NOVEL NEXT Chapter 371: Public Opinion Incident
On the third day after the summoning in the Sea Demon World ended, Lu Heng was at Quenching Castle handling quenching orders, improving his Quenching Master professional experience.
In the afternoon, he received a call from Jian Qing.
Jian Qing: "Captain, there's something I need to tell you."
Lu Heng heard a bit of hesitation and anger in her tone, but she didn't seem very urgent. He couldn't guess what it was, so he asked, "What is it?"
Jian Qing: "The foreign affairs department of the Lion Heart Empire communicated with our war zone, accusing you of killing their high-ranking superpower user on the Abyss Battlefield and demanding an explanation from our war zone."
Lu Heng paused for a moment, hearing it was about this, and asked, "And then?"
Jian Qing: "Chief Li knew about this and had the foreign affairs department reject their demands. Then the Lion Heart Empire threatened to expose our Great Xia superpower users killing humans on the Abyss Battlefield."
After pausing, she added, "Our war zone will definitely ignore the Lion Heart Empire's demands, but it's still better to inform you of this matter."
"Alright, I understand."
After Lu Heng finished listening, he hung up the phone, recalling the matter, feeling a bit speechless, but it wasn't without reason.
Because, during the Tidal Sea expedition, he indeed wiped out Gilbert Ocam's entire team.
Gilbert Ocam was the Chief Knight of the Lion Heart Empire's Round Table Knight Mercenary Organization. Not only was he of high rank, but he also had the backing of the Planter family, a member of the ASE All-Knowing Eye Alliance.
The Planter family used to be the royal family of the Lion Heart Empire and still holds significant power.
For Gilbert Ocam to become the Chief Knight among the Round Table Knights, it requires not only high combat power but also a strong background.
Perhaps Gilbert Ocam was a blood relative of a Planter family member.
No matter what connection granted him such a high status, it's enough to illustrate his importance in the Lion Heart Empire.
Moreover, the Planter family must have invested a huge amount of resources to cultivate a superpower user of Gilbert Ocam's rank.
With such enormous resources invested, and in the end, he died on the Abyss Battlefield.
If he died at the hands of a demon, the Planter family couldn't settle scores with them, but Gilbert Ocam happened to die at Lu Heng's hands, which gave them grounds to talk.
Furthermore, Lu Heng had already eliminated high-ranking knights from the Round Table Knights before.
Six months ago, the Planter family attempted to extend their reach into Da Xia, using assassination and threats to force Da Xia's Quenching Masters to work for them.
That time, Lu Heng led a raid on a Round Table Knights base, taking out their "Shadow Knight" Modred.
The battle firmly established the boundaries of the quenching industry.
This time, during the summoning to the Sea Demon World, he encountered Gilbert Ocam trying to seize the [Heart of the Tides].
After failing to communicate, Lu Heng decisively wiped out all five members of his team.
This Sea Demon World summoning involved over fifty people in total.
The clash with Gilbert Ocam happened on the open sea.
The sea was vast, unobstructed, and easily observed by other summoners, so it's no surprise the news leaked.
Lu Heng didn't intend to hide it; he just didn't expect the Lion Heart Empire to pursue official accountability through Da Xia.
If this accountability fell on some weak-willed individuals, they might have conceded immediately.
Unfortunately, the head of the Southern War Zone was Li Guining, who firmly stood his ground and pushed everything back.
This matter required no attention from Lu Heng as the Southern War Zone could handle it entirely.
Of course, since Lu Heng was the person involved, notifying him was still necessary.
After his conversation with Jian Qing, Lu Heng didn't take it to heart.
In this era, for the strong, issues that can be settled by action rarely involve idle words.
The fact that they were resorting to words suggested they didn't dare to take action.
...
Originally, Lu Heng thought the Lion Heart Empire would make some noise and let the matter pass.
Unexpectedly, two days later, a news report suddenly broke online.
The headline was alarming: "Great Xia Superpower User Massacres Fellow Kin in the Abyss World."
Once the news appeared, it rapidly spread across the globe, with almost every major world media outlet reposting it.
In no time, the incident became widely known, even within Da Xia.
It's easy to understand why this news spread so fast with a bit of thought.
Most of the top-ranked media groups in the world are controlled by the ASE Alliance, of which the Planter family is a member.
Overnight, Lu Heng was thrust into the limelight.
Accusations of murdering summoners, massacring kin, being a bloodthirsty butcher, and a mad killer all poured over Lu Heng's head as insults.
This matter wasn't just going viral abroad; even domestically, there were people stoking the flames.
And many with underdeveloped brains followed suit, joining the abuse.
There were even foreign journalists explicitly challenging Lu Heng to a dialogue, claiming that refusing to engage would mean cowardice.
...
Lu Heng was initially indifferent to this matter, but then it started to escalate significantly.
Even though the Da Xia authorities had strictly controlled the news on the intranet, neither mainstream media nor self-media could release any related news.
Still, some people were discussing and spreading it in various circles.
Moreover, conspiracy theorists began to question whether the authorities were silencing them.
Lu Heng understood the rules of the Abyss Era too well; the more his opponents used public opinion to attack, the more it showed their inability to take action.
Therefore, Lu Heng's attitude was to ignore it, although it still worried his parents.
Hearing his parents' concerned inquiries, Lu Heng felt a bit annoyed.
His father, Lu Mingli, understood these kinds of things well. Having a military background, he knew some history and could imagine what his son was up against.
Thus, he unconditionally sided with his son.
...
Lu Heng had no interest in dealing with this; he planned to calm his parents down and then let the matter slowly subside.
No matter how much those useless families in the ASE Alliance fussed, they couldn't harm him even slightly. They'd stop once they were tired.
Unexpectedly.
A media outlet from the Lion Heart Empire spent money to find a means, deploying a crew that finally cornered Lu Heng at the training grounds on Tea-fork Mountain on the third afternoon.
Suddenly being blocked by a group of foreign journalists, Lu Heng was a bit surprised.
This group of reporters included people of all races—white, black, male, female, and non-binary. Some used English, others broken Mandarin, bombarding Lu Heng with questions.
Moreover, there were cameras filming.
Lin Zeyu happened to be there, quickly stepping in to block and attempting to smash the camera.
A white reporter threatened, "We're broadcasting live, dare to harm us or damage the equipment, and the whole world will know your evil deeds."
Lu Heng hadn't expected these useless families within the ASE to pull such a stunt. He pulled Lin Zeyu aside and said coldly, "Ask away. What do you want to ask?"
Since they had already cornered him, he might as well respond once, saving him from endless hassles later.
White reporter: "Did you kill Chief Knight Gilbert Ocam in the Abyss Battlefield? Not only him, but also his entire team, all five Summoners too."
Lu Heng answered expressionlessly, "Yes, I killed them, so what?"
The reporters were stunned as Lu Heng admitted everything so readily.
They originally thought Lu Heng would deny, quibble, or make excuses.
They had prepared all sorts of evidence and witness testimonies, waiting for Lu Heng to quibble and then confront him with the evidence.
But Lu Heng admitted it directly, rendering all their preparations useless.
Another white reporter hurriedly followed up, "You massacred your kin in the Abyss World; you're the most brutal murderer. Do you admit it?"
Lu Heng looked at him coldly and replied, "What kin? Only those of Da Xia descent are my kin."
The white reporter paused, then continued to press, "Aren't all humans kin? You killed humans, that's killing your kin."
Lu Heng's eyes flashed with a cold smile as he responded, "You wish. You're Gilbert Ocam's kin, but not mine. The difference between us is greater than that between you and a dog."
The cameras captured and transmitted the conversation to major global video platforms in real-time.
To prevent Lu Heng from stopping the broadcast, there was barely any delay in this live stream.
Thus, Lu Heng's words were heard by the whole of Blue Star almost simultaneously.
Finally, Lu Heng looked into the camera lens, saying firmly, "To those working behind the scenes, listen up: Gilbert Ocam was killed by me, and not just him, Modred too was killed by me.
"If the Round Table Knights want revenge, you'd better make a move directly. Is there any use in hiding behind public opinion tricks?"
After this broadcast spread, the entire world was shocked.
The Round Table Knight organization, the Planter family leaders behind it, and even the other member families of the ASE Alliance all saw the conversation and were stunned by this tough attitude.
They knew very well that they indeed lacked the ability to confront Lu Heng head-on.
Even, they saw a dangerous signal in Lu Heng's eyes.
Lu Heng's gaze seemed to pierce through the camera lens and stab into their eyes.
They worried that Lu Heng would appear right before them in the next moment and take their heads off.
From this moment on, it officially announced that the world's rules had been rewritten.
In the past, the human world, the ASE Alliance had control over a massive amount of wealth on Blue Star, even possessing the ability to influence many countries.
Countries without sovereignty could be considered as playthings of the ASE Alliance.
After the Abyss Descent, the ASE All-Knowing Eye Alliance used the vast wealth at their disposal to cultivate many superpower users and establish numerous superpower organizations.
More than half of the top ten superpower mercenary organizations in the world were under their control.
The remaining ones not completely under their control were more or less associated with the ASE Alliance.
Thus, after the Abyss Descent, the ASE Alliance had already wielded substantial authority in the human world, as long as they didn't clash with those few sovereign major countries, they could essentially call the shots.