Chapter 157: The Fortunate One

Pang Qiuning quickly understood why this place was called the Hero Base.

All around her were heroes. Compared to Oceania, where every single hero had perished, over twenty thousand heroes were gathered here.

Here, heroes were not figures universally reviled and hunted; instead, they were deeply revered.

The clothing they wore had also changed, now crafted from the pelts of various hunted beasts, offering much higher defense. They carried energy rifles and wielded weapons radiating with stellar energy.

Moreover, vehicles that had been paralyzed and abandoned after the apocalypse were surprisingly numerous here, moving at much higher speeds, with some even hovering in the air.

Pang Qiuning headed to the registration hall. The people receiving her were all Tier 1 evolvers.

"Name? What was your previous occupation? What is your innate ability? If you join the Hero Base, can you abide by the base's arrangements?"

Pang Qiuning quickly answered their questions.

Statistical work was considered a relatively easy job in the apocalypse. Furthermore, the current post-apocalyptic world placed a very high value on talent. Pang Qiuning had studied medicine, making her a high-end talent here.

"You're really lucky. Were you on summer vacation when the apocalypse struck, so you didn't go to Aokangaroo Country? Do you know? Oceania has fallen. Seven alien races invaded, and only 200,000 survivors are left."

Hearing this, Pang Qiuning's heart trembled.

Qin Hao was a man of few words, so Pang Qiuning had not learned much about the outside world from him.

She had never expected that here in China, from the mouths of heroes, the outside world's verdict on Oceania would be described this way.

Fallen, invaded by seven alien races, with only 200,000 survivors remaining.

Hearing these conditions listed one by one made Pang Qiuning feel immensely fortunate.

"I... actually, I was indeed in Aokangaroo Country, but a hero named Qin Hao brought me back. He can teleport, and I'm truly grateful to him. Can I be assigned to work in his team?"

The staff member looked at Pang Qiuning in surprise, their attitude toward her becoming even more amiable.

"So you were actually saved by that gentleman. It seems he didn't tell you anything, and you had no idea—he is the founder of the Hero Base, currently ranked first on the global hero combat power leaderboard, the absolute strongest individual! His team is called the Firmament Gate, and it's not something I can arrange jobs for. If you want to try, you can apply to join them. However, members of the Firmament Gate all seem to be Tier 3 evolvers, while Tier 2s are only considered outer members, people simply under the protection of the Firmament Gate rather than true members. I think you'd better find a stable job here first!"

Pang Qiuning was shocked once more.

She had originally considered herself lucky, but now she felt she must have been blessed with boundless fortune to have crossed paths with such a noble benefactor.

Yet she could not leverage her rescue to demand favors; she was simply not qualified to join the Firmament Gate.

Fortunately, her identity as a medical student made finding a job very easy. The Firmament Gate had brought along a large number of evolvers, and after the apocalypse, men needed an outlet while women needed food. The covert transactions that arose as a result made it very easy for women to become pregnant. Coupled with Qin Hao's newly announced newborn policy, many women dreamed of receiving free food after pregnancy, thus turning themselves into reproductive machines.

They needed gynecologists, or at the very least, maternity nurses. Pang Qiuning was assigned to this role and finally managed to secure a stable survival.

...

On the other side, Qin Hao paid no attention to Pang Qiuning's subsequent life.

Qin Hao invested stellar energy diamonds to activate the global communication function, broadcasting a message to all heroes.

"One hour from now, the Shattered Star Civilization is about to descend."

"Tier 2 heroes must hold off the Iron-Eating Insects, Giant Snails, and Blue Worms. Their weaknesses are..."

"Tier 3 heroes must hold off the Weevils, Mist Butterflies, and Chariot Ladybugs. Their weaknesses are..."

Within a single minute, Qin Hao rapidly outlined the habits and weaknesses of these alien beasts, which were completely unknown to the ordinary heroes.

Over one hundred thousand heroes across the globe heard Qin Hao's words.

They did not doubt the credibility of his words in the least, for after all, he was the number one ranked powerhouse on the hero combat leaderboard.

Because of information sharing within the Hero Base, everyone also knew that Qin Hao possessed a mission predictor. In reality, unless a massive catastrophe was about to trigger, the mission predictor would not initiate predictions; the timing of these invading civilizations entirely relied on Qin Hao's experience.

After broadcasting the news, Qin Hao issued another announcement within a one-hundred-kilometer radius, specifically targeting the heroes inside the Hero Base.

"Venture outside to repel the invading monsters. Tier 2 heroes will receive 500 stellar energy diamonds, Tier 3 heroes 2,000. There is no limit on numbers. Gather at the West Plaza."

Since Ling Bo needed ingredients for food supplies, he naturally had to hunt more monsters, which would also yield more stellar energy diamonds for himself.

Every hero heard Qin Hao's broadcast.

Among the heroes of the Hero Base, there were plenty of individuals whose strength was not exceptionally high; otherwise, they would not have rushed here desperately after Qin Hao established the base. In no time at all, two thousand people had gathered.

Ling Bo had also dispatched four hundred people over, all of whom were Tier 1 evolvers.

"A moment from now, they will help process the ingredients. If the quantities are too massive, handling them yourself will be a hassle."

For someone of Qin Hao's caliber, every single second of time was precious.

"Very well, follow along!"

"By the way, that large-scale spatial teleporter you gave me earlier—I've reverse-engineered it and already built two units. Where do you plan to place them?"

"So fast?" Qin Hao asked, feeling a surge of astonishment upon hearing Ling Bo's words.

"We have no time to waste," Ling Bo replied.

Before the apocalypse, constrained by various conditions, research costs had been exorbitant, talents scarce, and progress sluggish.

After the apocalypse, with the entire populace mobilized, throwing the collective strength of an entire nation into a single research topic meant results were bound to appear swiftly.

Having handed the blueprints for the large-scale spatial teleporter over to Ling Bo, Qin Hao knew the device's immense importance. Ling Bo had selected three hundred evolvers whose innate ability was spatial manipulation from the personnel registration records during recruitment and summoned them all together.

Within two days, the spatial teleporter had been successfully manufactured, leaving only the question of where to position it.

"Place the other one in Oceania."

Ling Bo had originally thought Qin Hao would place it in Modu, given that Modu was previously Qin Hao's primary stronghold and, according to Zihui's statistics from the Myriad Sects Eye, Modu currently held the highest concentration of survivors.

By placing it in Oceania, could Qin Hao possibly be planning to rescue the survivors there?

Qin Hao continued, "Since driving away the Ancient Demon race comes with merits and rewards, other races will too. Tier 3 heroes who are confident in their abilities may head over."

Only then did Ling Bo understand.

"Very well, I will lead people to test and establish the teleporter right away."

Having entrusted the matter to Ling Bo, Qin Hao looked out over the plaza. Over five thousand people had already gathered here.

This already constituted a quarter of all heroes.

There were plenty of heroes who preferred not to cooperate with other evolvers, and just as many who found such matters troublesome.

Previously, these heroes had to wait by trap zones for spatial black holes to open; now that Qin Hao announced there was no limit on numbers, they naturally swarmed in.