Grief, terror, uncertainty.
All manner of negative emotions hung over the people of Haidong Country.
They could never have imagined how a war meant to herald their rise had turned into a catastrophe.
After Jin Dachang took power, all of Haidong's major government agencies had fallen under the control of the Awakened, but they had at least maintained a semblance of stability.
Now those people were all gone, and social order collapsed with them.
Rioting, looting, vandalism.
These erupted throughout Haidong, spreading like wildfire across the entire peninsula.
As the chaos intensified, a frantic wave of emigration followed.
The Jiangnan District, where the wealthy and influential gathered, became a ghost town in just half a day.
Haidong's major airports and ports were all packed beyond capacity.
Everyone did everything they could, desperate to leave Haidong as soon as possible.
This country had always considered itself the birthplace of Asian civilization.
This peninsula had always proclaimed itself number one in East Asia.
Yet now it was falling apart before everyone's eyes.
Most countries around the world paid no heed to Haidong Country's tragic plight.
Because Huaxia was now the focus of everyone's attention.
Even a day earlier, Huaxia had still been a joke in many people's eyes.
But now, not a single person could laugh.
A million Awakened!
What a terrifying force!
Even now, many people still could not believe it.
What frightened them even more was this.
After the war, Huaxia issued another announcement: the Descendants of Dayu numbered far more than a million.
That was downright fucking terrifying!
Queen Victoria of Moonfall Country was known as the grandmother of the Gull Continent.
At its peak, the Moonfall Empire had colonies across the globe, occupying a quarter of the world's land area at the time.
Yet even then, the descendants who carried the queen's bloodline had numbered no more than a million.
And most of those descendants were now scattered across the countries of the Gull Continent.
Even after awakening their bloodline, many were unwilling to return to Moonfall Country and submit to its inheritor's rule.
And what about Huaxia?
It had fielded a million Awakened in a single battle, and the crucial point was that they were not even all of them!
It was beyond imagination! Beyond comprehension!
Now the whole world was speculating about how many more Descendants of Dayu Huaxia had hidden away.
Two million?
Three million?
No matter how much they guessed, they would never arrive at the real answer.
But with every guess, their apprehension deepened.
Yet besides Huaxia's unknown number of Awakened, there was someone else who concerned them: Su Chen!
Of Haidong's hundred and thirty thousand Awakened, at least a hundred thousand had died, while the rest had all four limbs broken and were left helpless.
Even their inheritor, Jin Dachang, had been cleaved in two!
Compared with Huaxia's hidden strength.
The ruthlessness and resolve Su Chen had displayed delivered a far more immediate shock.
Given Huaxia's usual approach to foreign affairs, it would never have gone to such extremes.
Leaving the Awakened aside.
Jin Dachang was Haidong's inheritor, after all!
He had already knelt and begged for mercy, declaring his willingness to submit.
As long as Su Chen controlled Jin Dachang, he would effectively control Haidong Country.
The benefits to Huaxia would have far exceeded those of simply killing Jin Dachang!
As everyone saw it.
Su Chen had been so ruthless for only one reason.
To establish his might!
He knew the whole world was watching.
He wanted everyone to understand.
Huaxia was different now!
Anyone who dared invade would meet only death!
Even inheritors would be no exception!
Recalling the sight of Su Chen charging into battle with his axe, many people still could not suppress a chill in their hearts.
He was barely in his twenties, yet he was so merciless.
He looked harmless, yet he had laid a trap and lured more than a hundred thousand people of Haidong to their deaths.
Not to mention the untold civilians who had died now that Haidong had descended into chaos and the country was collapsing.
That toll would surely be laid at Su Chen's feet as well!
The countries at odds with Huaxia were now deeply uneasy.
The inheritors of Sakura, Kangaroo, and Eagle Sauce immediately called one another to discuss a response.
But after talking it over and over, they all ultimately chose silence.
In their eyes, Huaxia had become an unfathomable forbidden land.
And Su Chen was the demon guarding it.
Anyone who dared stick their neck out now would surely bring disaster upon themselves!
But while some were frightened and anxious, others were naturally delighted and eager to curry favor.
The countries that had always enjoyed good relations with Huaxia immediately sent messages of congratulations.
Over the phone, they harshly condemned Haidong and lavished praise on Huaxia.
Although these countries had all kept their heads down when Haidong declared war.
Now they scrambled to form alliances with Huaxia, hoping to stand together and support one another from then on.
Even countries that had previously had little connection with Huaxia took the initiative to offer goodwill.
They also dispatched delegations immediately, hoping to establish closer ties with Huaxia.
Although such opportunism was contemptible.
There was never any true friendship between nations to begin with; everything was done for their own national interests.
No one would be foolish enough to plunge their own country into the maelstrom of war to help another.
And for Huaxia to truly rise and stand at the pinnacle of the world, it had to account for many different factors.
If it relied solely on military force, even if it could conquer the world.
Its supremacy would only be temporary, difficult to sustain.
World history had proved this more than once.
Even with the global order now changed, that fundamental truth remained the same.
So no matter how powerful Huaxia became, there would still be problems it could not handle alone.
But if it formed a bloc led by Huaxia, with their interests intertwined, the road to its rise would surely be much smoother.
Thus, when these countries offered goodwill, Huaxia welcomed them all as long as doing so served its interests.
As for how to proceed and make use of the current opportunity to secure greater benefits for Huaxia.
Professionals would handle all of that; Su Chen had no need to worry.
Although the fighting was over.
Its repercussions lingered for a long time.
Over the following months.
Countless statues of Dayu rose across Huaxia, and offerings of incense flourished.
Whether or not they were descendants of Dayu, people passing a Yu Temple would offer a few sticks of incense and kowtow a few times to express their respect and gratitude.
The Great Xia Dynasty was also added to the textbooks without delay.
From then on, whenever children in Huaxia opened their history textbooks, their very first lesson would teach them where the "Xia" in Huaxia had come from.
They would no longer believe, as the older generation had, that Huaxia had only three hundred years of history.
They would no longer feel ashamed, believing Huaxia lacked a rich heritage.
Su Chen, too, became a symbol of Huaxia and a hero in countless hearts.
Through his efforts alone, he had brought Huaxia's buried glory back to light.
He had restored the confidence of fourteen hundred million countrymen and strengthened their unity.
He had crushed the invaders and awakened the power buried deep in the blood of Dayu's descendants, opening a new chapter for Huaxia.
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