The Situation is Clear

The latest intelligence was reported layer by layer, sweeping past the Four Great Cities of the Eastern Continent and finally arriving at Tongtian City, the current imperial capital located at the junction of the Three Continents.

The entire city had only one building, towering into the clouds and occupying 60,000 square kilometers, and it was still expanding continuously.

As both Tongtian City and Tongtian Tower, the military headquarters was located in the middle section of the tower. Wang Jianjun, one of the three Grand Marshals, was stationed here permanently. He was also the oldest of the three Grand Marshals, but no one questioned his combat effectiveness.

Common sense of the post-apocalypse did not apply to this old man.

"Marshal, there's a battle report from the northwest!" The soldier with three flowers on his shoulder knocked on the door, his palm full of nervous cold sweat.

"Come in."

Inside the room, Wang Jianjun held a teacup in both hands and blew on the hot tea. He took the battle report from his subordinate's hand and smiled, "It must be that Winged Tiger that escaped ten years ago. It has grown up now and dares to come and make trouble again."

"Marshal, the northwestern battle line was broken for 30 li. Our brothers there may not be able to hold on. Lieutenant Leng, the S-level Superhuman stationed there, was caught off guard and killed." The soldier was very anxious but could not show it.

"Take this kind of trivial matter directly to the Special Operations Department from now on. I allocate so much money to feed them every year. They can't expect me to worry about things like this!" Wang Jianjun threw the battle report back, "Tell that stinky kid that there's no damn use coming out of the Trials Facility.

"I don't want someone who kills his own people! If he's capable, get the hell out there and kill the monsters. Give him three days. Two days to go and come back, one day left to get this damn thing solved for me, otherwise pack up and get the hell out of the Special Operations Department!"

After leaving the room, the soldier slapped himself twice—I was asking for this by taking on this job!

-----

"Can you slow down a bit? The walkie-talkie signal is not good. If you go out of range I won't be able to hear you!"

Hearing Wen Anran's voice in his headphones, Li Changan hesitated for a few seconds before slowing down and softly saying, "You're too slow. I can't stay too close to you. If someone finds out we're allied, they'll target us first."

"Bullshit!" Wen Anran was very dissatisfied. He was the one huffing and puffing behind! "Normal people move at my speed. It's not like I have an enhancement ability!"

"Me neither," Li Changan said matter-of-factly.

Wen Anran was left speechless by this retort.

Li Changan continued over the walkie-talkie, "You're a Superhuman. Your physical fitness is better than ordinary people's. And [Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Harm] can't directly improve your combat ability. You have to learn to maximize the use of your own body, otherwise it'll be hard for me to protect you."

"...Fine, what do you suggest?" Facing the expert, Wen Anran chose not to argue. Li Changan was the best example of an ordinary person defeating Superhumans.

"This is a trial now, so I can't train you. Stay closer to me and pretend you're tracking me, then imitate the way I move. I'll teach you properly after we get out of here," said Li Changan, stopping to wait for Wen Anran to catch up.

Since the apocalypse, superpowers had come into full play, replacing humankind's previous way of life. At the same time, the human lifespan was increasing, as was the body's limits. Through long-term training, running 100 meters in under 7 seconds was easy.

This was an all-around evolution. But few people trained as desperately as Li Changan. No one would choose to suffer if there were other options.

It had been three days since he’d obtained the sniper rifle. As expected, Salman had died at Charles’ hands. That had been Salman's own choice. Perhaps from the start he had attacked with the mentality of mutually assured destruction.

So in his final self-destruction, half the sky turned red while the other half became a frozen wasteland. Having broken through to S-level in his moment of self-destruction, perhaps Salman would have had better odds if he’d done so a bit earlier. They do say fate toys with people.

Salman’s death was like a disaster. The already dilapidated city collapsed by over half, on top of the part Charles had previously destroyed. With over 30% of buildings no longer habitable, living space kept shrinking. But just as many people had died, with Salman's self-destruction taking 20 onlookers who’d thought they were safe 100 meters away.

Now the counter in the sky showed [Survivors: 31], with the top 3 rankings below it.

First place: Charles, 34 points

Second place: Wen Anran, 22 points

Third place: Li Changan, 7 points

A cliff-like ranking!

Li Changan was shocked to find himself in the top three. When the rankings first appeared, third place had belonged to some guy named Bren with 11 points. But after encountering and killing a Dual-Superhuman with great difficulty on the road, Li Changan discovered his name now in third place.

Who the hell is this Bren?

[Invisibility] combined with [Wind Element Manipulation] was worthy of third place, but Li Changan did not deserve to be ranked third. If not for the two fights involving Charles that affected too wide an area, he wouldn't have gotten 7 points for third place.

There was nothing to be happy about. His only hope was that Charles wouldn't waste points looking up his location. Charles not dying was what troubled Li Changan the most right now.

"Stand on your tiptoes first, then kneel down halfway. Use both hands to push off the ground above you. At the same time, push off with your feet and the jump turns into a leap." Li Changan explained to Wen Anran behind him.

Wen Anran tried it out according to his instructions. Indeed it took less effort, but more importantly reduced stress on his joints.

But still...there was something oddly familiar about this pose...wasn't this a locust?

Wen Anran helplessly stopped and held his forehead. "How on earth did you learn this method?"

"I observed animals, switching from plantigrade to digitigrade or unguligrade gaits. It's less tiring with better flexibility," said Li Changan, a touch of joy in his tone. "The books say nature is the best teacher, and I think that’s very true."

"Are you a wolf boy? Why would someone raised in human society go and learn from wild beasts?" Wen Anran didn't understand. He was trying his best to be human!

Li Changan thought about it. "Shouldn't we learn from the stronger ones? Many wild monsters have no abilities yet can hunt us. That means their methods work."

"If I could learn abilities, I'd definitely go learn those instead. It's because abilities can't be learned that I went to learn..." Li Changan suddenly stopped, "There's someone ahead!"

The two immediately halted. Li Changan slowed his breathing until his voice was almost inaudible, even his heartbeat growing faint.

About 50 meters away stood a woman holding a knife, with several mangled corpses scattered around her. But they were too broken up to ascertain the exact number.

The scoreboard in the sky remained unchanged.

It was San Zhenghe. The previous scheme had not placed her in mortal danger. Instead it was that bow-wielding guy who hadn't been heard from in a while.

"The woman ranked second." Wen Anran said.

"Yes," Li Changan softly replied. "I've encountered her before. Extremely powerful, her ability's something I've never seen that relates to traces—she can see the traces left behind by anything and her slashes also leave blade traces."

This was Wen Anran's first time hearing the words "extremely powerful" from Li Changan's mouth. It made him rather apprehensive too. He lowered his voice again to ask, "Then shall we carefully retreat?"

Li Changan didn't reply. He was hesitating!

Take a gamble?