Chen He seemed surprised at Bai Zemin's sudden words so he inadvertently asked, "You want me to do what?"
Bai Zemin stepped forward and pointed to the large battlefield before them as he said, "Fight. This will be your exclusive battlefield. All yours."
Then, he turned around and looked at Chen He, who was staring at him with wide eyes, and said slowly:
"Weren't you anxious to release some accumulated stress? Well, come on… your opportunity is right in front of you. There is no need to hold back at all since what had to be said has already been said. Just one thing, let live those who throw down their weapons and surrender since at the end of the day it's not as if we have a blood feud with them… Besides, humanity needs to be united as much as possible in this kind of world."
"This…" Chen He looked at both sides, then looked behind him before finally looking at the battlefield. Puzzled, he said with some difficulty, "You want me to fight by myself?"
"Mm? Yeah." Bai Zemin looked at him and blinked as he said, "Any problems?…. Or maybe you don't have the confidence in yourself to win? If you don't think you are capable of doing this then stand back. Take Nangong Lingxin with you and support the battle in the back. As you have seen, I can finish this by myself anyway. It's nothing but a pointless fiasco."
Chen He's expression became serious and despite knowing that Bai Zemin was purposely provoking him he couldn't help but fall into his trap.
Chen He had been inferior to Bai Zemin in basically every aspect since the apocalypse erupted with the Soul Record's arrival in the world. Aside from his outstanding appearance since birth, Bai Zemin was undoubtedly the undisputed winner between the two. However, even the superior appearance that Chen He had did not last long as recently Bai Zemin's appearance had improved to the point where he did not lose to him at all.
Even recently, even though he somehow knew he was overthinking it, Chen He noticed that Shangguan Bing Xue and Bai Zemin had become very close; at least they had become close enough for her to allow him to call her by name without needing to be polite.
So, he really needed to release some frustration. After all, even if he was kind by nature, Chen He was, at the end of the day, a human being and therefore was far from being perfect.
"All right. I'll do it." He said in a deep voice. Chen He imbued some Mana into the beautiful longbow in his hands and said calmly, "Although I'm afraid that many enemy machines will be destroyed in the process."
Bai Zemin chuckled and took out a small device from his pants pocket.
"In that case, let me do something first."
He pressed the remote control button in his hand, which made Chen He and Nangong Lingxin look at him in confusion. Soon, however, they understood what was happening.
In the distance, the war tanks hiding in the forest revealed themselves and pointed their guns toward the mountain. Together with the five tanks inside the ruined city, the thirteen war tanks had formed a strange semi-circle formation with the walls protecting the base behind as the final line.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!…
There were first several small explosions and then several electric and magnetic waves visible to the naked eye were released and propagated from ten tanks to the outside. The movement of the ten tanks stopped immediately and there were several cries of confusion at the sudden failure.
Bai Zemin ignored all this and extended both hands forward with a serious expression as this would be the first time he would be trying to do this.
Before the electric waves disappeared into thin air after accomplishing their main objective, Bai Zemin focused his mind entirely on the special ability of the gloves he had forged before setting off to the south.
———————————
[Persuasion, Secret of Thunder-]
[Special two-handed weapon.]
[Rank: 2]
[Physical attack power: 1120]
[Magical attack power: 800]
[Allows the user to control electrical waves slightly].
[Durability: 4000 / 4000]
[Description: ….]
———————————
The ability to control electrical waves was what Bai Zemin needed right now to accomplish his task.
"Who would have thought I'd be using this so soon." He muttered in puzzlement before immediately releasing 20% of his Mana.
20% of Bai Zemin's total Mana was not small at all considering Earth's current level of evolution. All that mana was pushed by his Magic stat, which at this point wasn't small at all either.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Mana was an invisible energy but one that all intelligent, sentient beings could perceive; even those not evolved were no exception to this rule.
Therefore, when a great wave of mana spread unnaturally, all the soldiers, police officers, and the soul evolvers of Jin Shun's faction who stayed behind felt it clearly.
That wave of mana seemed to have a will of its own, but in reality, it was Bai Zemin who was controlling it while using the ability of the gauntlets he was wearing. It was not easy at all, in fact, it was more difficult than he estimated it would be.
Approximately 40% of the electric waves could not be contained and disappeared into thin air after a small crackle, causing Bai Zemin to become livid. While he already knew that this was highly probable since the manipulation ability over external electric waves that 'Persuasion, Secret of Thunder' granted him was quite low, he still couldn't help but be annoyed when he failed.
Under his control, the remaining 60% were spread across the length and breadth of the war zone. Approximately 70 total enemy military vehicles were hit while the rest managed to escape "unscathed" due to Bai Zemin's inability and because of the gauntlets' limits.
"What a pity…" Bai Zemin wailed while his enemies cursed and wailed just like him and for similar but at the same time different reasons.
"This…"
"… I think I'd better stop being surprised or I might have a heart attack soon."
Chen He and Nangong Lingxin no longer knew how to rate Bai Zemin from now on.
Among the 70 vehicles that stopped working after being hit by the electric waves charged with magnetic power were 12 IFVs. The rest were armored and modified vehicles with heavy machine guns mounted on them.
"Chen He, go." Bai Zemin only said those words before walking towards Nangong Lingxin and softly asking, "I'm sorry about earlier. Can you walk?"
Nangong Lingxin chuckled and shook her head, "You know, if I was another woman or another kind of girl I would have definitely taken advantage of this."
Bai Zemin grimaced and walked away as he said loudly, "If you're well enough to joke I guess you're really feeling well."
Nangong Lingxin laughed, forgetting for a moment that they were in the middle of a deadly war. She even tried to get Bai Zemin to come back to look for her but he ignored her.
Of course, even though the two of them were joking this did not mean that their guards were down; this was visible only by the fact that Nangong Lingxin kept her barrier skill active to protect her body from possible snipers. After all, she was not a monster like Bai Zemin who was able to endure a headshot. She would really die if such a thing happened.
Chen He watched until the two disappeared and closed his eyes for a moment. Amidst all the commotion, he noticed that even though Bai Zemin had left together with Nangong Lingxin, they both took different paths after entering the forest.
"Nangong Lingxin is advancing in a northerly direction…. But Bai Zemin stayed quiet." He muttered to himself before opening his eyes again and smiling wryly. If he could sense Bai Zemin's position it was only because the latter allowed him to or else with the great difference in Soul Power it was impossible for Chen He to detect his position.
It was clear that Bai Zemin was just hanging around, hiding while observing the situation. If Chen He needed help, he would probably step in and the same applied to the battlefield being fought further north.
Chen He's eyes flashed uncannily and he whispered as he stroked the body of his bow, "Very well. It's just you and me."
Bai Zemin had been very generous in giving the enemy time to prepare and reposition themselves after the chaos caused by his destructive attack. However, he did this only because he had no intention of wiping out the enemy himself since doing so had no meaning for him.
Sure, the war would end more quickly. But if he always fought himself then what was the point of building a faction? Bai Zemin needed to feel that somehow or other what he was doing was right and that following Lilith's advice was not a waste of time. Therefore, he decided to make his army fight instead of him while using this opportunity to polish them all through blood and war.
What Bai Zemin really didn't know was that Lilith's advice was very important. He did not know it now as it was still in the early stages of the apocalypse and her power was overwhelming. However, later in time, he would understand that there were always limits to what a person could do by themselves.
It was not for nothing that Higher Existences like the God of the Bible or Lucifer had established their own factions. Everything had a purpose and Bai Zemin was confident that what Lilith was doing was paving his path early on so that his future would be smoother.
* * * * * * *
Mass release: 7/10
Really thank you very much to all who give gifts to the novel and support with valuable tickets. I hope we can all keep it up <3
