The members of the Hereditary Houses felt their heads buzz and their vision go black.
Su Fu… is coming?
Is she insane?
She actually brought a fleet and charged over!
“Wait… where did she get so many warships?!”
The House members stared intently at the projection, where a massive fleet advanced across the screen.
In the pitch-black cosmos, tens of thousands of starships surged forward like a river of steel.
Engines spewed azure tails of flame, carving countless brilliant trails of light.
The colossal hulls ground through nebulae, swallowing even the starlight itself.
Countless warships were tearing across the Star Sea, bearing down on the Central Star System.
“Wasn’t military manufacturing monopolized and blockaded by the Stellar Abyss Group?!”
“Where did Su Fu get so many?”
“Did she build them herself?”
“Are you kidding me?!”
Just then, the image zoomed in, and the crowd could see the details of the fleet.
The first thing to catch their eyes was an extremely massive warship, coated in silver-gray paint with sharp, flowing lines, gliding gracefully through the Star Sea.
Both sides were lined with dense arrays of cannon muzzles, and on the hull were engraved the words:
“Kunpeng of Hua Xia.”
“It’s not just the Kunpeng,” someone said, pointing at the several starships of different models behind it, their voice trembling. “There are more behind it! The White Tiger, the Azure Dragon, the Vermilion Bird, the Black Tortoise!”
The White Tiger’s hull looked like a crouching beast poised to strike, its main cannon array shaped like claws, coiled and ready.
The Azure Dragon’s hull twisted like a serpent, long and slender yet incredibly agile, as if it were a living thing swimming through space.
The Vermilion Bird’s armor burned a fiery red, its thrusters blasting blazing streams of light, as if it could incinerate everything.
The Black Tortoise was heavy as a mountain, layer upon layer of defensive matrices stacked together, indestructible.
“Wait, there’s a line of text at the very bottom… it reads…”
“Kunlun Manufacturing!”
Hearing this, the crowd immediately erupted into frantic discussion.
“Kunlun? These were actually made by Kunlun?”
“No wonder the comments on StarNet said this fleet came from Kunlun of Hua Xia, that it’s Su Fu’s fleet!”
“Damn, she just straight up slapped her name on them!”
“But how is that possible? When did she build them? Right under our noses and no one noticed?”
“So many of them, in so many models, built at the Kunlun Celestial Palace? That’s insane!”
“She’s been quietly mass-producing warships?!”
“Didn’t the Stellar Abyss Group monopolize military manufacturing?!”
“Monopolize? Monopolize my ass!”
“At this fleet’s scale, it might be bigger than Stellar Abyss’s! Where the hell did she get all the materials?”
“Aren’t you Asgard folks supposed to have the strongest military industry alongside the Stellar Abyss Group? What the hell is going on here?”
“She built a terrifying fleet like this right under your noses without anyone detecting it?”
“What the hell are you people even doing?!”
“Why are you yelling at me? The Kunlun Celestial Palace is far from the Central Star System, and with Tai Xuanzi guarding it, there was no way we could scout it out!”
“How is this our fault?!”
“With a fleet like that, Su Fu could level the entire Central Star System!”
“Enough!” Someone suddenly interrupted the chaos. “Don’t any of you find this design style and naming convention familiar?”
The crowd froze, then began studying the ships closely.
A moment later, one person suddenly realized the truth, his face going pale.
“The Thunder Division Armory!”
“What?!”
Everyone around him turned to look at him at once.
“This style is extremely similar to the Thunder Division Armory, that newly risen dark horse in military manufacturing, known for its clever gadgets.”
“For example, the portable Lei Gong Chisel, and the Wind God Pocket that controls gale-force winds. But the best seller has to be the Heavenly Soldier Standard Spear, Demon-breaking Edition, which specializes in countering Anomalies.”
“Our research team bought quite a few back to reverse-engineer, but unfortunately, we failed every time.”
“Most of their products aren’t very high-grade, but they win on innovative design, unique concepts, and extremely affordable pricing.”
The man rambled on, but most of the crowd looked completely lost.
The Aristocratic Families had always used only top-tier Divine Artifacts, S-rank at minimum, so they had no concept of these low-end items, let alone any knowledge of them.
But Verdanti suddenly realized what was happening, her face changing. “Wait!”
“Could these companies also be Kunlun’s?”
“They just changed their names and grew brazenly right under our noses?”
“…”
She immediately thought of something and hurriedly opened StarNet to search for the Thunder Division Armory.
She found that things had indeed gone wrong.
The Thunder Division Armory’s official StarNet account had just been renamed moments ago, with a new prefix added before the company name:
[Hua Xia·Lei Bu Weapons Factory].
“What?!”
“Hua Xia?” someone murmured. “So it really was Su Fu’s doing all along!”
The Houses had guarded against Hua Xia’s rise in every way imaginable, but they never dreamed that Su Fu would find another path, slipping past their defenses in the dark.
“Not good!” Verdanti shouted. “Hurry, check the other companies!”
The crowd scrambled to search, and the more they found, the more their hearts sank.
[Hua Xia·Zhinü Manufacturing], specializing in custom-tailored, gorgeous immortal robes and feathered garments.
[Hua Xia·Great Tang of the East], selling all sorts of bizarre yet surprisingly effective Divine Artifacts.
Even the company that had recently exploded in popularity on StarNet for emotional counseling and matchmaking had changed its name to [Hua Xia·Yue Lao].
“…..”
“These are all… Hua Xia’s?!”
“From military manufacturing, to high-end tailoring, to daily necessities, they don’t even leave emotional counseling alone?!”
“This is absolutely pervasive!”
“Wait!” someone suddenly realized, their voice shaking. “Su Fu is now grandly sailing her warships toward the Central Star System…”
“And at the same time, she’s having all her hidden companies collectively reveal their identities and change their names to Hua Xia…”
“Is she… advertising?!”
“It’s an unprecedented Interstellar ad!”
“She’s not only going to slaughter us completely, she’s also preparing to inherit all of our holdings…”
The crowd finally understood everything.
With this spectacle playing out now, the entire Interstellar would know all of Hua Xia’s brands.
Once they died, Su Fu would directly swallow up all the market share, becoming the biggest winner.
“How can Su Fu be so cunning?!”
“Even at a time like this, she’s thinking several steps ahead?!”
“So what do we do now?”
“Go to the gods! Ask the gods to save—”
The man stopped mid-sentence.
Everyone remembered the Amaterasu Omikami who had just fallen.
Now, even the gods couldn’t save themselves, so how could they save them?
“Then how about… we surrender?”
Suddenly, a weak voice came from the corner.
The entire meeting hall fell silent.
Everyone turned to look at the speaker, the young household successor from the subordinate Icarus family.
He felt his scalp crawl under the weight of all those stares, but he swallowed his fear and continued:
“Since we can’t beat Su Fu, we can just surrender, right?”
“Rather than let her come storming to our doors and end up like the Fujiwara Clan…”
“Why not go to the Council of Dawn and tell them we surrender!”
“If you can’t win, you admit defeat. That’s nothing to be ashamed of!”
“What matters is surviving!”
The crowd thought about it, and it did make sense. Yes, they couldn’t win, they couldn’t run, so why not surrender?
Someone hesitated: “Will that even work?”
The House members felt uneasy. For all these years, they had relied on the false gods to throw their weight around and commit every kind of evil.
They monopolized countless resources, enjoyed countless privileges, arbitrarily suppressed commoners, eliminated dissidents, and spread the worship of the false gods…
If they surrendered now, would everything be wiped clean?
Would those stubborn old fools at the Ministry of Education accept it?
“I actually think it might work.” Another head of household, who looked quite shrewd, said thoughtfully:
“This is a different time now. With the Anomaly tides erupting across the board and the Dark Realm’s erosion intensifying, this is exactly when they need people.”
“Anomalies threaten all of humanity. No matter how much the Council of Dawn hates us, they can’t refuse free combat power.”
“If we surrender and redeem ourselves through merit, that’s still better than being wiped out by Su Fu!”
“Exactly!” The crowd echoed. “Quick! Contact Council Chairman Evans of the Council of Dawn immediately!”
“Tell them the Seven Great Clans are willing to respond to the call of the Exam System and fight with all our might for humanity!”
Meanwhile, StarNet was also buzzing with heated discussion about Su Fu’s warships.
[Su Fu’s Kunpeng Fleet of Hua Xia is way too cool!]
[My favorite is the White Tiger! That silhouette is so majestic, and it’s got heavy firepower. Imagine it blowing an asteroid belt to pieces with one shot. So satisfying!]
[The guy above has no taste! If we’re talking cool, it has to be the Azure Dragon. That serpentine tail, full agility, clearly a strike flagship that perfectly combines speed and firepower!]
[No no no, the Vermilion Bird is the eternal god! That flame-red hull paint is absolutely perfect. On the battlefield, it’s a nightmare existence that incinerates everything!]
[…I think the Black Tortoise is pretty good. It looks really… durable.]
The comment section was in full swing when someone timidly asked:
[Speaking of which… Su Fu is bringing such a powerful fleet into the Central Star System. Does no one think she might be starting a war?]
At that, the comment section fell silent for a moment.
Wow. Strip away the surface and look at the essence… that was actually a fair point.
Su Fu’s posture, by any measure, looked like she was coming to cause trouble.
But the next second, everyone rushed to refute:
[What are you thinking, guy above? What kind of person is Big Shot Su Fu? She started as a commoner and climbed step by step to the peak. I bet she received an Exam mission to fight Anomalies, right?]
[That makes total sense! The Exam System is spamming emergency warnings right now. Anomaly wars are breaking out all over the Interstellar. Big Shot Su Fu definitely got a special S-rank mission!]
[As expected of Big Shot Su Fu! Even her missions are top-tier!]
[That’s right. Please stop with the baseless speculation. Su Fu has an impeccable reputation since her debut. There’s no way she would do anything to harm humanity’s overall interests.]
[This journey, she must be going to execute some important mission!]
[Um… I do believe in Big Shot Su Fu, but what Anomalies could there be in the Central Star System? Isn’t that the Houses’ home turf? If you ask me, the biggest scourge is the Houses themselves!]
[Uh, following that logic, it couldn’t be that Big Shot Su Fu is going to take down the Seven Great Clans, could it?]
[…?]
[…?]
[…?]
For a moment, the entire comment section was flooded with question marks.
[Wow, if that’s really the case, then damn! From this day on, I’m a lifelong die-hard fan of Big Shot Su Fu!]
[That’s right! If it’s true, I’ll set off firecrackers to celebrate!]
[How many years have the Houses been oppressing commoners? It’s long past time for a reckoning! We’ve suffered under the Houses for too long!]
[Big Shot Su Fu! Then I will absolutely support you! Forever stand with you!]
[Su Fu: Today, I’ll perform a public service for everyone — ridding the people of evil!]
[Go go go! Big Shot, you are my god!]
Though most people thought it impossible, everyone was happy to stoke the fire just for the spectacle.
What if… what if Su Fu really was going after the Houses?
The odds were slim, but not zero.
***