Chapter 32: The Survivors

“Pfft—”

The blood of the Venomous Demon Spider splattered, quickly pooling on the ground. Qin Hao’s mental tendrils swept up the blood, absorbing it into his body, after which black-red scabs dropped away. The spider’s genes were copied into Qin Hao’s system. Having previously absorbed the demon spider’s blood, Qin Hao had already stripped out the incompatible parts, so this absorption ended swiftly, granting him a faint trace of elemental power.

The poison element.

Yet this power was too weak to offer much aid in battle.

With the Venomous Demon Spider dead, both received five hundred hero points, along with many additional points from other evolvers.

“Fight as you retreat, head for the supermarket!” Zi Hui shouted.

Their goal was not to fight these alien creatures, but to seize the large supermarket.

Over a hundred people heard Zi Hui’s words and began moving toward the mall step by step.

Arriving at the entrance, they found the tempered glass shattered and the floor awash in blood—clearly a massacre had happened here before. Mangled corpses lay scattered, sending chills down their spines.

“Squeak!”

Three Fanged Demons crawled out from the shadows, spotting the sudden appearance of humans and sensing the aura of heroes. They lunged forward at lightning speed.

Three streaks of golden light flashed, piercing their skulls. The scent of scorched flesh wafted up, as Zi Hui dispatched the three snarling Fanged Demons.

“Up to the second floor,” Zi Hui directed, having spotted the elevator.

But the elevator’s tracks were twisted, and someone had been caught in the machinery, their body a bloody pulp. During the Aurora Catastrophe, someone happened to be here—and died horribly.

In two days, they had witnessed too much death. Their noses stung with grief, but they knew there was no time for sorrow.

They leapt over fallen machinery, stepping onto the warped elevator tracks to reach the second floor.

The supermarket’s complex layout meant only a dozen Fanged Demons managed to pursue them; most importantly, once inside the building, the noise would lessen, and fewer monsters would gather.

An Zi Heng brought up the rear, commanding his three big dogs to tear into the Fanged Demons.

Each dog had been refined with stellar energy and had devoured Snake Demon flesh; their combat power was triple that of ordinary evolvers. In a few vicious bites, the Fanged Demons were slain.

“Hurry up!” a young man shouted to An Zi Heng.

An Zi Heng led his three dogs and two cats upstairs to the second floor.

—

Crash!

A few young men dragged shelves over, piling them up at the entrance to the second-floor elevator. Qin Hao noticed their actions and extended his mental tendrils.

In an instant, metal was stripped from several shelves, from the surrounding steel, even from the escalator, forming a massive iron wall that blocked the entrance.

Now, the opening was completely sealed; with their limited intelligence, the Fanged Demons would not try to come up.

Everyone looked at this iron fortress with delight, their eyes toward Qin Hao now filled with admiration.

Qin Hao earned a batch of hero points.

“Keep moving up,” Zi Hui instructed.

Low floors were unsafe; only higher up would the Snake Demons and Fanged Demons be unable to climb.

The group kept moving upward.

The supermarket was vast: the first floor housed cosmetics and clothing counters, the second began the main market, the third had daily necessities, including appliances and textiles.

The fourth floor offered various restaurants, and the fifth was a cinema.

The elevators were cleverly positioned, forcing visitors to traverse much of the mall; An Zi Heng, having been here before, led the way.

Ahead, his three big dogs dashed forward, sniffing, searching for An Zi Heng’s parents.

Along the way, at the entrance from the second to third floor, a Fanged Demon’s corpse lay sprawled.

Continuing upward, Qin Hao saw more than a dozen Fanged Demon corpses.

Clearly, someone had fought back fiercely, or perhaps a new hero had appeared here.

They pressed on. The fourth-floor restaurants had long been abandoned; when they reached the fifth floor, they finally heard signs of life, and the cinema’s sealed doors were now open.

A man in his thirties opened the door.

“Come in.”

Over a hundred people entered.

The cinema had almost no windows; with the power out, it was pitch black.

A foul odor hit their noses.

At the entrance was a restroom; after two days, the stench was overwhelming.

Yet no one complained—they all knew exactly what the outside world had become.

No one dared to leave.

“Woof, woof, woof!”

—

An Zi Heng’s dogs growled low, tails wagging as they entered the crowd.

Inside the cinema were two hundred people, huddled together, living anxiously by the faint glow of a small window.

Seeing the three big dogs, everyone shrieked and instinctively tried to flee.

But among them, two elderly voices cried out in joy, “Old Wine, Mo Mo, Si Si! Grandma’s here!”

“Mom, Dad!” Tears streamed down An Zi Heng’s face. Fortunately, despite the catastrophe, his parents were safe.

An Zi Heng’s parents saw him and wept with relief, holding back sobs.

The others, witnessing a family reunited, thought of their own loved ones lost or missing, sorrow welling up within them, and soon even they began to sob.

The atmosphere, contagious, grew unbearably heavy.

At this moment, the man who had first opened the door bolted it again, then turned to Qin Hao and Zi Hui.

“Hello, I’m Li Xinlong. Just a few days ago, I mastered the Hero System. You must be heroes, too?”

Zi Hui shook hands with him. “That’s right. You recognize me, so I won’t introduce myself.”

Li Xinlong nodded and shook Qin Hao’s hand.

“How should I address you?”

“Qin Hao.”

“Good to meet you, good to meet you.”

Upon first meeting, Qin Hao already saw that Li Xinlong was a successful man, skilled in social interaction, and his introductions were smooth and unawkward.

“Are you here to move food, or just taking shelter? I welcome you to stay. To be honest, it still feels like a dream—how did the world turn into this, with all these monsters! The Hero System makes me feel overwhelmed. My strength alone can’t protect so many people.”

Li Xinlong’s words were simple, but struck at the heart of the matter.

In today’s society, everyone lives with clear eyes, preferring selfishness to safeguard their own well-being.

People won’t even help old ladies cross the street, let alone save lives.

If you die for righteousness, you’ll only be called a fool.

Human hearts have grown cold; suddenly becoming a hero, people only feel burdened, desperate to cast it off.

Li Xinlong looked expectantly at Zi Hui, but Zi Hui’s gaze turned to Qin Hao.

“Qin Hao, what do you think?”