Chapter 70 Kaya Civilization of the Endless Night

While Qin Hao was analyzing the heroes of the Sky Dome Base, far across the distant star river, on the Insect Star, the Thousand-Armed God of the Claw Civilization gazed upon the cultivation tanks on the planet, his expression dark and grim.

In the span of a month, all the Serpent Demons within the tanks had perished, and the number of Fang Demons had dwindled to a pitiful few hundred thousand. One must remember that just a month prior, at the onset of the invasion of Blue Star, there had been a full hundred million Fang Demons here.

The Thousand-Armed God was wracked with the urge to storm into Blue Star himself and annihilate the planet. But that was impossible. He could not violate the Laws of Universal Peace; otherwise, a weak deity like himself would be hunted down by the Enforcers—gods of formidable power.

Unable to invade by his own strength, the Thousand-Armed God seethed with rage. If, after another day, he could not replenish his hunting creatures and all the beings of the Claw Civilization were killed, the verdict would be that the Claw Civilization's invasion had failed.

The price of failure was steep. Not only would all his hunting creatures perish, but the other members of the invasion alliance would also come seeking retribution, for his failure would grant humanity precious breathing room.

“Damn it. Damn that Silver Light. Damn those humans!” the Thousand-Armed God roared in fury.

Yet, he was not entirely without luck. Just as he despaired, a message arrived on his interstellar neural net:

[All Blue Star heroes have now unlocked the First-Level Genetic Lock.]

Humanity possessed the Hero System, but this system was not some lofty, mystical construct; in reality, it was merely an auxiliary supercomputer serving the gods.

“To think that these Chosen Heroes have all broken through the first-level genetic lock at this moment—now I can dispatch my creatures to hunt them down,” the Thousand-Armed God exulted.

Below the first-level genetic lock, he had only Fang Demons, Serpent Demons, and Venomous Spider Demons. But above the first-level lock, there were more: Centipede Demons, Giant-Pincer Bugs, Abyssal Greatmouths, and others.

The numbers of these first-level evolved hunting creatures were also vast; there were as many as thirty million Centipede Demons.

Yet, recalling how a full hundred million Fang Demons had been slaughtered by humanity, the Thousand-Armed God could not help but feel uncertain.

After all, there was still that “cheater” on Blue Star who had reversed the flow of time.

“Damn it! I can do nothing to that human for now, and he’s already cost me so many of my kind.”

Last time, dispatching the intelligent species had been a bargaining chip in his dealings with the Peace Alliance, but the ten thousand Claw Insectoids he sent had been wiped out within just a few days.

His anger was boundless, yet he could no longer send more. There were strict restrictions on deploying intelligent species.

The Thousand-Armed God could only wait for another opportunity. Now that it had come, he still felt uneasy.

“At worst, I’ll yield some of my interests, but I cannot let this Blue Star race ascend to divinity.”

With this thought, his divine will surged, piercing through space-time black holes, reaching the far side of the universe.

“Dark King God, your divine offspring have all been slain. Do you not plan to act early and eradicate that feeble Blue Star race?”

His malicious psychic message echoed out.

…

Within the Sky Dome Base, Qin Hao’s analysis continued as he pondered how to weather this crisis.

In his past life, all heroes had unlocked the first-level genetic lock in the third month after the apocalypse’s onset. At that time, Qin Hao remained in Yangchuan City, where as many as thirty heroes had gathered. After surviving the mission, everyone discussed the event, for with Zihui’s failure as a lesson, they found the path to success.

Each person was isolated for battle, but barely a tenth survived.

In the [Survival 2] mission, a full twenty-eight heroes died in Yangchuan Base, leaving only four alive, including Qin Hao.

The closed environment had its merits, but not everyone possessed the ability to withstand first-level hunting creatures.

At that time, the invasion alliance had dispatched three civilizations to attack:

The Claw Civilization’s Iron Skewer Demons,
The Kaya Civilization’s Crocodile Beasts,
The Giant Night Civilization’s Liquid Walkers.

Six types of creatures in all, each one terrifying.

The Iron Skewer Demon was the standard exoskeletal creature of the Claw Civilization. Its steel-hard shell was impenetrable to heroes without suitable weapons. Its body was centipede-like—ring upon interlocking ring—stretching five meters long and bearing fifteen pairs of scythe-like legs aligned along its body.

Everywhere an Iron Skewer Demon passed, walls were sliced open, and the human body was utterly helpless before it.

Yet, among them, the Iron Skewer Demon was the weakest.

The Kaya Civilization was known to humanity as the Evil Sea Tribe. They thrived in vast oceans, and their intelligent species closely resembled the mermen of human myth.

The Crocodile Beasts they dispatched were only three meters long, but their bite force was terrifying, their strength immense, with a baseline punching power of 500 kilograms.

Unlocking the first-level genetic lock required only 100 kilograms of force. Not everyone, like Qin Hao, had to reach the absolute limit to unlock it, and then push on to the first-level evolver’s limit to unlock the second-level genetic lock.

Ordinary people knew nothing of the limits of the flesh. They could only feel that the Crocodile Beasts were overwhelmingly stronger—an unstoppable force. Only heroes who had mastered martial skills could barely withstand them.

As for the Giant Night Civilization, it was even more dreadful.

This civilization was born on a gas giant—a world like Saturn.

Saturn’s diameter is 9.5 times that of Blue Star, equivalent to 850 Blue Stars. On gas giants, there is no clear solid surface; liquid and gas mix together, forming massive dust storms and crushingly dense atmospheres.

Life born on such harsh worlds became what humans recognized as “liquid life.”

The Giant Night Civilization was advanced; its beings were composed of liquid, able to alter their forms. Upon entering Blue Star, their liquid hunting creatures became human-shaped, and the first wave was known as the Undying.

However, these were not intelligent species, only possessing a chaotic consciousness. They could envelop the human body, suffocating their victims, and being liquid, even if torn apart, they could not be killed.

Once an Undying descended, a hero could neither escape nor defeat it.

Back then, if Qin Hao had not absorbed the Undying’s genes, he too would have been powerless to destroy them.

It was only half a month after the [Survival 2] mission ended that humanity finally discovered how to kill the Undying: within their liquid bodies lay a solid core. Only by piercing this core at the moment of shattering the body could one hope to slay them.

These three types of creatures were merciless trials for humanity.

Of nearly six thousand heroes, how many would survive this time remained unknown.

What concerned Qin Hao most was the uncontrollable element: during the [Survival] mission, the Claw Civilization broke the rules, unleashing three spatial black holes in total and releasing Serpent Demons and Venomous Spider Demons.

Would the Claw Civilization try the same tactic again this time?