【Third Rank? Are you guys sure he's had his Third Rank?】

【If he hasn't had his Third Rank, how could he kill five thousand alone? Why don't you try killing one after your second promotion?】

【Me at level three, silently looking at the wooden stick in my hand, shedding tears of poverty.】

【True... then his leveling speed is just too heaven-defying.】

The discussion below grew more and more off-track, as people began to guess whether Lin Feng had Awakened a high-level talent.

【I heard there's something called a High-Level Talent Awakening Stone that allows an Awakened to awaken a high-level talent. Could Lin Feng have gotten his hands on one of those?】

【High-level talent? What kind of talent would it take to kill five thousand alone?】

【My guess is something related to life force. Look closely at his health bar; he didn't die even with residual health. Does he have a health-lock skill?】

【Health-lock? Wouldn't that make him invincible?】

【No, I watched the replay carefully; his damage is the key. One shot per Yellow Turban soldier, even the Yellow Turban Strongmen were one-shotted.】

【Could it be ten times monster-killing experience? Otherwise, how could his level rise so fast? A Third Rank in just over a hundred days—how many years would normal monster grinding take?】

【What's the use of ten times experience? You need high-level monsters to kill. Low-level monsters don't give experience. Could his talent be gaining experience even from killing low-level monsters?】

【What's the use of more experience? Without Class Change Books, you're still stuck. Is there a talent that can automatically generate Class Change Books?】

【I bet he most likely obtained some kind of inheritance that comes with its own advancement system and Class Change Books. Otherwise, with the drop rate of Class Change Books, how could he get three?】

【Inheritance? You mean the inheritance of some powerhouse?】

【Yes, exactly that. I heard the earliest Awakened only grew strong by relying on inheritances.】

【Powerhouse inheritances? They haven't appeared in a long time, right?】

【Supposedly they vanished after the first Blood Moon mutation...】

【Then for someone like me who hasn't even left the Novice Village, should mine be called a 'Weakling Inheritance'?】

【Who knows, what if there are still some left?】

Lin Feng leaned back in his chair, the corners of his mouth slowly curling upward. These netizens' imaginations were far wilder than he had expected.

Health-lock, ten times experience, powerhouse inheritance. Every single guess was worlds away from the truth.

Yet, every guess touched upon a bit of the reality.

Health-lock? He had the Desperate Beacon. Leveling fast? Actually, he was only level 26. Inheritance? Did the Village Establishment Order count?

He shook his head with a smile and continued scrolling down.

The latter half of the post began discussing the losses of various countries last night.

Lin Feng's gaze gradually grew solemn.

Except for a few lucky ones, the Nightmare World territories of countries ranked outside the global top fifty had all been wiped out.

Two hundred million people would vanish within three days!

This news wasn't suppressed, nor could it be.

Last night's double Nightmare Tide was broadcast globally, watched by billions.

The scenes of those territories falling were crystal clear in every frame.

Lin Feng scrolled down and saw a post tallying the surviving nations.

Among the top fifty countries, most were still holding on, but many were left with only a single county-level territory.

Korea was one of them.

Lin Feng paused. Didn't Korea have a city-level territory?

Jinzhou City, Choi Jeong-won, a level 39 Warrior, along with five level 39 vice city lords and enshriners.

With the foundation of a city-level territory, it shouldn't have been impossible to repel even a double Nightmare Tide, right?

He clicked into that post and read it carefully. The post detailed Korea's battle situation last night: Jinzhou City had encountered not a double Nightmare Tide, but a quadruple one.

Choi Jeong-won was killed in action, Priest Lee was killed in action, and two vice city lords were killed in action. Jinzhou City was overrun, and not a single soldier or civilian in the city survived.

Korea's forces in the Nightmare World were now reduced to a single county-level territory—Park Jung-hoon's Jeolla County.

“Quadruple...” Lin Feng repeated in a low voice, a chill running down his spine.

He closed the post and checked the time: 7:40 PM.

Twenty minutes remained until the Lords Assembly began.

He stood up, walked to the window, and gazed at the night outside.

The distant buildings twinkled with scattered lights; everything seemed as usual.

Lin Feng withdrew his gaze and turned back to sit at his desk.

He opened his communicator and clicked on the encrypted channel.

...

In an instant, the world before his eyes completely transformed. The walls of the room vanished, replaced by a magnificent space.

A massive circular council hall with a dome a hundred meters high had a real-time projection of the daxia national destiny cauldron floating above.

The cracks on the cauldron's body were dense—forty-one of them—like a spiderweb that had been torn apart and pieced back together. Each one silently told of the tragedy of the previous night.

In the center of the council hall was a giant round table, with seats arranged in order around its edge.

At the very front, three golden high-backed chairs stood majestically, their backs carved with intricate patterns and armrests inlaid with brilliant gemstones.

Behind the three golden chairs were nine silver seats, slightly lower but equally solemn and grand.

Further back were thirty-two Copper Seats, another level lower than the silver ones.

Their backs were simple without much decoration, yet they still exuded an air of gravity.

Lin Feng's gaze swept over those thirty-two Copper Seats, and his heart sank slightly.

Only thirty-two county-level territories remained. Before last night, there were sixty-seven Copper Seats. In a single night, more than half were gone.

Thirty-two? No!

He looked down at the chair he was sitting in; a number was engraved on the back: Copper Seat-31.

Thirty-one, not thirty-two.

Then who did the thirty-second chair belong to? A newly promoted county-level territory?

Lin Feng turned his head to scan the Copper Seat area and saw a familiar figure to his left.

Jiang Zhaoyue. She was dressed in moon-white casual robes, her long hair tied # Nоvеlight # in a high ponytail, sitting upright beside him with her back straight.

Her face was somewhat pale, but her gaze was calm as she looked at the floating projection of the national destiny cauldron, lost in thought.

“Lin Feng! You finally made it!”

A familiar voice came from his right.

Ma Dehou leaned over, his honest face full of the relief of a survivor, with dark circles under his eyes—clearly, he hadn't slept well last night.

“Oh my god, my Huangshan County almost didn't make it!”

Ma Dehou poured out his grievances, his voice low but his speech rapid.

“A double Nightmare Tide, over five thousand monsters, two Rare Bosses—my city walls were nearly knocked down!

If I wasn't close to the Great Xia Main City and hadn't waited for reinforcements, it would've been GG long ago!”

Lin Feng nodded without speaking.

He could imagine what Ma Dehou had gone through last night.

“By the way, Lin Feng, you're freaking awesome!” Ma Dehou changed the subject, his eyes lighting up.

“Third Rank in just over a hundred days? Killing through five thousand Yellow Turban soldiers alone? I think you should be sitting in a silver chair!”

Lin Feng smiled. “I just broke through. I can't compare to the city lords who are level 39.”

“Just broke through?” Ma Dehou's eyes widened. “You Awakened your power at only level 30? Good grief, you must have at least two rare classes, right?”

Lin Feng didn't respond. Ma Dehou continued talking to himself:

“With two rare classes plus a Third Rank, you should be able to get the usage rights for the golden accessories in the national reserve.

Those are good things; hardly anyone in all of Daxia is qualified to use them.”

Golden accessory usage rights? Lin Feng's heart stirred slightly.

He had previously obtained a golden golden chain of deception of the false life lord using his Eye of Probability.

From what Ma Dehou was saying, he might have a chance to obtain the golden accessories from the national reserve?

He silently noted this, intending to ask Director Chen for clarification after the meeting ended.