Chapter 167: Inexplicable Success

A bird, blazing red to the point of being blinding, weaved rapidly through the woods. Flying at super high speed in the forest, it perfectly avoided every tree and dodged every extending branch. Cheerful “chirp” sounds were heard. In just the blink of an eye, only a streak of fiery red flashed before it went far away, disappearing into the woods.

Not far behind it, Zhou Liming tried his best to control himself from colliding with the trees. In this forest, the distance between trees was too short. The faster you went, the more you suffered. You had to control your speed within the limits your brain could react to, and allow your body time to react as well; otherwise, you would just be waiting to make intimate contact with the trees.

Actually, just a moment ago, Zhou Liming felt like a bulldozer, smashing through trees and forcing his way through.

In these woods, Zhou Liming was no match for the Flame Bird at all. Within just a few minutes, he lost its trail, so Zhou Liming could only stop unwillingly, flick the leaves off his body, and then shoot up into the sky out of the forest to breathe the outside air.

The sun was very gentle; in fact, the winter sun was always like this.

Zhou Liming, who had rushed into the sky, naturally stopped on the back of a huge Fierce Beast with a golden-yellow body. Its length of about sixteen meters made people feel terrified. In terms of body shape alone, it was not much weaker than the Boneback Beast. Its two transparent and tiny wings flapped at a speed that couldn’t be seen, magically supporting this huge body to float in the air.

Logically speaking, the ferocity of a Fierce Beast would absolutely not allow anyone to get close, let alone sit on its back.

But now, such a mysterious scene occurred: the golden-yellow Bullhorn Fish allowed Zhou Liming to sit on its back.

Even now, Zhou Liming still didn’t understand why the two of them accepted him. Was it gratitude for saving its life, his blood, or something else? Anyway, Zhou Liming didn’t want to worry about these things. Right now, he was as excited as a child, sitting on the back of the Bullhorn Fish, touching its horn from time to time, and then stroking its slightly cold golden-yellow scales.

With a length of sixteen meters and an incredibly broad back, Zhou Liming looked very small in the middle of it. From the side or below, no one would discover that there was actually a person on this Fierce Beast’s back.

With a sound, the Bullhorn Fish’s tail didn’t move, but it was already slowly swimming in the air as if in water. Its speed wasn’t fast, but it looked somewhat leisurely. Its movements were elegant, and paired with its cute and beautiful appearance, anyone would fall in love with it at first sight. Indeed, stripping away its identity as a Fierce Beast, it was definitely a fish full of ornamental value.

In the extreme distance, the Flame Bird shot up into the sky, issuing cheerful cries. Then, with a refraction of light, it flew towards Zhou Liming’s position.

In the blink of an eye, the Flame Bird stopped on the Bullhorn Fish’s body, folded its wings, and chirped a few times at Zhou Liming. Then, amidst Zhou Liming’s dumbfounded gaze, its body began to shrink, forcibly becoming three or four times smaller, looking no different from an ordinary eagle. If Zhou Liming didn’t know the Flame Bird, he might never have guessed that this fiery red bird the size of an ordinary eagle was actually a Fierce Beast currently at the top of the pyramid.

Thinking about it carefully, Zhou Liming felt that he was making a fuss over nothing.

Take a Super Warrior for example: once they entered the Fierce Beast Form, the cells in their bodies would be activated, and then they would transform into the Fierce Beast Form. Huang Dazhuang’s Magic Ape Beast gene allowed him to possess a height of over five meters in the Fierce Beast Form, which could be considered a giant.

Since one could turn into a giant, what was so strange about turning from a giant into a small person?

Think about the unnamed big man he had killed in the National Biological Research Institute. He was a Level Six Super Warrior. After entering the Fierce Beast Form, his transformation was similar to the Giant Worm Beast. A human body—have you ever imagined it being stretched dozens of meters in an instant, with a diameter reaching over three meters? The wonder of the Fierce Beast Gene was displayed here; it would allow you to successfully replicate the Fierce Beast Form you possessed.

It was indeed nothing surprising or strange that the Flame Bird possessed the ability to shrink its body.

“I wonder if the Bullhorn Fish can grow bigger or smaller?” This thought popped into Zhou Liming’s mind, but the Bullhorn Fish didn’t respond to him and continued to swim leisurely forward. To humans, the Bullhorn Fish was flying in the air, but for it, “swimming” was more appropriate because its movements completely treated the sky as an endless ocean.

The Hundred Thousand Great Mountains, in the eyes of humans, were definitely a place of poor mountains and bad waters.

The Bullhorn Fish was almost gliding slowly against the canopy of the forest. Zhou Liming lay on its back, his head resting on his hands, looking at the sky.

Now Zhou Liming finally understood why the Bullhorn Fish’s small wings could drive such a huge body to float in the air. Although the frequency of the small wings was fast, it was impossible for them to keep this body afloat. Flying over the canopy, the airflow brought by the small wings was very small, like a breeze. What really allowed it to float in the air was itself. Its cellular composition could generate an upward force during transformation, as if it had escaped Earth’s gravity.

It was a magical ability. In Zhou Liming’s view, the various abilities of Fierce Beasts had significant research value for humans.

Didn’t the development of human technology also get inspiration from animals? Like airplanes, submarines, radar, and so on, all of which were variations derived from certain animal abilities. If people could thoroughly research the various abilities of Fierce Beasts, perhaps the human energy era would arrive. The anti-gravity phenomenon of the Bullhorn Fish could at least contribute to the subject of levitation. Many Fierce Beasts could provide more research directions for humans…

These were just Zhou Liming’s thoughts; right now, they had absolutely nothing to do with him.

Returning to a somewhat familiar place, what delighted Zhou Liming was that standing in the air, he could see a group of dozens of Pig Beasts with red ribbons tied around their necks foraging in the fields. Perhaps sensing the existence of the Bullhorn Fish and the Flame Bird, they started running with their hooves again, rumbling loudly, practically demonstrating the four words “rampaging” to the fullest.

“Hehe!”

Zhou Liming laughed. He jumped up from the Bullhorn Fish’s back, flew over a dozen meters, and then fell elegantly like a diver.

His wings appeared with a “swoosh.” Zhou Liming flapped slightly and was already skimming past the ground with a whistling sound, chasing after this group of Pig Beasts.

Zhou Liming hadn’t expected that the Pig Beasts were only active in this area. He remembered when the Bullhorn Fish appeared back then, they scattered in all directions. At that time, Zhou Liming once thought they must have scattered, and his efforts were in vain. But who could have thought that when he returned after more than a week, he would find that they were still together in a group?

The happy Zhou Liming couldn’t help but let out a long whistle. His wings flapped violently, and with an instant acceleration, he appeared above this group of galloping Pig Beasts.

“One, two, three, four, five… fifty-nine, sixty, sixty-one, sixty-two, sixty-three. Haha, not a single one is missing.”

Zhou Liming became overjoyed. Seeing the red marker ribbons on their necks, and the words he had written on the fluttering strips of cloth clearly visible, thinking of his prank back then, Zhou Liming couldn’t help but laugh again. He retracted his wings and landed on the largest Pig Beast. Then, before it struggled, he released his aura.

The familiar aura made this group of panicked Pig Beasts calm down. Although their running speed didn’t decrease, they no longer had the panic from before.

Zhou Liming grabbed the Pig Beast’s ears, clamped his legs hard, and the Pig Beast, sturdier than a horse, exerted force and leaped past the nearby Pig Beasts like an arrow, becoming the leader in moments. With Zhou Liming’s guidance, the Pig Beasts soon slowly turned and ran onto a nearby second-class highway, making chaotic trampling sounds on the road as they rumbled forward.

Seeing the excitement, the Flame Bird staying on the Bullhorn Fish couldn’t sit still. It let out a “chirp,” spread its wings, and flew like an arrow. In moments, it caught up with Zhou Liming, constantly circling over the Pig Beasts. Its aura was retracted, and since it was still in its small form, it didn’t scare the Pig Beasts.

Only the Bullhorn Fish remained calm. It still swam slowly in the air with its leisurely manner. Only when the distance became too far did it move its tail, instantly accelerating to catch up, and then returning to its slow pace.

The Flame Bird only played for a while before feeling bored. It then landed on Zhou Liming’s shoulder and pecked Zhou Liming’s face with its beak.

Thinking that a super Fierce Beast was pecking his face, Zhou Liming felt a burst of nervousness and scolded, “Be careful, don’t peck too hard and blow my head up directly.” This was not an exaggeration; as long as you knew its identity, you would be even more exaggerated than Zhou Liming. With a full-strength peck, even a tank would probably be pierced with a hole, right?

The running speed of the Pig Beasts was indeed very fast. On this straight second-class highway, Zhou Liming estimated their unleashed speed to be around 150 to 160 kilometers per hour.

Areas like the border of Gui Province were like a barren land in the eyes of the country; who would stare at this place? So Zhou Liming didn’t have to worry about satellites discovering him at all. As long as the abilities he emitted didn’t exceed the standard, they wouldn’t attract satellite attention, which was relatively safe and undetectable.

Long-range missiles were like a sharp sword hanging over Zhou Liming’s head; he didn’t dare to challenge their authority.

After more than half an hour, the villages on both sides of the second-class highway became denser. Gradually, some buildings appeared on both sides of the road, and factories enclosing huge plots of land appeared one by one.

Slowing down the Pig Beast group, Zhou Liming looked into the distance and could see the outline of a city appearing.