Chapter 147: The Free State's Reaction

As they pulled close, the driver finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Inside the gates of the military base, soldiers were rapidly stacking sandbags to construct flood defenses over two meters high. Behind these barriers, numerous drivers and their families who had fled here were already gathered.

Along the ramparts, fully armed soldiers stood in stern and grim readiness.

A soldier was directing the arriving drivers to park and take shelter inside, yet when questioned, he offered no answers.

"Phew, you can finally relax a bit now, right?" Looking at this scene, the white woman in the passenger seat smiled. "If you ask me, you were just worrying over nothing."

Seeing that the military base had made preparations against the floods, complete with heavily armed soldiers, the white driver indeed felt a measure of safety.

Yet, a lingering doubt remained: Why were these soldiers carrying loaded firearms?

Wasn't this just a tidal surge? Logically speaking, they should have been holding sandbags or similar equipment to fight the floodwaters instead!

"Something still feels a bit off... Go inside and take cover, I'll go ask." Instructing his wife to seek refuge within the base, the white driver joined the other panicked drivers surrounding the commanding officer. "Sir, what's happening behind us?"

"Why are you all carrying guns?"

"Is there something else besides the ocean water? Why do you need weapons?"

The multitude of temporarily evacuated drivers chattered anxiously, though they were not yet panicked, merely confused.

"Everyone, please trust us! Trust the government of the Free Nation!" the officer shouted loudly. "Please believe that this is merely a routine tidal surge. Rest assured and take shelter!"

"We have made complete and thorough preparations!"

With these words, reinforced by the sturdy flood barriers, most of the drivers were mollified. Their expressions relaxed, and they turned back to comfort their wives and fellow passengers.

Only the white driver from before still felt a profound sense of unease.

He glanced back and saw that on the flood walls and the perimeter walls of the military base, squads of soldiers were already mounting heavy machine guns and hoisting rocket launchers, their faces tense as they loaded ammunition.

"Honey, what's wrong?" His wife, noticing his grim expression, asked in a low voice.

"I don't know... I just have a bad feeling." He spoke softly, lowered his head to check his phone, and suddenly his expression transformed entirely!

The internet was in absolute chaos!

Videos were circulating everywhere!

The ocean surging, sea beasts roaring, houses submerged, and people torn to pieces...

This...

"It's nothing..." He trembled as he put away his phone, looked at the battle-ready soldiers and the towering walls, and said in a hoarse voice, "I trust the government of the Free Nation!"

With that, he pulled his wife into his arms, holding her tightly as he whispered, "I love you."

Meanwhile.

The officer, continuing to direct operations, murmured to his adjutant, "Are the helicopters ready?"

"Ready! They're prepped for takeoff on the rear landing pad," the adjutant replied in a low voice.

"Good. I'm heading over now. We fly due east!" Turning back to the soldiers guarding the walls, the officer shouted, "Soldiers, we know what is truly happening, but trust us, we will hold this line!"

"And remember, this is classified! Do not incite greater panic among the citizens!"

"I will live and die with you!"

The young soldiers of the Free Nation answered in unison: "Sir, yes, sir!"

The officer nodded and strode away without looking back!

As a division commander, he certainly wasn't going to die here!

He was all too aware of what was actually coming!

Time slipped away.

Second by second.

At last, the soldiers caught sight of the churning, towering wall of water roaring toward them.

"Open fire!!"

They pulled their triggers in a frenzy.

Yet, this meager firepower was utterly negligible to the sea beasts.

The four-meter-high, supposedly indestructible perimeter wall of the military base held against the onslaught of the rushing waves for a mere three seconds before collapsing with a deafening crash!

Sea beasts roared as they surged through the broken walls, torrents of seawater flooding the compound!

"Sir! Where's the commander?!"

"Protect the commander!"

The young soldiers struggled to keep their rifles raised, attempting to beat back the sea beasts, while others desperately heaved sandbags in a futile battle against the rising tide.

Countless soldiers scanned the area for their commander, desperate to cover his retreat.

"Sir..." Standing waist-deep in seawater, staring straight into the maw of a colossal whale, a soldier suddenly looked toward the rear. "He's already run away..."

In that instant, all the soldiers fell silent.

The drivers who had sought refuge here stared in sheer disbelief at the sea beasts riding the surging waves through the shattered walls. "What is going on?!"

"Weren't they saying it was just a tidal surge?! What are these things?!"

"The Free Nation's government lied to us! Daxia was telling the truth!"

"Give us an explanation!"

"Why... why did I ever mock Daxia for building those towering walls?!"

The white driver, who had known the truth all along, held his wife fiercely. Facing the oncoming wall of water, he whispered, "I love you."

"I love you too..."

Both figures, along with countless other refugees, were instantly swallowed by the tide.

All regrets and angry shouts vanished, leaving behind only the roaring of sea beasts and the crimson-stained waters.

"Hum..."

At the rear landing pad, a helicopter's rotor blades spun furiously, lifting off the ground just as the floodwaters threatened to engulf it!

Standing aboard the helicopter, the officer looked down at the churning floods and the monstrous shapes shifting beneath the surface, trembling with lingering fear. "Too close, that was too close! Hurry, gain altitude! Don't let those beasts reach us!"

"Higher! Fly toward the capital, it's bound to be safe there!"

Scenes such as this were playing out at every military base.

Along the western coast of the Free Nation, numerous military bases were scattered about.

They possessed formidable firepower, sturdy walls, and even significant air strike capabilities.

Yet, facing the surging ocean and the ferocious sea beasts, those so-called walls were as fragile as paper!

As for their heavy weaponry, it couldn't be brought to bear effectively at all.

Most of the stationed aircraft never even managed to take off, and those that did served merely as escape vehicles for their commanding officers.

The civilians who had sought refuge here with such high hopes believed until their dying breath that the government would protect them.

The soldiers who fought under their commander's orders believed until the end that their commander was right, that he would live and die by their side.

Yet...

They did not have Daxia's Great Wall!

They had committed no crime.

Yet the stupidity of the Free Nation's leadership invariably brought retribution down upon its innocent people.

New Xinzhou City.

This was a coastal city on the western coast of the Free Nation and one of its most economically developed hubs.

Due to economic factors and geographical location, a large population of ethnic Chinese resided here.

Yet just last night, every single one of them had vanished.

Witnesses captured footage of them arriving en masse at the airport, boarding aircraft marked with red insignia and bearing the two characters "Daxia," before roaring into the sky and departing the city!

Daxia was evacuating its nationals!

Throughout the entire morning, New Xinzhou City was abuzz with heated discussions about the event.

"Hahahaha, I'm dying of laughter. Daxia actually staged an evacuation—they're really committing to the act."

"Right? Aren't they just trying to trick us into believing gods are descending, so we waste massive resources building walls and ruin our own economy?"

"They're really going all out with this performance. I heard they evacuated eight hundred thousand people this time; every single person with Daxia citizenship here is gone!"

"And they actually listened to Daxia's government. My colleague even urged me to pack up my family and book flight tickets to New York to hide before leaving... Hahahaha, hilarious. They've been completely brainwashed by Daxia's government, those foolish Daxia people."

On television, the President of the Free Nation was still solemnly and seriously refuting the rumors: "Citizens of the Free Nation, please do not believe Daxia's falsehoods, do not incite unnecessary panic, and trust us—trust your government. Maintain your normal lives and work, and avoid letting Daxia's rumors damage our economic development and hinder our..."