Chapter 28: Iron Prison

The black hole appeared dangerously close to the road, flanked on one side by the towering buildings of a luxury residential complex, and on the other, a row of parked cars. Qin Hao arrived, his mental tendrils unfurled completely. The metal from the cars was stripped away, twisting and reforming into sharp spikes.

With a succession of sickening sounds, the five freshly landed Fang Demons were instantly impaled through their skulls. The Serpent Demon lasted only a moment longer before Qin Hao pierced its mental core.

Once more, Qin Hao manipulated his psychic force: the metal from two more cars peeled away and merged into a steel sheet, studded with dozens of razor-sharp spikes over a meter long.

With a resonant thud, the steel sheet flattened on the ground, becoming a mountain of blades. Any creature landing atop it would be skewered without mercy. At that moment, another Fang Demon, leaping from the black hole, plunged head-first onto the spikes.

A guttural scream escaped the creature, but it could not escape the trap; even as it clung to life, the agony was worse than death.

Seeing his trap succeed, Qin Hao was invigorated, his mental tendrils spreading wildly, drawing more steel from the surroundings. All the cars were transformed into sheets and spikes, expanding the trap’s domain. When it reached fifty meters, Qin Hao raised steel barriers to prevent any creature from escaping.

It was a terrifying sight—a weapon of mass death that chilled the spine. One after another, the Fang Demons leapt down, only to be impaled and die wretched deaths; even the Serpent Demons were not spared. As corpses accumulated, the spikes became buried, but Qin Hao simply added more metal, enlarging the spikes and slaughtering more monsters.

The system relayed messages without pause; Qin Hao’s hero points soared rapidly.

Within the steel trap he’d fashioned, blood pooled thickly at the base, forming a gruesome cauldron. Some of the blood, especially that of the Serpent Demons, flowed into Qin Hao’s body.

Earlier, he had hunted ten Serpent Demons, and now, ten more. These exceptional genes filled his genetic repository, gradually increasing his strength.

Qin Hao’s power now reached nearly 450 kilograms. With such force, a single punch could leave a gaping hole in reinforced concrete.

Even barehanded, his strength was formidable—let alone the impact during combat. But now, his psychic abilities were his main weapon. Qin Hao simultaneously wielded his mind and absorbed blood, achieving astonishing results.

Though it was deep into the night, and ordinary people could not see Qin Hao’s actions, they could hear the monsters’ screams. Each shriek signified someone was slaughtering the creatures, offering a sliver of safety.

An Ziheng watched the ever-increasing monster death count in the hero system, drawing a sharp breath. Qin Hao’s prowess was overwhelming, making him acutely aware of the vast gulf between them.

He wondered when Qin Hao had mastered the hero system, and how he’d strengthened himself so profoundly. But now was not the time to ask—An Ziheng could only do what he could.

Some Fang Demons, drawn by the noise, threatened the lives of residents; An Ziheng took it upon himself to handle them.

Meanwhile, Qin Hao’s massacre continued. His flawless trap allowed him to slaughter the creatures dispatched by the Fang civilization with ease. Since the total number of invading monsters hadn’t yet reached ten million, more were continuously sent.

This quota was global; while Qin Hao killed relentlessly in his city, other cities and countries saw their numbers climb as well. Once the global tally reached ten million, the incursion would cease.

Qin Hao, single-handedly, was reducing the monster population in the city.

The hunt lasted a full four hours. As dawn broke, the spatial black hole finally closed.

Within the steel trap Qin Hao constructed, lay the bodies of over a thousand Fang Demons and more than a hundred Serpent Demons. Nearly two thousand Star Energy Crystals were scattered among them.

His hero points had increased by 230,000.

With all the alien creatures vanquished, the previous mission was naturally complete.

[Rescue] mission complete.

Survivors remaining: 1,128.

Hero points awarded: 112,800.

Heroes involved: 2

You will receive 80% of the hero points for this mission.

Mission reward: 90,240 hero points.

Though Qin Hao had slain a hundred times more monsters than An Ziheng, An Ziheng had remained within the residential district, rescuing more people and ensuring their safety, thus earning 20% of the reward.

After a day of battle, Qin Hao was mentally fatigued. He unfurled his psychic tendrils, dissolving the steel cauldron.

After a moment’s thought, he gathered the steel into a massive iron block, then stored it in his spatial ring. The trap had proven its worth—perhaps he could use this method to continue hunting alien creatures.

With the metal collected, all that remained were mountains of Fang Demon corpses and the bodies of the Serpent Demons.

More than a hundred Serpent Demons—their flesh alone weighed a hundred tons, enough to feed a thousand people for a month.

Qin Hao did not wish to waste it, so he placed the Serpent Demon corpses into his spatial ring. The ring was vast; these were but a drop in the ocean.

Having tidied up, dawn’s light streaked across the sky.

A new day of slaughter was about to begin.

Qin Hao considered, then set off to find An Ziheng. If An Ziheng was promising, perhaps some guidance would help him avoid unnecessary detours and even surprise Qin Hao in the future.

Returning to the residential complex, Qin Hao found the two survivors amid the corpses of monsters.

An Zihao, after a night of battle, was exhausted but in good spirits, using his recently acquired twenty thousand hero points to perform the Star Tempering Technique on two large hounds.

Beside him stood a woman, hacking relentlessly at a Serpent Demon’s corpse.

The demon’s head had been split in two. Qin Hao recognized it—it was the first Serpent Demon he’d hunted that night, the one that had climbed to the third floor and attacked the residents.

The woman’s mechanical chopping finally unearthed a piece of metal, then stopped. She discovered a bloodied, indistinct mass, faintly showing tiny bones.

It was her child.

A heart-wrenching scream tore from her lips as she cradled the mangled remains, sobbing hysterically.

Though Qin Hao had killed the Serpent Demon at once, its powerful digestive organs had already dissolved the frail infant, leaving nothing but damp bedding and a metal longevity lock.

Even as the woman’s hands touched these remnants, the strong corrosive properties caused her hands to redden and bleed.