Chapter 238: Chapter 237: Reactions from All Sides

Before Taoist Ming Yu and his party had even returned to Celestial Xia, videos from Berkeley were already uploaded to the internet.

A cloud bank shimmering with multicolored lights, figures shrouded in golden radiance, ordinary people captured and taken away, a modern skyscraper annihilated by a thunderbolt...

"Is this for a new Hollywood movie? The latest installment of the Cloverfield Files?"

"Does it say what the movie’s called? I’ll go see it when I have time."

"Hahaha, not bad special effects. Zeus versus Odin? Did the Nordic Royal Court or Mount Olympus invade Blue Star or something?"

"It’s real! I’m telling you, it’s real!"

"My cousin’s a janitor in Berkeley. He was there, but he was too shocked to record anything."

"The guy above me is full of it. I’m in Berkeley, and when I woke up this morning, everything was normal. No alien invasion, no apocalypse. I even had to go to my fucking job today. Why couldn’t the aliens strike my boss dead with a thunderbolt?"

"Here’s a look at Berklee College of Music this morning. There’s even a student playing the violin. Nothing happened."

"The special effects aren’t even that good. There are a lot of different video angles, and I saw one from right across the street from Calvin Mansion. After the building was destroyed, the cars on the street below didn’t even shake. It’s so obviously fake."

"I didn’t see anything last night, but Berkeley’s District 13 was put under lockdown this morning. And also, the Calvin Group Mansion really did collapse!"

Aside from the actual eyewitnesses, very few people believed what had happened in the early morning. Still, the collapse of the Calvin Group Mansion left the city’s residents suspicious and uncertain.

"This isn’t another case of the White House or the Hexagonal Tower doing something shady and blaming it on aliens, is it?"

"A conspiracy! It’s all a conspiracy by the Celestial Dragon People!"

Some people expressed their habitual skepticism, only to then discover that most of the Berkeley videos had been taken down. The few that remained were being throttled and slapped with "AI-Generated" or "False Information" labels.

"Hahaha, I knew it!"

"Fake news!"

"There’s a conspiracy!"

This proved that while the internet is powerful, not all information is impossible to suppress. Those in power have more than enough ways to block or throttle information, or to use labels and muddy the waters to achieve their desired outcome.

But those in the upper echelons of power knew the truth of the matter perfectly well.

"Was it really aliens?"

"Probably... not aliens. Or rather, the truth is even worse than if they were aliens..."

"How much worse?"

"They might be Supermen from Celestial Xia."

"Do you have any idea what you’re saying?"

"Yesterday at 4:05 a.m., Pacific Time, the multicolored cloud and the golden figure appeared. Then, many more golden figures split off from it. The videos show them taking several ordinary people away.

Those people were an international student from Celestial Xia and his parents, along with a man named Eric Calvin, the son of the current chairman of the Calvin Group."

The speaker quickly explained what had happened between Changyi and Eric, the situation Changyi had been facing, and the results of their investigation this morning.

"Are you saying those golden figures rescued the international student and his parents, killed Eric, and placed his body at the very top of the Calvin Mansion’s ruins?"

"Yes. Also, we just received a report that Eric’s parents were found dead in their villa in San Francisco."

"That international student... what was his name again? Who is he, exactly?"

"His parents are just ordinary people. But according to several of his classmates, he comes from a religious organization across the ocean called the Celestial Master’s Mansion, and he knows Magic."

"Magic? Like a Priest’s mass, a Witch playing with a crystal ball, or some stage magic meant to spook people?"

"Yes, sir. As you know, our country has Mages, too."

"I know that. But they certainly can’t fly, nor can they destroy a modern skyscraper! They can’t even stop a single bullet!"

"Are Celestial Xia’s Wizards that powerful?"

"The people on the other side of the ocean call them Daoists."

"What they’re called doesn’t matter!" the old man in the lead said angrily. "What matters is that they dared to run wild on our turf!"

As his voice fell, the conference room sank into a tense, oppressive silence.

"Does this count as an act of invasion? Should we send a diplomatic note to the other side of the ocean?"

"Don’t be ridiculous. Diplomatic notes are made public. We just managed to suppress the Berkeley incident. Are you trying to drag it all back out into the open?"

"And tell the whole world that Extraordinary Beings exist, that we were humiliated by them, and that there’s nothing we can do about it!"

"Then what should we do now?"

"Investigate, of course! Start with that international student, with the religious organization behind him! Find out who those flying golden figures are, and figure out what abilities they possess!"

"And another thing! Question our domestic Mages. Go to the churches, find the Witches, find the magicians! Ask them if they can do what we saw in those videos. We must acquire equivalent power!"

As some of the most powerful people on the planet, they felt a primal fear when confronted with a power that defied ordinary understanding.

The Calvin Clan was undoubtedly a major family in California and one of the masters of this country. But now, this generation’s Patriarch and his eldest son had died tragically in a single night. This hit close to home, making them feel a profound sense of threat.

...

Meanwhile, the other side had naturally received the news as well.

"They’ve made their move."

"Well, damn! That’s quite a scene!"

"That’s the Thunder Technique, right? In less than a year, they’ve evolved from splitting trees with Palm Thunder to demolishing skyscrapers with Celestial Thunder?" someone quipped.

They were, after all, on the same side. The mood here was much better than on the other side. Although the events were still world-view-shattering, they had been mentally preparing for it and found it somewhat acceptable.

"So many golden figures... could that be those old Daoists?"

"The distance is too great and the golden light is too bright. It’s impossible to make out what the figures actually look like."

"It seems our assessment was correct. Those old Daoists really have all been enhanced. Or perhaps, our estimate was too conservative; they’ve been enhanced by a great deal."

Someone’s eyes lit up. "If we could..."

"Don’t be hasty. One step at a time. Besides, I suspect there are significant limitations. Otherwise, why wouldn’t Gu Zhao have enhanced the strength of his parents and those two girlfriends?"

"Those old Daoists have all cultivated Inner Breath True Qi. Even the youngest, Li Yunyang, is a genius disciple the likes of which the Eight Immortals Palace hasn’t seen in many years."

"And... they put on that display of power for the Huaqi Country right after getting off the phone with us. While the timing was certainly a coincidence, they could have resolved the matter without causing such a huge commotion."

"Are you saying..."

"That this was a message for us?"

The old man in the lead nodded. "We’re on the same side, after all. Speaking too bluntly could be awkward, and they were probably worried we might get the wrong ideas. So, they took the opportunity to make a show of force against Huaqi Country, to make us understand the stakes and adjust our attitude."

Someone sounded slightly displeased. "Are we that kind of people?"

But another person was quite appreciative. "They are old Taoist Masters, after all. They handle things with foresight, making their position clear before the talks even begin."

Someone asked curiously, "Uh, seeing as they just took a ’business trip’ to Huaqi, will they be able to make it to tomorrow morning’s meeting?"

"Of course they’ll make it. We checked the call logs with the telecom company. Judging from the time Taoist Zhi Qing called Taoist Ming Yu, their travel speed is much faster than a commercial airliner."

"Let’s get ready. We need to get on our plane, too."