After waking up, Shen Feng began to observe the changes in his body. This time, his physical fitness had improved significantly, but that wasn't the most important thing. He discovered that his control over his abilities had reached a new level. He had also learned a new move, which he decided to name "Dong Feng Hao Dang," meaning a strong wind blowing.
His own description was simple, but when Shen Feng used the move, a strong wind swept in from the north, covering a kilometer of ground. Plastic bags, leaves, and sand were all blown into the sky. The soldiers of Luzhou were thrown off balance, their eyes shut tight. If they opened them, sand would get in, so they could only crouch on the ground, covering their eyes. Some even lay flat, unable to stand.
Chu Chaoyan walked towards Shen Feng against the wind and said, "Stop playing, everyone can't open their eyes!"
Chu Chaoyan expected Shen Feng to stop, but the wind was too strong and drowned out her voice. Shen Feng didn't hear her and continued to control the wind to disperse the fog. Many of the white clouds in the sky were also blown away. What were originally rain clouds were now forcefully turned into cirrus clouds.
At this moment, Shen Feng was intoxicated by his own power. He knew his abilities had become even stronger. Before, they might have only served as auxiliary combat means, but now his abilities could affect the local weather. Even in a heavy rain, he could disperse the clouds!
Seeing that Shen Feng hadn't stopped, Chu Chaoyan disregarded propriety and kicked him in the backside, shouting, "Stop it!"
Shen Feng was startled and quickly stopped his actions. The strong wind vanished. Looking around, he saw everyone crouching on the ground with their faces covered. The fog in the distance had indeed dispersed significantly, but the fog deeper within still remained. It was estimated that this fog covered at least a hundred square kilometers. The strong wind Shen Feng controlled only affected a kilometer radius, making it not so easy to disperse all the fog.
Yang Chang was very sensible. Seeing that Shen Feng had stopped, he quickly shouted to the people who were sheltering from the wind and sand, "This is a miracle from the City Lord, hurry and applaud!"
As he spoke, Yang Chang led the applause, and the others quickly followed suit. They all looked at Shen Feng, who stood on the hillside, with trepidation. In their eyes, Shen Feng could no longer be called human, for how could a person control such a strong wind?
Of course, after witnessing Shen Feng's power, these people were all reassured. With Shen Feng's current strength, he should be able to deal with the tree people. If they could defeat the tree people, then all their equipment could be recovered.
Shen Feng heard the applause from the foot of the mountain and felt quite pleased. He then pressed his hands down in the air and said solemnly, "I understand everyone's enthusiasm. Prepare yourselves and get ready to set out with me. Since the tree people fear sunlight, I will specifically disperse the fog!"
Afterward, Shen Feng looked at Chu Chaoyan and asked in a low voice, "Why did you kick me just now?"
Chu Chaoyan found a bedsheet, tore it in half, wrapped one half around her head to shield herself from the wind and sand, and handed the other half to others.
While wrapping her head, Chu Chaoyan replied, "If I hadn't stopped you, you would have scared everyone below. Don't you even look at the occasion? So many people got sand in their eyes because of your wind. From now on, I think everyone will have to wear goggles when fighting!"
Shen Feng shook his head helplessly. He hadn't expected his ability to be indiscriminate. Although it was an area-of-effect skill, it had blinded his own people, which was somewhat inappropriate.
"It would be great if this were a game, where it wouldn't cause friendly fire," Shen Feng muttered.
Most games do not have friendly fire, otherwise, it would be chaotic, and teammates might backstab each other. But this was reality, and Shen Feng couldn't prevent his abilities from affecting his teammates because he couldn't achieve such fine control.
Half an hour later, the soldiers were ready. They had wrapped their heads tightly with bedsheets or other cloth, leaving only their eyes exposed. Their ears and mouths were all covered. Anyone who didn't know would think they had arrived in the Middle East, with everyone wearing cloth on their heads.
"What an exotic flair!" Shen Feng said with a smile.
Shen Feng's target of teasing was naturally Chu Chaoyan. Chu Chaoyan was also covering her face, completely wrapped from head to toe. This kind of attire was usually seen only among foreign tribes.
"You're one to talk, would we be doing this if it weren't for your ability?" Chu Chaoyan said with a playful glare.
Chu Chaoyan was naturally a beautiful girl, but now, affected by Shen Feng's ability, she had to be tightly wrapped to avoid getting dirty. Otherwise, she would have to advance in a disheveled state. Now, she could only blame Shen Feng for learning such an ability.
Shen Feng shrugged and led the group forward. The fog in the forest had dispersed considerably, and everyone could finally see the situation inside the forest clearly. There were many guns and weapons scattered on the ground. Everyone quickly went forward to pick up weapons. Shen Feng's two swords were gone, so he picked up a steel pipe from the ground as a weapon and continued to advance.
After walking two hundred meters, they encountered fog again, so they quickly looked at Shen Feng. Shen Feng shouted loudly, "Everyone stand firm!"
The crowd immediately hugged the surrounding trees. Shen Feng then summoned the strong wind again, instantly dispersing the surrounding fog. The dead leaves and branches on the ground were also swept up. Everyone quickly closed their eyes, waiting for the wind to pass. At this moment, sunlight, unseen in the forest for two months, shone down again.
The strong wind blew for ten minutes, dispersing all the fog within five hundred meters ahead. Shen Feng then stopped using his abilities. He felt an inexhaustible supply of strength throughout his body, as if he could control the wind for a long time.
"This is simply a leap!" Shen Feng muttered to himself. He had become a fourth-tier ability user, with inexhaustible strength. Unlike before, his abilities had become incredibly powerful, even affecting the clouds in the sky. If he evolved further, wouldn't his abilities become even more powerful?
Within the fog, there was a tree person. As the fog was suddenly dispersed, sunlight shone down from above, enveloping the tree person. It was extending its hand to control vines, seemingly to attack Shen Feng and his group. But at this moment, the sunlight shone on its body, and the tree person's body began to wither. The areas illuminated by the light withered the fastest. Ultimately, the entire body of the tree person turned into dead wood, rendering it immobile.
Seeing this, Shen Feng quickly rushed over. The tree person showed no signs of movement. He tapped its body with the steel pipe, producing a "bang bang" sound. It seemed the tree person was completely dead.
"Yang Chang, take your men and chop off this tree person's head," Shen Feng said to Yang Chang.
Yang Chang immediately brought his men over. After pushing the tree person down, they chopped off its burl. Unfortunately, the burl was extremely hard and could not be opened at all. Shen Feng guessed that whatever was inside this burl was the key to his evolution to the fourth tier, so he had to take everything from the tree person's head!
Shen Feng then led his men forward, leaving two people to guard the spot, and continued towards the tree people's lair. What he wanted to do most now was to find the heart of the mutated plant and destroy it directly. After last night's events, Shen Feng knew that the plant heart controlled the tree people. If it was destroyed, they would achieve victory.
Fortunately, Shen Feng knew the weakness of the tree people, which was sunlight. These plants withered instantly upon seeing sunlight, which was completely abnormal. Therefore, Shen Feng planned to deal with these tree people while it was still daytime.
Shen Feng and his men quickly arrived at the hillside they were on yesterday. There were still many vines on the hillside, and a lot of gelatinous substance was scattered on the ground, like jelly!
Shen Feng picked up a piece of the gelatinous substance from the ground and looked at it in his palm. This substance was liquid when hot but turned into a gel when cooled. It could be absorbed by the human body. He didn't expect that substances produced by plants could be absorbed by the human body and even allow for further evolution.
Chu Chaoyan stood beside Shen Feng, looking down. However, the cave below was filled with fog, and this area was a leeward spot, so the fog had not dispersed, and the scene below was unclear.
"Everyone stand ready, I'm going to use my abilities!" Shen Feng shouted loudly, and everyone quickly found places to crouch down.
Shen Feng once again used "Dong Feng Hao Dang," dispersing all the fog in the underground cave. Sunlight shone down, and then these plants began to wither. Both the branches and roots in the underground world became dry and weak. Everything in the cave was illuminated by sunlight, and everyone on the hillside could see clearly.
The cave walls were composed of plant roots and branches. On these roots, there were some pale blue fruits. In the darkness, these fruits provided light. Now, after being exposed to sunlight, these fruits also began to wither.
At the bottom of the cave, there were all white bones. The cave had been dark before, so they hadn't felt the danger and hadn't paid attention to the ground. But now, standing on the hillside and observing carefully, they realized there were too many bones on the ground. No matter what kind of animal, their corresponding bones could be found here.
Among them, the most eye-catching were the numerous skulls on the ground. These skulls were everywhere. It was unknown whether they were the bones of zombies or humans. In addition, there were the bones of mutated cats and dogs. Some animal carcasses had not been fully digested, and their exposure to everyone's sight immediately caused discomfort to many people.
Many bodies were tied to some vines. These were people or animals caught by the tree people last night. Most of them were corpses. A small number of captured people were still alive but dared not make a sound. Now that the vines had withered, they could no longer hold these corpses, and they all fell to the ground.
Shen Feng led his men down into the cave. There were still more than sixty tree people in the cave. Now, after being exposed to sunlight, they had all withered and died.
In the center of the cave, more than a dozen tree people stood together, blocking the sunlight shining down from above. A crack opened in the ground, and an irregularly shaped spherical object was constantly pulsing, expanding and contracting like a heart. Above this spherical object, there was an eye. At this moment, these more than a dozen tree people blocked the sunlight, keeping the plant heart hidden beneath the crack safe and sound.
Seeing this scene, Shen Feng couldn't help but sneer, "You thought you'd be fine hiding underground? Dream on. Cao Fuli, take your men to gather firewood and burn this place down! I'll see how long you can hide down there."
As soon as Shen Feng said this, Chu Chaoyan quickly intervened, "Don't burn it! Isn't this thing good for experiments? These plants produce substances that can allow people to evolve. If we figure this out, wouldn't it be beneficial to us?"
Shen Feng only wanted revenge, but Chu Chaoyan was more rational. She knew what needed to be done now and that this was an excellent experimental material, so she quickly stopped Shen Feng's destructive actions.
Shen Feng nodded after hearing Chu Chaoyan's words and said, "Alright, don't burn this thing to death for now. Capture it and take it back for research."
However, at this moment, the ground suddenly cracked open, and a wooden thorn emerged and stabbed towards Shen Feng.
Shen Feng was not flustered. He suddenly used "Ru Feng Sui Xing" to evade. He aimed at the root of the wooden thorn and smashed down hard with the steel pipe.
"Crack," the wooden thorn was hit at its root by the steel pipe and instantly broke. Shen Feng picked up the wooden thorn from the ground and found that it was incredibly hard, over a meter long, and showed no change even after being exposed to sunlight.
"The same move doesn't work the second time!" Shen Feng said mockingly, looking at the plant heart in the underground crack.
If Shen Feng had been cautious before, he would not have been successfully ambushed. In the end, it was Shen Feng's overconfidence that led to him being hit by the spike. Now, Shen Feng was fully focused and naturally would not be ambushed.
Afterward, Shen Feng called on everyone to move aside the giant trunks of the tree people, allowing sunlight to shine down from the sky directly onto the plant heart in the crack. At this moment, the plant heart instantly shriveled, its eye closed, and it stopped pulsing. The plant heart also feared sunlight.
Shen Feng had people cut off the roots below the plant heart, then wrapped it in cloth, preparing to take it back to Luzhou for experimentation.