Hearing Old He's sudden urgency, Wang Zhi's heart tightened. The sky? What could be in the sky? Other than an airplane, he couldn't think of anything else, but if it were a plane, there would surely be noise, yet right now, besides the sound of their vehicle's engine, there was nothing.
*Screech!* Wang Zhi immediately slammed on the brakes and stuck his head out to look up at the air.
A massive black shadow was flying overhead.
"Wow! Captain Wang, what a huge eagle!" Fatty exclaimed, holding binoculars.
Wang Zhi also clearly saw the black shadow in the sky. It was indeed massive, easily spanning two meters when its wings were spread!
"This giant eagle has been circling right above us and refuses to leave! Don't get out of the vehicle!" Old He was saying this when he suddenly saw Gray Wolf inside the car attempting to get out for a better look, and he immediately stopped him.
"Whoa, whoa, Captain Wang, it's diving towards us!" Fatty shouted as he watched the eagle swoop down from the sky.
*Boom!* A loud crash sounded behind Wang Zhi's vehicle.
Wang Zhi quickly turned his head to look. "What happened!"
"Don't get out of the car, or you'll become a target for that eagle. Luckily, Gray Wolf reacted quickly; the eagle only hit the roof," Old He said hastily.
Wang Zhi looked at the vehicle behind them. The door frame above the driver's seat was already buckled and deformed.
"It's a mutated eagle; it's too fierce." Gray Wolf got back into the car, chambered a round in his pistol, and prepared to shoot at the eagle.
"Everyone aim for its wings and make it fall!" Su Muying said, already grabbing her sniper rifle and starting to assemble the parts.
"No good! It's flying too fast, we can't hit it," Fatty worriedly exclaimed.
*Bang! Bang!* After several shots, only one of Gray Wolf's bullets grazed the eagle's wing.
The eagle staggered after being hit, but it quickly stabilized itself. It let out a screech in the air, seemingly enraged, and dove towards Wang Zhi's vehicle roof.
"Be careful! It's charging your car."
As Old He finished speaking, the heads of the group instinctively ducked down slightly.
*Scratch!* The eagle's sharp talons tore two large gashes into the roof, allowing outside light to instantly flood the interior.
After clawing the roof, the giant eagle immediately flew back up into the sky. This giant eagle flew so fast and so high that the group was helpless against it. Now, they could only wait for Su Muying to finish assembling the sniper rifle to deliver a fatal shot to the giant eagle.
To buy time for Su Muying, Wang Zhi started the car and began moving, hoping at least to make the giant eagle hesitate.
Seeing the car ahead start up, Gray Wolf also ignited his engine and started moving. The two vehicles sped down the road, one in front of the other. The giant eagle in the sky had no intention of letting them go so easily; once it targeted them, unless they hid where it couldn't reach them, it wouldn't stop until they were dead!
"It's diving again!" Old He warned over the radio.
Wang Zhi recalled the last time the giant eagle swooped down from the sky. He swiftly manipulated the steering wheel, suddenly changing the SUV's direction. This caused the diving giant eagle to miss, as it zipped past Su Muying's right door and shot back up into the sky.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Old He and the others behind them were still continuously trying to shoot the giant eagle.
"Stop the car," Su Muying suddenly said. By now, she had adjusted the scope and loaded a round.
Hearing Su Muying's order, Wang Zhi quickly slammed on the brakes. Before the car had fully stopped, Su Muying lifted the sniper rifle, sat on the car window frame, propped the bipod onto the roof, and aimed at the giant eagle soaring in the sky.
"Fatty, get out of the car and let the giant eagle dive down," Su Muying commanded.
"Huh? Okay!" Fatty didn't hesitate much and immediately opened the door and got out. Although he knew that once he got out, the giant eagle's target would lock onto him, he trusted Ying, and he also believed that even if Ying missed, he could dodge the giant eagle's strike.
After Fatty got out of the car, everyone held their breath, watching Fatty on the ground and the giant eagle diving down toward him.
Watching the giant eagle grow larger and larger, Fatty crouched over, ready to dive to the side at the last moment.
Inside the car, Wang Zhi and the others remained motionless, afraid of affecting Su Muying's accuracy.
200 meters! 100 meters! 50 meters! The giant eagle was diving down at a speed exceeding fifty meters per second.
When the giant eagle was less than fifty meters away from Fatty, Fatty could no longer hold on and dove to the side.
Bang! The instant Fatty dove away, accompanied by a loud crash, the giant eagle's body slammed heavily onto the ground, sliding more than thirty meters from Wang Zhi's position.
"Hit... hit it?" Fatty got up from the ground and confirmed.
The group snapped back to reality and looked into the distance. They saw the giant eagle continuously flapping on the ground, trying to take off again with the only wing it had left, but that was already impossible.
The group quickly grabbed their gear and got out of the car. Gray Wolf gritted his teeth and fired several rounds fiercely into the giant eagle's other wing, shattering that one as well.
"That's enough, Gray Wolf. Put it out of its misery," You Luo said, stepping forward and thrusting her blade into the giant eagle's neck.
After its head was severed, the giant eagle finally stopped screaming. You Luo sliced open the eagle's head and extracted the Mutated Crystal Core from within.
"This thing is quite plump. If it hadn't been infected, roasted meat from it would probably have been delicious," White Crow remarked, looking at the large eagle.
"But haven't we already been injected with the Viral Antibody? Maybe we can eat it!" Fatty suggested after giving it some thought.
"Then why don't you try it first?" You Luo brandished the eagle head toward Fatty.
"Uh... I think it's better to give this to the people at Dawn City so they can run some experiments. If it proves viable, then perhaps we can try some wild game in the future," Fatty proposed.
"Forget it. The reason this meat is inedible isn't just because it's infected, but because it's already spoiled. At this stage, even uninfected meat would be inedible for us," Wang Zhi said, frowning at the blackened flesh.
"Then what do you think Dawn Tower uses for those experiments? What do they test on? It's not people, is it?" Qin Sheng asked.
"Is that even a question? Of course, it's our great 'volunteers'," You Luo tossed the eagle head aside and handed the Mutated Crystal Core to Wang Zhi.
"Are there really people willing to volunteer?" Qin Sheng sounded incredulous.
"Since there are, then it must be true." You Luo didn't elaborate too directly, giving Qin Sheng a look that implied he should figure out the rest for himself.
Wang Zhi returned to the vehicle, wrapped the Crystal Core in gauze, and placed it in his backpack. Obtaining this Mutated Crystal Core had not been easy, despite sounding simple; at least both of their SUVs had sustained varying degrees of damage.
If they hadn't had the vehicles for cover, someone would have certainly been injured during that giant eagle's first dive-bombing attack.
After Wang Zhi and his team adjusted their condition, they continued driving forward. What lay ahead? Smooth success? Or an endless abyss? They didn't know, but they had grown accustomed to this state of uncertainty.
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