"That depends on your request, provided it doesn't exceed my ability," Shen Ye said, carefully observing Jill's expression.
Jill blinked at him, chuckling, "You can definitely do it."
"Alright then." Shen Ye nodded.
"So, how long are you two planning to chat? I'm about to give out," Brad yelled from behind, unable to bear it any longer.
Shen Ye immediately replied, "We're done talking, Brad. Stand firm for a moment, let me use you for leverage."
The combined weight of him and Jill was over two hundred pounds, so Shen Ye didn't expect Brad to pull both of them up.
After reminding Brad, he wrapped his hands around Jill's arms, using them as a rope, and kicked off the wall to make his body swing.
As the swing grew faster and faster, Shen Ye took the opportunity to let go, jumping to the other side of the elevator shaft amidst Jill's screams.
On that side was a ladder, likely for elevator maintenance personnel to climb. Shen Ye hadn't noticed it earlier because he was in too much of a hurry. Only after the elevator fell and the outside firelight fully illuminated the shaft did he see it.
Using the ladder, Shen Ye climbed to a higher position, then leaped out of the elevator opening, landing steadily on the rooftop.
Upon landing, Shen Ye immediately turned, ready to help Brad pull Jill up, but with his weight gone, Brad had already pulled Jill up by himself.
Shen Ye breathed a sigh of relief and walked to the elevator opening to look down the shaft. Although it was pitch black and he couldn't see anything, he could hear angry roars and crashing sounds. It seemed the Tracker was temporarily unable to get out.
Thinking that the Tracker couldn't get up, Shen Ye decided to do something, at least to make the Tracker suffer a bit.
Since he had no heavy weapons, Shen Ye could only think of another way. He glanced at the cars parked on the rooftop, then at the elevator opening, which was large enough to fit a car, and a slight smile appeared on his lips.
Running quickly to a muscle car, Shen Ye used the butt of his pistol to smash the glass, dragged the corpse out, and glanced at the fuel gauge. To his surprise, there was still more than half a tank of gas.
"Jill, Brad, help me push the car," he called out.
"What are you trying to do?" Jill asked, puzzled.
Shen Ye opened the car door from the inside, leaned halfway in to control the steering wheel, and explained, "I'm going to make a dish called 'Hearth Roasted Duck'."
Jill and Brad had, of course, never heard of this dish, but they understood from the name that it involved fire, and roughly guessed what he was going to do. They didn't ask further and ran to the back of the car to help push it.
Shen Ye waved his hand to stop them only when they had pushed the car to the elevator opening.
Getting out of the car, Shen Ye opened the fuel tank and stuffed a long strip of toilet paper he found inside the car into the tank.
Once the gasoline soaked the toilet paper, he pulled out a lighter and ignited the toilet paper.
This was an extremely dangerous move, so the moment the toilet paper caught fire, Shen Ye signaled Jill and Brad to push the car down.
The space inside the elevator shaft was very large, and the car, pushed in vertically, descended without any collision. Soon, with a 'boom,' the car hit the bottom. Then, an explosion echoed from the bottom of the elevator shaft, accompanied by scorching flames that turned the entire shaft glowing red.
"Can that kill it?" Brad asked him, looking at the elevator shaft.
Shen Ye shook his head, "No, at most it'll make it suffer a bit."
"Alright then." Brad was very disappointed; he had hoped to take down that monster in one go.
...
The flames lasted for a long time, and there was no movement in the elevator shaft for a long while. Shen Ye guessed that this explosion must have severely injured the Tracker.
"It's safe," Shen Ye sighed softly.
But he also knew that this was only temporary; this guy would be back very soon, and perhaps even stronger.
So they had to contact a rescue helicopter immediately and leave this place.
Perhaps it was good luck, or perhaps the firelight here was too dazzling, but just as Shen Ye was thinking, a rescue helicopter actually appeared.
And it was a model Jill and his team were most familiar with: a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter.
This Black Hawk helicopter was also the rescue variant, a Pave Hawk, equipped with some support weapons.
Upon seeing the helicopter, Jill and Brad waved their arms widely towards it, quickly catching the attention of the helicopter pilot.
The helicopter began to lower its altitude, slowly flying towards them.
Soon, the helicopter landed steadily in front of the three of them.
Two fully armed soldiers jumped out of the helicopter; they were there to perform pre-boarding checks.
Although the three of them had some injuries, most were scrapes and bruises, so after the two soldiers checked them, they waved their hands, indicating that they could get on.
Shen Ye didn't move; he still remembered what he had said to Ada earlier. Just as he was about to explain to Jill, he suddenly saw a look of fear on the helicopter pilot's face.
Shen Ye's heart jolted, and he sharply turned around, seeing the Tracker climbing out of the elevator shaft.
Since the mechanical restraints used to bind the parasite on its body were damaged, it had entered its second form.
Although the Tracker's size didn't change in its second form, it gained many tentacles, especially on its arms, where tentacles were wriggling.
"Holy crap, how is that possible?" Shen Ye hadn't expected the Tracker to enter its second form so quickly. He clearly remembered that in the original plot, when this Tracker was engulfed by the car explosion, even its trench coat wasn't burned.
But now was not the time to think about such things. The Tracker had already raised its arm, and then a thick tentacle detached from its body, but its target was not Shen Ye and the others, but the helicopter.
Upon seeing the Tracker, the helicopter pilot had originally intended to pull the helicopter up immediately, but he hesitated for a moment to wait for the two soldiers to get on.
It was this momentary hesitation that brought irreparable disaster to the helicopter, as it failed to pull away to a sufficient safe distance in time.
The helicopter's bulletproof glass, which could withstand direct hits from small-caliber bullets, was like paper in front of the tentacle. With a crisp sound, the pilot was impaled straight through.
The pilot's death caused the helicopter to lose control directly. After swaying a few times in the air, it plummeted down.
However, the helicopter engine's power was still roaring, so when the helicopter crashed, its rotating rotor, due to the collision with the ground, sent out countless shrapnel.
Shen Ye and the two others covered their heads, running wildly across the rooftop until they found a truck.
And when the last piece of rotor shrapnel sliced through the roof of the truck they were hiding in, the rooftop finally fell completely silent.