50: Conference of Nations

Shen Xiaochuan sheathed his sky-rending blade and turned to leave. He didn't look back at the rescued Huaxia Deities, nor did he acknowledge their deep bows of gratitude. The wind blew against him, carrying a scorched scent.

As he walked out of the ruins, his watch vibrated slightly. An encrypted message popped up—it was a set of coordinates from Alicia. He glanced at it, didn't reply, and saved it directly into the System.

Data on the Blue Star Channel suddenly spiked, and global signal strength rose sharply—news of the annihilation of the four major deities of the Eastern Seas spread rapidly. Red lights flashed across the divine domains of the United States, the South Alliance, and Kimchi Country, throwing the channel into chaos.

In the real world, the White House war room was brightly lit. The President stood before a massive screen, his expression grim. He suddenly grabbed a glass from the table and smashed it against the floor, sending shards flying everywhere.

“Who leaked that video?”

He roared, “Block it immediately! No platform is allowed to repost it; not a single word is to remain!”

The officer beside him lowered his head to record the order. The President paced back and forth, gritting his teeth. “Investigate this man, Shen Xiaochuan, thoroughly. I want to know his true identity, family background, and social relations on my desk within twenty-four hours. Also, notify Trump—the plan is being moved forward.”

The communication connected, and Trump's face appeared on the screen. He was dressed in a sharp suit, his eyes cold.

“Target confirmed as an S-rank threat,”

The President said in a low voice, “I authorize you to initiate war protocols. Use all resources, at any cost—he must be taken down.”

Trump nodded. “Understood. I will assemble the coalition forces tomorrow at noon to officially launch the campaign.”

The call ended. The President stared at the footage on the screen of Shen Xiaochuan slaying Zhang Benyifeng—with that single strike, a thousand-man phalanx had been instantly reduced to ashes. He murmured under his breath, “This can't be an ordinary divine power... what on earth is this guy?”

At the same time, an emergency meeting was convened at Capitol Hill in the United States Divine Domain. Hundreds of deities were present, and the atmosphere was heavy. Trump walked up to the podium and brought up the combat footage.

“You have all seen it,”

He said, “A single strike destroyed a Blood Sacrifice Battle Array; this kind of power far exceeds an A-rank talent. I suspect he possesses an S-rank passive skill—automatically accumulating faith points every second.”

Someone sneered, “Do you have proof? Don't just make baseless guesses.”

“Pay attention to his state before he attacked. There was no ritual, no incantation, and no sign of energy gathering. Yet at the moment of the strike, an extremely powerful surge of spiritual energy erupted from within his body. Currently, the only logical explanation is that he has been stockpiling resources for a long time and can call upon them at any moment.”

Another deity frowned. “If that were true, he should have been exposed long ago.”

“That's because he has been feigning weakness,”

Trump said, “He doesn't act in the Early Stage, and in the Late Stage, he relies on the Faith Mall to purchase equipment and skill books. This playstyle is impossible to guard against. If you go to fight him now, he might already have ten B-rank scrolls ready and waiting for you.”

The hall fell into silence.

“Then what do we do?”

Someone asked anxiously, “Are we just going to sit here and wait for death?”

“No.”

Trump raised his hand. “We must strike first. Tomorrow at noon, a coalition of a million troops will attack the Huaxia Divine Domain from three directions, with the primary objective being Skydome City, to cut off his resource chain. As long as we cut off his supply for forty-eight hours, his mall won't be able to function.”

“What if he starts throwing faith points at the problem again?”

“Then let him,”

Trump sneered, “But we won't give him the chance. I've already contacted the South Alliance technical team; they are currently deploying a ‘Faith Tracking System.’ Once his core node is locked, we will immediately launch a virus attack to paralyze the trading network.”

The meeting ended, and everyone began to leave. Trump stood alone in the vast hall and said in a low voice, “Shen Xiaochuan, your era is going to end before it even begins.”

Meanwhile, Shen Xiaochuan had already returned to Skydome City.

He landed on the high platform of the main hall, the wind fluttering the hem of his clothes. Old Karl, the administrator, walked over quickly with a battle report in his hand.

“Chen Yan is back,”

Old Karl reported, “The Azure Dragon Legion has broken through three of Kimchi Country's divine domains, seized two mineral veins, and captured two deities. Ling Feng has also completed his mission, destroying the resource fields in the eastern United States and bringing back four people, including John Carter.”

Shen Xiaochuan took the report, his gaze sweeping over the four new red dots on the map—the locations where the enemy deities were being held.

“Where are those prisoners now?”

“Reporting to my Lord, they are all being held in the dungeon. Anna has already taken a medical team to check on them; none are seriously injured.”

Shen Xiaochuan nodded and walked to the sand table, his finger tracing the border line and stopping at the direction of the United States.

“They're moving fast.”

Old Karl was taken aback. “You mean?”

“The White House has already held a meeting,”

Shen Xiaochuan said calmly, “The President ordered a thorough investigation into me, and Trump has been authorized to start the war early. They won't wait long.”

Old Karl's face changed slightly. “What should we do? Should we hold our ground, or evacuate some of the Believers first?”

Shen Xiaochuan didn't answer. He looked up at the sky; dark clouds hung low, with occasional flashes of lightning.

“Notify everyone,”

He said, “Double the wall patrols and have the training grounds operating around the clock. All Believers are to enter a state of war readiness and must not leave the city unless absolutely necessary.”

Old Karl noted the order, then hesitated for a moment. “Should we contact the other Huaxia Deities to organize a joint defense?”

“No need.”

Shen Xiaochuan shook his head. “They're coming for me this time. I don't want to involve others.”

Old Karl wanted to say more, but Shen Xiaochuan raised his hand to stop him.

“Go take care of it,”

He said, “I want to be alone for a while.”

After Old Karl left, Shen Xiaochuan stood by the sand table, his fingertips lightly tapping the edge. He knew the enemy would definitely come. But he also knew that he was no longer that novice who could only rely on throwing faith points around.

He opened the System interface and entered the Faith Mall. The numbers were still ticking up: 3285, 3286, 3287... He clicked on the technology category and found the project he had been following—a Controlled Nuclear Fusion Device, which required 800,000 faith points; he was still quite far off.

He flipped to the skill book section and saw the upgraded version of Thunderous Overlord Slash, 'Heavenly Wrath Lightning Punishment,' for 50,000 points. Further down was a summoning scroll, [Qin Shi Huang Ying Zheng], on a limited-time special for 999,000 points.

He closed the interface and shut his eyes for three seconds.

When he opened them again, his gaze was resolute.

He walked to the wall and pressed a hidden mechanism. A secret door slid open, revealing a row of shelves—wind wolf meat, Black Rock Giant Bear pelts, expansion maps for Kimchi Country towns... all of it was loot accumulated from the past.

He picked out several valuable items and listed them all on the mall, with the price set to 'Faith Point Exchange.'

Transaction requests flooded in instantly.

He quickly filtered through them, completing exchanges with three trusted users for a batch of building materials and two acceleration blueprints. He also used an idle defense barrier blueprint to obtain a 'Western United States Resource Distribution Map' from an anonymous user.

After completing the transactions, he put the new materials into the production line. The construction queue refreshed; residences, barracks, and the Blacksmith Shop all began work simultaneously.

Then, he opened the communication channel and entered a string of code.

Ten seconds later, the Mechanical Core X-07 responded.

“High-frequency intelligence fluctuations detected.”

X-07 reported, “Seven nations of the South Alliance are simultaneously mobilizing their armies, targeting the East.”

“I know.”

Shen Xiaochuan said, “Activate the Grandmist Heavenly Eye prediction System, focus monitoring on the United States and the remnants of the Eastern Seas forces.”

“Executing. Estimated time to generate the first threat assessment report is three hours.”

Shen Xiaochuan cut off the communication and headed toward the training grounds.

On the way, he met Chen Yan and Ling Feng, who had just come out of the dungeon, their armor stained with blood.

“Boss.”

Chen Yan saluted. “Everyone has been settled. Those willing to cooperate stay; those who resist remain in custody.”

Shen Xiaochuan nodded. “Keep the interrogations moderate. We want intelligence, not corpses.”

Ling Feng added, “John Carter talked. He said Trump plans to move tomorrow at noon, targeting the North Gate and the East Wall.”

Shen Xiaochuan's eyes flickered. “Even faster than I expected.”

He stopped and looked toward the city walls. The garrison was busy reinforcing the towers and transporting stone materials.

“Tell them to speed up the progress,”

He said, “The third layer of shield charging must be completed tonight.”

Chen Yan took the order and left.

Shen Xiaochuan continued forward. On the training grounds, the new recruits were practicing, their sword swings uniform and their shouts resonant.

He stood at the edge of the high platform, watching silently.

A bell rang in the distance—once, twice.

He lifted his wrist to check the time.

There were twenty-one hours left until the invasion time Trump had announced.

He took a deep breath and opened the Faith Mall.

In the search bar, he typed: ‘Countermeasure Weapons.’

A dozen results popped up on the page.

He selected one and clicked exchange.

System prompt: [Exchange Successful] [Obtained Item: Miniature Electromagnetic Pulse Cannon Blueprint ×1] [Consumed faith points: 12,000]

He sent the blueprint to the military engineering group with a note: Top priority, complete manufacturing within twenty-four hours.

After doing all this, he turned and walked toward the main hall.

Above the steps, a crow flew past and landed on a corner of the eaves.

It tilted its head to look at Shen Xiaochuan and suddenly spoke in a mechanical voice: “Warning. Spacetime fluctuation anomaly. Future signal intrusion detected.”

Shen Xiaochuan's footsteps paused.

The crow flapped its wings and spat out a string of numbers: 7-1-3-9-0-4-2

Then, it exploded into a ball of sparks, its parts scattering all over the ground.