Chapter 581: The Calm Before the Storm

Capital Core.

In a quiet room, spirit energy swirled around.

With a gentle exhale, Yenir slowly opened his eyes; the nearly overflowing spirit energy made them blaze like a sun.

A few seconds later, after forcibly suppressing his nearly explosive power, a satisfied smile spread across Yenir’s face.

“Crackle, crackle.”

He casually stretched, and his bones cracked loudly.

Feeling the surge of power within, Yenir couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Third-Stage Advanced… not an easy feat…”

“Could this be… the slowest boost in my strength yet?”

A rare moment of rest.

After returning from the Japanese Battle Zone, he had rarely taken a full two-week break.

Meanwhile, as the Capital lay calm and his tasks were few, he continuously absorbed his previously erratic spirit energy, gradually breaking through to Third-Stage Advanced.

To outsiders, his rate of improvement might still seem astonishingly fast.

But for Yenir, accustomed to rapid, day-to-day gains, this was his slowest progress ever.

Yet, it was worth every moment.

All the instability from his previous forced boosts had now been perfectly eradicated.

He slowly stood up.

Yenir casually glanced at the brilliant sunlight spilling through the courtyard; everything seemed warmly inviting.

During this time, he patiently spent each day with his Little Sister and his Mother, undisturbed by anyone.

This even gave him the eerie impression that the end-times might finally be over.

But Yenir knew all too well that this calm was just the eye before the storm.

Daily intelligence from the Prime Minister revealed increasingly frequent troop movements within the Huaguo Military.

Even though nothing abnormal had erupted yet, top generals like Fang Hao and Zhao Hongtu – three of the four commanders on their side – had already braced themselves for internal strife.

Everyone knew that the group behind Lu Haishan would eventually strike back, though when and how chaos would break out remained unknown.

“If all goes according to plan, everything should be settled around the national conflict.”

Clenching his fist as his bones crackled, Yenir stood like a ferocious beast; his unassuming frame concealed an explosively powerful body beneath his Combat Uniform.

Silently, he looked toward the Capital Hero Monument, a cold smile tugging at his lips as his eyes gleamed with calculation.

If those old men behind Lu Haishan still had any decency or humanity, the best time to strike would be after the national conflict.

To them, whether Yenir joined the battle made no difference at all!

Either way, defeat was certain, and he’d only suffer the system’s punishment!

If he came out alive, a new round of blame – even the title of national pariah – awaited him.

After all, how many Peak Third-Stage warriors had he offended? When even the so-called “heroes” hesitated to serve the nation, the buck naturally fell on Yenir.

Whether it was fair or whose fault it truly was—

No one cared!

If he died in the process, even better!

Then Lu Haishan and his cohorts could loudly proclaim it as a warning to all in the Neutral Faction: siding with Li Xuanguo or opposing them meant a fate worse than death!

Well aware of humanity’s darkest nature, Yenir didn’t hesitate to assume the worst about these old hands.

“Only four days left… the national conflict is about to begin.”

Pushing aside all his thoughts, just as Yenir prepared to head to the Military for some Documents…

In the very next moment, events unfolded almost as expected, yet with an unforeseen twist.

He noticed a private message from the Prime Minister suddenly illuminating in his system inbox.

At the same time, outside, Liang Lie—who had long silently guarded the area—rarely showed such gravity as he dashed toward Yenir like a shadow.

“Yenir! The Prime Minister requests your presence!”

“There’s trouble at the Border!”

………………………..

“Boom! Boom!”

Flames soared into the sky.

Amid deafening explosions, figures dashed through the barrage, grinning wickedly as they stormed the defensive line.

Ignoring conventional firepower, a lithe Third-Stage youth—resembling a melee specialist—couldn’t help but sneer as he kicked a retreating reconnaissance soldier’s head apart.

“Still planning on running? With so few of you, you really think you can hold the Border?”

“These Huaguo idiots really believe we won’t dare to strike, don’t they?”

Following behind him, several fellow Awakeners at the Third-Stage, clad in foreign uniforms, broke into cruel smiles.

“Jin Hanen, aren’t these Huaguo folks always like this? They think they can defend everything.”

“Let’s move in and kill! According to our intel, there are barely any Third-Stage Awakeners left in their positions!”

“Ha ha, I’ve had my eye on the Safe Zone at the rear for quite some time!”

“Loot them all! Take everything they have!”

As the orders rang out, their faces lit up with excitement.

The fact that the forces here had already resorted to heavy weapons to block them revealed just how feeble the Huaguo Military’s combat power had become!

In the past, they would never have dared to invade the Border so brazenly.

After all, even though they were Third-Stage, they were merely Third-Stage Beginners—harassing might be one thing, but facing the Huaguo Military head-on was pure suicide!

However, intelligence from a few mysterious sources indicated that the local defenses were already depleted, with hardly any High-Level Awakeners in sight—an opportunity not to be missed!

The border force, once numbering over a hundred Third-Stage soldiers, had dwindled to less than half its original size!

Moreover, it was clear that the Huaguo Military scarcely dared to deploy any Third-Stage fighters at all!

“Charge! Strike in!”

They ignored the constant barrage of explosions around them.

Perhaps these heavy weapons posed a threat to lower-stage Awakeners, but against Third-Stage warriors, a defensive line built of conventional firepower was nothing more than fragile paper, easily torn apart!