In an instant, the hill where Ye Zhongming stood was engulfed in a storm of bombardment.
Amidst this swarm of aircraft, a single person sat in the cramped space of one machine, manipulating the control stick and constantly adjusting the crosshairs on the screen.
At a certain moment, their hand pressed down hard.
A fish-shaped missile trailing flames shot out from the aircraft and struck the Water Bottle Protection moments later.
The hill erupted in thick smoke.
At this point, the numerous aircraft didn’t care whether Ye Zhongming was killed or not—they were simply pouring firepower into the area.
Only the Thunderbelly Roc, while attacking, occasionally checked on the human below. After all, its feathers, charged with terrifying electricity, took a long time to regenerate and couldn’t be wasted carelessly.
Soon, some of the aircraft exhausted their ammunition and hovered in the air. The barrage raining down on the hill gradually lessened.
As the smoke cleared somewhat, the faint glow of the Water Bottle Protection could still be seen, proving Ye Zhongming remained unharmed.
“The Water Bottle Protection’s defensive capabilities are too strong; we can’t breach it. I’ll engage in ground combat. Request reinforcements ASAP.”
After speaking, the person quickly folded the paper into an airplane. As they leaped out of the aircraft, they tossed it into the air, where it instantly transformed into a streak of light and vanished into the distance.
Ye Zhongming, protected by the Water Bottle Protection, saw the person jumping from the sky but paid no attention. Instead, he looked up at the Thunderbelly Roc and its symbiotic creatures.
That thing was the real nuisance.
Whether now or later, it would shadow Ye Zhongming relentlessly, harassing and attacking him, preventing him from moving or fighting at full strength.
Even though its level wasn’t high, combined with its symbiotic creatures, it could still cause him significant trouble.
But how could he take it down without Yangos, Xia Bai, or Red Hair?
Suddenly, Ye Zhongming stowed away the Staff of Nature.
This action not only startled the person descending from above but also caused the mutated creatures in the air to rise higher instinctively.
Ye Zhongming flipped over the hill, taking the barrage of fire with him.
The ammunition followed Ye Zhongming to the side opposite the aircraft.
Yes, the direction Ye Zhongming flipped toward was the side he had come from earlier.
Instinctively, the aircraft surged forward, closing in on the hill to regain sight of their target.
This was a normal reaction. Even the evolved human who had jumped from the sky and safely landed after several glides didn’t sense anything amiss.
Until… they saw a figure suddenly burst from the hill, leaping into the air.
How high can an evolved human jump?
How high can an eight-star evolved human jump?
Most people wouldn’t bother pondering this question, and those who did rarely had the chance to learn the answer.
No eight-star evolved human would waste time determining something so trivial.
But at this moment, the witnessing evolved human learned just how high an eight-star evolved human could jump.
Like a cannonball, Ye Zhongming used his momentum to propel himself upward with a mighty leap.
Fifteen meters? No—closer to twenty meters!
The height of a seven-story building!
The evolved human was stunned.
If speed, strength, and endurance were traits evolved humans had grown accustomed to—everyone was a superhuman—then jumping ability, influenced by gravity, leg strength, core strength, and other factors, hadn’t improved as dramatically.
Before the apocalypse, jumping two or three meters was a world record. Now, leaping five or six meters was already monstrous.
But for someone to jump twenty meters in one go…
What kind of physical prowess was this? Was he defying gravity?
The stunned man froze for a moment before instinctively shouting at the aircraft swarm:
“Evade!”
The swarm, having flown over the hill to track Ye Zhongming, was now hovering about fifty meters above the hilltop.
Ye Zhongming had jumped twenty meters, meaning he was now only about thirty meters from the lowest-flying aircraft!
Numerically, this might not seem significant, but in terms of altitude, thirty meters was substantial. However, it’s worth noting that Ye Zhongming didn’t need to reach the same height as the aircraft to attack them—he just needed to get close enough.
Sure enough, Ye Zhongming’s warblade vanished, replaced by a bizarre-looking firearm.
Yet, everyone’s attention was fixed on Ye Zhongming himself or the weapon in his hands, completely missing the small black sphere flying beneath him.
Just as Ye Zhongming’s momentum peaked and he began to descend, the black sphere suddenly exploded.
The force propelled Ye Zhongming upward another ten meters!
At this height, two black cables shot from Ye Zhongming’s shoulders, embedding themselves into the underside of an aircraft. Using them like ropes, he swung his body and scrambled onto the aircraft quickly.
The entire aircraft swarm descended into chaos.
Even the evolved human who had just landed below was dumbfounded.
He had jumped down… while Ye Zhongming had jumped up?
But what he couldn’t understand was why Ye Zhongming hadn’t attacked the aircraft directly. Instead, he had climbed onto them. Was he planning to destroy them one by one from above? Or was he trying to hijack one to escape?
But… most of these aircraft were automated, with only a few piloted manually. Even if he hijacked one, he’d become a sitting duck in the air, easily shot down by the remaining aircraft or the Thunderbelly Roc.
Wait… the Thunderbelly Roc?!
The man suddenly realized something and opened his mouth to shout a warning—but it was too late.
He watched as the Cloud Peak King, like a monster, leaped between several aircraft, grabbed one of the smaller ones, and hurled it toward the Thunderbelly Roc. Then, with a powerful jump, he launched himself after the metal hulk, the force of his takeoff crushing the aircraft beneath him. At the same time, the black cables from his shoulders reappeared, tethering him to the thrown aircraft.
Like swinging on a pendulum, Ye Zhongming arced through the air. When the cables released, he was already within a few dozen meters of the Thunderbelly Roc’s underbelly!
The strange gun in his hands roared like thunder.
It was a true roar, deafening.
The man on the ground instinctively covered his ears.
Before he could lower his hands, he saw a rain of feathers, blood, and dismembered limbs falling from the sky.
A massive shadow plummeted at terrifying speed.