Chapter Forty-Eight: Refusing to Relocate

This video, in countless edited versions, swept through domestic social networks and dominated every trending chart. It was a video that defied all logic.

The Corpse King, Jiang Chen!

The martial art of Xingyi, the Demon-Subduing Staff, the Daoist True Fire, the Confucian Righteous Qi!

All of this was like a brand-new door flung open, letting the Grand Xia see an unprecedented power, and an unprecedented enemy!

At that moment, the entire Grand Xia grew tense!

For they had witnessed, with their own eyes, the formidable might of the Corpse King, Jiang Chen!

But even more than that, a surge of fighting spirit!

Because, even such a powerful Corpse King was ultimately beheaded in a single stroke by Grand Xia’s Chief Commander!

Accompanied by a stirring, heroic background score, every strike from the Godslayer Army sent shivers through the viewers.

The silhouette of that young man was as sharp as a blade!

Each edited version spread across the internet at lightning speed, with comments and live reactions multiplying almost geometrically!

Some were shocked by the power of the Corpse King.

Some mourned the sacrifice of the warriors.

Some lamented the frailty of humanity.

But when that blade fell and Jiang Chen’s head rolled, every voice converged into one.

A thunderous cry of four words:

“Raise Grand Xia’s banner!”

This video dispelled all fear of the coming war for Grand Xia.

The nation stood united!

In stark contrast, international reactions on foreign websites were entirely different.

“My god, what is that? Guns and cannons can’t destroy it—could what the Grand Xia people said before actually be true?”

“No way, no way, surely no one thinks this is real, right?”

“On behalf of countless brothers, I tell you this cannot be true. The Grand Xia people must be bragging again!”

“That’s right! I’ve studied it—this is just special effects!”

“Ha, foolish Grand Xia people, thinking they can scare us with special effects.”

“But I’ll admit, these effects are pretty good—almost realistic. I never knew Grand Xia’s special effects industry was so advanced.”

All opinions, without exception, assumed the video was deliberately fabricated by Grand Xia.

After all,

The video was simply too incredible.

Lin Fan glanced at the foreign comments, rubbed his brow, and sighed softly: “Just as I expected…”

But then,

Lin Fan smiled. “It doesn’t matter. This video wasn’t meant for them anyway.”

Suddenly, he remembered something.

In his previous life, when the deities first descended, Grand Xia’s chief scientist led the researchers to study them.

They only produced the most basic analysis.

At the time, even a fool could have seen through it—it was extremely superficial.

But Grand Xia strictly sealed all information about the deities; even Lin Fan and the fighters, after attending lectures, had to hand in their notebooks to prevent leaks.

Lin Fan had been puzzled and asked Chen Yan, “Why do we need to seal such superficial analysis?”

He still remembered, Chen Yan had been silent for a long time and finally replied with complexity: “Because we don’t want the enemy to know that we know nothing about them.”

Back then, Grand Xia knew nothing about the deities, so they needed to seal the information tightly!

But now,

Grand Xia not only knew of the deities’ existence, but also that the first to descend was the Sea God—whose power was to command the oceans and who had sea beast followers!

They had already constructed a steel wall at the landing site, and Lin Fan knew every detail, from the rank of the first Sea God to the height of the tsunamis!

They were fully prepared for any lurking mysteries.

Now, Grand Xia no longer needed to hide, afraid the deities would realize their ignorance.

Grand Xia wanted the deities to know, clearly:

We have already seen through you!

But you so-called deities know nothing about us!

Without fear, there is no need to conceal anything!

“I hope this time, it won’t be another mysterious resurgence,” Lin Fan sighed, still uneasy—the call from Old Jin had been too abrupt.

It seemed there was trouble he needed to handle.

But Old Jin insisted there was no real danger.

“So, what’s the situation?” Lin Fan frowned slightly.

Meanwhile.

“Screech~~~”

A sharp braking sound rang out.

Lin Fan immediately opened the car door and jumped out of the off-road vehicle.

Zone 0124, Wang Family Village.

Lin Fan saw chaos at the entrance to the village—a few staff members, sweating profusely, were negotiating with several elderly villagers, who looked respected and distinguished.

The process seemed fraught—they were already shouting.

“No, elder, listen to me, there really is danger here now…”

“Stop talking about danger! No matter what, I won’t leave!”

Lin Fan felt a slight relief. At least, from the looks of it, this wasn’t some mysterious resurgence, but rather… trouble in negotiating with the people?

He strode over and asked a staff member, “What’s going on?”

The staffer was momentarily stunned when he saw Lin Fan, then suddenly remembered something, his eyes filling with respect and admiration. He saluted: “Chief Commander! I’m Li, the person in charge of Zone 0124…”

The elders also recognized Lin Fan, and stopped arguing with the staff, calling out to him from afar: “Leader, you must stand up for us!”

“Our families have lived here for generations—how can we just leave?”

“Let’s not discuss this yet,” Lin Fan interrupted the introduction, asking directly, “Tell me what’s happening here.”

The person in charge looked troubled. “Reporting, Chief Commander, it’s nothing major, just difficult to handle.”

“You ordered that all residents within three kilometers of the Steel Wall must urgently relocate.”

“In theory, it should be easy to negotiate, since everyone knows the deities will descend and the sea will be dangerous. Wang Family Village is a small fishing village by the sea, but no matter what, they don’t want to move!”

“Even the neighboring fishing villages sent representatives when they heard the news, all expressing their refusal to relocate.”

Lin Fan frowned slightly. “Have you explained the relocation policy?”

“We have! We’ll provide relocation fees, help them move, and the new houses are already built—if they agree, measurements can start immediately,” the staffer said helplessly. “But no matter what we say, they refuse!”

“That is odd,” Lin Fan exhaled. “You all take a break. I’ll negotiate with them myself.”

With that, Lin Fan went up to the elders.

“Gentlemen, how should I address you?” Lin Fan asked politely.