Chapter 11: This Is How a Fighter Jet Should Truly Be Used!

"Nature's" face changed drastically, yet he still seemed unable to believe it, blurting out, "What do you mean?"

Zhou Yan chuckled, his voice echoing from beneath his demonic, god-like helmet, deep and eerie. "If an ant dared to block your path, what would you do?"

He reached out and grabbed the young man. "Whatever you would do, that is what I have done."

Though held fast by Zhou Yan, Nature merely glared at him with a grim expression. "You mean to say that in this short amount of time, you have already killed them?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Zhou Yan replied with a laugh.

The next instant, a segment of tree trunk erupted from the part of Nature’s shoulder that Zhou Yan was gripping. Zhou Yan instinctively tightened his five fingers, shattering the wood instantly.

But Nature suddenly recoiled. As he retreated, a seemingly endless torrent of branches and vines surged from his chest, limbs, and every part of his body facing Zhou Yan, engulfing him completely within mere moments.

Soon, these countless tough vines formed a massive, writhing plant sphere. Being extremely cautious, Nature continued to summon more trees to wrap around the sphere, reinforcing the peculiar prison.

In just over ten seconds, the majority of the venue was occupied by the giant plant egg imprisoning Zhou Yan.

Nature finally ceased his movements. Breathing heavily, he looked up at his masterpiece.

Then, with immense vanity, he picked up his phone and pointed the camera at the scene before him. "Look, everyone, what a beautiful, natural sight! The nature of all things growing—that is the best!"

A flurry of comments raced across his live stream. Most were serious pleas for him to spare the dying Federal Leader behind him, while many other viewers, unaware of the reality, lamented whether this guy was filming a special effects movie.

Just as Nature was basking in the attention of his audience:

"It is quite something!"

A deep voice resonated from within the layers of the plant egg.

Nature was so startled that his hand trembled. He hurriedly channeled his ability again, causing a massive amount of vegetation to grow wildly, attempting to reinforce the cage once more.

"No need to panic."

Zhou Yan’s voice continued, carrying a hint of casual amusement. "Because—"

"Panic is useless."

As he spoke, the giant plant egg began to shake violently, as if it were not a human being trapped inside, but a prehistoric beast.

The next second, endless purple flames burst forth.

A massive hole exploded through the plant mass.

A crimson figure lunged from the opening and, in the blink of an eye, landed before the stunned Nature.

Zhou Yan, burning with deep purple demonic flames, reached out, gripped Nature’s skull, and hoisted him high into the air. "Tell me, where is the Pope?"

He had realized earlier that these Suppressors and Desire-Humans could potentially recover even if their limbs or body parts were severely damaged or severed.

Only if the brain, which governed their thoughts, was destroyed would they be truly dead beyond salvation.

With his head firmly gripped, Nature fell into a state of panic. He kicked at Zhou Yan’s chest and abdomen while frantically growing a massive amount of vegetation from his scalp, trying to pry Zhou Yan’s hand away.

However, this time, Zhou Yan’s right hand, wreathed in demonic flames, was as firm as the strongest iron hoop in the world. His sharp gauntlet claws dug deep into Nature’s scalp and skull; he needed only to exert a little more force to crush his head.

The plants growing rapidly from Nature’s body spilled through Zhou Yan’s fingers, quickly enveloping him once again.

But this time, Nature could only hang there, completely unable to break free.

"My patience is limited," Zhou Yan’s deep voice resonated.

He tightened his grip slightly, making the other’s skull creak.

Terrified, Nature froze.

The wildly growing trees went limp and fell from Zhou Yan’s body with a rustling sound.

Nature gave up his struggle. Staring straight at Zhou Yan with bloodshot eyes, he gritted his teeth and asked, "What do you want with the Pope?"

"What do you think?" Zhou Yan asked flatly.

"Heh... hehehehehe!" Nature suddenly burst into wild laughter.

He abruptly stopped and sneered, "The Pope and ordinary Suppressors are on completely different levels of existence. If you go after him, you are just seeking death!"

"Furthermore," Nature’s expression turned gleeful, "if it were the Pope from before today, you might have had a chance to clash with him, but after today... hahahahaha!"

Zhou Yan’s brow furrowed beneath his helmet. "You might want to speak more clearly."

Nature lowered his head, staring intensely at Zhou Yan. "Why do you think the Pope orchestrated this performance today? Wasn't it just to have us distract the whole world's attention for him?"

Zhou Yan’s heart stirred, and he quickly asked, "Is the Pope still in Longing City!?"

"Heh..." Nature simply chuckled eerily, looking at Zhou Yan as if he were a dead man. "Over there, it should have already begun. It only takes one day for every human in Longing City to become a part of the Pope. By then, he will be a god!"

As he spoke, he wanted to continue mocking Zhou Yan.

However, he was met with Zhou Yan’s demonic fist, burning with malevolent fire.

As the phantom of a demon roared, the endless purple flames reduced the shattered head to ash.

[Killed "Great Desire-Human", gained 4205 Spirit]
[You obtained "1-Star Rune — Physique, Keenness, Spirit"]
[You obtained "Protective Vine · Modified"]
[Killed six "Great Desire-Humans" (5/6)]

Zhou Yan glanced at the loot and immediately equipped the runes. Before embarking on this journey, his Life Gear had been equipped with ten runes, including the "Undying" circuit.

Having slain five Great Desire-Humans, including this 'Nature', three enemies had reached the "1-Star" level, each rewarding him with three runes.

Now, his Life Gear had reached "19/20". As soon as he obtained one more 1-Star rune, he would be able to fill the slots.

He wondered if it would automatically rank up as before.

And after the rank-up, he wondered how much of an upgrade it would provide to his Life Gear.

While contemplating, he casually touched Nature’s remains to check his information, discovering that, like "Justice" and that "Black Knight," he was a 1-Star material.

The stats the three could provide were roughly similar, though merging them would likely grant him different types of abilities.

Justice was the — Desire for Absolute Justice; from what he had observed, it could absorb, manipulate, and create machinery. However, the performance of the machines it generated seemed limited by the ability itself, and the power didn't seem stronger than the original versions made by humans.

Black Knight was the — Desire for Unyielding Loyalty; it could manipulate and generate carbon-based creations, though it was unclear if it could modify them at the "atomic" or "molecular" level, or if it could only generate a fixed type of carbon material.

Nature was the — Desire for No Constraints; it could manipulate and generate plants, but the strength of the generated plants seemed no different from ordinary vegetation. Perhaps it was formidable against groups and enemies of the same tier, but against a powerhouse of Zhou Yan’s level, it was simply too fragile.

Right, before killing Nature, Zhou Yan had slaughtered his way around the Capitol and even killed a giant winged Orc—this guy was also a Great Desire-Human, but his rating was the same as that Sandman, a 0-Star Rank 5. His pseudo-beast transformation ability was discarded by Zhou Yan on the spot.

However, Nature had dropped an additional new item.

Zhou Yan looked at the target.

[Protective Vine · Modified]
[Type: Bracelet (Pseudo-biological)]
[Description: After the Great Desire-Human codenamed "Nature" was killed, his remaining essence of ability transformed into an animated vine—modified and purified into a usable pseudo-biological item.]
[Effect: Activation—Can switch between vine bracelet and protective vine forms. In the protective vine state, it possesses standard attributes matching a "Standard 1-Star Rank 0" creature (Consumes 30 Life Gear durability/second in protective vine state).]
[Rating: 1-Star Rank 0]
[Note: Besides restraining and killing enemies, you can also assign it to do chores.]

Hm!

Zhou Yan became interested. Though this little gadget wasn't of much use to him personally, if it truly possessed 1-Star basic attributes, it could hold its own in many situations.

With a thought, a plain-looking circular plant bracelet made of a green vine appeared on his right arm gauntlet.

Next, he issued the "Activate" command.

The next second, the thin vine automatically detached from his wrist and hit the ground. After twitching a few times, it suddenly grew and expanded, transforming within seconds into a "vine snake" nearly ten meters long.

The vine snake, acting just like a real snake, slithered a few times before winding around his armor, its "snake head" resting obediently on his shoulder.

Not bad!

Zhou Yan set aside the urge to experiment, deciding to focus on the task at hand.

After killing Nature, the notification indicated that he had completed another of his first "Major Event" tasks.

His current status for the extra tasks was:
[Extra Task 1: Resolve three "Major Events" (2/3)]
[Extra Task 2: Kill six "Great Desire-Humans" (5/6)]
[Extra Task 3: Kill one "Extreme Desire-Human" (0/1)]

Before coming to the Metropolis, he had thought he would complete all remaining tasks here.

He hadn't expected the leader of the Extreme Desire Church to play a game of feinting—arranging for his subordinates to cause trouble in the Metropolis while he stayed behind in Longing City to orchestrate something even bigger.

And according to Nature’s final words, it seemed the Pope’s plan was monumental—so big that even after witnessing Zhou Yan’s terrifying power, Nature still felt Zhou Yan couldn't defeat the Pope to stop him.

What was he waiting for then?

If this Pope was the only "Extreme Desire-Human" required by the task, and Zhou Yan failed to kill him, wouldn't that mean he failed to complete the mission issued by [Order]?

Which could, in turn, affect the rewards he would receive!

Zhou Yan decided he had to leave for Longing City immediately!

As for how to get there...

Zhou Yan turned to look at the Federal Leader. At this moment, the man was lying on the ground, breathing desperately.

After Nature was killed by Zhou Yan, all the plants he had spawned in the venue withered and melted, miraculously allowing the Federal Leader to survive.

Zhou Yan walked over and stood before the Federal Leader, crouching slightly, and asked calmly, "Looking at you, you should be fine now, right?"

Come to think of it, through this leader, Zhou Yan had discovered a limitation of the Ghost Gourd's effect—although the purple mist it emitted could exclude non-targets, this was conditional on those non-targets not being in a "restricted" state.

For instance, like this Federal Leader, who was wrapped and locked by Nature’s vines when the domain was activated, he hadn't been excluded.

The Federal Leader looked up and said quickly, "This... this hero, I saw it, you saved me, thank you very much!"

Although his freedom had been restricted, he had seen Zhou Yan effortlessly slaughter the demonic plant controller, and he deeply understood the terror of Zhou Yan's power.

He was afraid of saying the wrong thing and being killed by this even stronger individual.

Zhou Yan waved his hand and cut straight to the point: "You heard what that guy said just now. There is someone even more powerful in Longing City, plotting a massive conspiracy."

The Federal Leader nodded, thinking for a moment: "I will immediately have the police force there arrange a siege."

Zhou Yan shook his head: "Arrange whatever you want, but can you cooperate with me first?"

He looked at the Federal Leader’s confused expression and paused, saying, "Considering I saved your life, after all."

The Federal Leader immediately replied, "No need to say more, whatever the hero needs, just say it!"

"Arrange a fighter jet with the fastest speed for me. I want to fly directly to Longing City."

"Ah?"

Ten minutes later.

At the military airfield closest to the Capitol.

A motorcycle sped across the runway unimpeded, coming to a stop right beside a fighter jet parked on the tarmac.

Zhou Yan, not even deactivating his Super Fusion state, rode the bike and pulled into a sharp, skidding stop before dismounting.

As for Long, he had instructed her to stay at the Capitol to protect the Federal Leader.

That’s right, "protecting" him.

In reality, it was to keep an eye on him, preventing this politician from being two-faced—agreeing to everything on the surface while plotting something else behind his back.

Zhou Yan’s move was indeed effective. After the Federal Leader saw Long make a long sword sprout black flames, and after Zhou Yan had wrapped the snake-like Protective Vine around his entire body, ready to strangle him at any moment, he quickly volunteered to provide every bit of support he could.

After getting off the bike.

A person in pilot gear standing next to the fighter jet ran over, gave Zhou Yan a salute he hadn't seen before, and said seriously, "Mr. Hero! Per the Federal Leader's instructions, I will be your pilot for this flight!"

"No need," Zhou Yan said flatly.

He gently brushed past the pilot, who was still trying to say something, climbed into the cockpit, and sat down. Amidst the pilot's confusion, he summoned back the Mechanical Heart originally installed on his motorcycle and pressed it onto the jet's control panel.

[Activate Effect: Fusion-Connection]

The blue, cube-like crystal quickly merged into the control panel.

The next second, to the pilot’s utter astonishment, the sleek motorcycle on the ground immediately regressed to its original, ordinary appearance.

At the same time, the fighter jet before him rapidly morphed, transforming within seconds into a futuristic, silver-white streamlined aircraft.

Zhou Yan sat in the cockpit, pressed two fingers together, and gave the pilot on the ground a farewell gesture.

With a thought, the plane responded immediately.

The cylindrical engines near the tail of the significantly upgraded fighter jet spewed out dazzling light.

A massive thrust pressed him into his seat.

Seconds later, the fighter jet had finished its rapid takeoff, soaring straight into the clouds.

Estimated time of arrival in Longing City: five minutes!

***

Same old rules, there will be another chapter this afternoon.

Recommending a seedling from a friend. Ever since I read the new book by Gun Kai, I’ve quite liked the shelter concept in "The Last Shelter, My Shelter Infinitely Strengthens".