“Z- Zemin…” Ye Linger called out to her son, her eyes still fixed on the eyes of the little girl who had just called her grandmother.
“T- This young lady…”
Bai Zemin looked at his mother, and noticing her lips, as well as her trembling eyes, he couldn’t help but sigh in his heart.
Ye Linger, just like Bai Delan, had always been worried about Bai Zemin’s future. Not about his studies nor about getting a job since she knew that her son was a person who would definitely not give up in the face of life’s difficulties, Ye Linger’s worries lay in the fact that her son never looked at any girl again for many years after what happened during his high school years.
Would he be able to start a family?
Would he find a good wife to be his confidant and partner in times of trouble?
Would she ever see a grandchild?
Would he be alone forever?
…
There were many questions about family that Ye Linger always asked in her heart every time she saw her son. After all, the parents would not be there forever, and Ye Linger did not want her son to be alone by the time they were no longer there for him.
Bai Zemin naturally understood and was aware of his parents’ anxieties, but there was not much he could do about the matter. After all, the heart was a realm where the brain had no right to step in.
It was ironic… It was very ironic that thanks to the appearance of the Soul Record, things began to change for the better from a certain point of view.
“Mom, this is Bai Shilin, my daughter.” Bai Zemin nodded, confirming the little girl’s words.
Ye Linger’s body trembled and her mouth opened and closed as if she wanted to say something but could not put it into words.
Bai Zemin had already explained to them the situation regarding the metal-gray egg, therefore, everyone in the house knew that someday he would appear with a little girl in his arms. However, the little girl they were looking at had Bai Zemin’s eyes, and except for the black lines covering part of her little arms and slender legs, there was nothing to differentiate her from a normal human.
At a loss for words to express how she felt at that moment, Ye Linger leaned forward and called out in a soft, careful voice, as if afraid of scaring the little girl, “Little Shilin, can you let Grandma hug you?”
“Mm!” Bai Shilin smiled sweetly and rushed out to Ye Linger, burying herself in her embrace and catching her a little by surprise.
Ye Linger’s arms moved of their own accord, wrapping around Bai Shilin’s small body and hugging her as if she feared she was going to disappear in the next instant.
“Grandma, Shilin really hoped to see you all really!”
Ye Linger lowered her eyes, meeting the shining black eyes of the unexpected but welcome granddaughter her son had just given her.
“Child… If you keep saying such things you’ll make this old woman start crying.” Ye Linger forced a smile and kissed Bai Shilin’s forehead, causing her to giggle.
Bai Delan watched everything in silence, but his stare was fixed on Bai Shilin’s small figure. There were several times when he had to close his eyes for a few seconds because he felt his eyes start to itch.
Bai Zemin sneaked up and whispered, “Hey, old man. You can cry if you want to. The man of the house is me anyway.”
“… I’ll really kick your ass, you rotten shameless brat.”
…
After several minutes, everyone was sitting on the two large couches. Ye Linger was still clinging to Bai Shilin and occasionally hugged her so tightly that the girl started squirming in her lap, pouting and muttering under her breath.
“So… We could say that little Shilin is your real daughter and not adopted?” Bai Delan asked trying to act calm as he looked down at the little treasure who occasionally looked up at him and waved her little hand in his direction, pulling at his old heartstrings.
“Well, in theory, that’s the way things are.” Bai Zemin nodded. “Even though Shilin wasn’t born by the methods we know for obvious reasons, she shares some of my records and that’s why she has little traits, especially her eyes, that look so much like mine.”
“… I see.” Bai Delan nodded and said nothing more. Although he maintained a calm expression on the surface, everyone who knew him well was aware that his heart was definitely not so calm.
Meng Qi was also very happy as she looked at Bai Shilin. She would occasionally lean forward and grab the girl’s nose, using her thumb to pretend to steal it which ended up causing Bai Shilin to jump in fright several times to everyone’s amusement.
“Woah! Big brother Bai, now you’re a father too!” Luo Ning exclaimed with wide eyes as she looked at Bai Shilin in surprise.
Wen Yun suddenly thought of something and approached Luo Ning, whispering something in her ear in such a low voice that only Lilith knew what she said and couldn’t help but laugh at this little girl’s mischief.
“Ah!” Luo Ning cried out in fright and her face turned pale, astonishing everyone.
“Little Ning, what’s wrong?” Bai Zemin looked at her in a daze.
“B- Big brother Bai…. You have a daughter now…. Doesn’t that mean…. Doesn’t that mean that Little Ning can no longer be the princess of the new kingdom?” Luo Ning whispered.
She looked at Bai Zemin with puppy-dog eyes full of tears that threatened to fall if he said anything she didn’t like.
“Wen Yun, you…” Bai Zemin looked at the girl who simply stuck her tongue out at him and really had to fight the urge to slap her butt until she learned how to behave.
“Little Ning, don’t worry…. It doesn’t matter if I have one daughter or a thousand daughters, since I promised you that when I am the king of China you will be a princess, then you will be a princess. Have I ever lied to you?” Bai Zemin said in a sincere voice.
Luo Ning looked at him, trying to look for some trace of falsehood in his words. However, it was true that he had never lied to her… therefore, she finally shook her head and her tears receded so quickly that Bai Zemin even thought she deliberately did it.
…
Lying on the bed in Bai Zemin’s room, Lilith and he were cuddled together under the blankets. Even though she didn’t need to sleep, she was slowly getting used to enjoying these little things that she had forgotten over time.
“Your parents really love little Shilin, they even asked that we let her sleep with them tonight,” Lilith whispered softly, sounding especially appealing in the middle of the night darkness.
Bai Zemin caressed her shoulder gently, pulling her closer to his body, and said softly, “My parents always wanted a grandchild, now that they have one they will naturally become attached to her. Besides, considering that in two days we will be leaving for the south, they won’t see little Shilin again for a few months, so they will want to spend as much time with her as possible.”
Bai Zemin planned to begin the conquest of the entire country without delay. He would probably not see his parents again for at least half a year, starting directly with the most difficult target and expanding from there. Fortunately, with the Sky Destroyer being left behind, he could always use the ship’s communication feature to talk to them on a daily basis using the ring of the commander.
Lilith was silent for a few minutes, but when she sensed that Bai Zemin was about to fall asleep, she whispered quietly, “Say, Zemin…. Shilin’s silver hair…” ᴀll ɴ ᴏᴠᴇʟ Fuʟʟ. cᴏm
Bai Zemin slowly opened his eyes as he heard the words of the woman beside him. Even without Lilith finishing, he already knew what she meant.
“Em, Shilin’s silver hair is a result of Bing Xue’s records.” He said in an honest voice before he started explaining everything that happened without omitting anything at all.
Lilith listened to everything silently as she snuggled into his embrace and enjoyed without a word the gentle caresses he gave her small shoulder and right arm.
“I see… So that’s what happened. I understand now.” She nodded calmly once he stopped.
Bai Zemin gently moved to look her in the face and asked carefully, “Are you crazy?”
“No, not at all. In the entire base probably only Shangguan Bing Xue and that girl named Feng Tian Wu possess enough Mana to help you get little Shilin born smoothly, and unfortunately, I couldn’t do anything even if I wanted to. The fact that little Shilin considers me her mother despite not sharing records with me is a sign of my victory, it shows that she appreciates me more than her other two mothers.” Lilith smiled sweetly and gave him a small kiss on the cheek. She blushed a little and whispered softly, “Besides…. In the future we will have our own children, won’t we?”
Bai Zemin sighed in relief in his heart, finally feeling the stone weighing on him disappear after hearing Lilith’s words. He gently kissed her forehead and said in a serious voice, “Of course we will. After I reach my goal and there is no longer a threat to us we will have our children using normal methods.”
Bai Zemin knew nothing of Lilith’s past, it was a complete mystery to him. She never initiated a conversation of her lived experiences, and Bai Zemin never asked questions either. However, this did not mean that he was unaware that she definitely saw and experienced things that would probably be more than enough to make most living beings collapse.
Furthermore, considering that she never mentioned her family, Bai Zemin naturally judged that she did not have one. That was precisely why he was determined to give her a beautiful family at any cost.
“… That’s more than enough for me.” Lilith smiled gently and closed her eyes feeling happy.
She had lost everything, and only she knew how much she longed for a family.
Knowing that losing everything was painful was not the same as losing everything. Between Lilith and Bai Zemin, the pains he had experienced were nothing in comparison.
“I look forward to that future.”
She murmured before falling asleep.
* * *
The next day, Bai Zemin went to check the records of the chestplate that he and Meng Qi had built in teamwork.
The armor was deep red as if it had been dipped in a pool of blood for several thousand years and all the blood had been assimilated by it. Just like the pants, the armor seemed to be covered by dragon scales and on each of the two elbows was a scythe that in the past were part of the most terrifying armament of the Third Order weaver ants that Bai Zemin faced in the hall where he gained control over the Sky Destroyer.
————————————-
[Solitude’s Armor of Infinite Trials –
[Upper Armor]
[Rank: 2]
[Physical Defense: 4700]
[Magic Defense: 3420]
[Physical Attack Power: 2100]
[Durability: 8000/8000]
[Special Options –
1) Reduces its weight by half when the wearer’s Agility exceeds 900 natural points.
2) When hitting with the elbow, the chance of inflicting critical hit is increased by 20%.
3) Reduces the damaging effect of shock waves by 30%.
4) When fighting in a battlefield alone, the physical and magic defense is multiplied by two.
[Description: Upper body armor forged from the bones and scales of a Second Order comdo lizard and reinforced with Rank 2 mithril. Both the blacksmith and the rune engraver gave 100% of themselves to forge this piece of equipment, which is at the top of its kind within the same Rank. The nightmare of warriors and the despair of mages on the battlefield].
————————————-
The armor was magnificent, to say the least.
When Bai Zemin saw its records for the first time after it was completely finished he was jumping for several minutes at how high the armor’s defenses were, but what gave him the most joy were the options.
Despite being a heavy piece of equipment, option number 1 helped Bai Zemin not feel reluctant to wear it at all. In addition, options number 3 and number 4 would greatly increase Bai Zemin’s chances of survival while giving him more opportunities to make more dangerous attacks and thus be able to take the victory in difficult battles.
That same day, after putting on all their equipment since the current Earth was definitely several times more dangerous than before, Bai Zemin and Shen Mei left for the north in the morning and when Bai Zemin returned in the dusk Shen Mei was gone but her place had been replaced by Kang Lan.
He had left Fu Xuefeng in charge of the base in the north, and to cushion the loss of such a powerful mage and healer as Kang Lan was, he brought Shen Mei to take her place. Kang Lan was crucial to Bai Zemin, even with Xia Ya at his side Kang Lan’s position had not wavered at all.
Although Kang Lan was a little confused after seeing Lili at the base, she did not ask too many questions and obeyed Bai Zemin’s arrangements. Because there was no point in making it too complicated considering that the next morning they would be moving out, she stayed at Cai Jingyi’s house.
Even if Kang Lan wanted to walk around the base to see the faction’s new establishment, she was tired as she and Bai Zemin had faced several enemies while running at high speeds for practically the whole evening so when her exhausted body hit the bed she immediately fell asleep.
The next day, as had been prepared for a week earlier, a team of 400 soul evolvers had gathered outside the south gate.
This small team was destined to make history by being the main vanguard that initiated the assault on the various human establishments, conquering them one by one and expanding unstoppably in all directions.
The conquest of the country had finally begun.
* * * * * * *
