The People's God: Sacrificing Trillions to Ascend

Chapter 816 - That’s Not Justice at All!

Xu Hai had previously considered the damage a smear campaign could do to the Wisdom Faction, but he still hadn’t imagined it could hit this hard. If things continued this way, the Wisdom Faction would be finished.

Han Wu was also trying to find a way out. He had asked to meet with the Wealth God King g and request his help. Zhao Zihong told him that it would be a piece of cake for him to make the rumor disappear, but that he wouldn’t do it.

This was a divine war, and the rumor was a form of attack. If the Wisdom Faction couldn’t withstand this blow, it would be better if they just dissolved now and saved everyone the trouble. On top of that, Zhao Zihong made it plain that if the Wisdom Faction could not produce an effective counter, he would withdraw his financial backing.

That hit Han Wu hard. The Wealth Faction’s support was a large part of the reason the Wisdom Faction had been able to hold its ground against the Slaughter Faction at all. If the Wealth Faction pulled out, the Wisdom Faction’s defeat was all but sealed. Xu Hai would not survive the war.

Han Wu wasn’t about to let this underhanded tactic bring his mentor down, but he couldn’t figure out a solution either.

“If I were strong enough, I could just wipe out the Slaughter Faction entirely and make the rumor pointless,” Han Wu said self-deprecatingly.

He had been growing strong quickly, but it seemed it still wasn’t fast enough—not enough to make a difference when a critical blow struck. Despite racking his brain day and night, he could find no solution. How was he supposed to pull the Wisdom Faction out of this?

Xu Hai was in the same boat. He had studied history and read countless military tactics, but he couldn’t come up with a reliable method for countering a smear campaign. The Wisdom Faction seemed destined to collapse.

As Han Wu was at his wits’ end, a call came in from Sun Qingnian. Frustrated, Han Wu declined, figuring Sun Qingnian was just calling to thank him for helping him win Shi Shan back. Sun Qingnian didn’t give up, though, and stubbornly called again. Han Wu answered with a sigh.

“Han Wu, I made up with my baby!” Sun Qingnian exclaimed.

In no mood to discuss Sun Qingnian’s romantic affairs, Han Wu replied flatly, “Got it.”

As he was about to hang up, Sun Qingnian hastily said, “I know you’ve been stressed out over the rumor situation. I think I have a way to handle it. Tell me where you are, and I’ll come to you.”

Though skeptical, Han Wu gave his location anyway. Even Xu Hai, the Wisdom God King, couldn’t solve the problem; what could Sun Qingnian, a mere God, do? Still, Han Wu had nothing better to try and nothing left to lose, so he decided to hear him out.

Sun Qingnian soon arrived with Shi Shan in tow. Shi Shan had apparently forgiven Sun Qingnian for having his fingers in three pies at once and was practically glued to his side.

“Han Wu, I’m here to solve your problem!” Sun Qingnian proclaimed.

Han Wu was unconvinced. It was one thing if Sun Qingnian had come to teach him how to chase women, but fixing a political disaster was another matter entirely.

“You and Xu Hai are looking at this too narrowly. You need to look at the nature of the problem. Why did that rumor take hold and spread so widely?” Sun Qingnian asked.

“Why?”

“Because the divine war is part of it. There’s also a group of passionate people fanning the flames—people who feel personally invested. Some of them genuinely fear something similar happening to them and want to see someone stand up for themselves, but some are just fishing in muddy waters and playing the victim card.

“If a girl with a clean and upstanding reputation comes forward and says she was coerced or harassed, that becomes the truth in the eyes of the public, no matter if it actually is or not.

“You and Xu Hai have been trying to argue the truth of the rumor, but that’s clearly going nowhere. People aren’t interested in your evidence. They don’t actually care about the rumor. They just want their idea of justice to be enacted, even if that idea of justice is not justice at all,” Sun Qingnian explained.

The clarity with which Sun Qingnian had grasped the situation left Han Wu stunned. It was at this moment that he finally became convinced that Sun Qingnian could actually counter this.

“So what do I do?” Han Wu asked.

“Simple. Shatter the justice they think they’re defending, and get the Saintess Club members to convince themselves that they and Wei En are not the same kind of person,” Sun Qingnian explained.

“How exactly do we do that?”

“That’ll take a little finesse. I have a bold idea, but I need one good piece of evidence to make it work.” Sun Qingnian chuckled, eyes gleaming with cunning. “By the way, did you actually see Wei En naked?”

Han Wu was caught off guard. That was a sharp turn in the conversation. However, as it was Sun Qingnian, Han Wu didn’t worry about it feeding any new rumors and answered honestly, “I did.”

“Perfect. We’re going to find someone who can extract memories and pull the image of Wei En from your mind.”

Shortly after the memory extraction, several photos of Wei En were printed out. As they came directly from Han Wu’s head, the resolution matched exactly what he had seen.

Sun Qingnian picked them up, clicked his tongue a few times, and sighed. “Han Wu, I have to say, you’re too upright for your own good. A beautiful woman is standing right in front of you, but you couldn’t even bring yourself to look properly. Look at this resolution. You can’t make out a thing. These are completely unusable.”

Shi Shan let out a cold snort from the side but said nothing. Sun Qingnian flinched visibly. Still, the job had to get done. Blurry photos were less effective than clear ones.

“If you want a clear one, my mentor might have one,” Han Wu said.

Sun Qingnian and Shi Shan turned to stare at him with stunned silence.

“Is it true, then, what the rumors say? Did the Wisdom God King Xu Hai actually... coerce Wei En?” Sun Qingnian blurted out.

Han Wu sighed. “My mentor’s Divine Jurisdiction can monitor everything that happens within a certain area. He likely has a video saved somewhere.”

Sun Qingnian and Shi Shan both exhaled in relief at that explanation.

“Say that clearly next time,” Shi Shan said, pressing a hand to her chest. “You nearly ruined my image of the Wisdom God King.”

With that, they tracked down Xu Hai, gave him the time and location to search, and after going through his recordings, found the full sequence of Wei En being blasted away naked in clear resolution.

Sun Qingnian edited out a portion and showed them a wicked grin. “With this, Senior Wei En is finished. Han Wu, today I’m going to show you what it means to fight fire with fire.”