"He activated the first beacon!"

In the ground control room, someone let out a cry of alarm.

Wei Dong, Zhou Kai, and Chen Bin’s faces instantly turned ashen.

They scrambled to turn their jets around, trying to re-form a net to trap that damn C Level Technician in the canyon.

But Han Feng gave them no chance at all.

After activating the beacon, he simply pulled back on the stick with an air of nonchalance.

The Hunting Falcon fighter climbed vertically at a bizarre angle, its fuselage nearly scraping the cliff face, and instantly vanished into an even deeper and narrower fork in the rock passage.

"Split up and chase him! Don’t let him get away!"

Wei Dong roared into the channel, his voice distorted with extreme rage.

He was the first to pilot his fighter jet in.

Zhou Kai and Chen Bin exchanged a look filled with resignation, but they could only grit their teeth and follow.

However, they soon discovered the meaning of true despair.

In this deadly crevice, so narrow it could barely fit a single aircraft, Han Feng’s Hunting Falcon was absurdly agile.

One moment, it would be speeding along just three meters above the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

The next, it would bank its fuselage ninety degrees to pass precariously through a gap between two jagged, interlocking rocks.

He seemed to have become one with his fighter, knowing every inch of rock and every pocket of turbulence like the back of his hand.

Wei Dong and the others, meanwhile, were like three bulls in a china shop.

They were forced to kill their speed, their nerves stretched to the breaking point, terrified of the slightest fatal touch between a wing and the canyon wall.

A mere thirty seconds.

This cat-and-mouse chase had already revealed a clear winner.

[Second beacon, activated.]

The cold system notification sounded again, announcing that Han Feng had already left them several kilometers behind.

Zhou Kai and Chen Bin both slowed down in unison.

"I’m not chasing him anymore."

Zhou Kai’s voice came over the public channel, laced with a deep sense of powerlessness.

"We’re not even in the same league. Continuing this chase is just asking for humiliation."

Chen Bin spoke up as well, his tone full of bitterness and shock.

"This guy’s Control Power over the aircraft is beyond my comprehension. Wei Dong, just give it up. We can’t interfere with him."

"Useless!"

Wei Dong roared, fuming with rage.

"A pair of useless bastards! You don’t want to chase him? Fine, I will! I swear I’ll eliminate him today!"

Watching the lone, increasingly glaring blip pull away on the radar, Zhou Kai silently shook his head and said to Chen Bin, 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

"Let’s go. We’ll head out and interfere with another jet. We can’t let this whole assessment be a waste."

The two Hunting Falcon fighters changed course, heading off in pursuit of another assessment candidate.

With that, the encirclement of Han Feng had completely failed.

The end of the canyon suddenly opened up.

A vast, ruined cityscape appeared before Han Feng’s eyes.

Broken walls, collapsed skyscrapers, and a crisscrossing network of streets formed an even more complex steel labyrinth.

Han Feng piloted his fighter through the ruins as if he were a fish in water, even having the leisure to glance at his system panel.

[Actively casting Skilled Level-Sword Control Technique to correct flight attitude.]

[Skill Proficiency for > +5!]

[Body Tempering Cultivation +8!]

[Qi Blood -40]

’Awesome!’

’Flying a jet in the sky makes my Cultivation rise so fast. This is basically a mobile EXP pack!’

In high spirits, Han Feng maneuvered his fighter through an incredible "Z"-shaped maneuver, slipping through the gap between two teetering skyscrapers to precisely activate the third beacon hidden in the heart of the ruins.

[Third beacon, activated.]

[Fourth beacon, activated.]

[Fifth beacon...]

In the ground control room, everyone was already numb.

They stared at the large screen, watching the blue dot representing Han Feng tear through the complex Death Route as if it were uncontested airspace.

Beacon after beacon lit up in succession, at a speed that was simply outrageous.

Meanwhile, the red dot representing Wei Dong was like a headless fly, struggling to catch up, unable to even catch a whiff of Han Feng’s exhaust.

"Time... three minutes and fifty seconds! He’s already activated five beacons!"

"My God, this speed... isn’t he about to catch up to the President’s record?"

"The President’s record is seven minutes and thirty seconds! He’s only used half the time and he’s already completed half the course. If he can maintain this speed..."

A wild thought surfaced in everyone’s mind at the same time.

’He’s going to break the record!’

The moment this idea appeared, the very air in the control room seemed to grow scorching hot.

Everyone’s breathing unconsciously quickened as they stared intently at the giant timer in the center of the screen.

Fan Jian stood motionless in front of the main console.

His eyes, usually calm, were now churning with turbulent waves.

’Zhang Hao!’

’The president of the Sharp Sword Club, the recognized number one genius of the Flight Academy!’

’The record he set, seven minutes and thirty seconds, had loomed over the Death Route like a great mountain for two whole years, unbreakable!’

’Is this legend going to be shattered today by an unknown C Level Technician?’

Fan Jian felt his own blood begin to boil uncontrollably.

"The sixth one!"

"The seventh! He’s entering the final thunderstorm zone!"

"He hasn’t slowed down at all! He’s still accelerating!"

Everyone’s hearts were in their throats.

The final thunderstorm zone was the most treacherous section of the Death Route.

Countless violent bolts of lightning raged within the dark clouds, forming a lethal, inescapable electric web.

Even though the electricity was simulated, a direct hit would cause a temporary system shutdown, sending the aircraft plummeting into the abyss during high-speed flight.

Han Feng piloted his fighter jet and plunged headfirst into the mass of oppressive, dark clouds.

Innumerable silver serpents of lightning danced wildly around him, trying to tear this tiny intruder to shreds.

But he flew as if he didn’t even see them.

Relying on the Extraordinary Perception granted by his Sword Control Technique, he could always precisely predict the impact point of every lightning bolt and evade it in advance.

He tilted the fuselage to the left, dodging a ball of lightning coming straight at him.

He pulled the nose up sharply, passing unscathed through a gap between two intersecting webs of electricity.

His every maneuver was on a razor’s edge, causing everyone in the control room to break out in a cold sweat.

’This isn’t flying anymore.’

’This is a dance with death itself!’

[Eighth beacon, activated.]

[Ninth beacon, activated.]

Only one left!

The numbers on the timer jumped frantically.

[7:05]

[7:06]

[7:07]

Everyone held their breath. Even Fan Jian’s fists were clenched tight unconsciously.

Han Feng’s fighter broke through the cover of the thunderstorm, the finish line distantly in sight.

The last beacon was just one hundred meters before the finish line!

He slammed the throttle all the way forward, and the engine let out a final roar!

The fighter became a streak of blue light tearing across the sky, whistling as it charged toward the finish!

[Tenth beacon, activated.]

[Assessment complete!]

CLICK.

At that moment, the giant timer froze!

The bright red numbers, like a searing brand, were burned deeply into everyone’s eyes.

[7 minutes, 13 seconds!]

The entire control room fell deathly silent.

It was as if everyone had been hit by a Body Fixation Technique, staring blankly at the number, their minds empty.

Seven minutes and thirteen seconds!

He didn’t just break the record; he shattered President Zhang Hao’s legendary record, beating it by a full seventeen seconds!

’What does that even mean?’

On this course, known as the "graveyard of ace Pilots," improving the time by even one second was enough to be recorded in the annals of history.

Seventeen seconds... that was a chasm no Mortal could cross!

GULP.

Someone swallowed hard.

The sound was especially grating in the silent control room, and it shattered the suffocating atmosphere.

"I... I’m not dreaming, am I?"

"Seven minutes and thirteen seconds... Is that a fucking time a human can even achieve?"

"A monster! He’s an absolute monster!"

An uproar of discussion erupted, flooding the entire control room.

The way everyone looked at Han Feng had completely changed.