The central plains of Inner Mongolia, a vast expanse of land that was part of what was once known as China to the world, was a very snowy area with temperatures usually low during most part of the year with winter obviously being its lowest point.
Being the largest boundary between the territory of China and Russia, one could get a better idea of how cold this area was. This was especially true after the Soul Record arrived on Earth.
Temperatures were so low that the lakes had become congealed ice rinks, the small rivers hardly had any life apart from a few fish moving under a thin layer of ice, and the plants capable of surviving such extreme weather during practically 365 days of the year were the strongest while the weakest had no chance of growing at all.
In the north of the central plains, a large human base with sturdy 500-meter-high walls stretched for more than 50,000 meters across its length and breadth. Although 50,000 meters might sound like a lot, the reality was that seen from the sky the base looked small and desolate in the midst of so much seemingly lifeless white.
This base was the largest and most powerful human base in all of Inner Mongolia. Of course, its size and defensive power were incomparable when placed side by side with a monster like the Mother Fortress of the goblin race that they had worked for more than 8 months to build up from the ground.
It was more than clear at a glance that the leaders or the leader of this base were equal to the goblin race when it came to designing.
Unlike the Transcendent faction bases that thanks to the continuous recruitment of talent not only in warfare but also in design and construction possessed houses whose architecture was in keeping with the past, the houses and facilities of this base were very rustic and simple with no flashy luxuries.
Inside a large two-story house whose construction had been more carefully planned compared to the others, a small private meeting was taking place in a spacious living room.
The interior of the room was warm, the fireplace was lit and the warmth of the flames burning the wood was kept inside thanks to the fact that the doors and windows were closed. In addition, the crackling of the wood slowly being consumed by the fire added an extra layer of heart-warming moral support.
<sub>ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ ꜰʀᴇᴇᴡᴇʙɴ(ᴏ)ᴠᴇʟ. ᴄᴏᴍ</sub>
“I have already told you what my price is. If you want food then give me 10 battle tanks, 5 assault helicopters, 20,000 rifles, 300,000 rounds of ammunition… plus 20 beautiful virgins.” Sitting on a couch covered with the fur of a white bear, a handsome young man who appeared to be between 24 and 25 years old smiled slightly as he looked at the person sitting on the opposite couch.
This smiling man was certainly not human, but there were not many differences except for his slightly longer and pointier ears or the blue scale in the center of his forehead.
Furthermore, the two triton men wearing plate armor and carrying spears standing behind him exposed his identity as a member of the sea race, and judging by the Third Order aura escaping from the bodies of these two bodyguards, this man’s identity was certainly not a minor role.
On the opposite couch, the expression of the burly, bearded man was not good as he looked at the smiling young man.
Despite looking much younger compared to 10 months ago, whether it was Bai Zemin, Shangguan Bing Xue, Cai Jingyi, Kang Lan, Chen He, Fu Xuefeng, as well as any other surviving students or professors of Beijing University would certainly be able to identify this person.
”This may be a big price to pay for you, but understand that the ‘food’ we are talking about here are my subordinates.” The young man had no change in his smiling expression despite his words, “I think you can understand that I too am in a situation of dilemma, Human Leader Liang Peng.”
Right. This person was none other than Liang Peng, one of the four pillars that fought in Beijing University to open a blood path to the exit together with Bai Zemin, Shangguan Bing Xue, and Chen He.
Liang Peng’s courage, stubbornness, the sheer amount of effort, and talent were certainly top-notch when it came to evolving. Despite all the difficulties that had come his way, he had not only survived but had also managed to set foot firmly in this land by receiving a great boost of power after receiving a subclass and titles that identified him as the lord and master of this territory.
However, Liang Peng was having two big problems at the moment and these two problems were practically keeping him awake at night.
First and foremost, the most urgent problem: food problem.
Because crops were extremely difficult to maintain it was practically impossible to keep a population of over 400,000 humans eating purely vegetables not only because of the limited quantity but there was also the problem of the climate; meat protein was needed to get the normal humans through the cruel winter.
Liang Peng might as well go out or send a team to hunt mutant beasts, which he did in the past. However, hunting large numbers of mutant beasts was now out of the question because the person in front of him was in an alliance with the leader of the beasts in this area, therefore, unless Liang Peng was willing to break his alliance with the sea race, this option was completely beyond consideration.
It was precisely at this point that the second problem came in, the source of the first problem, as well as all the problems Liang Peng faced.
He clenched his fists and a flash of hatred and anger shone in his eyes as he looked at the glass table in front of him as if he wanted to smash it right there and then.
‘It’s all because of that little bitch Shangguan Bing Xue! If that slut hadn’t cut my way south the food problem wouldn’t be a problem! Dammit!!’ Liang Peng could barely keep his sanity as his whole body trembled.
The young man watched everything with a faint smile as a glint of amusement shone in his blue eyes. He was the fourth prince of the sea race that populated the eastern sea, and thanks to certain events in the past he was now the prince with the best chance of sitting on the throne of the next King of his people.
His name was Xian Kun and he was not only a powerful Third Order soul evolver in his own right but also had a huge army that was not lacking in powerhouses.
Xian Kun would originally disdain old-fashioned human weaponry, however, if he wanted to settle his feet firmly on the earth he needed such weaponry and technology. After all, the power of his people was greatly weakened out of the water.
Therefore, he was taking advantage of his ally’s difficulties to gain personal advantages. Liang Peng could not go and hunt sea creatures as that would mean breaking the alliance, something he did not favor, or he could go and hunt sea creatures to the south but that was out of the question unless he had the power to annihilate the enemy human camp.
Liang Peng was literally against the ropes with no escape route.
He could not hunt large numbers of mutant beasts.
He could not hunt sea creatures because if the fourth prince found out he would not only break the alliance they had but could also end up being the spark that started a huge explosion.
The crops were not growing in sufficient quantities.
With no other choice, Liang Peng finally nodded: “Understood. I accept your terms, Prince Xian Kun.”
“It is my pleasure to do dealings with you.” Xian Kun smiled kindly and said in a gentle voice, “Then, I will have my people hand over 100,000 tons of meat for you.”
The expression on Liang Peng’s face got a little better when he heard this. That amount of food would certainly help for 2 or 3 months before signs of problem reappeared. However, Liang Peng knew he needed to find a solution soon; he had already given up a lot of resources to the Russians for heavy weaponry and was now using that weaponry to obtain food from the sea race.
At this rate, Liang Peng knew that in a short time he would end up losing everything.
Thinking about this, Liang Peng looked at the other existence sitting on the third single couch that had remained silent all this time.
This existence was a goblin, a powerful goblin. His skin was blue and beside him was a green sword, nothing about him was extremely eye-catching. However, if Bai Zemin were to meet this goblin he would be able to identify him as that Second Order goblin whose life he spared to deal with the at that time unknown effect of the skill Blood Berserker’s Wrath that appeared and got triggered after Geminder threatened his family.
The fourth prince of the eastern sea marine race smiled slightly as he saw that his role in this place was finished: “In that case, Goblin Leader Kreir, Human Leader Liang Peng, I will retire for now. I need to prepare my army for-“
Xian Kun had only just stood up when his words were interrupted by the sound of something cracking.
Both Xian Kun and Liang Peng looked at Kreir, whose expression went from normal to shock before turning to anger as he watched the three crystal pearls hanging at his waist turning into dust.
“Impossible!!!”
Kreir jumped to his feet and roared so loudly that the entire house shook fiercely.
The two triton bodyguards of Xian Kun stepped forward as they watched Kreir with caution. Liang Peng was no different as he could feel the goblin’s terrifying aura getting out of control.
Kreir ignored the reaction of everyone and with a furious expression picked up the crushed glass from the three broken pearls. He threw the broken glass into the air and said furiously, “Projection!”
The three pearls were actually treasures with two different functions. One was to put a seal or mark in the soul of a living being, which would give the owner of the pearls the ability to end the life of that living being by simply injecting their mana and breaking the pearls.
Of course, if those with the seal or mark were killed or died the three pearls would be destroyed as had just happened.
As for the other function…
When Kreir shouted the word ‘Projection’ the crystals hovered in the air and glowed. The crystals formed four groups and moved so that soon a rectangle similar to a giant screen was formed and under the stupefied gaze of Xian Kun and Liang Peng, the last five seconds before the death of the three goblins that Kreir had marked to keep under control were projected to be shown in front of them.
All they saw was blood, lots of blood. Collapsed buildings, blood swords slaughtering goblins, and finally, the three Third Order goblins that held control in the Mother Fortress lying buried deep in the ground as they groaned in pain.
However, the next thing they saw caused both Kreir and Liang Peng to have drastic changes on their faces, and Xian Kun certainly did not miss this fact.
A man wearing a full set of plate armor and matching deep red gauntlets approached the edge of the crater with a young silver-haired human beauty who had a proud smile on her little face.
The human male’s eyes were as red as those of a demon and his gaze as indifferent as that of an emotionless machine. Although the image had no sound, those present had no difficulty reading his lips as he uttered the word ‘Die’ while pointing his finger at the three Third Order goblins.
Bang!
Immediately after that, the crystal pieces turned into particles of light that disappeared without a trace after floating in the air for two or three seconds, signaling the end of the lives of the three powerful goblins and thus ending the projection.
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