"Boom!"

Three helicopters started up, with a total of six pilots, two per aircraft.

The fog was too thick, obstructing visibility. They took off separately, maintaining a safe distance. After only a few dozen meters, the planes disappeared from sight, leaving only the roar of engines echoing in the misty sky.

Below, the crowd surged, shouting loudly towards the sky.

"Be careful, and have a safe journey!"

"Heroes, we'll be waiting for your return!"

"Children, you're all wonderful! Please come back safely!"

Granny Li and her group of old friends also shouted at the top of their lungs, tears welling up in their eyes.

On the platform, the newly appointed District Head, Long Shuhai, removed his glasses, constantly wiping away tears as he waved towards the empty sky where the planes had vanished.

Because his own daughter, Long Xiaoyue, only nineteen years old, was on one of those helicopters!

Farther down the street,

A burly, tall figure appeared. The fog concealed his features, revealing only his imposing frame, like an iron tower of a man.

"My silly little sister, your brother came to see you off. Why couldn't you wait for me..."

He stared into the void, listening to the receding sound of the aircraft. Suddenly, he stomped his foot on the ground. With a "crack," the asphalt beneath his foot shattered, revealing the terrifying power of his stomp.

Whoosh!

He shot forward like a humanoid Tyrannosaurus, sprinting along the ground, chasing the flight path of the planes.

In the distance, many others ran on the ground, following the direction of the helicopters. They couldn't see them, but the sound guided them.

"Flying in such heavy fog, those pilots are risking their lives!" Zhang Zhishan sighed, his eyes slightly red, his heart filled with emotion. "Let's go and see!"

Zhang Ji nodded. Flying in such foggy conditions was indeed extremely dangerous, especially considering it wasn't ordinary fog but strange fog, which further reduced visibility.

Fortunately, none of the three planes collided with any high-rise buildings. They were heading west.

Zhang Ji and his father, Zhang Zhishan, followed the crowd, chasing after them on the ground.

The two were much faster than the others, quickly overtaking them and running at the head of the pack.

But at that moment, a rush of wind came from the left. Through the fog, they saw a figure dashing at a speed no less than their own.

"Someone's faster than us?!"

Zhang Zhishan glanced in surprise to the left, but the fog was too thick to make out who it was.

Zhang Ji glanced over and said, "This person is holding back; this isn't his top speed!"

Hearing this, Zhang Zhishan was shocked. Sure enough, after a turn, the other person's speed greatly increased, sprinting like lightning, the extreme speed whipping up the fog into a vortex.

Zhang Ji raised an eyebrow.

"Such incredible speed and physical strength… I wonder what animal he's mutated into. But his bloodline level is definitely not low!"

He licked his lips, involuntarily swallowing.

Whoosh!

Zhang Ji suddenly accelerated, running neck and neck with the other figure in the fog.

They chased the aircraft through the sky, leaping over buildings and obstacles lower than five stories with ease.

Such powerful jumping ability had already surpassed the limits of the human body before the Xichuan Town Cataclysm.

Along the road, a young man in a baseball cap was picking up meat when suddenly a gust of wind swept by, like a tornado. The hat on his head was instantly blown away.

"Damn, what was that?"

The young man was startled. He looked back, but couldn't see anything, only a swirling vortex of fog.

Zhang Ji continued to run, leaping over another four-story building. The immense power and speed that the Titan King Cobra had given him allowed him to effortlessly keep up with the figure in the fog to his left.

"Who are you?" a cold voice called out from the fog on the left, sounding surprised.

He had noticed the extra figure running alongside him in the fog a while ago. He had accelerated several times, reaching his maximum speed, but this guy was keeping up without any effort.

It was unbelievable.

He came from the northern part of Xichuan Town. In the northern region, he had never seen anyone whose physical speed and strength could match his own. He never expected to encounter such a person when he came to the western district to see off his sister.

"Don't be nervous. I just want to be friends," Zhang Ji replied.

His tone was gentle and calm, not at all breathless from the high-speed run. "Brother, where do you live? I'll come find you for a drink tonight. It's on me."

The person in the fog didn't answer, only a cold snort echoed.

Zhang Ji was disappointed. Just as he was about to rush over to intercept the other person, he saw the vague outlines of trees in the fog ahead.

"Have we reached the outer forest?"

Zhang Ji looked up. The fog in the sky was too thick, and he couldn't see the planes, but he could hear the roar of the three engines as they continued west, already above the forest.

Behind them, everyone else who had been running along was excited and nervous. The forests that had suddenly appeared on the day of the Cataclysm had blocked off the roads out of Xichuan Town.

Now, with the planes scouting the way from the sky, they were all filled with anticipation.

Zhang Ji couldn't help but feel a pull in his heart. He ran into the forest, following the planes that continued to fly west in the fog above.

"Could it be that they can really fly out?!"

Zhang Ji was surprised, and a sense of hope began to rise in his heart.

If they could escape Xichuan Town and live a normal life, who would want to roam around with an oval snake head, eating raw meat and drinking blood every day?!

For the moment, he ignored the person to his left, focusing on chasing the planes through the forest.

Behind him, a group of faster people were also following.

One of the girls, who was running extremely fast but seemed completely relaxed, ate peaches as she urged a young man beside her:

"Brother, can you hurry up? You're so slow! Let me tell you, the one running fastest in front is the boyfriend I've set my sights on, your future brother-in-law."

"Him? How much does he weigh? How dare he try to be my, Wu Zhan's, brother-in-law?!"

The young man sneered. He leaped over a dozen meters high, kicking off a giant tree that would take ten men to encircle, using the trunks to propel himself forward. His movements were swift and he never touched the ground, as if he had mastered a peerless qinggong (light body skill).

He instantly overtook everyone else, following closely behind Zhang Ji.

"Hey kid in front, stop right there!"

Zhang Ji heard the shout behind him. He suddenly accelerated, his figure disappearing into the fog. He hid himself in a tree. A few minutes later, he heard someone rapidly approaching through the fog, agilely leaping through the treetops.

Smack!

Zhang Ji suddenly burst out, delivering a full-force palm strike to the head. The person groaned and lost consciousness, but before he could fall to the ground, Zhang Ji hoisted him onto his shoulders and quickly left.

"Brother, Brother, where are you?... "

A shout came from behind in the fog, but no one responded.

Just then,

There was a sudden, deafening boom in the sky, like an explosion. Then pieces of the plane, along with fire and smoke, began to fall, but the thick fog obscured everything.

Explosions also rang out in the other two directions.

Those behind who heard the explosions all cried out in alarm.

"Something bad happened to the planes!"

"Quick, save them!"

"My daughter, Xiaoyue!!!"

"Ah, how could this happen? Can't we even get out through the sky? Is our Xichuan Town really sealed off?!"

Anxious shouts and desperate cries filled the air.

In the crowd, the newly appointed District Head, Long Shuhai, cried out in grief, stumbling forward.

Zhang Ji sighed inwardly. Although he had expected it, he still felt a wave of sorrow and despair.

Xichuan Town was truly isolated from the world. The skies and the ground were shrouded in a mysterious force.

Those outside couldn't get in, and those inside couldn't get out.

After dark, everyone would mutate and devour each other to evolve. If this continued, how many people would be left in Xichuan Town?!

What was the ultimate goal of this strange fog?

Zhang Ji didn't know.

He turned his head to look at the figure in the fog to his side. After the plane explosions, he seemed very anxious, rushing toward the crash sites.

Zhang Ji pondered for a moment, then glanced at his shoulder.

"I already have one harvest here. I'll find that guy another day; I'll swallow him sooner or later!"

The young man on his shoulders, Zhang Ji recognized as Wu Zhan.

He possessed the Three-Tailed Armadillo bloodline.

He was extraordinary.

He was the biological specimen that Zhu Tiandao had specifically requested to be sent to the dissection table.

"This is really an unexpected gain!"

Zhang Ji was satisfied.

He could feel the powerful qi and blood surging within Wu Zhan's body, even hear the sound of blood flowing through his veins like a roaring river. It was astonishing.

"Zhu Tiandao was right. Wu Zhan, with the Three-Tailed Armadillo bloodline, cannot be allowed to grow."

Zhang Ji pondered inwardly.

But he wasn't afraid of him, because he wouldn't always be a Titan King Cobra. In the future, he would definitely evolve into other, even more powerful snakes.

Carrying Wu Zhan, Zhang Ji moved quickly, using the fog as cover to leave the forest and return to town, heading straight for the West District office building.

Underground laboratory.

Zhu Tiandao, wearing a white coat and a mask, was busy with a bloody scalpel in his hand.

When he saw Zhang Ji, he quickly ran over to greet him.

"Snake Lord!"

"Professor Zhu, come and see, I brought you a treasure!" Zhang Ji grinned.

Zhu Tiandao took a closer look and instantly recognized him from the photos. He exclaimed excitedly, "Wu Zhan?! The Three-Tailed Armadillo, my biological specimen! Hahaha, thank you, Snake Lord! Snake Lord is mighty!"

"Quick, put him on the dissection table!"

Zhu Tiandao was very excited, his eyes shining, as if he were looking at a peerless beauty.

At that moment, Wu Zhan's eyelashes fluttered, and he seemed about to wake up.

He had received a full-force palm strike from Zhang Ji, yet he was waking up so quickly, a testament to his extraordinary physique.

But before he could open his eyes, Zhang Ji slapped him again on the forehead, causing him to lose consciousness once more.

"Get some more steel chains and tie him up securely! Don't let this guy escape!" Zhang Ji instructed. "After you're done with the experiment, I'm going to swallow him!"

Zhu Tiandao wrote the specimen number 001 on a tag and hung it around Wu Zhan's neck. Then, he gave his assurance, "Don't worry, I'll take care of it. Snake Lord, you can rest assured!"

As he spoke, he picked up a finger-thick syringe and prepared to inject Wu Zhan with a medicinal solution.

"What kind of injection is that?"

"A tranquilizing anesthetic. One shot and he'll sleep like a log, allowing me to dissect him without him feeling a thing."

"Use a bigger needle!"

Zhu Tiandao nodded and picked up a syringe as thick as a baby's arm, drawing a full dose of the medicinal solution before injecting it into Wu Zhan's body.

Zhang Ji nodded in approval and smiled. "I'll leave this specimen to you. Don't disappoint me."

Zhu Tiandao said confidently, "The obsidian substance we extracted before wasn't very stable. There was a risk of explosion after ingestion. I've already found a solution."

He pointed to Wu Zhan on the dissection table, his eyes filled with anticipation. "Dissecting him will definitely allow me to experiment with a perfect obsidian substance that has no risk of explosion."

Zhang Ji was moved.

If that were the case, he could feed livestock and even humans with the obsidian substance in the future. His blood food supply would greatly increase, and the efficiency of harvesting evolution points would double.