Chapter 126: [Survival 3] Initiated

People in major cities across the globe began their preparations. Zihui once again recorded a video, broadcasting it through the Eye of Myriad Sects. She instructed others to set traps and purchase star-energy guns from the Hero System for Level 1 Evolvers to use against the hunting creatures. These strategies, while simple, were methods some had not even considered. Fortunately, there was still enough time.

Heroes everywhere busied themselves. Those who felt their strength was lacking moved further away from the cities, preferably into scenic areas without survivors—places like deep mountains and dense forests. Under this tense preparation, three days passed in the blink of an eye. At this moment, every Level 2 Evolver hero on Blue Star stood in wait.

In the Magic City, at the Dubei Base: within just a month, the base had been reduced to ruins. Everywhere were the rotting, headless corpses of humans; it had once been controlled by the Voodoo Demon, which had formed a terrifying army of zombies. Since these bodies had been decapitated on the spot, those who had not turned into zombies had rotted in a horrific manner, filling the air with a foul stench. Fire-type ability users released flames to incinerate them.

Within the entire Magic City, there were forty-five Level 2 Evolver heroes. In truth, many heroes could have reached Level 2 during this past month, but considering the risks, they had chosen not to ascend, focusing instead on consolidating their strength. Others sought greater power and chose to advance, harboring a blind confidence in Qin Hao and Zihui, believing the pair could lead them through the crisis.

Among the Level 2 Evolvers, An Ziheng, Li Xinlong, Xu Qian, Lin Ke'er, and Sun Miaomiao were the strongest. The first two were from the second batch of heroes; Xu Qian and Lin Ke'er were driven by powerful obsessions; and Sun Miaomiao, who had benefited from her close association with Zihui and her status as a first-batch evolver, had developed remarkably well. The rest were those serving in leadership positions at the Heavenly Vault Base.

There were also evolvers outside the Heavenly Vault Base—for instance, the eight thousand people who had escaped from the Dubei Base. Among them was Bai Zhiyi, who had previously led the forces that surrounded the Grand Theater and interrogated Zihui. Representing the original military power of the Magic City, he commanded a group of military evolvers who had also developed quite well.

"The time is almost upon us." Someone stared at the countdown within the Hero System.

The countdown turned red. In the final ten seconds, everyone’s breathing grew heavy as they braced for the arrival of the crisis. They did not know what kind of creatures these invading civilizations would send. The moment the system clock hit zero, spatial black holes erupted around them.

The black holes expanded, hovering above their heads like discs. At a glance, fifty spatial black holes appeared at once, so dense they obscured the sunlight.

[Survival 3] mission officially begins.

"Get out of the way!" someone screamed in terror, diving to the side just as a massive creature crashed down. The creature was three meters in diameter, covered in a turtle-like shell bristling with spikes. A snake-like head lunged out, jaws snapping toward the person standing before it.

The Hero System displayed the creature's name: Giant Turtle, from the Kaya Civilization.

Just as the man was about to be bitten, a creature the size of a tiger darted forward. Its claws blurred like shadows, and in a flash of white light, the Giant Turtle’s head was shredded to pieces.

"Well done, April," An Ziheng praised instantly. An Ziheng was currently the foremost Level 2 Evolver because he alone had five Level 3 pets helping him. Indeed, his three large dogs and two cats had all evolved into Level 3 creatures with formidable strength, though perhaps not as powerful as Qin Hao or Zihui.

"Don't delay. Stick to the plan," Zihui shouted.

The heroes who had been too panicked to dodge finally snapped to their senses and nodded, beginning to sprint. In reality, this strategy was simply a replica of Lu Shaohua's original plan. Yet, circumstances had changed. Back then, Lu Shaohua's plan had led to the death of all evolvers. But now, it would be different; these spatial black holes would only emit a fixed number of hunting creatures. Each person would face ten times the number of hunters dispatched by the invading alliance.

Qin Hao quickly scanned the creatures emerging from the black holes, identifying the civilizations involved: Liquid Walkers from the Giant Night Civilization, Whiplash Demons from the Ancient Demon Civilization, Iron-Eating Insects from the Shattered Star Civilization, and Blood Demons from the Bloodthirsty Civilization. Two new civilizations had been added—the same ones that had appeared in the [Survival 3] mission in Qin Hao’s memories.

Following the timeline before the time reversal, the [Survival 2] mission should have involved the Claw, Kaya, and Giant Night civilizations attacking humanity. By the time [Survival 3] occurred—two years later—the Shattered Star and Bloodthirsty civilizations would have joined. Now, after the time reversal, the Claw civilization had been repelled, but the Ancient Demon civilization had joined the fray.

However, the total number remained the same. Each hero would face fifty hunting creatures; forty-five Level 2 Evolver heroes would face 2,250 alien hunters. This was, without a doubt, a massive army of monsters. Moreover, if the evolvers failed to withstand these hunters and perished, the human cities would be left without Level 2 defenders, and the remaining Level 1 evolvers and civilians would be annihilated by these two thousand hunters.

With each higher level of evolution, one’s strength increased tenfold.

Qin Hao and the others quickly ran out of the range of the spatial black holes, but the hunting creatures followed closely behind. Yuan Xingcan, a metal-type ability user, was lagging at the rear. While his strength was formidable during urban combat, he had not specifically enhanced his physique, and his speed was the slowest.

At that moment, a bizarre, purple-skinned creature resembling a tree trunk, wielding two long whips, closed the distance. The whips in its hands seemed capable of extending, and in an instant, it lashed out at Yuan Xingcan. Yuan Xingcan did not dare look back, nor did he expect the whip to strike him—but it was too late to dodge.

"Snap!"

The whip seemed weak, barely brushing against Yuan Xingcan, yet he let out a wail of agony.

"Argh! Ahhh!"

In that instant, Yuan Xingcan felt pain beyond endurance. He stumbled, collapsed to the ground, and tears and mucus streamed down his face. It wasn't that he hadn't been injured before, but he had never felt such excruciating agony. At this moment, let alone fighting back, he lacked even the strength to crawl.

The Whiplash Demon could inflict a pain that lashed directly at the soul. Its physical attack was indeed weak, but once struck by the whip, the victim would be lashed to death, paralyzed by a pain so intense that resistance became impossible.