“Actually, I know well that my future is not destined to be too bright.” Wu Keqian pointed out in a calm voice. “When I evolved into the First Order I chose a job called Flaming Warrior. While I’m not quite sure how good this Flaming Warrior job is, I can at least say with certainty that it’s not an ordinary one. However, when I evolved to the Second Order, the job I chose was not the strongest among the options that appeared in my eyes to choose from.”
Bai Zemin was not surprised to hear those words from Wu Keqian as Lilith had given him hints about it before. However, the same could not be said for the other people inside the living room.
“But why?” Wu Yijun looked at her father in surprise, “If you chose a special job at the beginning you clearly should have chosen a special job as your Second Order job!”
“Special job…? Yes, special job. That’s a good way to describe it.” Wu Keqian muttered before smiling with some regret as he explained, “Yijun, unlike free souls, I am a man with a great weight on my shoulders. I can not only think for my own sake but also need to think for the sake of hundreds of thousands. If I had chosen a special job for my second advancement I would still be stuck in the First Order and the base would surely be in chaos by now… At the end of the day, it was the power of being a Second Order warrior that allowed me and still allows me to keep the waters calm here.”
“… Simply put, you were forced to choose that option despite knowing it was not the best one for you.” Bai Zemin concluded with comprehensive eyes.
“That’s right.” Wu Keqian nodded and did not hide anything at all, “Thanks to this power, I managed to build a secure base in this world. Thanks to this power, I managed to create some order among so much chaos. Thanks to this power, more than two hundred thousand humans can go to their beds without fear of a zombie devouring them while they sleep… Without this almost overwhelming power, many would rise up in an attempt to seize the false crown I am wearing on my head at this moment and this would have caused countless to die and many more to suffer as a consequence.”
Bai Zemin could not help but sigh in his heart and when he looked at Wu Keqian now he could not help but feel real admiration.
“Uncle Wu, you really are a good leader.”
“Na. I’m just doing my best.” Wu Keqian shook his head and sneered at himself, “There are many things that I have to turn a blind eye to for the greater good. Even though on the surface this base looks very firm, there are always polluted waters underground that are difficult to remove without causing a strong shaking on the surface… Therefore, I have no choice but to let them be even if I know they are there.”
“… Then what will you do?” Wu Yijun asked as she looked at her father with pity but also with hope.
Wu Yijun felt pity that her father had no choice but to sacrifice his own future but she also felt that thanks to that, there was now more hope to avoid a war between the people she loved the most in this world.
The question Wu Yijun asked was the question everyone was wondering and Wu Keqian’s answer was what Bai Zemin was most looking forward to.
“Naturally, I will hand over my power when the highest leader manages to reach here or until when we manage to reach him.” Wu Keqian said in a resolute voice.
“The highest leader?” Sun Ling was surprised. “You mean the president?”
“Right.” Wu Keqian nodded and said calmly, “Mr. President Xuanyuan will definitely be able to unify the country again with my father’s help and wipe out the dangers attacking our race will be a matter of time. Once we can connect with China’s central command, I will hand over all my power… Well, although I will lose many of my current privileges I will also gain many others. It’s not as if I’m doing this only out of kindness as I also have a family to care about.”
The eyes of Bai Zemin flashed weirdly as he heard these words but he said nothing and instead kept silent waiting to see how this situation would unfold a little more.
“But, father…” Wu Yijun hesitated for a moment and with somewhat evasive eyes finally couldn’t help but point out, “What will happen to Bing Xue?”
“Bing Xue?” Wu Keqian looked at her in surprise before his eyes flashed with understanding. “That child, Bing Xue… Even though she has her reasons for hating her father, for better or worse she carries the blood of the Xuanyuan Family in her veins. But even if we put aside the fact that she is the daughter of the president, the power of that girl is more than enough to take a high and firm position within the new government that will lead China into a new era.”
Wu Yijun’s eyes filled with sadness as she heard her father’s words. Her family did not know Shangguan Bing Xue well enough to know that she hated her father to the marrow of her bones. Wu Yijun doubted with all her heart that her good sister would ever forgive Xuanyuan Wentian, and it would already be a miracle if she didn’t cut off his head with her sword once they met.
“Uncle Wu, may I ask a question?” Bai Zemin raised his hand again and asked to speak out of respect.
Wu Keiqan looked at Bai Zemin and Meng Qi before slowly saying, “It seems like you already knew about Bing Xue’s background but your younger sister didn’t… Although that’s also normal considering that you traveled together with Bing Xue all this time… Go ahead and ask.”
Meng Qi’s eyes were brimming with surprise and her little mouth slightly gaped open after hearing that the person she was so curious about for the past few days was actually the daughter of the nation’s president. However, what Meng Qi felt most was disbelief since according to her civilian knowledge, President Xuanyuan Wentian only had one eldest son; there was no record of a daughter!
But Meng Qi was smart and quickly understood what was going on. The words “unwanted daughter” popped into her mind without her really looking for them and she immediately felt pity for Shangguan Bing Xue and disdain for the man she had never seen in person.
“I was wondering what you would do if a person who proves to be worthy to rule but is not President Xuanyuan appears.”
Bai Zemin’s words had an immediate effect and as if someone had a remote control capable of controlling people, everyone froze looking at him with different expressions on their faces. However, a second later, Wu Keqian burst out laughing.
Wu Yijun’s father laughed heartily and looked like he had heard a good joke. It came to a point where even Sun Ling couldn’t help but frown with a hint of disgust on her face.
“Hahaha… No, sorry…” Wu Keqian said still in tears and laughter. It seemed really hard for him to hold back the urge to laugh. “It’s just that it’s really funny.”
“Funny?” Bai Zemin frowned and asked in confusion, “What’s funny?”
Wu Keqian took a deep breath and it wasn’t until several seconds later when instead of answering Bai Zemin’s question he asked a question, “Bai Zemin, let me ask you something instead… Have you ever in your life seen a human take on an adult lion in full power in hand-to-hand combat? I’m talking about before we humans could evolve, long before.”
Bai Zemin stared at him and blinked for a couple of seconds before shaking his head. In the past, he was just another member of society, the son of a family of normal salaried workers, a normal student; his life was the representation of normality so it was impossible for him to have seen something as crazy and out of all common sense as what Wu Yijun’s father had just said.
“I did see something like that… With my own eyes.” Wu Keqian said with a serious voice and reverence. “It was about 15 years ago when it happened. My father, Mr. President, and I were on our way to one of the deepest forests outside Shanghai when due to unexpected technical problems the helicopter had no choice but to land in the middle of nowhere. My father and I lived our whole lives in the city under the protection of armed guards, try to imagine how nervous we were back then after losing even the capacity to communicate with the outside world due to the loss of signal…”
Wu Keqian paused as if recalling something impressive before continuing to narrate, “However, Mr. President was the complete opposite. Even though he was the highest authority and his status the most prestigious of all, he kept his calm and indifferently took up his double-edged sword to lead the way to the exit with nothing but a compass. But we didn’t get very far when a lion that was having a feast with the corpse of an ape came our way… I still remember how my legs weakened at that moment, seeing that huge creature and those bestial eyes watching us attentively… It really is worse than you can imagine.”
“Now, try to imagine a man cutting a giant lion into two pieces with a single slash.” Wu Keqian looked at Bai Zemin and said in a deep voice, “Mr. President’s agility naturally wasn’t able to keep up with the lion, but with masterful steps, he dodged each of the beast’s attacks. Neither my father nor I saw how it happened, all we saw was a sharp flash of light and the next instant the lion was on the ground roaring in pain as blood and internal organs poured out of the two halves.”
This was the first time Sun Ling heard such a story, the same was true for Wu Yijun. Therefore, both of them are really shocked. However, Meng Qi and Bai Zemin were the most shocked.
If the president had finished off the lion after the apocalypse then there would be no shock at all… But the matter was completely different if this had happened before the evolution of living beings.
A human killing a lion with a single slash? Such a thing could only be possible in fantasy movies or books but never in real life.
“The president was already powerful before so it’s a fact that his current power will definitely be many times higher than mine.” Wu Keqian sighed before slowly saying, “Aside from his strength, the president has his status which will allow him to more easily lead the country. Also, while his rule might not be perfect, it is a fact that he ranked as one of the best presidents China has ever had in history.”
Bai Zemin closed his eyes and shook his head, much to Wu Keqian’s confusion. Then, he opened his eyes and with a faint smile said softly, “Uncle Wu, you still haven’t answered my question from before… What would you do if a person who proves to be worthy to rule but is not President Xuanyuan emerges?”
Wu Keqian froze and looked at Bai Zemin with increasingly serious eyes. For the first time, he realized that the young man in front of him was definitely more than what he showed on the surface to the point that even someone like him no longer dared to treat lightly.
After thinking deeply for more than a full minute, Wu Yijun’s father finally said, “In the hypothetical case… If some person ever appears and demonstrates leadership ability good enough to bring back the peace of our motherland… And if that person holds enough power to head off possible takeovers…”
Wu Keqian looked Bai Zemin in the eyes and said in a serious voice, “Then I wouldn’t mind handing over everything to that person.”
