Red Sky Terror!

ountless people emerged from the surrounding residential buildings. They excitedly roared at the sky, venting their despair from this period. The nation finally took action!

Olivia said delightedly: "The nation finally took action!" Michelle and Lily also became happy. Hearing about the nation's action, they felt as if they saw hope of returning to the past. They could go shopping, chat, and dress up beautifully.

Herbicide? Jake frowned slightly. If it were that simple to end the evolutionary apocalypse, he wouldn't believe it. Because Enlightenment Fruits and abilities made him feel that this apocalypse wasn't as simple as mere natural evolution. Moreover, even if the plants were killed, would the apocalypse end? What about the red fog?! As long as humans only have 5 meters (approx. 16.4 feet) of visibility in the red fog, transportation will never recover. In short, Jake didn't hold much hope for the nation's response.

However, since the nation was taking action, it meant that high-level organizations still existed, and there was still hope for order to be rebuilt. Jake also didn't want to live naked in a primeval forest as a savage.

As for him publicly killing Chris, Jake wasn't too worried. How many humans had died these days? At least one-third, right. Among so many survivors, how many have blood on their hands? At least hundreds of millions! With so many people, how can the nation manage them? Kill them all? That would be crazy! Aren't you afraid these people will directly rebel? As the saying goes, 'the law doesn't punish the masses', and it's truly so.

Moreover, even if the nation could rebuild order, powerful ability users, as the strongest of the new era, would inevitably enter the upper echelons and become a member of the ruling class. Therefore, Jake wasn't anxious at all. No matter the outcome, he would be the beneficiary.

Jake quietly looked out the window, with a sense of calm detachment: "Michelle, go cook. We're not going out today."

Michelle said honestly: "Okay, Jake."

The group chat, which had been silent for a while, became lively again:

"The nation has finally taken action!" "They'll probably send us food soon, right?" "That's for sure! The nation won't stand by and watch us die!" "Humph! Some people, who wouldn't even trade a gold necklace for instant noodles, must be filled with regret now!" "Hahaha! Exactly! Exactly! Truly, greed is insatiable!" "They even wanted to exchange instant noodles for women? Delusional!" "Some foolish women believed it. They'll have regrets later!" "Director Olivia's father won't let some people off the hook!"

...

Jake looked at the group messages, his mouth curved slightly. Hope you can still smile after a while.

Half an hour later, over a dozen transport planes flew low. White mist sprayed from their tails. The mist gave off a pungent smell. If it were in the past, citizens would definitely be disgusted, even call to complain to the authorities. But now, all survivors in Fortune Center Apartments let out deafening cheers.

"Long live the Nation!" "End the apocalypse!" "Kill these damned plants!"

Hope for the end of the apocalypse seemed close at hand. Jake quietly looked at the planes: "Deployed over a dozen transport planes at once. This is just one city, Bay City. It seems the authorities indeed still possess powerful strength."

Just then, a flock of red giant birds instantly swooped down from the clouds. Their speed was extremely fast, like streaks of red lightning, tearing through the sky! Almost in the blink of an eye, they swept from a small red dot to above the transport plane fleet. Looking at their size, the difference between the two wasn't large.

The giant bird's sharp claws grabbed the top of the transport plane. The plane's steel shell was like cardboard, penetrated without resistance. It violently flapped its wings, forcefully dragging the dozens of tons (approx. 18-27 metric tons) of transport plane towards the clouds. The heavy transport planes had no ability to resist the giant birds at all. They dragged away the transport planes one by one.

One red giant bird seemed to be the leader of the flock. Its size was especially huge. Its wings glowed red, like lit torches. The fiery red giant bird let out a sharp shriek.

Crash! Crash!

It shattered many windows. The flock of birds heard the leader's command and flew upwards, disappearing into the clouds. The surrounding cheers halted. The survivors were like choked ducks, staring blankly at the sky. A single bird can actually drag away dozens of tons (approx. 18-27 metric tons) of plane? Is this something carbon-based life forms can do? Such powerful creatures, how tough must their bones, skin, and muscles be? Can missiles kill them?

Jake's scalp also tingled as he watched. After his Overall Constitution was enhanced, his eyesight also improved significantly. Just now, he vaguely saw traces of air distortion around the leader giant bird's body when it shrieked. "This isn't a normal cry, but some kind of ability?"

This flock of red giant birds was far more terrifying than the mutated frog downstairs. This is just one city, Bay City, and so many terrifying creatures have appeared. And Bay City is still a place where humans are dense and animals are scarce. There are still many sparsely populated places on Earth. From remote mountains to vast rainforests, and the boundless oceans. How many creatures have evolved to a level unimaginable by humans? Can humanity really become the masters of the Earth again? Jake had no confidence at all.

No matter how the situation changes, becoming stronger is always right! Jake took out a pile of Enlightenment Fruits and started eating them.

After eating countless fruits, Jake finally heard a pleasant system prompt:

[Ding! Perception upgraded to 5 Stars! You can sense lifeless objects! Perception range increased to 100 meters (approx. 328 feet)!]

Jake was secretly delighted. Finally upgraded! This time, the entire building was completely under his surveillance. Not a single movement could hide from Jake's "vision." Besides that, Jake's Perception spanned the distance between two buildings. He could also monitor a portion of the floors in Building A and Building B simultaneously!

Another key change was being able to "see" lifeless objects. The information perceived increased significantly. Before, he could only "see" living targets like animals, plants, and humans. Now, he could "see" furniture in rooms, building stones, floors, and so on. Except for the colors being dimmer, it was almost indistinguishable from visual sight. And it was 360 degrees!

The next day. Jake got up and looked out the window. The red fog continued to rise, now past the 21st floor. Immediately after, Jake noticed a change. Many plants were dead! The pine trees towering into the clouds, their needles had fallen overnight, turning them into bare trunks. The light within the pine trees was very faint, like a candle that could extinguish at any moment. The Virginia creeper on the outer walls had all withered, revealing the mottled walls.

It really worked? Jake was surprised: "Phasing!"

He phased through layer after layer of floors, soon arriving at an empty room on the 1st floor. Jake cautiously observed his surroundings. This time, he finally found the mutated frog's location. It was lying at the bottom of the complex's swimming pool, seemingly asleep. This location was over 80 meters (approx. 262 feet) from Building C's main entrance. If not for Perception upgrading, Jake wouldn't have found the mutated frog at all.

Jake also saw that the plants outside the window suffered heavy casualties. Whether it was wild grass, vines, or woody plants, they were all flattened in swathes. After so long, he finally saw the ground's appearance again. The plants were dead, and many animals were also poisoned to death by the herbicide. The ground was densely covered with the corpses of rats, cockroaches, and various insects.

However, because the transport plane fleet was ambushed by the red giant birds, the herbicide spraying wasn't uniform. Many areas still had large amounts of residual plants. And some plants, not exposed outdoors, also escaped unharmed. For example, in the ground floor lobby, the plants were only slightly withered, with no signs of death. Jake also noticed that the light within these unharmed plants hadn't dimmed at all. Instead, they had brightened slightly. They seemed to be rapidly adapting to the herbicide!

Makes sense. Evolutionary apocalypse. Everything evolves at light speed. How could a small herbicide kill all plants? As long as they aren't killed, they can adapt and evolve again! Jake sighed inwardly: "The current situation... it's probably just humanity's last flicker of hope."

Just then, daring survivors began to try walking out of their rooms:

"Holy crap! This herbicide is awesome!" "The National Academy of Sciences is still the National Academy of Sciences!" "Don't waste time, hurry to the supermarket for some food!"

...