Chapter 19: The First Calamity

“Zi Hui, please come with us.”

The military personnel surrounded her. After such a major incident, they naturally wanted to investigate thoroughly: why did monsters appear, and where did Zi Hui’s powers come from?

But as soon as they spoke, the fans who had stayed behind suddenly erupted.

“What are you doing?”

“Where are you taking Zi Hui? This isn’t her fault. If she hadn’t killed those monsters, who knows how many people would have died if the monsters had escaped.”

“That’s right.”

The fans encircled Zi Hui, refusing to let her leave.

But their protest put all the police on high alert; guns were trained on Zi Hui.

Zi Hui said, “I’ll go with you, please don’t make things difficult for my fans.”

Meanwhile, Lei Yunzhou, who had been waiting outside the grand theater and watching the livestream on his phone, received a call.

“Where are you?” Qin Hao’s voice came through the phone.

“Mr. Qin, I’m right outside the theater. I didn’t go inside, but there are police everywhere. Miss Zi Hui is already surrounded.”

At this moment, Lei Yunzhou, the wealthy heir, didn’t dare call Zi Hui a minor celebrity anymore.

“Come pick me up at the back door of the theater.”

“Okay! Okay!” Lei Yunzhou hurriedly drove over, but even the back door was blocked, so he didn’t dare approach too closely.

Just as he was about to call Qin Hao, the car door opened and Qin Hao slipped inside.

Lei Yunzhou jumped in fright; he had no idea how Qin Hao had managed to get there.

But with Qin Hao’s abilities, it was only natural he could slip past everyone unnoticed.

“Mr. Qin, where should we go now? Are we heading back to Yangchuan City?”

Qin Hao glanced at him and shook his head.

“We can’t go back.”

“What do you mean?” Lei Yunzhou was unsettled, his nerves frayed.

Actually, when Qin Hao had gone into the theater earlier, Lei Yunzhou had wanted to attend the concert as well, suspecting Qin Hao had some ulterior motive.

Yet he never imagined that motive would lead to such peril.

Had he gone in, he couldn’t guarantee he’d have survived.

Even now, though the black hole had vanished, no one said the crisis was over.

Lei Yunzhou felt, in fact, this was only the beginning.

Qin Hao said, “While there’s still time, call all your relatives and friends. Have them move to the outskirts, that estate of yours will do. Stock up on food.”

“Alright, alright, thank you Mr. Qin.” Lei Yunzhou nodded quickly, making calls as he drove.

When Lei Yunzhou finished his calls, they arrived at a five-star hotel, where Lei Yunzhou arranged a lavish presidential suite for Qin Hao.

Qin Hao ran hot water and enjoyed a long bath—there might not be such luxury again in the future.

Afterward, he lay on the bed and soon fell into deep sleep.

That night was destined to be sleepless for everyone else.

News could not be contained; it had already spread across the internet, known by countless netizens. The nation took it extremely seriously, and from Zi Hui’s own words, the truth emerged.

Alien invasion?

It was almost unimaginable.

Most crucially, the aliens weren’t using technology, but a strange power to destroy them.

Starpower? No one had ever heard of such a thing.

They searched for more information, and from Zi Hui’s account, a hundred people had been granted the Hero System, and the invading civilization would hunt them down.

These hundred came from various countries—a sizable number, surely leaving traces.

Soon, reports of monsters appearing worldwide began to surface.

Suddenly, every leader felt a chill run down their spine.

Night passed, morning came, and the news spread again—countless people felt lost.

With terrifying monsters appearing, what were they to do? Should they still go to work? To school?

Everyone asked themselves these questions.

Yet the world seemed to continue as usual, as if yesterday’s events were merely an isolated incident.

Inside the hotel, Qin Hao awoke from sleep.

[Ding! Mission Predictor activated, main quest detected, estimated time to occur: 10 minutes.]

[Hero System Update]

Human hero Qin Hao, through your relentless efforts, you have gained the support of the Universal Peace Alliance, granting humanity the ability to survive independently. The Peace Alliance will invest 10,000 Hero Systems to help you better resist the invading civilization.

The system will update to a new version, offering products better suited for humans.

The discount event ends.

Mission rewards doubled.

[Ding! Mission Predictor activated! Main quest detected, estimated time to occur: 10 minutes.]

[Cataclysm]

In your civilization, livestreams and the internet are highly effective for collecting Hero Points, which has been noticed by the Intelligence Civilization of the Invading Alliance. In ten minutes, an electromagnetic storm will sweep across the planet, destroying all electrical devices.

At the same time, the Invading Alliance’s Claw Civilization will deploy masses of biological creatures to achieve humanity’s destruction.

During this period, you must hunt these creatures and collect Hero Points.

Mission rewards:

Slay a Fang Fiend to earn 100 Hero Points.

Slay a Serpent Demon to earn 1,000 Hero Points.

Slay a Venom Spider to earn 5,000 Hero Points.

Other creatures’ rewards will be updated in real time...

Only ten minutes remain.

Qin Hao opened the Hero System and checked his Hero Points.

Six hours had passed since the Venom Spider’s death.

In those six hours, Qin Hao’s Hero Points had increased by thirty million.

It was simply astonishing.

Everyone who watched the livestream online was shocked, and became Qin Hao’s admirer.

Now, Qin Hao possessed eight items.

[Mission Predictor] [Divine Grade]

[Superpower: Gold] [Divine Grade]

[Spatial Ring] [Divine Grade]

[Divine Creation: Star-Slaying Divine Weapon] [Divine Grade]

[Blood of the Thunder God] [Divine Grade]

[Liquid Metal Transformable Universal Machine] [Divine Grade]

[Divine Creation: Stellar Combat Suit] [Divine Grade]

[Divine Creation: Stealth Walker] [Divine Grade]

Eight items—a bountiful harvest.

Qin Hao never imagined he could amass so much wealth and such an advantage in the early days of the apocalypse.

The remaining two divine-grade items were martial arts skills, which Qin Hao didn’t plan to purchase.

Without hesitation, Qin Hao converted all his Hero Points into Starpower Diamonds.

The discount was about to end; exchanging for Starpower Diamonds was especially worthwhile.

In an instant, his Hero Points were spent.

Then, a spatial black hole opened, and a huge pile of Starpower Diamonds tumbled out—more than thirty thousand.

Qin Hao stored them all in his spatial ring.

Just as he finished, the clear sky suddenly turned a rainbow of colors.

It was like the aurora, appearing all over the world.

The first disaster had begun.