The Hero's Streaming Life with the Saintess-Chapter 38: Even a Dried Squid Gives Extract if You Squeeze It

The moment Chen Lungwei lowered his head and begged, the other S-rank Hunters bristled.

They felt humiliated watching one of their own bow to a so-called “small nation.”

“How come I should?”

“...I just hope you’ll grant us mercy, just this once.”

“I’m pretty sure I warned you what would happen if anyone started shit.”

It looked like someone had finally had enough of Chen Lungwei’s groveling.

One of them stepped forward, face twisted in anger.

“Chen Lungwei! To think I once respected you... and now you’re bowing to that barbarian bastard!”

Thick mana began to ooze from his drawn sword.

The energy slowly wrapped around the blade, expanding it until it looked nothing like a normal weapon.

“For the crime of baring your teeth at a great nation... face your punishment!”

The mana-forged sword was massive—easily over two meters long.

The guy leapt forward and swung straight at my left shoulder.

CLANG!

The sound it made? Absolutely not something that should come from hitting a human.

The blade struck my shoulder... and didn’t budge a single inch.

“Gh—grgh...!”

His hands started trembling as he tried to push the blade in deeper.

“Not quite what you expected, huh?”

I grabbed the massive sword where it touched my shoulder and gave it a solid yank.

Naturally, since he was still holding it, that brought him real close.

CRUNCH!

Anyone with half a brain should’ve at least watched the guide I posted.

Hell, he should’ve seen how I wrecked Yang Tianzhen.

So how the hell did this guy think he was different?

“You thought you weren’t gonna end up like Yang-something?”

I grabbed the idiot by the head with one hand and looked toward the Chinese Hunters standing behind him.

From the looks on their faces, it was clear they weren’t expecting this level of one-sided obliteration.

They had no idea what to do.

“I’m pretty sure...”

BOOM!

Still holding his head, I slammed him face-first into the ground.

The marble shattered on impact.

“...I told you...”

BANG!

“...not to pull any shit.”

CRASH!

“...didn’t I?”

BAAAAAAM!!!

The dude’s upper body went straight through the marble, buried upside down in the floor.

Only his legs were sticking out.

The sight alone sent a fresh wave of fear through the others.

“You think just ’cause I’ve only been talking that I’m soft?”

Chen Lungwei must’ve realized this wasn’t sustainable.

He finally drew his sword—but even then, there was no real killing intent behind it.

“Great One... please. I beg you. Let it end here.”

“Still...”

I grabbed the legs of the guy still twitching from the floor.

“...I gotta finish what I started, right?”

FWOOSH!

Swinging his limp body like a sack of trash, I hurled him across the courtyard toward another building.

He smashed through several pillars before embedding deep inside the wall.

The structure collapsed on top of him, burying him completely.

“...”

Chen Lungwei’s eyebrow twitched.

“Great One... if you would be so kind... could you at least spare the rest of the buildings? They are our cultural pride—our heritage as Zhonghua...”

I held a finger to my lips, telling him to shut it.

“If you wanna keep what’s left intact...”

I tilted my head slightly.

“Then your president better come crawling here and bow in person.”

“...”

“I mean, he’s just watching this all play out without doing anything, isn’t he?”

The entire stream was live.

And yet no one had lifted a finger to stop this trainwreck?

‘So their necks are still stiff, huh?’

If they’re still that stiff, I’ll just have to show them that stiff things can break too.

Eventually, I reduced all of the Forbidden City’s “Three Great Halls”—its most historic and culturally important structures—to rubble.

The destruction was absolute.

And China’s top Hunters? They just stood there, helpless.

“Tourists love this place, right? Maybe I’ll just level the rest and turn it into a parking lot. Sounds good, yeah?”

“...”

I made sure to destroy every part with care.

Like I was savoring a meal—chewing each bite thoroughly.

‘If no one shows up till the end, I’ll raze it all...’

With that thought in mind, my grip tightened.

But just then, soldiers outside # Nоvеlight # finished clearing the rubble and began moving in, perfectly synchronized.

“...?”

And through them walked a man.

He approached quietly, like he didn’t want to be there.

I was just about to wave him off with an annoyed flick—ready to tell him to shove his speech—but then he bowed, deeply and sincerely.

“Please... I beg you. Let it end here.”

He remained bowed, silently waiting for my response.

I just stared at him in silence.

“...You’re not the face I remember seeing for your president.”

“I’m currently the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress. The president himself wished to come... but...”

He bit his lip before continuing.

If he was acting, I had to admit—it was a damn convincing performance.

“...he’s busy dealing with the Prime Minister of the State Council—the one who led the economic sanctions against Korea.”

“...Dealing with him?”

So even after all this, the president still doesn’t show his face and just sends an underling?

I let out a short, sharp laugh.

“Ohhh, so you’re cutting the tail while it’s still twitching, huh?”

The chairman said nothing.

Just kept his head down in silence.

“This was all orchestrated by the State Council’s Prime Minister. We... knew nothing.”

“You knew nothing?”

“...”

There’s no way they didn’t know from the start.

This is China, where power is consolidated into a single point—and you’re telling me they were unaware?

“...Alright. I’ll leave it at this for now.”

“Thank you for your mercy.”

“But...”

“...?”

“You know you’ll have to compensate us, right? We suffered economic damages from your sanctions.”

Spoils of war are a basic right of the victor.

“B-but our Hunters took significant losses too...!”

“You attacked first, didn’t you? That’s called self-defense. And I’m pretty sure the rules around self-defense between Hunters are... pretty damn generous.”

“...!?”

“We’ll talk about compensation later. Nice and slow.”

“...Understood.”

“Oh right. If anyone touches the banner I put outside... it won’t be the Forbidden City that gets wrecked next.”

I shot him a grin.

Planting a flag in conquered territory—that’s basically tradition, right?

On our way back to Korea, Lyla and I kept tabs on the situation.

At first, I thought it was just about smashing up some cultural heritage.

So when their president bowed his head over that, I half thought it was overkill.

‘Telling a national leader to bow over one broken monument does feel kinda excessive...’

“But turns out, it’s not just that.”

“Right. Right now, public outrage inside China is exploding. People are furious that the government couldn’t protect their own historical legitimacy. A full-blown uprising’s just around the corner.”

And on top of that, the political instability was tanking foreign investment.

Investors were pulling out en masse, and the yuan was in free fall.

Western countries had already flagged the situation as dangerous, moving their capital elsewhere at lightning speed.

“Hero, are you really going back just like that?

Didn’t the President want us to push harder?”

“Lyla.”

“Yes?”

“You know how even a dried squid can still leak juice?”

Yeah.

I hadn’t finished squeezing them dry just yet.

While Lyla and I were flying back to Korea, a press conference was underway in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

Camera flashes flickered nonstop as the spokesperson for the State Council stepped onto the podium.

His face was stiff. The atmosphere was tense.

“The People’s Republic of China prioritizes international cooperation and stable economic exchange above all else.”

The room fell silent as reporters leaned in to hear his every word.

“The recent economic measures were misunderstood, leading to unnecessary conflict and tension.

We sincerely apologize to Korea for the damages and promise full and fair compensation.”

He paused, took a deep breath, and continued firmly.

“The root cause of this incident lies in a series of poor decisions made within the State Council at the time.

The Prime Minister acted unilaterally, creating diplomatic friction.

These actions do not reflect the official stance of our government.”

Gasps rippled through the crowd of reporters.

A public statement directly throwing the Prime Minister under the bus.

It was clear: the Chinese government was shifting all blame onto him.

Still, the spokesperson remained stone-faced and pressed on.

“Our government takes this situation extremely seriously.

We will thoroughly investigate those responsible and enforce strict measures.

We will also re-evaluate current economic policies and pursue diplomatic efforts to ease tensions.”

A.k.a., they're lifting the sanctions.

But China made sure to frame it as a sovereign decision—not submission.

The source of this c𝓸ntent is freewebnøvel.coɱ.

The reporters weren’t buying it.

“If the Prime Minister acted alone, does that mean the central government was completely unaware?”

“What consequences is the Prime Minister facing, exactly?”

“Isn’t withdrawing the sanctions basically admitting defeat?”

The spokesperson seemed fully prepared.

“The issue surrounding the Prime Minister will be thoroughly handled through internal party procedures.

Details will be released at a later date.”

As more questions flew, he raised a hand to stop them.

“There will be no further questions. This concludes the briefing.”

He gave a brief nod and stepped down.

But the reporters immediately scrambled to file their stories.

[China Backs Down on Sanctions... But Pins Blame on Prime Minister?]

[China Admits It Couldn’t Control Its Own Cabinet Minister.]

The president preserved his public image by turning the Prime Minister into a scapegoat.

Now the Prime Minister’s political career was on the verge of collapse—possibly even purged.

But regardless of the press conference’s spin...

China had already kneeled.

The loss was real, and everyone knew it.

– An unofficial meeting with the President has been arranged.

“You’re free to demand anything you wish.”

– ...

“You know, something’s been bugging me ever since that fight with their S-rank Hunters.”

– I’m listening.

“With power like that, why the hell do they cooperate with their government so obediently?

At that level, they could’ve easily—”

– Repression. Tyranny. Brutality. Dictatorship.

“But they’re S-rank...”

– There was a rebellion, once. It failed.

A lot of citizens died in the aftermath.

“Wait... not Hunters?”

– No. The state claimed civilians died while suppressing the ‘terrorist.’

They pinned it all on that Hunter.

“So basically... they’re holding the people hostage.”

– Anyone with potential gets put under surveillance.

Even their third cousins are taken as leverage.

“That’s... even possible? In the 21st century?”

– In China, yes.

Some S-ranks even join the crackdown in exchange for personal gain.

My brows furrowed.

If that’s how things work, then a revolution really is impossible.

You’re not just fighting the country—you’re fighting other S-ranks, too.

“...That’s just like our old pro-Japanese traitors, huh?”

– Pffft... that’s an accurate comparison.

They don’t care about their country—just about filling their own bellies.

“Damn... figures.”

– Either way, I’ll contact you immediately if something important comes up.

“That’s what you politicians are good at, right?”

– Haha. Thanks to you, Korea is about to come out of this with massive gains.

Of course we’ll be reaching out to you first.

I humored the guy a bit more before finally ending the call.

After hanging up, I just sat there thinking.

I always figured he was a bastard...

But turns out, he’s a full-on motherfucker.