Chapter 96: The Man at the End of His Rope

Qin Hao was clearing out the zombies, yet his mental force spread in all directions.

This was the hard-earned instinct of long years of battle. Even though he knew that at this stage there could not possibly be any deadlier predators threatening his life, he still remained vigilant, because he understood that the invading alliance would never let them enjoy peace for long.

So when the sound of a window shattering from the tower rang out, Qin Hao naturally heard it.

At any time, rescuing someone could earn hero points. Even if that person had jumped from a building on purpose, who would not want to live?

People who try to kill themselves usually come to regret it.

Qin Hao watched the young man plummet from the sky and lifted a hand, summoning a gale.

That wind caught the falling man hard and kept him from dying.

At the same moment, Qin Hao’s hero system issued a prompt. The random task that had just appeared and vanished in an instant was already complete.

Task completed: reward 100 hero points.

Received Jiang Yuhang’s gratitude: reward 1,000 hero points.

Qin Hao glanced at Jiang Yuhang and had not expected the fluctuations in this man’s mental force to be so great, granting him a full thousand hero points.

He had the wind carry Jiang Yuhang over, then looked at the man’s miserable state.

His hair was matted into knots, his body carried a rank, stale odor, his clothes seemed not to have been washed in a very long time, and most importantly, he had no shoes.

Qin Hao looked toward the tower and suddenly understood.

This man was probably an ordinary person kept like livestock, meant only to provide hero points for heroes.

Unfortunately, some people would not even bother to act properly. Ordinary people were not fools either; they naturally understood this was exploitation.

But so what? Even inside Zi Hui’s Sky Dome Base, scenes of heroes fighting were broadcast every day through the Eye of Ten Thousand Realms, and those who supplied especially large amounts of mental force would even receive extra rewards.

In this era, there would inevitably be those who lived as the lowly and those who lived as the exalted.

It only depended on whether that person had willingly fallen into such a position.

Qin Hao pulled a pair of sandals from his spatial storage and tossed them to Jiang Yuhang. Then, with a thought, he condensed a metal longsword and handed it over as well.

“If you do not want to die, pick up the weapon. I do not need you to do anything. Just protect yourself.”

Jiang Yuhang had never imagined that his desperate leap toward death would turn out like this, and for a moment he was stunned.

Was this rebirth from the depths of despair?

For a brief instant, even this broad-shouldered man broke down in tears.

Qin Hao gave him a cold look, and Jiang Yuhang choked back his sobs and shut his mouth, because he knew that even if gunfire erupted ahead, making such a sound could still draw hunting creatures here.

But he truly could not hold back.

Every move he made now was being watched by the others inside the tower. When they saw Qin Hao actually give Jiang Yuhang shoes and even place a weapon in his hands, someone else immediately leaped down as well.

Had the world gone mad? Had everyone in it gone mad?

The evolvers guarding these ordinary people were all dumbfounded.

The ones who jumped were fighting with their backs to the wall, unable to endure this any longer.

Qin Hao naturally would not stand by and watch them die. At the very least, their courage was worth saving.

His wind ability caught them, and Qin Hao used his metal ability to form weapons for them as well, even tossing them shoes before telling them to follow along.

“Thank you, thank you!”

“Are you a hero? You must be. A hero like you is the real thing.”

“Can we follow you?”

The people who jumped down were overwhelmed with gratitude.

Qin Hao swept them with a glance and said coldly, “If you think my strength is enough to stand up to the heroes in this base, and that’s why you jumped down intending to follow me, then I suggest you save your energy. Instead of thinking about that, think about how you are going to survive on your own. It would be best if you fled right now. Otherwise, if you are captured again, it will likely be even worse than before.”

The people fell into confusion, not knowing what to do.

But the first one to jump, Jiang Yuhang, clearly did not think so.

He was not even afraid of death, so naturally he was not afraid of living on his own.

“Hero, I jumped because I did not want to live there anymore. I have hands and feet. Even if I cannot defeat those monsters, I can find food on my own. I will not go hungry. Even if I have to eat tree bark, I can survive. Thank you for saving my life. I want to know your name, and I will definitely repay you someday.”

Jiang Yuhang’s expression was extremely resolute, and after being rescued for so long, Qin Hao had kept receiving his gratitude, earning a great many hero points. The others, by comparison, brought in far less.

In fact, several of them had already begun to resent him after hearing that they were not allowed to follow.

It was clear that many of them still clung to the naive idea of helping someone all the way to the end, as if escorting a Buddha all the way to the temple. It was laughable.

“I am Qin Hao.”

Qin Hao gave his name, then after a moment’s thought, took a firearm from his spatial ring.

It was a blue-rarity star-energy gun he had drawn during the Survival mission, and it had never been of much use to him.

He might as well give it to Jiang Yuhang. Perhaps, without realizing it, he would change another person’s life and help create someone like Zi Hui.

“This counts as a reward for your courage. Do you see this? It is the same kind of weapon he has. It can hunt those monsters, though it needs to be charged. The thing used for charging can be taken from the brains of zombies. We call it a star-energy crystal. Also, by consuming the flesh and blood of monsters, you can increase your strength and become an evolver. Humans can keep absorbing the power within star-energy crystals to grow stronger. When you break through the second genetic lock, you will be able to become like him.”

Qin Hao pointed at Wu Qiong.

“As for wanting to grow stronger than him, stronger than that man, then you will have to keep tempering yourself until you reach your limit. Whether you have that kind of will is up to you.”

At Qin Hao’s words, a brilliant light exploded in Jiang Yuhang’s eyes. When he looked at Wu Qiong again, there was hatred in his gaze.

His girlfriend, even his classmates, had all been toyed with and ruined by Wu Qiong. A man like that did not deserve to be called a hero.

He clenched the star-energy gun Qin Hao had given him, and for a moment even wanted to shoot Wu Qiong dead on the spot.

But in the end, he forced himself to calm down. Firing now would only cause trouble for Hero Qin Hao.

“This kindness is greater than any I can repay. From now on, if you ever need me for anything, even if I must climb mountains of blades or plunge into a cauldron of boiling oil, I, Jiang Yuhang, will never utter a single word of refusal.”

Qin Hao gave a light laugh.

“Go.”

Jiang Yuhang hardened his heart and turned to leave at once.

He had noticed that the other people who jumped down were already showing covetous and greedy expressions at the star-energy gun in his hands. Anyone who dared leap down in search of a way out was no soft-hearted fool.

He would not give up this hard-won chance.

Qin Hao tossed out the corpses of two Fangtooth Demons and said, “Eat. Once you are full, run.”

The people who had jumped down looked at one another, then immediately stepped forward and tore into the Fangtooth Demon flesh.

Humanity had already shed the trappings of civilization and begun to eat raw meat.

All of it was for the sake of survival.

Qin Hao glanced at the completed Hungry People mission in his hero system, then plunged back into the battle and paid those people no further mind.