The male supporting character was actually myself.

Gerson frowned slightly and asked curiously, "Didn't the bishop give you some kind of commendation before? Logically speaking, you killed the five bandit groups he secretly cultivated. The bishop should be itching to kill you. Why didn't he suppress you but instead publicize it so much?"

"Of course we're going to hold back a big surprise."

"You humans are so complicated..."

"It's not like the supernatural can't play dirty tricks. Those old guys who've lived for who knows how long are much better at it, aren't they?"

…………

Jiang Chen, the Holy Light Swordsman, suddenly became a sensation both online and in real life!

Six of the top ten trending topics were about him, and the remaining four were basically about the monumental hero Li Moran. Suddenly, all sorts of TV programs, advertising endorsements, and so on flocked in, as if they wouldn't stop until they had elevated Jiang Chen to a god-like status in one fell swoop.

“Little White, the Archbishop has made his move, let’s take it.” Seeing the overwhelming news of praise and sabotage, he sent a message to Rongtuanzi, “Remove some of my trending topics, leave some hymns at the bottom, and then post the article I prepared.”

"Alright, host, I'm waiting for your orders!" The little white cat rubbed its paws together and grinned mischievously.

Soon, thanks to its unique talent and skills, it suppressed the host's popularity by more than half, and articles praising the archbishop immediately topped the trending search list upon release.

"Serving the Church for nearly two hundred years, the incorruptible Archbishop led the Xuan Kingdom out of the Dark Ages!"

"The Archbishop, a valiant captain who dedicated himself to training executors and steadfastly guarding the human world!"

"The Archbishop's Integrity and Compassion Revealed"

"Ten secrets that compel you to worship the archbishop; you'll be moved to tears after reading them..."

…………

After Jiang Chen personally embellished the article with praise, the article quickly gained popularity. The media under the jurisdiction of the church naturally liked to forward and comment on this kind of content that pleased the big boss. With the help of the little white cat, the archbishop soon overshadowed Jiang Chen and Li Moran.

"What's going on? Who posted these articles?" The archbishop only realized that articles praising him had been trending for two days when he received a large number of letters of praise.

The subordinate respectfully replied, "The website reviewed the articles as soon as they were published, and most of them came from computer IDs in an organization that madly worships you."

Clearly, your admirers probably felt that Jiang Chen's fan club was hyping things up too much, allowing a mere dismissed junior clerk to overshadow you, so they spontaneously united to fight back.

Should we remove the trending status of these articles?

The content has been reviewed and contains no hidden agendas; it is truly a heartfelt expression of admiration.

In particular, one article meticulously recounted the glorious achievements you've made leading the church, a deeply moving piece that stirred the hearts of your subordinates. It's clear your influence among those in charge has reached a new level.

"Articles published by the worship organization..." The archbishop was quite confident in the church's control over its channels of communication. He clicked on the articles and carefully read them. They were indeed very well written, and he hesitated for a moment. "Let's lower the hype a bit, don't be so ostentatious. After these two days, we'll push Jiang Chen's popularity up again!"

Chapter Thirty-One: Fields of Hope

A fierce battle for top trending topics quickly erupted between Jiang Chen and the Archbishop.

One event ends and another begins; even the hype surrounding monumental heroes has faded, with lively festivities happening every now and then, both online and in real life.

Today, Jiang Chen's charity organization, Fuxing Technology School, opened and began enrolling students.

Tomorrow marks the 210th anniversary of the Archbishop's loyalty to the Church;

Jiang Chen just held a fan meeting a few days ago, where he talked about the significance of Renaissance Technology.

Today, the archbishop was forced to perform his duties, receiving fervent worshippers and sprinkling holy water on them as a blessing...

"Aren't you tired of this endless arguing with the old man?" Li Moran saw Jiang Chen sitting in front of the computer early in the morning, typing away rapidly. The title was still in the style of a trending topic—a review of classic moments when the archbishop led the church to great achievements!

"Otherwise what? The old man wants to elevate me to a pedestal, so I have to give him something in return, right?"

Jiang Chen replied without looking up, "How's your search for textbooks going? It's progressing very quickly at Gerson's place. They've already started cleaning the rooms and preparing the desks and chairs. I heard that as soon as the admission brochure was released, a lot of people came specifically to study there because of my name."

The old man's approach did generate some decent celebrity effect.

In return, I'll have to put in even more effort and fan the flames for him!

Li Moran placed a pile of magic scrolls on the table, casually picked one up and opened it. As bursts of white light shone, more than a dozen books emerged from the scroll.

"You guys are all so supportive, how could I possibly hold you back?"

We contacted some old friends and used some magical means to copy the knowledge they had preserved; then, accompanied by Misty, we took a stroll through the Abandoned Lands. There, we found various cities destroyed during the Dark Ages, ruins everywhere, and many places where the eerie presence of the abyss had completely devoured their life force.

Using a magical method of tracing back, we finally found a wealth of valuable information after a great deal of effort.

While we may not yet reach the level of technological sophistication pre-Dark Ages, we have enough knowledge to cultivate a large number of people with a knowledge base comparable to that of university students in the past. During the research, we also discovered many lost handicraft methods, which I felt would be useful, so I included them all in the register.

Jiang Chen quickly typed out the manuscript and sent it to the little white cat, then helped select useful scrolls to refine the beginner course.

“If you don’t go out and see the outside world, you really won’t know how much the human world has paid!” Li Moran sighed, still immersed in the astonishing scenes he had witnessed these past few days, his voice tinged with melancholy. “Mi Wu said that when he awakened the Holy Light Array to protect the human world, ninety-nine percent of the original world map had already been wiped out.”

I was quite young at the time and didn't have much of an impression of the world before the disaster. Miwu, on the other hand, was already a university student at a prestigious institution of higher learning, and was knowledgeable and well-informed.

He briefly drew up the original map, and found that only the five newly reorganized small countries could be protected by the Holy Light. Even our Xuan Kingdom was only equivalent to a few provinces back then.

Other so-called countries are nothing more than small groups temporarily reorganized after the disaster, banding together for warmth and barely managing to survive..."

Clicking on the geography section of the magic scroll, Jiang Chen saw the original map and the remaining parts. Indeed, compared to that, humans should be considered an endangered species.

"According to the original map, the number of humans remaining under the protection of the Holy Light Array is much smaller than that of a large country."

"Yes, the human population is too small, and many people from other countries worship evil gods. Without the protection of the Holy Light, they would have been wiped out long ago. We must protect and take responsibility for the future development of the human race. Suddenly, I feel the task is arduous and the pressure is immense."

Jiang Chen patted him on the shoulder and laughed, "You're a Monumental Hero, don't forget how terrified the enraged Moses was, afraid you'd call him through the internet. Once the school is back on track, Holy Light Knight and Monumental Hero will take the initiative to declare war on the Abyss and try to wipe them out completely!"

Then go and wander around the Dark Mist again to see if the Lord of the Abyss is really there.

Li Moran: ...

The kid is so naive, believing all of Gersen's superstitious legends. He's too easily fooled.

No, he's still too young. I need to keep a close eye on him to prevent this rich, naive kid from being kidnapped; I also need to keep an eye on him at all times to prevent anyone from secretly swindling him out of his money...

With the help of the protagonist Li Moran and Gesen, Jiang Chen's school opened smoothly a few days later amidst widespread praise.

To show their respect for this young hero, the church not only sent a congratulatory gift, but also had a priest from the Dragonbone City branch attend and deliver a speech.

Honorary Principal Jiang Chen naturally greeted them with a beaming smile, and the face-saving efforts of both sides reached their peak.

"The school's teachers are currently all hired at great expense by people with superpowers. After all, there's really no other way. They can use their superpowers to quickly absorb and digest knowledge and impart it to students. Otherwise, there simply wouldn't be any teachers..."

"Hmm, the materials used for skills training are consuming quite a bit, so we need to consider finding a part-time teacher with repair skills."

"The list needs to be compiled again, and school uniforms and learning cards need to be made uniformly..."

Gerson muttered to himself as he scribbled and calculated on a piece of paper.

Now that the financial power has been handed over to me, I must ensure that every penny is spent wisely!

"The person I recommended is pretty good, isn't he?" Li Moran walked side by side with Jiang Chen on campus, smiling with a hint of self-satisfaction. "Gerson is very reliable. We can gradually let go of him from now on."

Jiang Chen looked around and nodded in satisfaction. "It's really quite good. Let's run it for a while longer and see. If there are no problems with running the school, then the only thing left for us to consider is the funding for opening more schools in the future."

The first batch of students enrolled ranged from seven to twenty years old, totaling more than two thousand. The campus was divided into three parts: primary school, secondary school, and a skills training center, depending on the specific circumstances.

Younger students start their systematic learning from elementary school; older students with stronger comprehension enter intensive study classes; those who can keep up with the learning pace enter the middle school campus; and those who cannot keep up can choose to repeat the course or go back to elementary school, or go to a vocational school to learn various skills, depending on their own situation.

The campus was soon filled with the sound of students reading aloud, and teachers of all subjects quickly got into the swing of things. Under Gerson's personal management, the school had a strong learning atmosphere and was full of youthful energy.

With her eyes closed, Mi Wu sensed the changes in the new school through the Holy Light Array. She could vaguely predict that the school would not show any results in the short term, but in the long run, it would surely become a field of hope!

This world, with its uncertain future, may truly need more ordinary people to participate and work together with superhumans in order to be saved!

"Oh? Jiang Chen's school is doing very well?" After listening to his subordinate's report, the archbishop sneered with undisguised disdain and mockery: "What's the use of a bunch of guys who can't even awaken superpowers, no matter how much they learn?"

They're just a bunch of useless trash!

Only a fool like Jiang Chen would be willing to waste money on meaningless things. Giving those long-overdue losers some empty hope, ha... Such a naive kid, I wonder if he'll regret it when his worthless fans push him into the abyss?

"Get ready! Next month, during the nationwide celebration of the church's 300th anniversary, drop this bombshell and make sure Jiang Chen and Li Moran are utterly destroyed!"

Chapter Thirty-Two: His Heart Is Despicable

"Yes!" the subordinate replied respectfully, and then obediently withdrew.

The archbishop leaned back in his velvet high-backed chair, secretly calculating that the magical plants along the Urar River were about to be harvested again. However, those barbarians were asking for a rather high price, and Slor already owed them a considerable amount. If he couldn't get the price down, he would have to find an excuse to send someone over.

What excuse should we use to send troops?

He sank into the comfortable chair, lost in quiet thought.

"Host, that shameless old man is going to make a move on you!" The little white cat meowed at the calling magic stone, "He's going to give you a big punch on the big day of the church's 300th anniversary celebration at the beginning of next month!"

I'm currently using a recording device to monitor their every move, trying to record the entire process of these bastards fabricating the video, so I can turn the tables on them later.

Meow~ Isn't this soft and cuddly kitten amazing?

Jiang Chen was quite surprised. "You think so highly of me? You're waiting until the anniversary to make your move? In that case, I'll prepare my next plan. Please keep a close eye on the church and let me know if anything happens. Also, my little Bai is the best!"

The fluffy dumpling chuckled, "It's no trouble at all! Host, I want to eat roast whole lamb! Roast pigeon!"

"No problem, you can come and eat anytime."

"As expected, my host is the best! Love you, muah~"

After hanging up the phone, Jiang Chen got up and went to find Li Moran to discuss the plan to venture into the Abyss and fight the evil god.

That same evening, a bizarre conspiracy about the abyss circulated online.

The article begins by analyzing the suspicious points that the supernatural beings retreated collectively after the final battle ten years ago without any absolute defeat, and then never invaded the human world again.

They also carefully reviewed the excessive reliance that humanity has gradually developed on the convenient and quick magic stones over the years.

Finally, the conspiracy of the eerie lords is deduced: humans have monumental heroes fighting each other, which makes it difficult for the invasion war to proceed smoothly. For their own benefit, the eerie lords deliberately use a smokescreen, pretending to be defeated and retreating back to the abyss, and tacitly allowing humans to mine magic stones on a large scale.

Its purpose is to make the human world overly dependent on magic stones. Once the conspiracy succeeds, the strange lord will cut off the mining of magic stones, and the human world will come to a complete standstill due to lack of energy.

When the monsters finally unleash their full power, even the monumental hero Li Moran will be unable to turn the tide.

The human world will be plunged into panic and despair, and will eventually be swallowed by the abyss!

This report immediately went viral and became a trending topic, sparking widespread discussion among the public. Subsequently, a series of "rumors" surfaced, such as Jiang Chen's vehement remarks during the church's trial of the Monument Hero, which directly addressed the core issue—the church couldn't possibly be unaware of the Monument Hero's importance, so why was he tried and exiled?

Could it be that the power of this strange and evil god has infiltrated the upper echelons of the church?

Only ten years have passed since the Dark Ages, so why has the training and strength of the enforcers regressed so drastically?

Is someone secretly hindering the growth of the executors in order to achieve the goals of some unreliable individuals?

And those bandits who were wiped out by the Holy Light Knight, their disciplined advance and retreat during the battle clearly showed that they were not ordinary superpowered individuals. Moreover, all awakened superpowered individuals were initially absorbed into the church as executors. Where did these people come from?

Could it be that the church is intentionally cultivating them?