With the skill Language Mastery of Meng Qi, the power of the entire Transcendent faction would soar to horrendous heights!
Thanks to it, now Bai Zemin only had to order some of his trusted subordinates to have some copies written in Mandarin Chinese to start mass producing the Arcane Spear weapon! With such a weapon, Bai Zemin was sure that the power of each of his men would skyrocket and the casualty rate would plummet thanks to the possibility of launching magical attacks that could ward off or severely wound enemies in times of need!
Furthermore, Bai Zemin hoped that one day he would get his hands on a book of magical runes. Once he got his hands on such an item, Meng Qi could learn the contents and start inscribing runes on different pieces of equipment, structures, areas, etc; this would not only increase the defense or attack of certain buildings but also would serve to attach skills to existing pieces of equipment!
Although there was still a long distance to go before Meng Qi could inscribe runes since he did not even have a magic rune book in his possession, it was a great first step. Besides, Bai Zemin had in his possession many scriptures and engravings that he obtained during his attack on the Asura race world; he believed that he would at least get some good things from those notes!
“Big brother, can you put me down?”
“Eh?”
Bai Zemin looked up and saw Meng Qi looking down at him with an adorable pout on her face.
“You’ve been twisting me around in the air all this time as if I were a little kid… I’m starting to feel nauseous.”
“Oh! Sorry!”
…
Once Bai Zemin managed to regain his composure to levels where he could control himself despite the exhilaration he felt in his heart, he and Meng Qi sat down at one of the stone tables that stood in the backyard.
Little Snow lay comfortably on the ground and rested her chin on her two front paws. The big snow-white dog used her two big blue eyes to look at her owners eagerly and occasionally opened her mouth wide to devour the evolved beast meat that her male owner threw at her.
Messages Little Snow didn’t understand continued to flash across her retina but she ignored them all. All that mattered to her was that each mouthful of meat not only tasted different than the last but was also strengthening her body so quickly that she could feel it clearly.
“I really don’t understand how it works.” Meng Qi had been watching as Bai Zemin was constantly taking out pieces of raw meat as if he was turning the surrounding air into food but even after watching for several minutes she didn’t understand how it worked.
“Meng Qi, if you had read novels when I told you to do, you would easily guess how this works.” Bai Zemin shook his head and sighed, “That’s why little sisters should obediently listen to big brother’s words…”
The corner of Meng Qi’s mouth twitched for a second before she regained her composure. Instead, she made puppy eyes and while hugging one of Bai Zemin’s arms she called out in a tender voice, “Big brother~”
Bai Zemin looked down with one eye closed and as he met those two beautiful midnight black eyes he couldn’t help but spit out the beans, “It’s because of a ring. There’s no way someone of my level can control spatial magic let alone create food out of thin air.”
Saying that, he raised his right hand and with his thumb gently stroked his spatial storage ring. Under Meng Qi’s surprised stare, several things that she easily identified fell onto the table one after another.
Stuffed animals, clothes, photographs, notebooks, even a pale pink personal journal.
“This is…” The pupils of Meng Qi trembled as she used her fingertips to caress a cute brown teddy bear that had unfortunately had some of the stuffing come out.
“Em. They’re our… Well, although everything is a bit dirty and some things were damaged after being crushed by the debris… but it’s all I was able to rescue from our house.”
Meng Qi bit her lower lip gently and her eyes filled with tears. Each and every thing in front of her had great sentimental value, there were many memories that wrapped these things up.
“Back then we didn’t have time to pack up a lot of things… We probably wouldn’t have been allowed to take that much either.” She said in a bitter voice. “I didn’t think I’d ever see any of it again.”
Many times, little things made all the difference. Even though the house they lived in now was countless times more luxurious than the one they lived in before, if given a choice Meng Qi knew she would choose her old house without a second thought.
“You really are the best big brother in the world.” Meng Qi smiled with her eyes closed to hold back tears and said those words from the bottom of her heart.
Bai Zemin chuckled and said a little proudly, “I know.”
“Then…” Meng Qi suddenly opened her eyes and said with a sly smile on her face, “Best big brother in the world, will you tell your beloved little sister what level you really are?”
“You…” Bai Zemin was speechless as he looked at his little sister acting like this.
“As the best big brother in the world, you definitely don’t lie, don’t you?” Meng Qi smiled brightly, showing her white teeth that sparkled under the fading sunset.
After thinking about it for a moment, Bai Zemin decided that there was no need to hide the truth from Meng Qi. First of all, he knew very well the kind of person she was; Meng Qi might reveal secrets of their parents to Bai Zemin but she would certainly not reveal Bai Zemin’s secrets to anyone. The two of them were simply too close to the point of having almost no big secrets between them.
“My level is 50.” He said quietly.
However, who would have thought that Meng Qi actually shook her head when she heard his words.
“Big brother, if you don’t want to tell me your real level then it’s fine. But you don’t need to lie to me, you know I don’t like when you lie to me.”
Bai Zemin didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as he said in a bitter voice, “Girl, I am actually level 50. I have reached that level quite a while ago but the mission I need to complete to acquire my Second Order job is simply too hard so I will probably be stuck for a couple of more months at least.”
Meng Qi looked at him with sharp eyes that were rarely seen on her face. Finally, she seemed to confirm something and her expression returned to normal as she said in a low voice, “I see. I’ll believe you then.”
“… I see that your expectations on me are really high, mm?” Bai Zemin looked at her with weird eyes as he said those words.
Meng Qi smiled slightly and her eyes flashed unnaturally as she slowly whispered, “Earlier you said that your party, including you, is composed of only seven members. Big brother, if that’s true then one of those seven must be really terrifyingly strong to be able to slaughter at least hundreds of thousands of zombies… Even millions.”
“Mm? No, as I said-“
“Eastern Dragon’s Back.” Meng Qi cut Bai Zemin off before he could continue. “That bridge is always full of traffic regardless of the time of day. Judging by its length, at the very least 70,000 vehicles must have been there when the world changed. Let’s say that, hypothetically, 50% of the humans there turned zombies and the other 50% did not. In a traffic congestion of that magnitude, the chances of escape are practically 0%, don’t you think?”
As Bai Zemin looked at her breathlessly and wide-eyed, Meng Qi continued calmly:
“Now, considering that this place is the target of traffic jams, none of the vehicles there are from employees or otherwise they could take up from three to four hours to reach the other district considering the maximum speed. In other words, at least 95% of the vehicles there during the world change were most likely tourist vehicles with more than one passenger whether they were couples of two, friends, families with children, etc. If there were an average of two people in each vehicle, there must have been at least 140,000 zombies in the Eastern Dragon’s Back.”
Seeing Bai Zemin looking at her in shock, she smiled sweetly and said in a voice only they could hear, “So, big brother, even if we took out most of the surrounding cities, towns, and villages, you and your party definitely had to fight around 200,000 zombies since there is no way to avoid them unless you jump into the sea… And this is not to mention evolved zombies or possible sea creatures~”
Meng Qi looked at Bai Zemin with pride shining in her little eyes as Bai Zemin looked at her holding his breath for several seconds before finally letting go of the heavy air in his lungs.
“…You really are as breathtaking as ever. With everything that’s been going on lately I had forgotten about it.”
“Hehehehe…” She closed her eyes and giggled tenderly, accepting the compliment from her big brother with much pleasure.
“But, this time I must say that you are wrong, Meng Qi.”
Bai Zemin said out of nowhere, causing her to open her eyes and look at him in confusion.
“I am wrong? In which part?” Meng Qi said in surprise.
She had racked her brain for a long time looking at maps of different areas by which Bai Zemin could reach Changping District from Yanqing District, and after a lot of analysis, Meng Qi had concluded that the only plausible way was to cross the Eastern Dragon’s Back, otherwise, the family might never be united again considering that it was getting more dangerous with each passing day.
However, once Meng Qi began to study the bridge’s past and the daily routine that unfolded on the Eastern Dragon’s Back, she was terrified and almost despairing when she found out that going through there was practically an impossible task unless it was a properly armed modern army. Still, Meng Qi had blind confidence in Bai Zemin. She firmly believed that he would make it no matter how stupid or crazy it seemed.
It was precisely because she had studied every little detail that when she heard her big brother tell her that she was wrong, she couldn’t help but be very surprised.
“All the zombies from all the major cities south and north of the bridge connecting the two districts before collapsing were gathered under the command of some powerful zombies with the ability to lead large hordes.” Bai Zemin watched as Meng Qi’s eyes trembled slightly at every word he said and continued, “The number of zombies was not hundreds of thousands at all… It was more than 20,000,000!”
The face of Meng Qi was filled with disbelief and her eyes seemed hollow as she stared at Bai Zemin.
“Besides,” He whispered close to her ear, “At least half of them were slaughtered by me before reinforcements arrived.”
“But… That’s impossible…” She muttered in shock. She looked at Bai Zemin with trembling eyes matching her heart and pointed out, “Even if you have the skills and strength, your level is only 50… It should take you months to manage to eliminate all those zombies, unless-“
Speaking up to here, Meng Qi suddenly seemed to think of something and her face turned pale as a sheet.
“Big brother, don’t tell me…”
Facing Meng Qi’s practically pleading eyes, Bai Zemin sighed in his heart. She was clearly trying to deny reality and he understood the reason. However, he really hated lying to her so after hesitating, he finally nodded.
“Em. I fight nonstop, day and night until I made it… Every day I went without knowing the condition of you was a torment to me.” He said almost whispering. “Therefore, once I was sure I had enough power to face anything, I did not hesitate to do it despite the possible consequences.”
Bai Zemin’s words were like a lightning bolt that struck Meng Qi’s heart so hard that it almost shattered it to pieces. Her vision got blurry as uncontrollably crystalline tear after crystalline tear rained down on her beautiful face as she finally discovered the reason why from the very beginning her beloved big brother seemed so different from the big brother of her memories.
He was strong enough to fight relentlessly against millions.
But what kind of pains and hardships did he have to suffer to reach such a level? This single question was enough for Meng Qi to feel as if a pair of hands were tearing her heart apart piece by piece.
While she was resting in a safe place, the person she trusted the most, loved the most, admired the most, and owed the most to… was probably fighting with his life on the line to the point of suffering heavy wounds all the time.
How could such a realization not hurt? Even she, who had only shed a tear after seeing him again after all that had happened in the world, could not stop her tears from falling for the first time since the death of her parents as if a levee had broken in the middle of a flood.
Meng Qi did not yell, far from it. She just covered her face with her two hands and wailed silently, the only evidence being the droplets of spilled tears escaping through her fingers or falling down her sides, as well as the trembling of her shoulders.
Bai Zemin sighed at seeing her like this and tugged her to him for a soft hug. Even though he knew this could happen, he needed to tell her the whole truth for Meng Qi to understand his plans so he had no choice but to do it.
