The shadow lurking in the shadows

These words were quite soothing, and the gloom on Wu Jiangshui's face eased a little.

He was injured by the Eagle Man and had been away from the competition for two days, causing his ranking to drop out of the top ten. He's back today, fully recovered, ready to make a big splash and reclaim his honor. The return of the strong should have made him the hottest topic today, with the citizens enthusiastically discussing how he would climb back to the top and what kind of fierce showdown he would have with the current number one. But nothing happened; all the limelight was stolen by some guy who appeared out of nowhere. How infuriating!

Wu Jiangshui is not short of money. He has only one purpose in participating in this competition: honor. He wants to climb to a more dazzling position and let the citizens know that there are not Yu Wei Miao Qiao, Sun Liang Xue Ping among the superhumans, but also him, Wu Jiangshui!

It's all that woman surnamed Ye's fault!

"Jie--"

A screech cut through the Sky. Even though it was still far away, Wu Jiangshui froze reflexively. His right side, which had already been healed, felt numb and heavy, as if the Eagle Man's petrification ability still lingered on that half of his body.

He had taken the initiative to fight the eagle-man, hoping to make a name for himself by killing him. However, he underestimated the eagle-man's strength and was seriously injured, forcing him to retreat. Now, he felt a little scared whenever he heard the eagle-man's cry.

"Are the Eaglemen heading this way?!"

The superhuman next to him jumped up in alarm and looked around.

"Let's find somewhere to hide. Eaglemen's eyesight isn't very good; hiding should be enough to avoid it."

Another superhuman said.

Wu Jiangshui's heart tightened. He stood up and uttered in a deep voice, "Let's go!"

The superhumans all stood up, but Wu Jiangshui suddenly paused, an idea forming in his mind. A faint smile appeared on his face. The superhumans beside him, unsure of what he was smiling about, felt flustered, wanting to urge him on but not daring to. Wu Jiangshui suddenly said to the superhumans beside him, "What do you think that contestant surnamed Ye is really capable of?"

Brother, you're still worried about this at a time like this?!

The eagle-man's figure appeared on the horizon, and the superhumans were on the verge of tears. Wu Jiangshui, however, watched the approaching eagle-man with a broad smile. He said, "Many people probably want to know if the woman surnamed Ye is truly capable, right? Today, I'll help everyone confirm it!"

He then chased after the direction Ye Jiang had left in.

The eagle-men circled in the Sky, their cries filled with overwhelming rage, murderous intent, and ferocity, their Pollution spreading wantonly.

But they didn't dare go close to the ground.

Ever since it was ridden by a human, it has developed a bit of a psychological aversion to humans and has become a little... timid.

Hehehe!

The eagle-man flapped his wings, stirring up a storm, and rolled in the air to dispel his unhappiness.

A gust of sand swirled in and covered its face. It was stunned for a moment, then flew into a rage.

Humans!

How dare I!

Do you really think it's afraid of humans if it doesn't show its power?

The eagle-man's eagle eyes sharpened, locking onto the direction from which the sandstorm was coming, and he saw two blurry little black dots!

Humans!

The eagle-man swooped down, its talons aimed at the humans below. It saw them, it saw them—two humans! It would tear them apart, it would use their bones to sharpen its claws. It... hmm? That face, that eerie, strange atmosphere...

The eagle-man abruptly halted its dive, a move that distorted its otherwise majestic descent. Losing its balance, its massive body slammed into the ground with a thud, landing right in front of the two pairs of human legs. The eagle-man raised its monstrous head, its pair of calm, dark eyes fixed on it. The eagle-man froze, hesitated for a few seconds... then twisted its neck, striking a somewhat clumsy, cute pose.

Polluted are driven by a cruel heart, controlled by instinct, and single-mindedly pursue the killing of humans. However, countless examples have proven that the higher the level of the Polluted, the higher the intelligence. Generally speaking, a B+ Polluted's intelligence is equivalent to that of a five or six-year-old child.

The eagle-man was afraid.

Ye Jiang was chatting with the boy beside her when she seemed to hear a familiar voice. The next second, a flying car crashed down from the sky in front of her, covering her in dust.

Ye Jiang: "."

She turned to the boy and asked, "Should we kill him?"

Dong Zhen looked at the adorable Polluted, patted the dirt off her clothes, and smiled, "Let's keep it for now. I'm so tired from walking. Sister, how about we ride the flying car?"

Ye Jiang said "Oh," it didn't matter.

The two looked at the Polluted, Polluted immediately straightened up, lowered its head to the ground, and became as compliant as if it were born to be a vehicle for carrying people. The two sat on the Polluted's broad back, one in front of the other.

"Jie!"

With a cry, the eagle-man carried the people and soared into the sky.

On the other side, Wu Jiangshui, who had been hiding to watch the show after launching a sneak attack, fell silent. The superhuman next to him also fell silent, and silence spread throughout their team.

After a long while, when the eagle-man had long since disappeared, a superhuman finally spoke up with a sore voice, "Brother Wu, what kind of strength is this?"

A human, unable to kill a raging B+ Polluted, tamed it.

Or rather, the Polluted voluntarily submitted to humanity.

This is unheard of!

They wanted to see the strength of the contestant surnamed Ye, mainly Wu Jiangshui wanted to see it, so they took the risk of ambushing Eagleman, but what they saw was this scene.

What level is this contestant named Ye Jiang?

Chapter 65 The Shadow Lurking in the Shadows.

The news that the aerial overlord of the A-S Wilderness Zone had become an air bus eventually spread, causing a huge uproar.

What?

Humans taming Polluted?

Don't believe or spread rumors!

Some say this is not a rumor; the strongman who trampled the aerial overlord of the wilderness under his feet is none other than Ye Jiang, the dark horse player who broke into the top ten of the competition leaderboard for the first time. They say this with absolute certainty.

But none of the citizens outside believed it. This was an outrageous claim; how could it be possible? That contestant had already racked up over 100,000 points a day, and some citizens already suspected she had cheated in the competition. Now this kind of thing was circulating? Was it a joke?

However, in the following days:

Xingyi Technology - Hunting Tournament Ranking 5.0, Ye Jiang (D-Rank), 161344 points, ranked fourth.

Xingyi Technology - Hunting Tournament Ranking 6.0, Ye Jiang (D-Rank), 221933 points, ranked second.

Xingyi Technology - Hunting Tournament Ranking 7.0, Ye Jiang (D-Rank), 352221 points, ranked first.

Xingyi Technology - Hunting Tournament Ranking 8.0, Ye Jiang (D-Rank), 611298 points, ranked first.

Citizen: "..."

Her face looks a little swollen.

Earning 100,000 points a day is a bit daunting, but what about earning over 200,000 points a day?

250,000 points, which translates to 25 B-Rank Polluted. Hunting 25 B-Rank Polluted in a day... is that really something a human could do?

So strong!

One ranking might raise questions, but two, three, four...

It only took contestant Ye Jiang four days to go from being questioned to being silenced.

"250,000! Ye has once again shattered my expectations of her; she's ridiculously strong!"

"She scored twice as many points as Xue Ping, who came in second! Ye is incredibly strong! She is undoubtedly the winner of this competition!"

"She's A-Rank ability user, right? Ye must be A-Rank ability user! She's definitely hiding her ability level!"

The citizens were in an uproar. Such an amazing result, such a dazzling score! All the promising talents, such as Sun Liang, Xue Ping, and Miao Qiao, who were highly anticipated before the competition, paled in comparison to Ye Jiang.

"Now I believe she uses the B+ Eagleman as a mount. Earning over 200,000 points a day is achievable; taming Polluted might not be impossible for her? Taming Polluted? Wow, that's so cool!"

"I believed it from the start. Xingyi Technology doesn't create gods; they hold competitions simply to promote their products. There's no need for them to favor any particular contestant, so I believed Ye's score was genuine from the beginning."

"Ye Jiang is amazing!"

"Hmph, that's an overstatement. So what if the person surnamed Ye is A-Rank ability user? Can she compare to Yu Wei? Can she compare to Yun Hua? She can't even make it into the top ten of A-Rank, and you guys are getting all excited about her just because she got first place in a grassroots competition that real strong people don't care about? I don't know what's so great about that!"

A-Rank ability users are rare, with only a few concealing their identities. Most ability users' identities are public and transparent, and the top ten are all celebrities who have made their identities public. Obviously, none of these ten are named Ye Jiang. If Ye Jiang were truly A-Rank ability user, she would definitely be ranked after the top ten.

Some of Yun Hua's fans, unable to bear the hype surrounding another contestant, shouted, "Yun Hua is the eighth- A-Rank contestant!"

"Yunhua, Yunhua, you're bringing up Yunhua again. Is Yunhua your father? You bunch of filial sons keep mentioning him all the time. He's not even a player. What does it have to do with him if we talk about Player Ye? Why are you dragging him into this? Okay, shut up. You know your father is very good now."

"Pfft, I know why Yun Hua was brought up now. It's because they're afraid Ye Jiang has too many fans, and their dad's merchandise won't sell well, right? Haha, I've never seen a superhuman authorize merchandise sales. Saying it's not for money, are you just fooling yourself?"

The citizens started arguing again.

The arguments among the citizens did not affect the wilderness competition. The participants in the wilderness area were making a final push for the competition. Of course, at this point in the competition, most of the participants knew that they had no chance of winning the prize money. They were still actively hunting Polluted, partly to get a good score and show off in the competition, and partly to take this opportunity to hone their skills.

In the wilderness, Ye Jiang, the top-ranked contestant, was riding on the back of an eagle-man, while her partner, Dong Zhen, was doing handicrafts beside her. He had picked a bunch of long, thin grass leaves and was weaving something. The eagle-man circled high in the sky. After several days of practice, the eagle-man had become a seasoned driver, carrying his companion with steady and smooth flight. Suddenly, the eagle-man's stable posture shifted to one side, letting out a shrill scream, and then its body plummeted downwards.

Ye Jiang, who had been resting with her eyes closed, opened them. The raging wind whipped at her face, dispelling her sleepiness. She was not flustered by the sudden turn of events. Before the eagle-man could crash to the ground, she grabbed Dong Zhen's arm and they landed steadily together.