Chapter 868 - Rescuing Evilspawn
The War God King was about to issue more commands to Han Wu when he received the notification that Han Wu had blacklisted him and blocked his message.
Zhong Heng was furious. Unbelievable! Kids these days have the audacity to blacklist a God King? Outrageous!
“Get in here! Issue a faction-wide alert. Declare Han Wu a traitor and an enemy of the War Faction. Whoever captures or kills him will be richly rewarded!”
The War Faction officer who arrived looked confused. “Chief, who is Han Wu?”
Zhong Heng practically spat the words through clenched teeth. “Invictum, one of the Three Armies. He defected. Understand?”
“Yes, sir!” The officer was stunned, but he rushed to post the bounty.
When the bounty spread throughout the War Faction, everyone was shocked. Han Wu, also known as Invictum, had only recently earned a seat in the Three Armies. Barely any time had passed. How had he already defected?
Those with connections investigated and were rendered speechless. Han Wu had accepted the same mission from all four factions simultaneously. He had taken fleecing others to an entirely new level.
More importantly, three of the four factions had rewarded him generously and even invited him to collaborate on further development of the lost continent. Only the War Faction had refused to pay and instead demanded that he hand over all his gains.
The contrast was glaring. It was almost as if the War Faction had been begging for Han Wu to defect.
The War Faction’s total contribution to the mission amounted to the lost continent’s coordinates and a promise of future rewards. The other three factions had provided all of that and much more.
Han Wu had conquered the lost continent entirely on his own with essentially zero support from the War Faction, yet Zhong Heng still wanted to take everything.
The scheme was so obvious that even a deaf person could hear the abacus clicking. Even so, Zhong Heng saw nothing wrong with it. As one of the Three Armies, Han Wu was expected to hand over all gains to the War Faction for redistribution. Naturally, the Three Armies would receive the largest share.
What Zhong Heng had miscalculated was simple. If Han Wu had been raised by the War Faction and felt any loyalty toward it, surrendering everything would have been understandable.
Unfortunately, Han Wu wasn’t that kind of person. He had earned his position through the Grand War Games. The only benefit he had ever received was a title and its stat bonuses. Beyond that, it had given him nothing.
Han Wu didn’t even think that leaving the War Faction would cost him much. Among the factions he belonged to, it ranked seventh within the Divine Civilization. In contrast, the Death Faction ranked second, while the Wealth Faction stood at the very top. Both treated him like a national treasure.
Even the Wisdom Faction was advancing rapidly. Though it remained one of the weaker factions for now, overtaking the War Faction was only a matter of time. With three factions backing him, why would Han Wu fear the War Faction?
News of the situation caused unrest throughout the Divine Civilization. Public opinion on Han Wu was split. Some praised him for resisting the War Faction’s exploitation, while others criticized him for acting recklessly. A few radical ones even marched to Imperial College and demanded Han Wu’s expulsion.
Imperial College ignored them. The War Faction’s pressure was troublesome, but the combined backing of the Wisdom, Death, and Wealth Factions made Han Wu untouchable.
Meanwhile, Sun Qingnian used his newly built intelligence network to suppress the criticism against Han Wu. He planted favorable stories about him, exposed the truth through major outlets, and sent tabloid reporters to uncover scandals involving high-ranking War Faction Major Gods. Reports of secret affairs and match-fixing quickly shifted public attention. Within days, the controversy surrounding Han Wu faded from public discussion.
Even so, the War Faction’s campaign against Han Wu wasn’t over. If public opinion couldn’t bring him down, they would resort to force.
Since Han Wu was inside Imperial College and wouldn’t come out, the War Faction turned its attention to the lost continent instead. More than a hundred members formed a strike force and launched an invasion. Officially, their objective wasn’t to punish Invictum, but to rescue Evilspawn.
Zhong Heng had learned from the information battle that openly attacking Han Wu would provoke backlash. The three factions protecting Han Wu could respond at any time. Rescuing Evilspawn, however, gave no one grounds to object or retaliate. It demonstrated Zhong Heng’s loyalty, gave him the chance to strike at Han Wu, and, if everything went smoothly, could even seize the unregistered lost continent. It was four birds with one stone.
Thus, the war for the lost continent commenced. The first wave of invading units tore through the civilian population with ease. The locals were weak and couldn’t resist. In a single day, the invaders slaughtered nearly a third of the continent’s inhabitants.
The leading Major God was surprised. A mission classified as high risk has turned out to be this easy? If I had known, I would have come by myself instead of letting Han Wu claim the credit.
Sadly, his greatest mistake was not requesting Han Wu’s intelligence report from Zhong Heng before the invasion. That night, when the eerie sound echoed across the continent, every slain inhabitant rose again. They shed their human forms and transformed into monstrous undead.
In a single night, more than 300 million units died across the lost continent. Every life form that perished there lost its original identity and became a permanent member of the lost continent.
The next day, when the eerie sound echoed again, the monstrous undead reverted to their civilian forms. Even the fallen units were revived.
The War Faction invaders were dumbfounded. On the surface, after a full day and night of intense combat, the casualty count on both sides appeared to be zero!
A closer inspection revealed the horrifying truth. Their actual unit losses were massive. The fallen units had become members of the lost continent. They simply hadn’t realized it until now.
The War Faction commanders hastily ordered a retreat, but someone had no intention of letting them leave.
