Zous turned to William with a look of surprise upon hearing Darius' explanation.

  An old demi-god like him hadn’t even managed to break into William’s divine domain? That was completely unexpected.

  William took the opportunity to explain to Zous, "My situation isn’t too bad. My divine domain is intact, but my followers… the losses are devastating."

  "An old demi-god attacking a newly ascended one—Sir, you have to stand up for me!"

  At that moment, Lex directly created a barrier around the three of them, blocking the others from hearing their conversation.

  Being very familiar with William, Lex turned to him and asked, "Alright, kid, just tell us the truth—what’s really going on?"

  "Give us the real situation. Don’t worry, since their old demi-god dared to attack you, we’ll make sure he pays for it. He won’t get away so easily."

  Hearing this, William felt reassured.

  His sorrowful expression instantly disappeared, replaced by a look of grievance.

  "Lex, I really did get wrecked this time! My extraordinary-level followers are down to less than ten million, and I’ve lost more than two hundred million of my regular ones."

  "And that demi-god really did try to destroy my divine domain’s core! He can’t be let off easily."

  Zous and Lex were both startled by William’s reported losses.

  They understood that William’s followers were special—despite suffering such heavy losses, his combat strength wouldn’t drop drastically.

  For a typical demi-god, losing an army they had invested immense effort into nurturing—especially their core forces—would mean losing 70–80% of their combat strength.

  If they lost half their followers, it would basically mean they were crippled.

  Judging from William’s report, he had retained nearly half of his combat strength, which was still formidable.

  "Alright, we won’t let him off easy. Now, tell us what happened, and what’s the enemy’s situation?" Lex continued before William could start lamenting again.

  "Uh… well… the situation is roughly like this: I first captured that pale-faced demi-god."

  "Just after I dealt with him, those two newly ascended demi-gods from the Longwa civilization arrived."

  "Then I took them down too, though I haven’t found their divine domain cores yet."

  "That old demi-god then showed up, trying to take me out before I could locate their cores."

  "Of course, I wasn’t just going to surrender, so when I resisted, he got mad."

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  "He wanted to finish me off before you guys arrived and even said that if he killed me, the worst that would happen was paying some compensation in the real world."

  "That really pissed me off, so I went all in, blocking him at the invasion passage."

  "I took out one of his hero-tier followers, around 300,000 elite-tier followers, and roughly ten million extraordinary-tier followers."

  "And then… I was left half-crippled."

  "After that, you two arrived."

  Finishing his account, William scratched his head and looked at Zous and Lex with wide, expectant eyes, a pitiful expression on his face as if begging for comfort.

  After hearing William’s story, Zous stared at him in shock, while Lex’s mouth twitched.

  Just from William’s report, Lex could tell that the real tragic one was that Longwa demi-god.

  With losses like that, his divine domain’s most elite forces had likely been completely wiped out.

  So, what was there to worry about?

  Damn it, when he received William’s distress signal, he had been deeply concerned, rushing at full speed to come to his aid.

  "So basically, the reality is that you steamrolled three demi-gods, severely injured an old demi-god, and lost half of your own combat strength. Is that right?" Lex summarized, though his tone made it clear he already knew the answer.

  "Uh… maybe, probably, something like that. But my losses really are severe!" William muttered reluctantly, but he still made sure to emphasize his suffering.

  By now, Zous had long discarded his serious expression.

  Instead, he was grinning cheerfully as he turned to William with a kindly look and said, "Xiao Fei, don’t worry! This time, Uncle Wang will get justice for you. Tell me—what do you want to do with these guys?"

  "If you want to destroy their divine domains to vent your anger, that’s fine too. The school will cover the compensation."

  Lex, watching from the side, looked speechless.

  He stared at Zous, who was gazing at William with the same adoration one would show their own grandson.

  Lex quickly interrupted, "Uncle Wang, the seniority here is getting all messed up! I’m this kid’s teacher. There’s a whole generation between us!"

  "It’s fine, it’s fine. We’ll just go by our own separate rules." Zous continued smiling as he looked at William with immense satisfaction.

  "Uncle Wang, what exactly do you mean by ‘compensation’?" William didn’t hesitate to change his form of address, clinging firmly to this golden thigh.

  "It means just what it sounds like. You know the surrender clauses in the treaty between our civilizations regarding demi-god conflicts, right?"

  "If the other side is willing to pay a price to surrender, but we still destroy their divine domains, they can report it to their civilization in the real world."

  "That would lead to a whole lot of diplomatic wrangling, but in the end, it would just come down to paying some compensation. That’s what that old demi-god meant when he said he’d just have to pay a fine if he killed you."

  Zous explained the details thoroughly.

  Hearing this, William realized that if he destroyed the enemy’s divine domain, the school would have to compensate them afterward.

  That seemed like a loss-making deal.

  After a brief moment of thought, William abandoned the idea of outright obliterating them. Instead, he decided to go for something more… creative.

  "Forget it. There’s no need. Destroying them doesn’t bring any benefits. If we ruin their path to godhood, we’d still have to pay—doesn’t seem worth it."

  "I think it’s better to make them bleed heavily and compensate me for my losses instead."

  "Let them keep ten thousand core followers and ten thousand square kilometers of divine domain."

  "Also, they have to compensate me with divine power. As for the amount, I’ll leave that to you, Uncle Wang."

  Saying this, William gave Zous a bright, expectant look, his expression as obedient as could be.

  "Mm, mm, very good. A calm and rational judgment—an excellent choice." Zous nodded in satisfaction, praising William without hesitation.

  Lex, on the other hand, was speechless.

  Seeing how Zous praised William without a second thought, he strongly suspected that if William had chosen to destroy the enemy’s divine domain, his ‘Uncle Wang’ would have simply said something like, ‘Good, seeking vengeance is only natural!’

  Truly, nothing beats intergenerational favoritism.