Standing approximately 30 kilometers away from where Yangfang Town was once standing, two slender but curvaceous silhouettes stood side by side at the top of a tree over 800 meters high.
One of them wore leather armor that clung tightly to every curve of her lovely body giving her transcendental beauty the charm of a demon while the other wore a black dress as soft as silk that with the strong winds blowing strongly especially from the south caused the back of her body to stand out so that her raised and firm bottom was clearly marked.
One of them had beautiful long hair that reached to her lower back whose color swayed between white and silver. The other was the complete opposite, her hair was as black as midnight devoid of stars but was slightly longer than that of the other girl.
Of course, these two were Shangguan Bing Xue and Lilith.
Although the two women were silent, if there was a third party present they could definitely notice the tension in the atmosphere surrounding that silence.
After what seemed like an eternity of tension, Shangguan Bing Xue broke the silence in a cold voice: "Won't you stop him?"
Lilith glanced sideways at her for a second before looking forward and lazily saying, "Why don't you try to stop him for yourself? Or do you just admit that he'll listen to me but not you?"
"Hmph!" Shangguan Bing Xue snorted and decided to stay in silence as a flare of anger threatened to ignite inside her chest.
Booooooooom!!!
Suddenly, the two women's attention was drawn by the sound of a loud explosion coming from the distance. A fierce shockwave spread in an arc in all directions and the ground split apart revealing huge cracks as the earth rumbled as if an earthquake had struck the area.
In the distance, Shangguan Bing Xue and Lilith saw a huge cloud of dust rising into the sky, slowly being tossed back and forth by the forest winds.
A few seconds later, a silhouette appeared in the horizon and in a matter of moments appeared just below the tree where the two women were standing. They, as if by prior arrangement, jumped up to meet the newcomer.
Bai Zemin watched in wonder and his eyes flashed with a hint of admiration as his dark pupils reflected the images of the two women who seemed to float in the sky, descending to solid ground as if they were two beautiful butterflies fluttering in the wind.
"Done?" Lilith asked with a smile.
"Em." Bai Zemin nodded in response with a relieved smile on his face.
Seeing him smile like that, even though Shangguan Bing Xue knew what the answer she would receive would be, she couldn't help but ask in confusion, "No regrets?…. You just completely erased any trace that may have ever existed of your hometown…"
Bai Zemin closed his eyes and shook his head before opening them again and saying in a relieved voice, "I have no regrets, Bing Xue. Yangfang Town was no longer Yangfang Town from the moment its inhabitants and those people close to me stopped living there…. All that was left of what was once my home was a destroyed and miserable image that I would rather not see again. That's why I did what I did."
The decision of completely destroying whatever traces were left behind of what was once Yangfang Town was a decision that Bai Zemin made more easily than he thought. Once he knew that his loved ones were probably alive, much of the pent-up tension and pent-up nerves were completely released and with that, it was much simpler for him to take certain actions that in the past might have been dragging him down.
Of course, before turning Yangfang Town into nothing more than a huge empty crater several kilometers in diameter after attacking with Crimson Thunder Dragon's Last Words, Bai Zemin made sure to save any portraits or objects that his loved ones might consider important but had no choice but to leave behind due to the circumstances of the moment.
Although 99% of the things were broken due to the collapse during the expansion of the world, things like photos, stuffed animals, even clothes could be saved; Bai Zemin kept all of that in his ring and hoped to be able to return them to their respective owners soon.
"I… See…" Shangguan Bing Xue nodded slowly but firmly at the end as if she finally managed to understand something of his feelings. Then, she raised her head to look him in the eyes and asked, "What do we do now? It's just after 10 in the morning. Shall we go back to the base now, or…?"
Shangguan Bing Xue did not finish her words because she believed that Bai Zemin could understand the meaning of what she was trying to express. In fact, Bai Zemin did not disappoint her when he shook his head and said in a firm voice:
"No. I will head south and look for traces of any human camp."
'Of course.' Shangguan Bing Xue was not surprised at all by Bai Zemin's choice and instead would have been surprised if he took another path.
"Then I will go with you." She said as firmly and resolutely as the words he spoke a moment ago.
Bai Zemin forced a smile into his heart and couldn't help but shook his head. Controlling Shangguan Bing Xue was really difficult because while she was technically his subordinate she was also a very dear friend to him, therefore, there was no way he could force her to do something she didn't want to do unless there was really no other choice.
Besides, he admitted in his heart that Shangguan Bing Xue's presence was somehow calming to him. If Bai Zemin was like a flame that could burst out at any moment and cause disasters, then Shangguan Bing Xue was the frost raining down from the sky and striving to prevent the flame from bursting out completely.
In a way, she and Lilith were very much alike no matter how much the two women fought with each other or disliked each other.
* * *
Although both Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue could run at lightning speeds and travel great distances in a short time, China was one of the largest countries in the world. Moreover, the expansion of the Earth by more than three times its previous size had simply amplified that already colossal size to a degree that no human being would probably be able to comprehend.
Several hours passed and during that time the two traveled through many areas of Changping District such as Yanshou Town whose population once numbered over thirty thousand, Xingshou Town with previously over forty thousand inhabitants, Shisanling Town with just over twenty thousand, Liucun Village with just over fifteen thousand, Machikou Town whose population once exceeded seventy thousand, and many other areas.
Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue even launched an attack on a big city such as Beiqijia City whose population numbered over 300,000 in the past. However, there was no trace of human survival at all and the inhabitants of that area were zombies which after a quick work between the two were slaughtered to the point of leaving none alive.
Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue made a point in their minds to order the troops to visit Beiqijia City as soon as possible since there they found a large steel factory and an even larger factory with many tools and machines needed to process cloth and wool that would definitely be useful.
In a single evening, Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue completely swept through the entire Huoying Subdistrict; without the help of a third party, the two of them single-handedly crushed every obstacle that dared to cross their paths.
Although neither of them said anything, their eyes expressed more than any words could ever convey.
Both he and she were certain that this was the first time they had ever felt so free and carefree while fighting. This was by far the first time Shangguan Bing Xue and Bai Zemin realized that if they really wanted to, together, they could conquer China in such a short time that it would surely leave anyone trembling in fear.
No delays and no worrying about a growing kingdom; just fighting and crushing with overwhelming and absolute power!
However, there was something that left both of them dumbfounded and when they looked at each other it was reflected in their disbelieving eyes.
By the time the sun finally descended completely, having traveled through one entire sub-district and half of another, Shangguan Bing Xue and Bai Zemin had yet to see even one human encampment!
All they found were areas ruined by collapses but the unusual thing was that there was no one who had been crushed to death by debris as even after inspecting the surrounding corpses they realized that all of them had all died too long ago when compared to the expanse of the Earth.
What they did find, however, were many traces of battle in several of the main areas they inspected.
Bullet casings of different calibers, metal pieces belonging to missiles near devastated areas, crushed cannonballs, corpses of beasts, humans, and zombies that were slaughtered by gunfire, etc.
It was clear that a rather ambitious but also intelligent person took advantage of every second to take control of many areas.
"This must be Uncle Wu's doing." Shangguan Bing Xue said as she ran alongside Bai Zemin a bit panting.
She was not a monster with practically inexhaustible Stamina like him so after several hours of practically running at full speed and constant fighting naturally began to take its toll on her Stamina stat.
"Uncle Wu?" Bai Zemin's ears twitched as if they were little antennae that finally picked up something interesting and he looked at the girl beside him as he said in a deep voice, "You mean Wu Yijun's father?"
"Em." Shangguan Bing Xue nodded and calmly revealed, "Uncle Wu is a very intelligent man. Many might think that the reason he managed to become Changping District's total mayor is due to his relationship with the Wu Family, but in reality, few know that he got that position without using family connections at all…. If you ask me what kind of person he is, I would say he is the kind of man who while he can be kind also knows when to be cruel and to take the slightest opportunity at the most opportune time."
As the two continued to move along one of the main roads leading to one of the biggest cities in Longzeyuan Subdistrict, Shangguan Bing Xue continued:
"So far, we have encountered what were once definitely human bases, but they were all attacked by advanced infantry. While it could be the work of the army separately and Uncle Wu might have little or nothing to do with all this, I refuse to believe that different armies and bases would use the same method to attack so many areas in such a short time."
Shangguan Bing Xue's words made a lot of sense from Bai Zemin's point of view for many reasons. But chief among them was that just as she said, it was hard to believe that so many attacks and conquests would be carried out in such a short time unless it was all planned by one person with an end goal.
Bai Zemin frowned slightly with a somewhat heavy heart.
If Wu Keqian was really an ambitious man just as Shangguan Bing Xue had just said but had saved his family whether in passing or not, then Bai Zemin might find himself in a dilemma about what to do next.
…
Around midnight, Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue finally stopped their steps as they looked off into the distance with astonished expressions after stumbling upon what was undoubtedly a post-apocalyptic building and the largest they had ever seen to date.
* * * * * * *
Really thank you very much to all those who send gifts to the novel and support with valuable Golden Tickets. I hope we can all keep it up <3
