Chapter 76: The Death of Lu Shaohua

"Then let's wait here, just in case anything unexpected happens. I wonder how the other heroes are doing."
The [Survival 2] mission had left these heroes anxious and uneasy, a sense of urgency rising in their hearts.
Each was being hunted by four invading civilization monsters—eight in total. Only those whose strength far surpassed the monsters could hope to survive.
Simply reaching the first level of evolution would never be enough to withstand such an onslaught.
Among the 5,980 heroes, the last one to unlock the first-level gene lock would surely be the weakest—such a person was likely to become the first hero to fall.
So, going forward, they knew they must quickly improve their abilities. For when [Survival 3] arrived, they would face second-level evolution hunting creatures, and they needed to be able to fight back, not just await their doom.
“I wonder how things are going over at the North Capital base,” someone suddenly said.
The ground trembled ceaselessly, likely from explosions—clearly, the battle at the North Capital settlement was still raging.
“I’ll go take a look!” Qin Hao stood up, summoning his liquid metal machine.
The others hesitated, reluctant to leave Qin Hao’s side during the mission; who knew if something might suddenly change?
“Lord Qin, may we go with you?”
“Yes, Lord Qin, I’d like to see as well.”
Qin Hao glanced at them, indifferent.
“Let’s go!”
Qin Hao transformed the liquid metal machine into a bus, packing in eleven people and five enormous pets.
The vehicle sped away, following the sounds of battle, and soon found the designated combat zone of the North Capital base.
On a high slope, rows of North Capital soldiers stood their ground, gunfire roaring.
The North Capital base had long possessed military strength, and now their true power was revealed—heroes and evolved individuals fighting alongside them, resisting the advancing alien creatures.
In addition to firearms, grenades were thrown down without restraint.
The explosions were deafening.
Yet such attacks could not halt the alien beasts.
Worse still, a steady stream of monsters poured forth from fifty spatial black holes. New Iron Spined Demons and Crocodile Beasts appeared,
rushing over the bodies of fallen beasts, increasing in number without end.
“What’s happening? Why are there even more monsters?” Lu Shaohua exclaimed in shock.
But the monsters offered no answer, flooding up the hill, intent on killing Lu Shaohua and his companions.

“Fall back, fall back!”
The commander shouted.
The evolved ones retreated frantically, heading to a new combat zone.
Area B was also laced with explosives; the hunting creatures were swallowed up as they arrived, but still they came, one after another.
Qin Hao stood on the hillside, witnessing the disaster.
Those nearby trembled in terror.
“How can there be so many?”
“Shouldn’t we be asking why the heroes brought so many evolved people with them? Isn’t this suicide?”
“How did it come to this?”
Qin Hao said, “Every hero detected by an alien civilization will trigger the release of hunting creatures. The reason these creatures detect nearby targets is all due to the spatial black holes. Only after the monsters are released does the black hole close. If not all monsters are released in time and more people appear nearby, the number of monsters increases.”
Hearing Qin Hao’s words, the other heroes immediately understood.
Even Yuan Xingcan, who had previously harbored resentment toward Qin Hao, now dared not utter a word against him and believed what Qin Hao said.
“Lord Qin, are you saying that the reason we dealt with the hunting monsters so quickly before is because we held out for a while, the spatial black hole spat out eight monsters and closed, and then we ran out, so nothing else happened?”
Qin Hao nodded—that was exactly it.
But Lu Shaohua and his group did not know this.
The more people there were, the spatial black holes wouldn’t increase much, but the time monsters appeared would lengthen.
Lu Shaohua and his companions hadn’t held out; thinking they just needed to escape the black hole’s range, they didn’t realize the black hole would detect the growing numbers around Lu Shaohua, and thus more monsters would emerge.
Their Plan A had the military lying in ambush nearby—a thousand soldiers. The hunting creatures’ numbers suddenly surged to eight thousand.
It was a completely one-sided battle.
Lu Shaohua could only retreat again.
But the bombs in Area B couldn’t stop the tide of hunting monsters.
Every second, more monsters appeared.
When Area B’s explosives were exhausted, the ambushed personnel joined the fight.
Another thousand people were detected.
The hunting creatures’ numbers rose to sixteen thousand.
Those thousand could not hold out as long as the previous group; within half an hour, the front collapsed entirely.

Lu Shaohua’s initial group of 250 was now wiped out.
Aside from himself, the remaining fifty heroes were either dead or fled—no one trusted him anymore.
The situation was now utterly out of control.
Lu Shaohua rushed to Area C.
The explosives in Area C were the final trap.
Countless hunting creatures, drawn by the scent of heroes, chased them to Area C, detecting another thousand evolved individuals.
The monsters now numbered a terrifying twenty-four thousand.
At this point, whether the heroes and humans survived or not, the spatial black holes would spit out twenty-four thousand monsters.
The rules set by the Invasion Alliance and the Peace Alliance favored both sides; every [Survival] mission was a cause for celebration among the Invasion Alliance.
Human numbers would be greatly reduced. If no hero completed the task, the aliens would invade directly, occupy Blue Star, and humanity would become slaves.
The sight of the mountain crawling with monsters left the heroes beside Qin Hao terrified, even prompting thoughts of retreat.
“Lord Qin, let’s leave. The people of the North Capital are finished,” Yuan Xingcan pleaded.
But Qin Hao was gazing into the distance.
Lu Shaohua was about eight hundred meters away, but Qin Hao’s eagle gene-enhanced vision allowed him to see the scene as clearly as if it were right in front of him.
Lu Shaohua had nowhere left to run.
These hunting creatures were locked onto the heroes; no matter where he fled, the monsters would pursue him.
The Iron Spined Demon, fastest of all, swung its scythe toward Lu Shaohua, who began to fight back.
He used his fist blades, his legs, his star energy.
The Iron Spined Demon fell, then came the Crocodile Beast; when it died, the Liquid Walker arrived.
In the distance, a Fire Demon seized the opportunity, its single vertical pupil emitting a beam of fire.
“Pfft!”
The fire beam struck Lu Shaohua’s chest, piercing his body.
Lu Shaohua staggered, finally overwhelmed by the Liquid Walker’s attack.
Qin Hao looked away.
Someone as naïve as Lu Shaohua would not survive more than two episodes in the apocalypse.