrocuted. Then, he held Jin Zijue's head with one hand and raised the steel pipe with the other, aiming at his neck. If he hit it, even if it didn't kill him, it would be untreatable. The cervical spine, if broken, would result in quadriplegia, leaving him bedridden for life.
"Stop, stop, stop! Let's talk!" Jin Zijue saw Shen Feng actually raise the steel pipe and immediately softened. In reality, he also wanted to appear tough. He couldn't just spill everything at the slightest threat. But Shen Feng clearly intended to kill him, so he had to yield.
Shen Feng lowered the steel pipe and asked, "Then answer me honestly, why did you want to test me? Also, how many ability users does the Administration have, and what are their abilities?"
Seeing the dangerous situation, Jin Zijue chose to selectively reveal some information. "The Special Ability Administration pays attention to every ability user, especially those at the third tier. Besides the ability users within the Administration, there are currently only three third-tier ability users in the outside world. You are one of them."
"Oh, how many third-tier ability users are there in the Administration?" Shen Feng continued to ask.
"Including me, there are six third-tier ability users. The rest are first and second-tier ability users. There should be over fifty ability users now," Jin Zijue said honestly.
"Only this many ability users? You're definitely lying to me. No, I'm going to beat you up and make you tell the truth!" Shen Feng completely disbelieved Jin Zijue's words. He had four ability users in Luzhou alone. The Administration recruited ability users from all over the country, so how could there only be fifty people?
"I'm not lying to you! For ordinary people, even evolved individuals are rare, let alone ability users. Over fifty ability users is already quite a lot! Some smaller countries might not even have a single ability user!" Jin Zijue quickly explained. He wasn't lying about the numbers at all.
"Oh." Shen Feng believed Jin Zijue's words upon seeing his reaction. However, Shen Feng was even more puzzled now. "Don't you cultivate ability users yourselves? Or do you not know how to make ability potions?"
"Ability potions? There's such a thing?" Jin Zijue didn't react and asked, "Can't you only transfer the abilities of ability users? Can you also make ability potions?"
Upon receiving this answer, Shen Feng was very satisfied. It turned out that the people at headquarters didn't know that ability potions could be made from the brains of corpse kings. Therefore, the members of the Special Ability Administration had all evolved naturally. If headquarters learned the method of making ability potions, they would probably rapidly increase the number of ability users.
"Continue talking. Don't ask what you shouldn't," Shen Feng continued to inquire about the situation.
Jin Zijue had some guesses in his heart, then cautiously said, "Besides me, the abilities of the other five are fire, gravity, ice, earth, and finally water. They are currently serving as bodyguards for other important figures. Three are male, and two are female, all in their twenties. Due to the evolution barrier, the Administration has no fourth-tier ability users. Furthermore, among the other ability users, there aren't many powerful ones, and weak ones are everywhere. Some people's abilities are to separate different substances, some have clairvoyance, and as long as there is light, they can see things clearly within ten kilometers..."
"Wait, what is the evolution barrier?" Shen Feng was confused, not understanding what Jin Zijue was talking about.
Shen Feng had never heard of the evolution barrier before, so he was puzzled now, not understanding what it was. It seemed very important.
Jin Zijue explained, "The evolution barrier is a bottleneck encountered by ability users or evolved individuals after reaching the third tier, making it difficult to evolve further. It's useless no matter how many evolution potions they drink. Therefore, there have been no reports of fourth-tier ability users appearing globally. Scientists speculate that subsequent evolution might require other substances, not viral proteins."
"Oh, I see! So, I'm the first in the world." Shen Feng suddenly realized. He hadn't expected to break through the evolution barrier by chance. This was truly a blessing in disguise.
Shen Feng didn't have any scientists, so his understanding of ability users was actually not very deep. Before this, he had never heard of the existence of the evolution barrier. He had always thought that as long as he kept drinking evolution potions, he could continue to evolve. But now he knew that evolution potions were not omnipotent.
"First what?" Jin Zijue heard Shen Feng's muttering and was somewhat confused.
"It's nothing, there are some things you don't need to know!" Shen Feng raised the steel pipe and said seriously, "Well, I forgot to tell you, I have a problem, and that is forgetfulness. So after you've said what you needed to say, you're no longer useful!"
At this moment, Shen Feng prepared to silence him. As for the headquarters' inquiry, he would just say that Jin Zijue died in the battle with the treants. He believed that the headquarters would never know that he was the one who did it.
"You, you, you... You're untrustworthy! Didn't you say you would let me go if I gave you this information?" Jin Zijue was shocked by Shen Feng's shamelessness. He hadn't expected that after revealing all the crucial information, Shen Feng would try to renege.
"What did you say? I have a bit of a problem, sometimes I'm selectively deaf!" Shen Feng smiled. He didn't care about promises. Now that there was no one else around, everyone nearby was his own people, and he believed they wouldn't spread rumors. Therefore, it was time to deal with this annoying guy!
Jin Zijue stared at Shen Feng, his chest heaving. Clearly, he was extremely angry. He managed to blurt out, "An old woman leans against the wall drinking thin porridge and watching the clock!"
Shen Feng didn't understand what that meant, but it didn't prevent him from acting. That sentence was probably not a compliment, and his tone indicated he was cursing. Shen Feng could use this to add another charge against the guy: insulting him. If he offended him to this extent, it would be unreasonable to let him go.
However, at this moment, someone walked over and asked, "What are you doing?"
Shen Feng turned his head and saw a soldier from the artillery battalion, disheveled and appearing with a look of confusion.
Seeing the artillery soldier, Jin Zijue immediately shouted, "Save me, brother! Shen Feng is trying to kill me. He's going to retaliate against me for a petty personal grievance while we're facing a great enemy. You must save me!"
Seeing that the opportunity was lost, Shen Feng had to shake his head regretfully and slowly lowered the steel pipe in his hand, explaining, "I was just joking. I didn't expect Brother Jin to be so timid. Forget it, since you can't take a joke, then so be it."
Looking at Shen Feng's demeanor, Jin Zijue was still quibbling even at this point, which made him a little angry. He finally said, "I will report everything that happened today to headquarters. You just wait for headquarters' punishment."
Shen Feng slowly stood up and said leisurely, "Oh really? Then go ahead and report to headquarters. Let's see if headquarters will avenge you! By the way, I'm a fourth-tier ability user now. You'd better be polite to me."
"Fourth tier? You... How did you break through the evolution barrier?" Jin Zijue was greatly surprised, looking at Shen Feng in disbelief. He had thought Shen Feng had merely escaped safely, but now it seemed he was a fourth-tier ability user. No wonder he could lead people back.
Shen Feng shrugged and left. He couldn't be bothered to answer Jin Zijue's questions.
Chu Chaoyan found Shen Feng and complained in a low voice, "I told you to act quickly, why are you still hesitating? We found over fifty surviving artillery soldiers in a stone cave nearby. Now, with these people present, you won't have a chance to act."
"It's fine. I've also obtained enough intelligence. Moreover, Jin Zijue is covered in fractures and won't pose any threat. I'll deal with him again later." Shen Feng said casually. The most important thing now was not to deal with Jin Zijue. Although he was truly detestable, the crisis in Rongcheng was more important at the moment.