National Guardian's Gone and We're Done

"Only now do I finally understand why this great nation is called the Lighthouse Empire.

It is because the meaning of a lighthouse is not only to guide sailors, but also to symbolize hope, courage, and perseverance..."

The young man on the stage spoke with eloquent confidence.

This freshman welcoming ceremony, through the deliberate machinations of several parties, was being broadcast live worldwide. The purpose was self-evident.

"Yang Haichao’s speech just now was deeply inspiring, just like how you and your parents, through your choice, came to the Lighthouse Empire.

Yang Haichao has voiced my deepest sentiments for this Empire. This place is, and always will be, a shining empire on a hill.

It supports the most exceptional talents from all backgrounds around the world, helping us shape an even more perfect Empire..."

Following him on stage was the dean of Leland Academy. "I wonder where Yang Haichao’s parents are?"

Soon, someone who had been arranged in advance handed a microphone to a middle-aged couple sitting in the audience.

"We are so grateful to the Lighthouse Empire and Leland Academy for the care and arrangements they’ve made for our family.

In comparison, the Great Xia Empire was a bitter disappointment to the three of us.

That arrogant Chu He, who calls himself the world’s number one expert, couldn’t even tolerate a vibrant young man asking him a question.

He even used the special privileges of his position as dean to directly expel my outstanding son.

I want to say that the Lighthouse Empire is the true shining empire, the hope for all of humanity’s future."

The middle-aged woman beamed. "Leland Academy is ranked fifth among all Martial Arts Academies worldwide. It has a faculty of 2,500, sixty-three percent of whom are in the King-Sealing Realm..."

These lines had all been given to the woman by the academy to memorize beforehand, and she was more than happy to do so.

It couldn’t be helped. Leland Academy’s strength, foundation, and resources were plain to see.

"Hahaha, such a powerful Martial Arts Academy, ranked fifth in the world, isn’t even number one in our Lighthouse Empire! The Lighthouse Empire has seven of the top ten Martial Arts Academies in the world rankings."

"That young man named Yang Haichao made the best possible choice."

"Can we in the Lighthouse Empire really trust someone who would even betray their own country?"

Netizens from the Lighthouse Empire proudly voiced their various opinions.

"What the hell is that family of bastards blabbering about? A family of animals."

"Why are you cursing them? Weren’t our Great Xia Empire and the National Road Academy the ones who wronged them first?"

"To the person above, how exactly did our Great Xia Empire and the National Road Academy wrong them?"

"That person must be a sock puppet account for that family of animals."

"People like that pissing off is a good thing for our Great Xia Empire."

The speeches from the entire freshman ceremony left the people of the Great Xia Empire seething with uncontrollable anger.

The Lighthouse Empire, which was monitoring the Great Xia Empire’s netizens in real time, discovered that events were not developing as they had anticipated.

According to their predictions, after an event like this,

the people of the Great Xia Empire should have vehemently condemned Chu He and the Empire itself.

But instead, the vast majority of them showed an incredible amount of trust in Chu He.

"No matter. We can increase our investment in training this Yang Haichao later on.

When the time comes, we’ll have Yang Haichao make a global appearance, showcasing a level of strength that far surpasses the top students of the National Road Academy.

At that point, public opinion will explode within the Great Xia Empire without any need for our covert manipulation."

In an office somewhere in the Lighthouse Empire,

a high-level executive in charge of public opinion chuckled as he looked at a curated selection of comments from Great Xia Empire netizens, his face devoid of any worry or impatience.

...

At the Rainbow Welfare Institute on the Black Continent Grassland,

Galava successfully led the group to the director’s office.

It was located on the top floor of a building.

Upon entering the office, they saw that the ceiling was exquisitely decorated with wooden carvings, and the engravings of vines and flowers on the beams were vividly lifelike.

A bronze chandelier hung in the center, its embedded candles emitting a necessary light.

The candles had endured the long passage of time, yet they still flickered with light.

In the middle of the room was a large desk made of solid wood, its surface covered with leather to prevent wear.

On either side of it was a high-backed chair with fine carvings on the backrest and a thick cushion.

Next to the desk stood a row of bookshelves, on which books, scrolls, and letters were neatly arranged.

Most were medical texts, historical documents, and a small number of literary works.

Scattered on the desk were several exquisite inkwells—some inlaid with gems, others simple pottery—and beside them lay a few carefully selected quill pens, along with a pen knife and a whetstone.

An exquisite hourglass had long since stopped working.

The entire office was filled with the faint scent of incense and ink.

"There are no signs that anyone has been in this room."

Anna moved cautiously back and forth across the room, examining every detail.

"Why isn’t there a single word in these books?"

Dean took the books from the shelves and flipped through them one by one. They were all blank, which was baffling.

"This seems to be the office owner’s diary. There are words in this diary."

Galava walked over to the desk, picked up a thick notebook resting in the very center, and opened it, speaking in surprise.

Chu He leaned in, and along with the others on the team, began to read the diary.

"Why aren’t there any dates?" Anna asked, puzzled.

"That’s not important. What’s important is the content," Galava said, and began to read the text aloud.

"Countless stars appeared in the sky tonight, densely packed across the entire horizon. It was an exceptionally strange sight."

"I saw a patient today. He said the strangest things—that the age of prosperity is over, the apocalypse is coming, the cages will soon be broken, and the Deities are about to awaken... I just dismissed him as a madman."

"I’ve been too busy with work lately to write in my diary. Today, the sky turned completely dark, and all the stars gathered to form a single eye. That patient came to see me again. He said that ’He’ has arrived, and humanity should prostrate itself. When the starlight shines and its glow becomes scorching hot, that is when the apocalypse will begin."

"Terror. Absolute terror. What that patient said was actually true."

"The Deities surged from the bottom of the sea, rose up from the earth, and descended from the sky. They were everywhere. On that day, corpses littered the fields, and fear spread wherever they went."

"I will not allow humanity to be destroyed, so I must begin my research. I only believe in science. Human civilization is built on science. There are absolutely no such things as Deities in this world..."

As Galava read up to this point, Anna suddenly cried out in terror, "Galava..."

"Hm?"

Galava looked up, confused, not understanding why Anna had interrupted him before he was finished reading.

Before anyone else could speak, Galava suddenly discovered that the skin all over his body had turned into black leather,

and his mouth had grotesquely extended into a beak several inches long, curved and sharp.

"Why am I turning into this? Could this diary be a Curse?"

Galava had seen his current appearance using the selfie camera on his phone.