From Abyssal Invasion to Bursting Stars with a Single Sword

Two ships were being chased and their surveillance devices were continuously filming the scene, transmitting it in real-time via satellite signal.

Thus, everything that happened to the Java Gunboat was transmitted to the outside world in real time.

At this point, it was impossible to completely lock down the news.

In the sky.

Lu Heng, clutching the claws of the reconnaissance eagle, was suspended in mid-air, overlooking the tilted Java ship below.

Since the reconnaissance eagle was in an invisible state, it appeared as if Lu Heng alone was hovering in the sky, looking down at the squealing ants below.

A moment ago, the Java captain, who had arrogantly claimed he would sink the Huan Yu, was now terrified, clinging to the cabin wall, screaming for someone to save him.

Lu Heng's strike from the sky had sliced the ship in two.

Such terrifying might had scared him out of his wits.

Lu Heng loudly asked, "Do you still want to board and inspect?"

Inside the bridge, the Java captain clasped his hands together in a pleading gesture, babbling incomprehensibly.

The short Superpower User, who had been inciting the Java captain to fire earlier, immediately knelt down and pleaded, "We were wrong, we dare not do it again."

Lu Heng asked again, "So, can we leave now?"

The Java captain, after hearing the translation from the person beside him, quickly nodded and kept begging, just wanting Lu Heng to leave as soon as possible.

...

Having subdued this Java captain, Lu Heng then returned to the Huan Yu and set course to return home.

On the voyage back, Lu Heng took out two Crystal Cores, one was a "High-Rank Energy Crystal Core," and the other was an "Exoskeleton Armor" Skill Crystal Core.

The "High-Rank Energy Crystal Core" couldn't be used continuously, so Lu Heng took it out to allocate.

Upon seeing the data on the Crystal Core, Lin Zeyu immediately chose the "High-Rank Energy Crystal Core."

Lu Heng and Su Muyu took the "Exoskeleton Armor" Crystal Core.

In terms of value, the "High-Rank Energy Crystal Core" was worth much more.

However, by this allocation plan, Lin Zeyu and his Superpower Users were dividing this "High-Rank Energy Crystal Core" among themselves, and how they divided it internally was not Lu Heng's concern.

Lin Zeyu knew how to get his subordinates to work for him.

During this hunt for the Corpse Bone Bird, Lu Heng obtained the "Swordsman" Source Material, as well as the weapon of the Bloodline Sword Demon.

It was safe to say they made a huge profit from this venture.

Lin Zeyu was also extremely satisfied, as he had leveled up during the killing of the Corpse Bone Bird, and after absorbing the "High-Rank Energy Crystal Core," he leveled up once more.

This trip to sea resulted in him gaining two levels.

If he had led the team to hunt Demons himself, it might have taken two or three attempts just to level up once.

He realized that as long as he followed Lu Heng, his level would rocket up swiftly.

...

A day later, the Huan Yu returned to the Coastal Docking Area.

Just as he went ashore, back to a place where there was cellphone signal, Lu Heng's phone started chiming incessantly.

Checking it, he saw dozens of missed calls, all from his parents.

Lu Heng was about to call them back, but before he could dial, his phone rang again.

As soon as the call connected, his mother's voice came through:

"Son, is that you? Are you on the phone now? How are you doing? Speak, please…"

"I'm fine, don't worry," Lu Heng quickly reassured his mother.

This time on the open sea, there was only satellite signal, and only the satellite phone on the yacht could be used, making it rather inconvenient.

Thinking about getting home soon on the way back, he had gone to his cabin to sleep.

Little did he know that his parents had become so anxious during that time.

Li Xiuyun, hearing her son's voice, breathed a deep sigh of relief, saying, "You scared us to death. Where are you now? Are you hurt?"

"I just got off the ship, I'm doing pretty well, I'll take a cab home soon," Lu Heng replied.

"What happened at sea exactly? What, in fact, happened?" Li Xiuyun urgently asked.

"It's nothing," Lu Heng pretended as if he knew nothing.

"Now there's a video online that has gone viral. They say it was first shared from that foreign 'Facebook' site, what an odd site name. You appeared in the video, a lot of people are saying you fought with a warship, what exactly happened?" Li Xiuyun asked urgently.

Lu Heng, hearing this, was momentarily stunned, not knowing how to explain.

On the open sea, of course, there was no cellphone signal, but there was a satellite signal, and more advanced large ships all had satellite communication equipment, capable of accessing the internet.

In fact, during the chase with that Java ship, he had known cameras on board the ship were continuously filming and broadcasting the scene live.

Thus, the incident with the Java Gunboat was bound to come out.

Only, Lu Heng hadn't expected the video to be uploaded online.

While he was talking on the phone,

Su Muyu held out her cellphone, having searched for the video, opened it up and handed it to Lu Heng.

The video wasn't very clear, but one could see a figure moving in the sky, then a slash of a sword striking downwards.

Following that, the video's frame began to shake violently, with a vague view of the skewed angle and broken gunwale of the ship.

Due to the distance, the figure captured wasn't very clear; if one did not know the person, it was difficult to recognize them.

However, being parents, they could recognize their own child from just the silhouette; the video's clarity was enough for them to identify Lu Heng.

Still joking, Lu Heng said, "Mom, what are you talking about? Could you have mistaken someone else?"

"What mistaken someone? With that trait of yours, you've been like this since you were little, laughing whenever you lie. Just come home right now," Li Xiuyun nagged relentlessly over the phone.

Lu Heng agreed repeatedly and then found an excuse to hang up.

"I need to rush home, I don't know how the video at sea got uploaded to the internet."

"What do we do now? Could there be trouble?" Su Muyu furrowed her brow, her expression a bit tense.

"Don't worry, they fired first; we were just defending ourselves..."

Lu Heng then waved at Lin Zeyu and called him over, "Have you heard about the video online?"

Lin Zeyu had already received the news, and he had been on the phone all along, nodded in response, "I know, don't worry, I can handle this."

Lu Heng wasn't really worried; after a brief discussion, everyone went home.

As soon as he got home, Lu Heng was pulled aside by his mother to check if he had returned in one piece.

After the inspection, Li Xiuyun took out her mobile phone, played the video, and asked, "This person in the sky, this one, this is you, right?"

"With that war-damaged video quality, you can make me out?" Lu Heng quipped.

"Don't try to lie. Including the time in the womb, I've been raising you for almost twenty years; how could I not recognize you? Come on, tell me, what happened? How did you get into a conflict with the foreign ship? How serious is this? Will someone come to arrest you?"

Li Xiuyun had already considered all possibilities and thought of ways to deal with them, "Your dad and I discussed it; if someone comes to arrest you, you should run and hide in the countryside for a while."

Lu Heng was somewhat speechless, spreading his hands, "Mom, don't be so nervous. They started it, and we were defending ourselves; no one is going to arrest us."

Moreover, while they were being chased, Huan Yu had raised the national flag.

Seeing Xia Country's flag, if the other side still dared to chase and even open fire, even if their ship was sunk, nobody could blame them.

...

As the Abyss Invasion entered its fourth month, the combat power of top Superpower Users had grown ever stronger.

Demons appearing worldwide required powerful Superpower Users to combat them.

This made the status of Superpower Users rise rapidly.

This was unlike the mutants; their world didn't face the crisis of an Abyss Invasion, leading to class conflict between mutants and ordinary people.

One or two months ago, there were indeed conflicts between Superpower Users and ordinary people worldwide, even situations where theocratic states wanted to burn Superpower Users.

However, as more Abyss Demons appeared worldwide, ordinary people faced the threat of demons, but Superpower Users could combat them.

This caused ordinary people to need Superpower Users' protection, inadvertently putting Superpower Users and ordinary people on the same side.

Social conflicts are curious; when an external enemy exists, internal conflicts quickly disappear.

Some nations even initiate wars or proxy wars to divert domestic conflicts.

Now, the Abyss Invasion is that external conflict, intense and with no room for compromise.

Therefore, the conflict between Superpower Users and ordinary people soon vanished.

After the status of Superpower Users increased, powerful Superpower Users could receive preferential treatment from countries around the world.

Thus, from the fourth month of the Abyss Descent, top Superpower Users would gradually show their strength and gain more say.

Lu Heng was aware of this, so despite knowing he would be captured by surveillance, he dared to act.

However, Lu Heng didn't expect that the officials from Java would put the video directly on international websites to seek condemnation through public opinion.

On his way back home, Lu Heng had checked the internet discourse on his mobile.

The whole internet is discussing this topic now, and it has even spawned a meme "Shipbreaker."

The whole internet is asking a question:

"Who is this 'Shipbreaker'? Is he human?"

"He looks quite human, but could he be a demon that looks human?"

"Indeed, 'Shipbreaker,' one strike and a warship is broken."

"Are Superpower Users this strong now? That's too fierce!"

"Does anyone know who this 'Shipbreaker' is? Paying handsomely for information."

"This guy looks like a classmate of mine."

"'Shipbreaker,' is that a class? Can someone tell me if that is a class?"

From this topic, many netizens started DIYing Class Abilities for Superpower Users online:

"Second Transition Class 'Shipbreaker,' class ability, +50% attack against ships."

"That's obviously fake. How could it only give a +50% attack? One strike can sever a warship; it should at least be +500%."

"That's too conservative; I think +5000% makes more sense."

"Is it possible that this skill isn't exclusively for attacking ships?"

"Does anyone know what kind of ship was cut?"

"That's an easy question: a Java Islands sea patrol gunboat, 45 meters long, 8 meters wide. The ship was equipped with a 30mm shipborne anti-aircraft gun, which can also make a big hole in a ship if it's used against it."

As public opinion fermented, unknown forces started entering the scene to guide the discourse.

"This Superpower User definitely has an anti-social personality, blatantly attacking a foreign ship in international waters; he should be brought to a military tribunal."

"That's right, I just saw someone recognize him as a Superpower User from a certain major Eastern country."

"The Eastern great country's official inaction??? They let such dangerous Superpower Users roam free."

"Lucky people of that Eastern country, having such dangerous Superpower Users nearby, what's the difference between them and demons?"

"I have reasons to suspect that this Superpower User from Xia Country is the traitor. Those who understand, understand."

Signs of manipulated public opinion began to appear.

Lin Zeyu, who had returned home hoping to rest for a couple of days, didn't expect further incidents.

He had someone release the video of the Java ship pursuing Huan Yu, which clearly recorded the Java Gunboat firing first, and the video even added a close-up of gunshot holes in the hull at the end.

This video spread wildly across major online platforms once it was released.

Public opinion began to form two camps, one condemning the Java ship for pursuing a Xia Country yacht in Public Sea waters.

The other camp, skilled in remote cultivation, continued to distort facts, attempting to guide public opinion.

The two opinion camps argued online, and the battle grew fiercer.