Planet Earth, China.
Previously, Haidian District belonged to the forces of the faction called New China established by the former president of the previous China himself. However, half a month ago, things had changed.
Haidian District had fallen into a period of war not only because of the existence of zombies and mutant beasts or any other race but because of the appearance of a new faction, things had gotten out of control for New China. In just two days’ time, two of New China’s bases had been taken down and taken over by force by a group of people who were part of the Transcendent faction; a faction they had never heard of, which was only natural considering they had formed in a different district.
However, the real war broke out exactly 12 days ago.
In a meeting room located in the southernmost base of the Haidian District, a large group of people had gathered under the call of the second person in charge as well as the second most important person in the entire faction.
Among those present were not only important figures formerly belonging to New China who had wisely surrendered to the power of the Transcendent faction and through wholehearted cooperation managed to keep important positions almost intact within the Haidian District bases but there were also several of the main leaders of each of the bases that the Transcendent faction controlled.
People like Fu Xuefeng, Bai Delan, Wu Keqian, and some others arrived from the two bases in Changping District using combat helicopters.
On the other hand, Meng Qi, Wu Yijun, Feng Tian Wu, Chen He, and others who had been organized to take over four of the five bases newly controlled by the Transcendent faction in Haidian District were also among those present.
That’s right; all the bases in New China had fallen into the hands of the Transcendent faction. The three that remained to be taken barely managed to put up some resistance after Xuanyuan Wentian’s troops were defeated and in just 2 days all three bases were easily taken.
Sitting on the right side of the seat at the head of the table, Shangguan Bing Xue was currently feeding Bai Shilin with mashed apples.
Everyone silently watched the scene without making a sound at all and instead of disturbing the sleeping lioness, they preferred to quietly marvel at the resemblance between the little kid and the adult woman.
A few minutes later, Bai Shilin finished all her food and a maid came over to take the things away but not before bowing.
“Shilin, go and play with Grandma for now, okay?” Shangguan Bing Xue smiled sweetly and the hearts of 99% of the men present trembled.
“Okay!” Bai Shilin nodded obediently and got off Shangguan Bing Xue’s lap before walking over to Shangguan Xinyue who with a smile on her face took her small body in her arms and led her out of the room.
When the two doors closed, the gentle expression on Shangguan Bing Xue’s face disappeared being replaced in an instant by a coldness that sent shivers down the spine of everyone present.
Her eyes turned to a pot-bellied man with freckles on his face and said in an indifferent voice, “Intendant General Huo, how is the construction of the energy nullifiers progressing?”
“Y- Yes!” Huo Lim swept the sweat from his forehead and quickly explained, “The seven bases of our faction are currently in the process of constructing the energy shields after finally finding and obtaining the necessary materials for their development. Although the Changping District base under the care of Mayor Wu Keqian is too large, two energy nullifiers will be enough to cover it in its entirety… According to a quick estimate, within two to three weeks all our bases will have a system capable of protecting them against nuclear weaponry.”
Huo Lim had been delegated as mayor of the largest base in the entire Haidian District by Xuanyuan Wentian and in the past his position was that of a small mayor of a small sub-district of the small Xicheng District. The reason why Xuanyuan Wentian moved him from Xicheng District to Haidian District was because, despite his untrustworthy appearance and obsequious attitude, Huo Lim was a person of real ability.
Of course, Huo Lim was not a person with physical power at all let alone magic power; his level was only 5 and his stats were just relatively good for his level thanks to the good nutrition he had as a result of his position. His strength lay in something different, and strangely enough, it was something that many would not consider a strong point.
Luck; Huo Lim was very lucky. His luck was so high that it was unnatural no matter how one looked at it.
For example, when the base was shot down days ago, Huo Lim was inside the only building that by a coincidence of fate was not shot down by the bombardment of air missiles and magic skills of the Transcendent faction’s soul evolvers.
Wasn’t that proof enough of his luck? Then how about the fact that he once found the corpses of two soul evolvers above level 40, and apart from their treasures and weapons, Huo Lim found in the backpack of one of them a blueprint; a blueprint from the Soul Record which he for personal reasons decided not to immediately hand over to Xuanyuan Wentian and rather decided to play the game of watch and wait.
The name of this construction blueprint was Thermonuclear Energy Nullifier and it was a Rank 3 construction blueprint.
When the Transcendent faction took over the base after destroying all opposition and crushing the soul evolvers who showed any intention of fighting back, Huo Lim naturally lost his position as mayor of the base, and not possessing any truly outstanding abilities his privileges were revoked; thus successfully making him a citizen of the lowest caste and only allowing him to keep his personal properties such as clothes, food, family, etc.
However, how could Huo Lim be willing to settle for being an ordinary citizen? Therefore, he requested an audience with the person in charge saying he had something important to discuss.
After being brought before Shangguan Bing Xue and freezing at her otherworldly beauty, Huo Lim presented the construction blueprint for the thermonuclear energy nullifying shields… Wasn’t his luck too high? He just possessed what Shangguan Bing Xue needed most to nullify the power of Xuanyuan Wentian and his nuclear bombs.
Thanks to that, he managed to become the Intendant General who maintained communication among the bases and was in charge of the development of the thermonuclear energy nullification shields. Although Huo Lim could no longer be as relaxed as before and indeed had a lot of work to do, not only did he manage to keep his privileges but he was also promised a monthly pay raise as long as everything worked out well.
“That time needed, cut it in half.” Shangguan Bing Xue said in a cold voice and when Huo Lim wanted to say something he held back as he met those two dagger-like sharp eyes.
In the end, all he could do was say in a submissive voice, “I will do my best…. Although the amount of resources needed to carry out such a thing will be several times greater…”
“Do what you have to do. If within a max of 15 days you don’t have those shields ready then you’d better pack your belongings and get ready to go live in a wooden shack in the suburbs of the base.” Shangguan Bing Xue showed no mercy with her words.
Huo Lim could only nod as he cleaned the sweat from his forehead. At the same time, his eyes subconsciously drifted to the vacated seat at the head of the table and he couldn’t help but be curious about the man leading the faction.
In reality, 90% of the work was done by Shangguan Bing Xue during the breakdown of the forces that put up resistance before the takeover of the other three bases in Haidian District. She had managed to make quite a reputation for herself among all the humans in Haidian District.
Unlike the humans and soul evolvers who resided in Changping District or knew Shangguan Bing Xue for a long time, humanity in Haidian District secretly called her the Bloody Queen. This was because she alone had cut off the heads of over 3000 armed men and over 200 soul evolvers who dared to raise their firearms and swords against the Transcendent faction, staining the white snow in crimson.
Looking at everyone one by one, Shangguan Bing Xue announced in a cold voice, “Within 15 days, we will start moving towards Xicheng District.”
“Xicheng District?” Wu Yijun muttered in surprise before exclaiming in shock, “Bing Xue, isn’t Xicheng District where the central base of New China is?”
Shangguan Bing Xue calmly looked at her best friend and nodded, “That is correct. Why do you ask?”
Wu Yijun blinked and subconsciously shook her head as she said quietly, “N-No…. It’s nothing…”
Shangguan Bing Xue turned to look at two people and said in a firm voice, “Chen He, Zhong De, both of you are the commanders of the Blood Whip Legion and the Blood Sword Legion respectively. I want you to coordinate with the deputy leaders of each team, each brigade, and each battalion. Within 15 days we will begin a full-scale assault against Xuanyuan Wentian’s forces… Any questions?”
“This…” Chen He hesitated for a moment before saying in a careful voice, “Bing Xue, shall we send all our troops…?”
“Of course not,” Shangguan Bing Xue shook her head and said casually, “50% is more than enough to crush the other side. All they have to threaten us are nuclear weapons, even the one who leads them is just a useless piece of trash after all.”
The anger in her voice was tangible to anyone, and even though her words were a bit harsh, everyone present knew that Xuanyuan Wentian had practically been defeated in 1 vs 1 combat against her so no one said anything about it.
“Since there are no more questions, everyone can start moving now.”
Shangguan Bing Xue stood up and left without waiting for a word from anyone.
Looking at her back and the white hair that fell like a waterfall over it, Wu Yijun’s big black eyes flashed with a hint of sadness as she said in a low voice, “I…. This is the first time I’ve seen Bing Xue’s emotions this out of control…”
Chen He nodded and sighed without commenting on it.
Everyone was aware of where Shangguan Bing Xue’s anger was coming from. She blamed herself for what happened and told herself that if she had been more cautious Xuanyuan Wentian could never have escaped and therefore Bai Zemin would not be in a situation whose life or death was unknown.
If not for people like Zhong De, Evangeline, Kang Lan, and others who were under the effect of the Loyal Follower subclass confidently saying that Bai Zemin was alive, the Transcendent faction would have immediately split and the different leaders of each establishment would have started to fight for power.
At the end of the day, no matter how strong Shangguan Bing Xue was; the reason they were all united was because of Bai Zemin, and without him that union would no longer make any sense.
Bang!
Xiao Ming slammed his fist on the table and stood up, walking to the exit while spitting curses towards Xuanyuan Wentian and vowing to castrate him when he found him.
“Haha…” Wu Yijun laughed listlessly as she stood up but then again fell back in her seat after suddenly feeling dizzy.
Bai Delan gently patted Wu Yijun’s shoulder and said in a kind voice, “Yijun girl, you should go home and get some rest. You haven’t slept well for the past few weeks.”
Wu Yijun simply forced a smile but said nothing. She was tremendously worried and frightened, fearing what might happen to Bai Zemin, what might have happened to him, and what would happen in the future. Wu Yijun only felt at ease and peaceful with him around or else she could not even fall asleep not to mention the ever-increasing longing growing in her heart.
…
Several hours later, under the moonlight in one of the snow-covered forests.
Due to the low temperatures, the leaves of the trees had been cold-burned so that all their branches were brown with no trace of green. This added a different trace of beauty to the white landscape and now the moonbeams were able to reach the forest floor much more easily.
In the center of the forest, the snow had been frozen by a thick layer of ice that stretched for several kilometers. On top of the ice layer were thousands of statues of mutated beasts and zombies that had been frozen to death. Under the silver moonlight shine, the statues released a faint beautiful radiance despite how tetric it was to think about the fact that thousands of lives had been ended due to the ice that built them.
Standing in a clearing half ice and half snow, Shangguan Bing Xue looked up at the starry sky with sadness and guilt in her eyes. She closed her eyes, and as she remembered the helpless look on Bai Zemin’s face and the nuclear missile that forced him to open a portal to some unknown world, all that sadness began to turn into anger and desire for revenge.
“Xuanyuan… Wentian… I swear on my life to make you regret bringing me into this world!” she muttered with her pearly teeth firmly clenched.
Two hundred meters away at the top of a tree, Bai Shilin dressed in white snow clothes wriggled a little in Shangguan Xinyue’s embrace and said in a soft and innocent voice, “Say, grandmother. Is mother sad?”
Shangguan Xinyue looked at her daughter and sighed as she said softly, “Shilin, my treasure. Your mommy is sad because she was separated from your dad by the bad guys.”
“Oh…” Bai Shilin nodded slightly as if she understood but at the same time as if she didn’t. Then, she continued speaking softly, “Will papa come back soon? Shilin wants to see him soon.”
Shangguan Xinyue chuckled and kissed Bai Shilin’s forehead so hard that the girl began to protest weakly. Recalling her battle against Bai Zemin while she was still a Third Order zombie commander, Shangguan Xinyue assured her, “Don’t worry, little Shilin. Your dad is very strong for sure so he’ll surely be back soon, we just have to wait patiently.”
“Mm!” Bai Shilin nodded, and while wiping the drool from her forehead, she said loudly, “Shilin’s dad is the most powerful after all!”
* * *
At the same time in Eventide World, Forest of the Ancients.
The center of the Forest of the Ancients, an area forbidden to humans. This was a place that even the most powerful mutant beasts did not enter and the leaders of different races tried to avoid it whenever possible.
This previously quiet and desolate-looking place with large amounts of dark energy hovering everywhere had turned into a sea of blue flames. Roars of pain, swearing, as well as wailing echoed throughout the forest for a long time.
Standing in the midst of the sea of blue flames, Bai Zemin held onto his greatsword tightly and closed his eyes as he listened to the lamentation of the demons.
Elders, young ones, men, women, children…. He had slaughtered them all until there were none left regardless of their level or age.
He raised his head to look at the distant sky and asked in a low voice: “Say, Lilith…. Am I making a mistake in doing this?”
* * * * * * *
