He rubbed his eyes, confirming he hadn't seen it wrong.

Beacon Fire Village?

That crude village-level territory that looked like a primitive tribe?

That solo lord who had only established his village a few days ago?

His first Nightmare Tide was Level 2???

"What the hell..."

Chen Hao's mind was in a mess. He subconsciously clicked 【Yes】.

The screen switched instantly.

【Beacon Fire Village - Lin Feng】 Livestream Room

Popularity: 13.74 million

And it was still skyrocketing.

The bullet chat was so dense it almost completely covered the screen.

"Holy crap? Level 2 for the first tide right after building the village?"

"Did this lord offend someone? Is the Nightmare World targeting him?"

"A solo territory, village founded for a few days, Level 2 tide? Hilarious, isn't this just a free kill?"

"I bet he won't last half an hour."

"Half an hour? I'd say ten minutes is being generous."

"Disperse, disperse, another lord is about to be wiped out."

"The daxia national destiny cauldron is about to get another crack~"

Interspersed among these Chinese comments were a large number of foreign messages automatically translated by the system:

【Sakura Language: Puhahaha! A Daxia solo lord thinks he's worthy of fighting a Level 2 tide? You're killing me!】

【Kimchi Language: Aigoo, how can such trash territory be recognized by the National Fortune Cauldron? Daxia's national fortune is really going downhill.】

【British Language: A typical case of overestimating oneself. I suggest this lord give up directly; that way, fewer people will die.】

【Sakura Language: Are all your Daxia solo lords at this level? Any random village territory in our Sakura Country could easily pass a Level 2 tide~】

【Kimchi Language: Daxia is no good~ You should watch our Great Republic of Korea's 'Starry Shine Territory'; that's real strength!】

【USA Language: Oh God, this is simply a disaster. I bet three hundred US dollars this territory won't last the night.】

The bullet chat scrolled frantically, almost entirely filled with mockery and pessimism.

Occasionally, there were a few counterattacks from Daxia netizens, but they were instantly drowned in the sea of comments.

"Dammit..." Chen Hao frowned. Although he also felt Beacon Fire Village was in trouble, seeing so many foreign trolls being so sarcastic made his blood boil.

Just then, he noticed a particularly eye-catching comment in the chat:

【Moderator · Wang Hao】: I can't ban them all! I simply can't ban them all! Can you foreign trolls just give it a rest!!!

Then came another one:

【Moderator · Wang Hao】: Lord, keep it up!!! I believe in you!!!

Chen Hao was stunned for a moment, then couldn't help but chuckle.

This moderator was pretty funny.

He shifted his gaze down to the livestream footage.

It was still that crude territory.

That grey mist still obscured half of the area, leaving only the non-core half visible—a few rows of simple log cabins, an empty training ground, and the faint outline of farmland in the distance.

But this time, there were people on the wooden walls.

Chen Hao squinted, looking closely.

A dozen or so figures stood sparsely on the wooden wall. The most prominent was the figure standing right in the center of the wall's top.

A striking label hovered over his head: 【Beacon Fire Village Lord · Lin Feng】

He was a young man.

He looked... about the same age as himself?

He wore a set of dark brown leather armor and was leaning against the battlements, a spear casually propped up beside him. He had his head slightly tilted, seemingly talking to the person next to him.

Someone was standing beside him.

A cold and elegant young woman, dressed in dark leather armor, with half her body hidden in the shadow cast by Lin Feng.

Her features were exquisite, but her eyes were as cold as winter stars. Just by standing there quietly, she made one feel the surrounding temperature drop a few degrees.

At this moment, the woman also tilted her head slightly, seemingly listening to what Lin Feng was saying.

And then—

Chen Hao's pupils suddenly contracted.

That lord... was laughing?

He was indeed laughing. The corners of his mouth were slightly hooked, his expression relaxed. As he spoke, he even raised a hand to point into the distance, as if discussing something interesting with the woman beside him. (PS: The Lord has the authority to turn off subtitles; people from Blue Star cannot see what the protagonist is saying.)

After the woman finished listening, the corners of her mouth also curved slightly.

Then, the two continued to look into the distance, chatting and laughing, as relaxed as if they were on an outing or a spring hike, rather than facing a Level 2 Nightmare Tide capable of destroying an ordinary town-level territory.

Chen Hao was stunned.

He subconsciously shifted his gaze to the distance in the footage.

Five hundred meters outside the West Gate.

A massive rift had completely opened, and grey-black necromantic energy gushed out like a tide.

Densely packed Skeleton Soldiers were pouring out from it, forming into neat phalanxes.

Chen Hao did a rough count.

At least five hundred of them.

Leading them were five exceptionally tall skeletons, clad in tattered bronze armor and wielding heavy war halberds, with eerie green soul-fire burning in their eye sockets—those were Level 11 Skeleton Centurions.

And behind them, a skeletal warhorse, pieced together entirely from bones with eerie blue flames burning in its eyes, slowly trotted out.

Seated on the horse's back was an even more burly skeleton with dark silver bones.

It wore a damaged bronze helmet and tattered chainmail, holding a nearly three-meter-long bronze horse lance pointing diagonally at the ground.

A deathly aura, far more ferocious and concentrated than that of the Centurions, could be felt even through the screen.

【Skeleton Five Hundred Lord (Lv15)】

Chen Hao's mouth twitched.

Five hundred Skeleton Soldiers.

Five Level 11 Elite Centurions.

One Level 15 Commander of Five Hundred.

What the hell...

This intensity already exceeded the standard for a low-grade Level 2 Nightmare Tide! Even those town-level territories would have to take such a lineup seriously!

That solo lord...

What was he laughing about???

Chen Hao stared fixedly at the young man on the screen, who was leaning against the battlements and chatting happily with the woman beside him, his mind going blank.

The bullet chat went completely insane:

"??? He's laughing???"

"Are my eyes playing tricks on me? That lord is laughing?"

"Facing five hundred skeletons, five Centurions, and a Level 15 Commander of Five Hundred, and he's laughing???"

"Is this guy stupid? Or scared witless?"

"Is this the level of a solo lord? Can't even perceive fear?"

"It's over, it's over. This guy has a problem with his brain; the territory is definitely gone."

"Hilarious, he's still chatting with the girl next to him! Is that girl his girlfriend?"

"Girlfriend??? Wait, that girl is so beautiful! Her aura is incredible!"

"Holy crap, it's true! Where did such a beauty come from in this backwater place?"

"Who cares if she's beautiful or not, they're all going to die tonight anyway."

"Is this all Daxia's solo lords amount to? Our Sakura Country's village-level lords would have to take this kind of Level 2 tide seriously, and he still has the mind to flirt?"

"Aigoo, Daxia's national fortune is indeed finished."

Chen Hao looked at these comments, then at the relaxed smile of the young man on the screen, and a ridiculous thought suddenly popped into his head.

Does he... have some kind of trump card?

But he immediately shook his head again.

A solo lord who just built his village a few days ago, what trump card could he possibly have?

Even if he did, against a Level 2 tide of this intensity, a trump card wouldn't be enough.

Unless...

Does he have some major guild backing him?

Or the military?

But the livestream profile labeled 【Beacon Fire Village - Lin Feng】 clearly stated: Solo lord, no guild, no background.

Chen Hao took a deep breath and glanced once more at the young man who was chatting and laughing.

Then, he stuffed the energy bar back into his mouth and took a hard bite.

"Fine then," he ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) muttered, "I'll just see what on earth you're laughing about."