Recalling everything that had happened, Zhou Ziwei carefully allowed this powerful soul force to fully merge with the soul consciousness and water energy that already existed in the lake. Instantly... the lake water became violent again, bursting open like an explosion, but under Zhou Ziwei's deliberate control, it all shot towards a certain direction in front.
This time, Zhou Ziwei controlled the water arrows very precisely, with five water arrows corresponding to each crocodile. After all, Zhou Ziwei did not yet have an accurate estimate of the power of the water arrows, and he was very worried that if he made a mistake and failed to kill the group of crocodiles in front of him, they would eat the female researcher instead, which would be a tragedy.
However, with five water arrows simultaneously hitting a crocodile, Zhou Ziwei was confident he could completely tear it apart. After all, once the water arrows swelled up inside the body, their impact was terrifying.
Moreover, this time Zhou Ziwei only controlled the firing of these 360 water arrows. Under precise control, the compression of these water arrows was even greater. If each water arrow was only compressed ten times the first time, then this time, each of these 360 water arrows was compressed by Zhou Ziwei by at least twenty times.
This means that... these water arrows are at least twice as powerful as the previous volley of water arrows.
"Boom—" This water arrow, compressed twenty times, was truly extraordinary. Not only was its power greater, but its speed was also significantly faster than before. This was probably due to the properties of water molecules being compressed like springs. Just like pulling a bowstring, the harder you pull, the faster and farther it will propel.
The 360 water arrows shot directly to a distance of 200 meters in almost an instant, striking the frenzied crocodiles as if by teleportation. In that instant, countless crocodiles seemed to be blown up like balloons. If you looked closely, you would see that each crocodile seemed to have increased in size in that instant. Then, with a loud bang, the 72 crocodiles exploded like 72 time bombs, their internal organs bursting out like blooming fireworks. Blood and flesh splattered all over the lake like rain, instantly turning the lake water, which had just begun to regain its clarity, back into a living hell.
"No way! That's...that amazing."
Zhou Ziwei exclaimed in surprise, though of course... in this foul-smelling lake, Zhou Ziwei wouldn't actually shout loudly; he was just deeply shocked inside, followed by a heartfelt joy.
Water arrows seem pretty powerful... Of course... in terms of speed and power of a single arrow, it's far inferior to butterfly darts. However... wherever there's water, it's a terrifying attack method. If you can mobilize tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of water arrows to attack simultaneously... the power it generates is far beyond what a few butterfly darts can achieve. Of course... this attack method not only wastes attribute-free energy but also consumes soul power. If you were only firing a few dozen water arrows at once, it wouldn't seem like much, but firing 360 water arrows compressed twenty times in one go just now, the consumption is quite considerable.
Zhou Ziwei's spirits lifted, and with a flick of his aquatic tail, he swam quickly over again. Before the next wave of crocodiles could charge, Zhou Ziwei had already rescued the unconscious female researcher.
The female researcher was also badly injured, but fortunately, only a lot of her skin and flesh had been gnawed off by the group of crocodiles, but no limbs were bitten off. So... for Zhou Ziwei, her injuries were not as serious as Jiang Chunshui's.
Instead of immediately treating the female researcher, Zhou Ziwei pulled her body into the lake he controlled, then turned and leaped forward, propelling himself straight towards the surface.
Volume 3, King of the City, Chapter 530: Bombed
The mission was complete, and it was time for Pinball to notify the helicopter responsible for the pick-up to escort them away. Unfortunately, not only was Pinball unconscious, but the other five members of the Dragon Group were also...
When Zhou Ziwei burst out of the lake with unstoppable momentum, finally able to breathe in the fresh, humid air, he was stunned by the scene before him.
The booming explosions echoed one after another, and the lake, which had been calm and still until now, was like a typhoon-ravaged sea, with towering, turbulent waves rising up.
Amidst the towering, turbulent waves, the small island in the middle of the lake resembled a tiny boat adrift on the ocean, swaying precariously and terrifyingly. This swaying was not merely an illusion created by the waves… the island was indeed rocking, and even… slowly, bit by bit, it was sinking as countless large and small crocodiles, like a swarm of ants, densely crawled ashore…
Besides the five members of the Dragon Group, there were also twenty or thirty armed men belonging to the research base on the island. Originally, there were at least a hundred armed men on the island, but... most of them should have been wiped out by the five Dragon Group members who remained on the island.
Despite being outnumbered and outgunned, with a frighteningly large disparity in numbers, Zhou Ziwei had already destroyed all the weapons of the armed men in the small building, while the five Dragon Group members still possessed quite sophisticated weapons. As a result, the balance of power between the two sides was instantly reversed.
Judging from the quality of the Dragon Group members, even without considering their respective areas of expertise, they are all capable of taking on at least ten opponents in terms of individual combat and marksmanship.
So... although the Dragon Group only has five members, annihilating a hundred or so ordinary armed personnel who have lost their henchmen is no problem at all.
After so much time, it was strange that there were still twenty or thirty of these hundred-plus militants who hadn't been dealt with. Zhou Ziwei even had serious doubts about the abilities of these so-called Dragon Group members.
However... the strange occurrences happening on the island have thrown everyone into a panic, leaving them completely at a loss as to how to respond.
The five Dragon Group members were relatively better off, managing to stay calm and gather together, standing quietly in an open space in the center of the island, waiting patiently. The twenty or thirty surviving militants, however, were like headless flies, screaming and yelling as they ran wildly all over the island, probably unaware of what they were doing.
Although the five members of the Dragon Group were still able to maintain their composure, they were clearly in disarray. Even as they watched the armed men who had just been fighting them to the death run past them, no one paid them any attention anymore.
The island had sunk to a dangerous level. Originally, it was protected by dikes and barbed wire around its perimeter, making it impossible for the ferocious crocodiles kept in the lake to climb onto the island.
But now... the island has not only sunk a lot, but one end has also tilted severely. This has led to the crocodiles, who were also terrified by the shocking changes at the bottom of the lake and Zhou Ziwei's powerful slaughter, finding a place to escape. They frantically climbed up from the tilted end of the island.
Just then, a few unlucky guys ran to the sloping bank and saw a dense swarm of crocodiles, their mouths agape and their tails swung like wooden stakes, charging at them from all directions. The guys were so frightened that their legs went weak, and they didn't even have the strength to run. They could only cry out as the extremely hungry crocodiles bit their calves and dragged them to the ground. Then, countless companions swarmed in and devoured the unfortunate guys in no time, leaving not even a bone fragment.
So many crocodiles.
The five Dragon Group members who had been barely able to maintain their composure could no longer remain calm. Seeing this, they all stood up from the swaying ground. Spider, after all, was still a little girl who hadn't grown up. Although she had undergone rigorous special agent training, she might be able to remain calm and composed when facing a ferocious enemy. However, when she saw such a large group of ferocious and ugly crocodiles crawling densely towards her, she was no different from an ordinary little girl. She was still frightened and screamed, like a startled little rabbit, and quickly hid behind the cannon barrel.
"Don't be afraid... they're just a bunch of little reptiles, what's there to be afraid of?"
Cannonball smirked with an air of bravado, but despite his boastful words, he was actually feeling quite nervous and uneasy inside.
It wasn't that he had never seen crocodiles before, nor that he had never killed them. He remembered that a few years ago, when he was completing a mission, he had a life-or-death struggle with a group of crocodiles in a crocodile pond in a wealthy man's villa. However... that so-called group of crocodiles was only a dozen or so, and only three of them were truly adults; the rest were just small to medium-sized ones.
Nevertheless, he and another teammate almost died there, and he still feels lingering fear when he thinks about it.
But... compared to the vast expanse of crocodiles that Paotong had seen before, it was like comparing a small stream to the ocean. How could Paotong not feel uneasy?
However, in front of others, Cannon would not reveal the slightest fear in his heart. He casually touched the head of the spider hiding behind him... but as soon as he touched it, he was shocked and quickly withdrew his hand. He suddenly remembered that this seemingly harmless little girl was a Dragon Group elite who was no less capable than him. This little guy was covered in poisonous spiders. Getting handsy with this girl... wasn't that just asking for death?
"Cough... Don't be afraid, watch me... watch me blast these guys to death with one shot." Seeing the crocodiles crawling closer and closer, the cannon barrel finally dared not wait any longer. It hurriedly pulled up something in front of it that looked like a mousetrap, then... stuffed a dark, lumpy object into the middle of the mousetrap. Taking a deep breath, it suddenly pulled a lever on the device that could move back and forth, seemingly with extremely strong elasticity, and then suddenly released it... Instantly, the large, dark object flew up, then drew a beautiful parabola in the air before falling into the dense swarm of crocodiles.
"Get down..." Cannon knew just how terrifying his "cannonball" was. He usually didn't like making these kinds of low-tech gadgets, but there weren't any suitable parts to assemble weapons here, and the bullet had given him orders to sink any ships he saw... Helpless, he could only cooperate with the madman Gunpowder Barrel and use a lot of explosives to make a few simple-looking gadgets, and then make this launcher.
Although that dark thing looks simple, its power is actually extraordinary. Its explosive force is no less than that of an ordinary artillery shell, and may even be greater. Now that it has exploded at such close range, it could easily injure the people here if they are not careful.
Zhou Ziwei emerged from the water just as the cannon fired that makeshift shell. However, all Zhou Ziwei saw were the five Dragon Group members gathered together on the messy island and a group of crocodiles crawling all over the ground. He didn't notice the dark shell flying through the air at all... Speaking of which... with that thing's unconventional shape, Zhou Ziwei would have to use his soul power to thoroughly scan it from the inside out to determine its purpose. If he could identify what it was just by looking at it, then Zhou Ziwei would be too monstrous.
Zhou Ziwei was completely unaware that danger was approaching not far above him. He had emerged from the bottom of the lake not far from where the large group of crocodiles had climbed ashore. When he saw the situation, he naturally realized that the five Dragon Group members on the island were in a bad situation. Without thinking, he moved and immediately dragged a large clump of lake water, along with the people wrapped in the water, and climbed onto the lake shore.
They were just some slightly larger reptiles. Zhou Ziwei was too lazy to waste time killing these ugly creatures one by one, so he was just thinking of taking the five Dragon Group members with him from under the jaws of these crocodiles.
Originally, Zhou Ziwei didn't want to show off his extraordinary abilities in front of others, but... now it's impossible for him to get the slingshot to contact the liaisons in the US to come and pick them up by helicopter. So in the end, Zhou Ziwei still has to use his special ability to swim them all the way from the water to the lake. So... since he'll be exposed sooner or later, Zhou Ziwei doesn't care anymore.
However, just as Zhou Ziwei stepped onto the land on the shore of the lake island, which was now tilted at an angle of about 25 degrees, a dark shell fired by the cannon with something resembling a large mousetrap flew right up to the heads of their group.
The island is now almost sunk, and the solar lights and searchlights that used to be on the island have all been extinguished. The island was obviously self-sufficient, generating electricity using the natural hydroelectric power from the lake, but the island's power supply system was completely shut down immediately after the explosion, so the entire island is basically pitch black.
Zhou Ziwei has amazing eyesight; even under these circumstances, he can still clearly see the general situation on the island. However... Cannon and Spider's group cannot.
Cannon and the others vaguely saw a gigantic creature suddenly emerge from the lake and then rush towards the shore at a speed more than ten times faster than those crocodiles...
Holy crap... could it be a water monster?! This thing is way too big; one cannonball probably won't be enough to take it down. Well... let's give it a couple more hits!
"Whoosh...whoosh..." Without any hesitation, the cannon barrel flicked its wrist and placed the other two dark, watermelon-shaped things at its feet onto the mousetrap-like object. With a roar, it pressed its large hand on the lever and pulled it twice, launching the two terrifying "cannonballs" out in one go.
"Damn... I'll blow you to bits this time... What kind of water monster dares to cause trouble here? I can still turn you into a pile of minced meat. Hmph... If I throw these 'cannonballs' at the same time, I can even blast a building to pieces. If I still can't kill you, you big water monster... I'm never playing with weapons again."
Cannonball laughed triumphantly, but Powder Keg stood there dumbfounded. Then, Gunpowder Keg grabbed Cannonball's arm and roared, "You idiot... Didn't the bullet team leader tell us to save the weapons we made to shoot the boats on the lake? Why did you throw them all onto the shore of this island? You moron... This island was already showing signs of sinking. If you do this a couple more times, we... we're probably doomed."
"Damn it... Cannon barrel, you idiot, you actually used cannonballs to shoot at us... Do you think we're airplanes?!"
While Zhou Ziwei's hearing wasn't as acute as a blind child's under normal circumstances, it was still quite remarkable. He could clearly hear what the cannon and the gunpowder barrel were saying. When he heard that the round, black objects about to hit his head and flying through the air were actually cannonballs capable of demolishing a building, he was filled with both anger and fear. He couldn't help but let out a furious roar. He then transformed the vast expanse of lake water surrounding him into a massive barrier above his head, roaring as he silently began to connect with the sandy, rocky ground beneath his feet...
With a deafening boom, the first so-called "shell" struck the curtain of lake water, shattering it into countless pieces that rained down from the sky...
"Oh no... It sounds like... It sounds like a little monster's voice." Upon hearing Zhou Ziwei's shout, the cannon barrel trembled in fright... Fortunately, he wasn't holding one of those counterfeit shells he and the gunpowder barrel had made, otherwise... if those shells, with their almost zero safety factor, landed on the ground, they would probably blow him to bits immediately.
"Ah...it's a little monster! And that...that huge clump...could it not be a water monster, but...our Dragon Group members?" Spider and the others screamed in fright, then hurriedly shouted, "Hurry...help them! The little monster is here, and Bullet Sister must be here too! You idiot, if you...if you blow Bullet Sister up, I...I'll fight you to the death..."
However, before Spider Woman could finish speaking, the two cannonballs fired from behind the cannon barrels in front of her landed one after another, exploding with a deafening roar that shook the heavens and the earth...
On the spot, the crocodiles that had just climbed ashore were blasted into a bloody mess, their skin torn and bleeding. Of course, those crocodiles that were farther away from the blast point were temporarily spared, but the problem was that, under such a violent shock, most of them, even if they didn't die, were stunned. However, the worst off were a very small number of them... who were neither killed by the blast nor stunned, but instead... went berserk after being subjected to such a powerful shock.
Suddenly, the crocodiles transformed into rabid dogs, emitting inexplicable noises and convulsing erratically before darting about and biting anyone they saw…
"It's over... Sister Bullet and the others must have been blown up. You... you idiot, I'm going to fight you to the death..." Spider Woman's eyes widened. After a burst of smoke, she saw that apart from the mangled corpses of crocodiles, there was no one in sight at the blast site. In a panic, Spider Woman couldn't help but wipe away her tears and complain to Cannon.
After saying that, Spider Woman abandoned the cannon barrel and powder keg combination and, crying, hurried towards the site of the explosion, completely forgetting to be afraid of the group of crocodiles that had gone completely berserk...
After running a few steps and arriving at the explosion site, I was surprised to find that although there was no one in sight, there was also no corpse. Could it be that the people who came ashore earlier were all blown to smithereens by that idiot cannon barrel?
"Ah..." The Spider Woman was slightly stunned, then felt something sticky tugging at her trouser leg. She looked down and was horrified to find that it was a creature whose body had been blown to pieces, its flesh and blood splattered everywhere, its head only half remaining, yet it was still biting at her trouser leg with its mouth open and closed...
Spider Woman screamed and was about to run away when she suddenly realized that she was completely surrounded by crocodiles, some dead, some crippled, and some half-dead...
"Ah..." The Spider Woman screamed again, flicking her hands to throw away at least a hundred kinds of poisonous spiders she was carrying. Then she hugged her head, squatted down, and burst into tears. Clearly, she had given up hope of surviving.
However, at that moment... the ground beneath their feet shook violently once more, followed by a loud "crack," and the already precarious island in the middle of the lake shattered into pieces and sank completely...
Volume 3, King of the City, Chapter 531: Enemy Plane Bombing
"Rocks pierce the sky, waves crash against the shore, churning up thousands of piles of snow..."
Aside from the fact that the island in the middle of the lake had no shore to photograph, the imagery in the ancient saying also matched the scene here very well. Just as Spider Woman and the Dragon Group members were surrounded by countless crocodiles that had lost their minds, the earth shook and the sky and earth cracked. In the blink of an eye, the small island in the middle of the lake, which had already tilted halfway, finally collapsed completely.
Instantly, towering waves crashed against the sky, and rocks exploded like thunder... The island in the middle of the lake was not very large to begin with, and someone had dug such a huge hole beneath it to build an underground base several times larger than the island itself. Therefore, the island had long been in danger of sinking. Now that the underground base had been hit by a series of explosions and collapsed out of thin air, the island above it was naturally in no better shape.
At that very moment, the cannon fired three more heavy shells at the island, which became the final straw that broke the camel's back, causing the already crumbling island in the middle of the lake to finally collapse completely.
After Zhou Ziwei had taken the hit of the first shell with a water curtain he controlled, he immediately used his burrowing technique and managed to burrow into the ground with the dozen or so people around him, thus narrowly escaping the calamity.
Normally... with Zhou Ziwei's burrowing technique, he could only carry two or three people underground at most. But like this... carrying a dozen or so people underground as if he were dragging his whole family along... even if you asked the first generation Blood Shadow who created the burrowing technique, he absolutely couldn't do it.
However, Zhou Ziwei was not only using the burrowing technique at this moment, but also relying more on the earth's energy. Just as he used most of his water energy to form a huge water curtain to forcefully hold back the cannonball that was falling from above, countless elemental energies surged out from Zhou Ziwei's middle dantian again, and then poured into the beach under his feet, and transformed into earth energy, taking all ten cubic meters of sand and soil under his feet into his control.
At that moment, the ten-odd cubic meters of sand seemed to become a part of Zhou Ziwei's body, and an extremely obedient one at that. With just a slight thought, the earth immediately cracked open, burying all of them deep underground. Even though the two shells crashed down and exploded with great force, they only caused Zhou Ziwei's head to tremble slightly and lose some more earth energy. They couldn't even harm a hair on his head.
As the earth seemed to collapse and the island sank completely, the dozen or so cubic meters of sand controlled by Zhou Ziwei immediately separated from the entire island.
Zhou Ziwei was startled, and without hesitation, he controlled the sand around him as if it had come to life, and five tentacle-like things quickly extended out, wrapping around the five Dragon Group members who had fallen into the lake.
He then pulled four of them back and into the space formed in the center of the ten-odd cubic meters of sand. As for the remaining Cannonball… Zhou Ziwei hated him for his inconsiderate act of carelessly throwing bombs, which had almost killed him, so he couldn't let him off easily. He wrapped the guy up with tentacles made of sand and stones, tossed him into the air a few times, then shoved him into the water and rinsed him a few times, and finally sent him to roll around in a pile of crocodiles… until even the usually thick-skinned Cannonball couldn't withstand the stimulation and fainted, Zhou Ziwei finally felt relieved. The sand and stone tentacles retracted slightly, and the guy was also brought into the space constructed of sand and stones.
Zhou Ziwei can control more than ten cubic meters of sand around him using earth energy, but it would be quite difficult, if not impossible, to directly create a sufficient space underground.
However, the small island in the middle of the lake had completely collapsed, and the ground was completely shattered. Zhou Ziwei only controlled this part of the sand to prevent it from collapsing, but he was no longer under any pressure from the surrounding earth. Therefore, he was able to flatten and shape this single ten cubic meters of sand at will, and create a small living room-like space out of thin air in this sand without any effort.
A dozen or so people were thus crammed into the space constructed by Zhou Ziwei using a dozen cubic meters of sand. From the outside... it appeared to be just a large piece of land that had been split off from a small island. This large piece of land floated and sank in the turbulent lake water, constantly drifting towards the shore. It looked completely inconspicuous. Even the crocodiles, who were still mindlessly searching for food in the lake, didn't care when they crawled over this large piece of land. Zhou Ziwei used earth energy to control this dozen cubic meters of sand, which naturally concealed the aura of the people inside. Even a sensitive nose like Lingru could hardly smell their scent.
Zhou Ziwei felt very strange. Because he had infused his soul consciousness into the dozen or so cubic meters of sand he controlled with the energy of the earth, he felt as if he had transformed into this huge clod of earth. At this moment, he was floating on a turbulent lake as a huge being, with a big belly, and inside his belly were more than a dozen people... It was a feeling that was quite speechless...
However, this is quite safe. Neither the reconnaissance from the US military nor the threat from the ferocious crocodiles in the lake are now a threat to Zhou Ziwei.
A series of booming sounds came from the sky, and more than a dozen bright spots in the distance grew closer and closer, finally arriving above the lake. They were actually more than a dozen imposing fighter jets.
That's right... these aren't ordinary civilian helicopters, but rather very advanced fighter jets from the US military. I don't know if they were reinforcements brought from an underground research base, or if the military discovered the commotion in the lake and came to investigate.
However... Zhou Ziwei felt that the former possibility was more likely, otherwise... if it was just a routine patrol, there would be no need to deploy such a large force!
Zhou Ziwei pursed his lips, completely ignoring the dozen or so planes that were constantly hovering at low altitudes. He continued to slowly and steadily drive the large clod of earth he was controlling toward the lake shore.
The dozen or so fighter jets flying overhead circled the center of the lake incessantly, like headless flies. Zhou Ziwei listened intently and, sure enough… he heard the crew urgently reporting to their superiors: “Sir, we haven’t found an island in the middle of the lake. There really isn’t an island here… Please give us further instructions… Sir… I’m not lying, there really isn’t an island here. I’ve flown over the entire area of this lake… The only thing on the surface is a small clod of earth, no bigger than a house, floating on top. There really isn’t an island… Sir, I really, really, really… can’t see an island, and I can’t determine the mission objective. Please give us your instructions…”
A bunch of idiots.
Zhou Ziwei leisurely continued drifting towards the distant lake shore, but unexpectedly, after flying above the lake for a while, the dozen or so fighter jets suddenly went berserk and began dropping rows of bombs into the lake like dumplings being dropped into a pot. The explosions caused water columns to rise from the lake surface, instantly turning the lake, which had just calmed down, into a boiling state once again.
Zhou Ziwei stared at the scene in disbelief, feeling utterly contemptuous and speechless. These damn American devils must be burning their brains with money! Sending a dozen fighter jets to indiscriminately bombard a lake... Are they trying to cover up the crime?
That's probably the only possibility. After all, these guys arrived a bit late, and even the island in the middle of the lake had already sunk. They couldn't even pinpoint the original location of the island, so how could they possibly find the underground research base? This bombing raid plowed up the entire lake surface, and no matter how much ammunition was wasted, they didn't want a single person to escape. So, they probably managed to preserve some of their secrets that they didn't want to reveal!
Zhou Ziwei curled his lip. Seeing that the two planes were about to explode overhead, he immediately separated a portion of his attribute-less energy and transformed it into water energy. He then wrapped the large clod of earth in a thick layer of water, and used this layer of water to drag the clod of earth slowly into the depths of the lake... "I'm not going to fight you head-on. If these dozen or so fighter jets really go crazy, their combat power is quite astonishing. Zhou Ziwei is also carrying a dozen or so burdens, and he doesn't want to risk his life against those dozen or so fighter jets at this time."
We can still move forward in the lake, as long as we don't run out of the air we inhale into this earthen space before we come out.
Spider Woman, Powder Keg, and the few others who remained conscious stared blankly at everything before them, still feeling as if they were in a fog.