Chapter Seventy-Seven: Welcoming the Hero Home

“Reinforcements have arrived!”

“Our reinforcements are here!”

“Hahaha, demons, you can’t run now!” The squad that had been trembling in fear before was suddenly filled with excitement.

But seeing the heavily armed convoy—missile launch vehicles and tanks, each over ten meters long—coming to a halt several hundred meters away, Lin Fan’s expression turned grim.

Though everyone had cultivated the Godslayer Demonscourge Technique and could just barely withstand rifle bullets, ultimately, their bodies were only demi-divine, not truly godlike!

Hot weapons were the most powerful tools humanity had ever wielded!

Even with the ferocity of his first squad, there was no way they could survive a barrage of firepower!

At that moment, the missile vehicles halted as well, their short-range missiles, each over ten meters long, slowly angling upward, all aimed at Lin Fan’s group.

Tanks swiveled their turrets to join the threat.

It seemed the Free Nation had brought the full might of a military district to capture Lin Fan and his people, deploying all their heavy weaponry.

Their hatred for the Phoenix Society’s destruction was beyond imagination.

“To receive this kind of welcome, it truly wasn’t a wasted trip,” Lin Fan said with a chilling smile. “But this time, I fear escape is impossible.”

“Comrades! Do you fear death?” Lin Fan shouted.

“Not at all!” came the reply.

Lin Fan nodded. “Good. The time to sacrifice for our country has come. If any of you can’t hold on, you must not be taken alive!”

He paused, then declared loudly, “In the Great Xia, no one has ever been captured alive!”

“And now!”

“First Squad, charge with me—one last battle! Let them know that even in death, a son of Xia will bite off a piece of their flesh!”

Lin Fan’s voice rang out.

With a roar, sword energy three feet long swept forth!

Tao Wanqian unleashed his Daoist resonance, talismans swirling, his peachwood sword circling in the air!

Mo Buzhi laughed heartily, eyes full of resolve for death. “A son of Xia would rather die singing in the rain than live in servitude! Listen to my Autumn Muster!”

His righteous spirit stirred the heavens and earth!

“Amitabha, your disciple is ready to meet the Buddha.”

The compassionate master pressed his palms together, his iron demon-subduing staff pounding the earth!

With a thunderous crash, the ground cracked open.

Buddha’s light surged behind him, and the wrathful visage of a Vajra loomed in the air!

Buddhist energy gathered thickly around him, forming an impenetrable golden bell.

Meanwhile, Xing Ye melted into the shadows, ready to fight to the death at any moment.

Everyone understood.

What awaited them now, was a battle to the death.

Surrounded in a foreign land, there was no way for Great Xia to send help—nor could they, for their mission was one of assassination. If Xia’s government revealed their involvement, it would ignite war.

“This is my job, after all,” Zhao Guochen chuckled, drawing his pistol once more.

A fight to the death!

A battle to the end!

“Godslayer Army First Squad!” Lin Fan raised his short blade high. “Follow me! Kill!”

His eyes gleamed with the resolve to die.

It was a fight with their backs to the sea.

Behind them, the vast ocean.

Before them, enemies of a foreign land.

No way out.

Then let there be slaughter!

Let the heavens and earth be overturned, let battle rage until death itself arrives!

But before Lin Fan could lead the charge—

Suddenly, the soldiers of the Free Nation wore bewildered expressions, which swiftly turned to terror.

Even the tanks and missile vehicles began to withdraw.

Lin Fan was stunned.

Beside him, Tao Wanqian, who had been channeling thunder spells, looked equally baffled. “Are we really that terrifying?”

“I was pretty sure we were the ones about to die…”

In the next instant—

A thunderous roar, like that of a giant beast, erupted behind them.

And not just one beast—but a host!

Deep and resonant, the roars shook heaven and earth!

“Sea beast cultists?” Lin Fan turned around in confusion.

But in the next moment, he froze.

Out on the dark sea, countless massive warships tore through the night, their searchlights blazing as they sped across the waters!

They appeared as iron leviathans, stretching across the entire sea!

That beast-like roar was their horns!

Dozens of colossal cannons and missiles aimed from the fleet towards the shore!

“What is…?” Lin Fan stared in disbelief at the sudden appearance of this armada behind them.

“Our own…” Lin Fan’s voice trembled, his eyes—so resolute in the face of death—now reddened with emotion.

He looked like a wronged child finally seeing his family.

On the thousand warships surging through the night, red flags fluttered in the wind!

No one else could give Lin Fan this sense of safety!

This was the unparalleled sense of security that Great Xia bestowed on its people!

Suddenly, Lin Fan seemed to realize something. He turned to the stunned soldiers of the Free Nation and grinned fiercely.

He tapped his own head mockingly and shouted, “Come on, shoot me!”

Utterly shameless.

Like a child who couldn’t win a fight, but then turned around to find his parents standing behind him.

With the red flag at his back, he could afford to be bold!

The members of the Godslayer Army’s First Squad were speechless at their captain’s brazenness.

“I almost want to hit him myself—he’s incorrigible…” Mo Buzhi of the Confucian sect shook his head, then, on a whim, pointed at his own head and grinned at the foreign soldiers. “Come on, take your best shot! Don’t hold back, I beg you!”

Tao Wanqian laughed heartily. Knowing this was the perfect moment to show off, he turned and stuck out his backside at the Free Nation soldiers. “Please, do it!”

The Free Nation soldiers: “……”

Beneath one of the missile launchers, a furious soldier peered through his binoculars.

“Colonel, why don’t we just open fire! They’re insufferable!”

The colonel slapped him. “Are you insane? Look out at the sea—what do you see? That’s a carrier battle group—two carriers, three hundred Aegis-class destroyers, and more…”

“I want to shoot them too, but I don’t want to die! If you want to, be my guest!”

Zhao Guochen, meanwhile, had no mind for such antics. Staring at the warships emerging from the night, at the flag waving high, his eyes filled with tears, his nose stinging.

He never dreamed that, in his lifetime, he would see the red flag in a foreign land!

Great Xia had come for them!

Zhao Guochen closed his eyes, a thousand emotions swirling in his heart, finally settling into a single thought.

“Looks like I’ll finally get to eat a bowl of dandan noodles again.”

Meanwhile—

At the bow of the lead carrier, Old General Jin stood proud in full uniform.

Though his hair was white, standing in the sea wind atop the surging waves, his spirit was as fiery as ever, his back straighter than any youth’s!

Watching Lin Fan and his rag-tag group through binoculars, Old Jin couldn’t help but break into a wide grin. “That rascal…”

“Well, since this is decided, let’s make it a grand occasion!”

“Come, unfurl the banners! Artillery, fire a few blank rounds as a salute—let’s hear some noise!”

“We’re bringing our heroes home!”