Chapter 158: The God of Grain, The Last Woman

However, by this time, many heroes had already formed organizations. A little over 5,000 people was already the limit, and Qin Hao discovered that the vast majority of these 5,000 heroes belonged to non-combat classes.

What was a non-combat class?
Wood, water, and earth-type esper abilities, which excelled at farming, water storage, and building houses.
There were also those with localized organ enhancements, such as enhanced vision, enhanced hearing, or enhanced smell. Their inherent talents were of no use in actual combat.

Having just become heroes, they lacked sufficient star energy crystals to elevate themselves and could only learn some combat techniques to slowly adapt to the rhythm of the current doomsday.
Unfortunately, time waits for no one. Such heroes survived only because they were in China under Qin Hao's protection; in other regions, hunting creatures would likely have slaughtered them long ago.
Nevertheless, the Hero Base also required such heroes, or rather, evolvers, to maintain its daily operations.

Qin Hao swept his gaze over the 5,000 people and suddenly froze.
He spotted a "familiar face."
A person familiar to Qin Hao certainly did not refer to friends, classmates, or colleagues he had known before the apocalypse descended.
Instead, they were the comrades who had fought side by side with him before time was reversed.

"Tang Miao," Qin Hao blurted out.
Tang Miao was a wood-type talent evolver with an exceptionally high talent rank. In the late stages of the apocalypse, she alone could sustain an entire base, earning her the title of the Goddess of Grain.
Because she was so vital, she had been heavily protected and eventually evolved into a level-seven evolver.
However, in the late apocalypse, not only did mutant beasts invade, but intelligent races also constantly infiltrated. Amidst such pervasive battles, Tang Miao ultimately perished.
Furthermore, Tang Miao was the last surviving woman to die in the doomsday.

At that time, Tang Miao was truly the prized treasure of the base, yet even three thousand people could not protect a single one of her. After her death, the remaining human survivors felt that resistance was meaningless, and some even entertained thoughts of giving up. It was precisely at that moment that Qin Hao revealed the Time Reversal Card.

Seeing Tang Miao now, Qin Hao finally felt a sense of time reversing and regrets being mended.
His emotions stirred slightly, and his voice was not low. Since everyone present was an evolver, they naturally heard him.
Moreover, Qin Hao's current status was transcendent; every move he made was watched by others. Hearing him seemingly call out someone's name, their gazes shifted and landed on Tang Miao.
She was a woman of very ordinary appearance, quite short in stature, yet she gave off the feeling of a girl next door.

Hearing Qin Hao call her name, Tang Miao was extremely surprised. She knew who Qin Hao was, but Qin Hao had no reason to know her.
Those around her also looked at her, including the few people standing beside her.
"Tang Miao, Mr. Qin is calling you."
"Tang Miao, how do you know Mr. Qin? Didn't you say you came from the mountains?"
"Perhaps Mr. Qin heard about your deeds and felt you were a poor little thing."
"How can you talk like that? Tang Miao is powerful and is currently the top grain producer in the base. Mr. Qin must think she has contributed a lot to the base, which is why he's doing this."

After calling out the other's name, Qin Hao also felt he had been a bit impulsive. However, with his sharp senses capturing fragments of the surrounding conversations, he spoke up: "Tang Miao, you are a support-type talent, and you are very important to the base. This upcoming matter is quite dangerous, but since you want to earn this reward, I won't stop you. Stay close to me later. There are quite a few people, so when we evacuate the spatial black holes later, everyone help each other out."

Hearing Qin Hao's words, Tang Miao finally relaxed, assuming the big shot had taken a fancy to her simply because she was good at farming.
She actually didn't want to receive special treatment, but several wood-type talent evolvers around her crowded around and escorted her to Qin Hao's side.

"Let's move out!"
There was very little time left before the creatures of the Shattered Star Civilization descended, and Qin Hao did not want to wait any longer.
Because of the massive number of people, Qin Hao led the group out of the coverage area of the spatial stabilization device, bypassing An City entirely and heading toward the Qinling Mountains.

A group of level-two and above evolvers moved swiftly across mountains and ridges, crossing a peak in less than ten minutes.
Seeing two steep mountains forming a valley, Qin Hao decided this place would do.
The next moment, Qin Hao mobilized the power of his mind.
"Wind!"
A fierce gale swept across the mountain peak, suddenly startling the evolvers, but the wind had no intention of harming them; it merely howled past.
"Fire!"
The surrounding temperature rose rapidly.
"Water."
Clouds suddenly condensed in the sky, and a dragon of water plunged downward.
"Earth!"
The earth seemed to tremble.

The next moment, the four elements condensed together, forming a churning gray energy. The oppressive weight of this energy left everyone gasping for air, unable to breathe properly.
They watched as Qin Hao's mental tentacles, resembling countless dragons, controlled the gray energy and swept across the interior of the valley.
In an instant, the trees in the valley were reduced to flying ash, and the hard rocks were obliterated, leaving behind terrain resembling a fine sandy beach.
The swept area spanned the size of two football fields.

Over 5,000 people stood on the mountain peak, utterly shocked by the sight of mountains being leveled and seas being filled—a spectacle that altered heaven and earth.
The number one person on the combat power ranking was truly terrifying to this degree.
The level-three evolvers, in particular, harbored a premonition: even if they reached level-four, they would never possess such might.
Thinking of this, they could not help but smile bitterly.
Back then, in order to support Qin Hao's actions, they had impulsively advanced to level-three. Fortunately, they had run fast; otherwise, whether they could have survived remained a question.

Meanwhile, Qin Hao leveled the valley and constructed two "mountain paths" before withdrawing the chaotic energy.
"Move!"
Over 5,000 people rushed down into the valley, packing closely together.
They waited quietly for the arrival of the final moment.
Ten minutes later, tiny black dots appeared one after another in the sky.
The appearance of these black dots signified that the spatial black holes had begun to open.

"Run!" Qin Hao roared, and everyone sprang into action.
He immediately grabbed Tang Miao, sprinted with her to the mountain peak, and then set her down before turning back.
Tang Miao felt as though needles were pricking her back. Although Qin Hao had helped her, she had never expected to cling to a big shot's coattails. Instead, the thoughtful and meaningful looks from the others made her extremely embarrassed.
Even her close friends from earlier now wore somewhat peculiar expressions.
Could it be that Qin Hao didn't like stunning beauties like Zihui, but preferred Tang Miao's style instead?
Unable to compete with Zihui, were they really inferior to Tang Miao?
All these women privately thought that Qin Hao's tastes were truly bizarre.

Had Qin Hao known what was on their minds, he would have been utterly speechless. Burdened with so many responsibilities, how could he possibly have romance on his mind?
Even if he did, it would only be after he ascended to divinity.