naruto-story Chapter 34 The Flame Alliance! The Overlord's Declaration of War!
Chapter 34 The Flame Alliance! The Overlord's Declaration of War!
"Project Fire" Command Center
The atmosphere was extremely heavy.
On the huge main screen, the last images transmitted from City A were playing on a loop:
The towering, hundred-meter-tall, flame-infused mech that swept away everything, and Xiao Fan standing atop the mech, looking down upon all living beings like a god.
"The energy index... has completely exceeded the limit and cannot be estimated."
"Based on model analysis, the destructive power he has demonstrated has already surpassed the limits of S-class."
A researcher looked at the data and reported in a dry voice.
Old Long stood in front of the screen with his hands behind his back, his brows furrowed, and he remained silent.
Qin Bing stood behind Su Chen, her pretty face full of worry.
She could sense that the man named Xiao Fan had become more than ten times more terrifying than before.
The violent and domineering pressure that could be felt even through the screen made her, an S-class ability user, feel a chill run down her spine.
"The advisor, he..."
Qin Bing was about to say something when she found that Su Chen's reaction was somewhat unexpected.
Su Chen leaned back in his chair, his face showing no sign of tension or seriousness.
Instead, they watched the screen with great interest, as if they were watching a sci-fi movie with impressive special effects.
"Tsk tsk, as expected of the chosen one, his cheat codes are just outrageous."
Su Chen silently complained in his heart.
He knew, of course, that Xiao Fan had succeeded.
Just now, the barrage of comments in front of him had been completely flooded by Xiao Fan's fanatical admirers.
[The boss is awesome! The boss is a god!]
[SS-rank! Is this the power of an SS-rank? It's terrifying!]
[Haha, that cowardly turtle called "Ghost" is probably scared to death by now!]
Just wait! Once the boss finds him, he'll hang him on the city wall to dry in the wind!
Su Chen looked at these comments and unconsciously curled the corner of his mouth.
So scared you peed your pants?
No, no, that's not true.
It just feels a bit troublesome.
A brute with only strength is not scary; what is scary is a madman who is strong, knows how to use his brain, and has incredible luck.
Xiao Fan is clearly the latter!
"It seems we need to find a way to completely crush him." Su Chen picked up his teacup and took a small sip.
Just then, a staff officer in charge of intelligence monitoring stood up with a drastic change in expression.
"Reporting to the commander! Reporting to the chief advisor! Something's happened!"
"Speak," Elder Long said in a deep voice.
"We just detected a powerful signal emanating from City A, sending a public video and announcement to all survivor bases across the country!"
The staff officer's fingers flew across the keyboard, and soon a new video was displayed on the main screen.
In the scene, Xiao Fan, clad in flame armor, stands atop a massive flame mech, with countless Alliance members kneeling in fervent worship behind him.
His voice, amplified by the loudspeaker, spread far and wide, reaching every corner of the Dragon Kingdom where a signal could be received.
"I! Xiao Fan, the Flame Emperor!"
"Today, I hereby declare to all surviving compatriots of the Dragon Kingdom!"
"From this moment forward, the Avengers Alliance is officially renamed the Flame Alliance! I am the Alliance Leader!"
"Our goal is not division, not separatism! It is to save this kingdom, bewitched by demons, from which it is about to fall into the abyss!"
He abruptly changed the subject, his voice becoming impassioned and inflammatory.
"Fellow countrymen! You may not know this yet! The one who currently controls the command of the Dragon Kingdom is neither our beloved Elder Dragon, nor those warriors who have served the country and its people!"
"It's a demon named 'Su Chen'!"
"He used sorcery to control the higher-ups and seized supreme command of 'Project Fireseed'!"
"He deceived the emperor, suppressed dissent, and smeared all heroes who refused to submit to him as traitors!"
"I, Xiao Fan, am one of the people he persecuted!"
"I hereby swear! I will lead the Yan Alliance to raise the banner of righteousness, purge the court of corrupt officials, and punish the wicked! I will overthrow this usurped pseudo-regime and restore a bright and just world to my Dragon Kingdom!"
Finally, he suddenly raised his hand and pointed to the sky.
"All those who are willing to join us in punishing the traitors of the nation are brothers of the Yan Alliance!"
"When we succeed, we will share all the world's resources!"
"Destiny is on our side! The Flame Alliance will prevail!"
At the end of the video, a photo of Su Chen was clearly enlarged and fixed in the center of the screen.
The photo shows Su Chen drinking tea in the command room just now, looking calm and composed.
But this calm expression, set against the backdrop of Xiao Fan's highly inflammatory speech, appeared incredibly eerie and sinister.
It was as if a mastermind was coldly watching this world, which he had manipulated at will.
"Snapped!"
Seeing this, Qin Bing was so angry that she trembled and slammed her fist on the table next to her.
"Bastard! Shameless!"
"He's smearing you! He's declaring war on the entire Dragon Kingdom!"
The others in the command room also looked furious.
"This is blatant distortion of the truth! It's a complete distortion of the truth!"
"Xiao Fan's wolfish ambitions are crystal clear!"
Elder Long was also furious, his face turning ashen. He turned to look at Su Chen, his eyes filled with worry.
"Xiao Su, this..."
He knew how terrible the consequences would be once this announcement was issued.
In the end times, people are already filled with fear and anxiety.
The various survivor bases already harbored distrust and wariness towards the Chinese government.
Now Xiao Fan has stepped forward, adopting the persona of both "victim" and "savior."
Pointing the finger directly at Su Chen, the unknown "mastermind," is simply giving all ambitious people the perfect excuse!
They could legitimately use the pretext of "purging the emperor's inner circle" to attack the Dragon Kingdom's troops and seize its resources!
Su Chen will be roasted over a fire in an instant!
To become the common target of all hostile forces!
However, Su Chen remained calm.
He looked at the "demonized" photo of himself on the screen and even smiled.
"Elder Long, don't be angry."
He slowly stood up, walked over to Elder Long, and patted him on the shoulder.
"He played that trick quite well."
"Knowing he couldn't defeat us head-on, he started a propaganda war. He wanted to portray me as a public enemy and then unite all the forces he could to deal with us."
"Then... what should we do now?" Elder Long asked anxiously. "Should we issue a statement immediately to clarify the facts?"
"Clarify?" Su Chen shook his head and smiled.
"It's no use! In the apocalypse, nobody cares about the truth; they only believe what they want to believe."
The more you explain, the more they'll think you're guilty.
His eyes suddenly turned icy cold at that moment.
"You can't reason with a thug."
"He wants to wage a war of public opinion, then we'll wage a war of annihilation against him."
Su Chen turned around, walked back to his seat, and picked up the communicator.
His voice clearly resonated throughout the command center and reached the ears of the highest commanders of the major military regions of the Dragon Kingdom.
"Pass on my orders!"
"Activate Operation Thunder!"
"Orders to the Eastern Theater Command's 'Sharp Sword' Special Operations Brigade, the Southern Theater Command's 'Rage' Mech Battalion, and the Western Theater Command's 'Soaring Eagle' Aerospace Force..."
Su Chen rattled off a string of the most elite ace troops in the Dragon Kingdom in one breath.
"...Within 24 hours, launch an indiscriminate and devastating attack on all the outer strongholds that the Yan Alliance has identified!"
"I don't want prisoners, I don't want spoils of war, I just want them to disappear completely from the map!"
"Didn't he want to become the leader of the alliance?"
Su Chen put down the communicator and looked at the spirited Xiao Fan on the screen, his eyes devoid of any warmth.
"Then I'll wipe out all his allies first."
"I'd like to see how a commander without any troops can 'purge the court of corrupt officials'!"