"Leader, we've got some problems straight ahead."
The voice of one of the team leaders leading the advance came from the vehicle's radio.
Bai Zemin recognized the person's voice immediately, remembering that this was one of the few soldiers who decided to risk his life to become a soul evolver. In fact, this person was currently level 18 and was one of the most respected soul evolvers while being extremely loyal to Bai Zemin since thanks to him, this man named Lian Ju went from being a mere officer to someone with prestige and honor.
"Lian Ju, report the situation." Bai Zemin calmly replied as he looked to his side and noticed that Shangguan Bing Xue was already fully awake and attentive.
"Roger that." The person named Lian Ju immediately responded and began to narrate the events.
…
About 1 minute later, Bai Zemin finally understood everything and calmly replied, "Got it. I'll be right over. You guys hold your positions and don't let the creature get close. If it gets too near simply do what is necessary to stop it…. I'll most likely get there first though."
Lian Ju replied in the affirmative and soon the communication was closed.
Bai Zemin looked at the woman sitting next to him and said calmly, "That's the way things are. I'll be right back."
"Okay." Shangguan Bing Xue replied in a slightly lazy voice and without much worries.
Seeing the usually stern Shangguan Bing Xue act like a sleepy little girl, Bai Zemin didn't know whether to laugh or cry while the driver almost couldn't believe what he was witnessing.
Of course, Bai Zemin knew that the reason Shangguan Bing Xue was acting like this was because she had full confidence that he would be able to solve the problem that had arisen. Otherwise, she herself would be the first person to step forward. It was just that in this case there was no need.
After opening the door of the military vehicle, Bai Zemin stepped out.
"Leader, do you have orders for us?"
Several team leaders of soldiers and soul evolvers leading 10-man squads approached as they saw him get out of the jeep. All of them had just received the report from the convoy's leading head so several were hoping they could accumulate some merits even if they were small.
"No need." Bai Zemin shook his head and waved his hand as he calmly said, "You guys keep the engines running, we are departing again soon."
Without waiting for a reply and putting some power on his feet, Bai Zemin burst out with the speed of lightning and disappeared from everyone's line of sight in an instant just like a ghost.
The various soldiers and soul evolvers who witnessed this were not surprised as they had seen how incredible their new leader was. However, the driver of the military jeep in which Bai Zemin was riding together with Shangguan Bing Xue could not help but gasp.
Shangguan Bing Xue gave him a sidelong glance before completely ignoring his reaction. She turned her attention to the scenery outside and as her blue eyes mirrored in the glass no one knew what she was thinking.
…
Bai Zemin's movement speed was surprisingly high even if he didn't use all of his Agility to avoid consuming too much Stamina. Moreover, since the vehicle he was riding in was a short distance from the front it didn't even take more than five seconds to reach the front area.
By the time he got to the front area, there were already several people outside the vehicles. All of these people were either soldiers with firearms or soul evolvers with swords, spears, maces, and other types of melee weapons.
As for the normal survivors, to avoid problems they all traveled in the center of the vehicle formation; being protected from the front and from the rear. This way it would be much more difficult for any enemy to raise commotion in case one appeared as even in the midst of the survivors there were some troops stationed to maintain order and security.
"Leader."
Fu Xuefeng and Kang Lan immediately approached when they saw him arrive. Although their relationship with Bai Zemin was very good, enough to be allowed to address him more freely compared to the rest, they both treated him with respect when there were more people around. After all, Bai Zemin had to maintain a certain status and prestige in the eyes of the masses to avoid being treated too casually.
Bai Zemin nodded and looked at Kang Lan before asking, "How are your injuries?"
Kang Lan smiled slightly as she heard his question and noticed the slight concern in his voice. She answered honestly, "Thank you for asking, Leader. But don't worry. My shoulder is completely healed now and my hand will be as good as new by tomorrow."
As if to prove her point, she moved her back and shoulder muscles so that Bai Zemin could see that she was really a lot better. She even waved her hand gently as proof that the fractures were almost completely healed after being treated with magic for three days counting today.
"That's good." Bai Zemin sighed and nodded with a faint smile towards her.
Even though his faction now had another healer, Kang Lan was by far a lot more powerful than Wang Jie. After all, Kang Lan's Mana and Magic stats were the stats of a genius in contrast to Wang Jie's average stats.
After making sure that Kang Lan was alright, Bai Zemin walked to the front, calmly crossing the thick defensive line that had been formed by several armed officers and soul evolvers. All of them were looking forward with a bit of tension.
Approximately 300 meters ahead there was a bridge connecting a sub-district to another sub-district and it was necessary to pass through there to get to the other side. The other way was to cross the deep water river that ran below, which was clearly not feasible as terrifying beasts could occasionally be seen looming out of the water for brief moments; if a human fell into the water by accident there was no doubt that they would be devoured in an instant, and even a powerful soul evolver could not resist too long before falling in. After all, humans were land creatures not sea creatures.
Another way to reach the south was by the road that Nangong Yi and Nangong Lingxin had traveled when they fled from Kang Rong's son back then. It was just that this road had several deviations that made it more difficult to travel; it was precisely for this reason that the Nangong siblings traveled through this area as it was good for losing their pursuers.
Seeing the bridge, Bai Zemin sighed wearily as he realized that they would lose more time here.
Previously, all the vehicles blocking the road had been moved aside so the passage was supposed to be completely unobstructed. However, forget about encountering a clear path as it was supposed to be, Bai Zemin estimated that were it not for the existence of the soul evolvers, even a day's work carried out by 100 people might not be enough to clean up the mess in front of his eyes.
The bridge was extremely long, at least 3000 to 4000 meters. As far as the eye could see, a large number of different sized creatures lay lifeless on the bridge along with several overturned or wrecked vehicles. There were even some parts of the bridge that had been destroyed and were currently collapsed onto the structure.
But this was not the only problem. Moving vehicles and dead creatures were not the only obstacles present.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
A strange creature approximately 5 meters tall was making the ground vibrate with every step it took and the bridge seemed to be struggling to support it. The strange creature's body was covered in a thick layer of slightly purple skin, its swollen muscles were the size of a truck and its legs were as thick as a small house. In the strange creature's right hand was the body of a giant wild boar of about two meters. It was just that in comparison, the boar's size was insignificant and unworthy of mention.
The creature seemed to notice the humans in the distance as it used its large red eyes to look at them, causing the gunmen to unconsciously step back and only the soul evolvers to barely stand their ground. But what happened next made even the evolved humans shudder in fear.
The strange creature raised its right hand and to the level of its mouth before taking a ferocious bite on the giant boar's back, causing hot blood to splash on its body and face which gave it an extremely ferocious appearance.
Fu Xuefeng swallowed saliva and said a little unsure of himself, "Big br- Leader…. That thing… Is that thing a zombie?"
"Mhm." Bai Zemin nodded and said indifferently, "It seems to be a First Order zombie whose evolutionary path is brute force."
When the others heard his words of confirmation, they all trembled at the same time as their eyes flashed with worry.
Like all other conscious living beings, zombies had also been evolving nonstop. While so far the strongest enemies that Bai Zemin's faction had encountered were the wild beasts, this was because the district they were in was mainly plagued by forests. However, the most dangerous and terrifying enemies for humans were actually the zombies.
Zombies were the main enemy that mankind had to worry about the most at this time as they plagued the world with their overwhelmingly higher numbers. Moreover, zombies were the only creatures that had infinite Stamina as they did not need rest or sleep; they could attack endlessly and even ignore any kind of pain.
"Do any of you wish to fight against this zombie?" Bai Zemin asked casually as he looked around.
Bai Zemin had no interest in the giant zombie. To him, these First Order existences did not represent the slightest of challenges and although the Soul Power was tempting, he preferred to let his troops train. After all, First Order existences were not cabbages that grew everywhere and were still rarities; this could be seen by the fact that even after going deep into one of the district's forests for a whole night, Bai Zemin had barely managed to hunt down two or three of them.
His words had not finished falling when a voice immediately rose up.
"Let me do it."
Bai Zemin turned slightly and looked at the person who had just spoken; it was Nangong Lingxin.
"Are you sure?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.
From Bai Zemin's point of view, Nangong Lingxin was a powerful soul evolver. It was just that she was mainly focused on defense rather than offense.
"Don't worry, I'm sure." Nangong Lingxin nodded confidently and stepped forward. "After finishing off all the beasts the other night I got a good skill that I've been wanting to try but the opportunity hadn't presented itself until now. Let me do it, please."
"…It's fine with me…" Bai Zemin nodded but then frowned as he said in a serious voice, "The problem is that you can't let the bridge fall. Do you think you can do that?"
Nangong Lingxin used her two beautiful honey-colored eyes to look at him and nodded firmly as she said in a confident voice, "Believe me. With my barrier, even if that zombie wants to take down the bridge, it won't be able to do that."
Those words were a bit… arrogant. This was especially the case because Nangong Lingxin was still an Unclassified existence while the giant zombie 300 meters away was clearly a high-level First Order creature.
After thinking about it for a brief moment, Bai Zemin finally nodded and calmly said, "All right. You can have it yourself in that case."
Even if problems arose, wasn't he there to solve them?
* * * * * * *
Thank you very much to everyone who voted for Blood Warlock with Golden Tickets! <3
