After Clayflo got the news, he couldn’t help freezing for a moment. He didn’t understand what that so‑called "See you Monday" Huo Sining threw at the reporters was supposed to mean in the end, but under the current situation he absolutely did not believe Huo Sining still had the ability to turn the tide and pull the situation back.

So after he heard it, he just chuckled lightly and didn’t take it seriously at all.

"No matter how she explains, she can’t wash herself clean. I really want to see what tricks she thinks she can still play."

Clayflo crossed his arms over his chest, undisguised smugness filling his eyes and brows.

She spent 250 million, only to end up in a no‑win situation. Once she’s back, Huo Sining will be facing the questioning of countless people across Huaxia Country. One misstep and she’ll fall straight from the clouds, her reputation ruined, never able to get back up. This kind of dumb loss, this woman can only swallow with her broken teeth and blood. Just picturing that scene made Clayflo feel comfortable; the pent‑up frustration of losing the bet to this woman and being played by her finally eased.

America’s media reporters were destined to be sleepless tonight. After getting their news material from Huo Sining, they all rushed back to their companies like mad, racing to get this latest scoop published.

Huo Sining and her group, however, headed straight for the airport. A private jet was already waiting there. After getting the news, Chief Lu had directly contacted the US Department of Aviation and used diplomatic channels to borrow a plane from the US aviation authorities. By the time Huo Sining and the others reached Philadelphia Airport, the jet was already waiting on the tarmac.

After Zhou Shitao and the others got the Beast Heads, they didn’t even want to delay half a minute in Philadelphia. They just wanted to hurry back with these two Beast Heads as fast as possible. When they heard Chief Lu had made such arrangements, these old men couldn’t have asked for more. They didn’t even want to go back to the hotel; they directly told the driver to head to the airport, and the four old men hugged the two boxes holding the Beast Heads and scrambled impatiently onto the plane.

Seeing this, Huo Sining was both amused and exasperated, but she could understand what these old seniors were thinking. They’d finally managed to get these two Beast Heads back; these two Bronze Artifacts were worth over one or two billion RMB. How could they not be nervous?

After all, this was foreign soil. If anything happened in Philadelphia, they’d be completely blind and helpless. To avoid long nights and many dreams, better to get back home first. No matter what, home turf was still home turf; if anything unexpected happened, they wouldn’t be afraid.

At five fifteen in the afternoon, the plane took off from Philadelphia and flew straight toward Huaxia Imperial Capital Airport. After a whole day of fear and tension, everyone was exhausted. Su Qingqing, Qibao and the others unconsciously fell asleep, and even Huo Sining and Gu Xu couldn’t help dozing off.

Only Zhou Shitao and those old men kept their eyes wide like cowbells, clutching the Beast Heads tightly in their arms, terrified something might go wrong. Huo Sining tried every kind of persuasion, even ordering them in her capacity as the owner of the Beast Heads to put them down and rest first, but no matter how she coaxed, the old men just wouldn’t listen and flatly refused to let go of the Beast Heads.

Seeing how stubborn these old men were, Huo Sining was helpless. She couldn’t help rolling her eyes and could only resign herself to it.

Because of the time difference between Huaxia and America, by a little after six in the evening the plane finally arrived safely at Imperial Capital Airport.

Because news of the twelve zodiac animal heads had leaked, it was like a stone dropped into the sea stirring up a thousand waves, triggering a huge reaction back home. With many domestic media fanning the topic, things were boiling over online. Lots of netizens spontaneously started boycotts and demanded the government thoroughly investigate the matter, and Huo Sining along with her group under her name were all heavily affected.

On Weibo there was even a hashtag like #HuoSiningGetOutOfHuaxia#. Not only that, even the government was under fire. Some people suspected Huo Sining of fake donations, the Beauty Fund of cooking the books, and all sorts of conspiracy theories sprang up about where her money came from. In no time, the name "Huo Sining" had become something everyone wanted to beat down.

Precisely because of this, Chief Lu had already ordered a media blackout on news of their return, afraid that some overly agitated Huaxia people might do something extreme and pose a threat or cause harm to Huo Sining and the others.

Since they were on a private jet flying a special route, they slipped back from Philadelphia quietly, without alerting anyone. And right after they got off the plane, a special forces unit in armored vehicles drove them straight out of the airport, without so much as a ripple.

If it weren’t for some back‑channel news in America claiming "the Philadelphia hotel is empty, Huo Sining and her party may have returned home," people back in the country probably wouldn’t have known they were already back at all.

Even so, that bit of news didn’t stir up much of a splash. After Huo Sining and the others returned safely, a number of media outlets in America published, after more than ten hours of fermentation, the remarks she’d made when answering reporters in the Philadelphia Black Market Building, and they quickly spread back home as well.

Those remarks of hers did help salvage her image. Some calmer netizens quickly realized there was something off about the whole incident, as if someone were manipulating things behind the scenes, so they tried to speak up for Huo Sining online.

But those emotionally charged netizens were blinded by hatred and wouldn’t accept it at all. Seeing people speak in favor of Huo Sining, they assumed they were internet shills hired by her, and instantly swarmed to attack. Those who originally wanted to explain for Huo Sining were scared by this terrifying atmosphere and didn’t dare say another word.

At this point, some Western media also jumped in, constantly mocking the Huaxia Country government as spineless and inactive, saying that spending so much money to buy back something that was originally theirs was ridiculous. Once this line came out, it quickly won the backing of many allied nations. These countries acted like they’d grabbed some kind of handle on the Huaxia Country government, clamoring nonstop and accusing its compromise of being a failed act of diplomacy.

Huaxia people have always cared about face. This time, with Huo Sining spending so much money abroad to bid for just two pieces of Bronze Artifact, and with the twelve zodiac animals being something the people valued highly, the fiasco had become a joke for so many countries to laugh at. Many netizens only felt ashamed and in turn dumped all that anger onto Huo Sining.

As for the "See you Monday" that Huo Sining had mentioned, those netizens completely turned a blind eye. With things having progressed this far, no one believed there was any possibility of a reversal. Even the relatives and friends who knew Huo Sining best felt that what she’d done this time was a foolish move of spinning a cocoon around herself.