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I see." Continuing in her role as Bai Zemin's personal servant, Lilith thought for a moment before explaining her idea, "I think the two ladies' words are correct and the best option is to infiltrate. Pretending to be an ordinary survivor you can not only get information about the important checkpoints that need to be attacked first, but you can also gather manpower from the inside."

"That idea is great!" Shangguan Bing Xue's eyes glittered and looked at her appreciatively, "If what that man named Luo Cheng and the rest said is true, then many survivors must be unhappy due to the way they are treated by the camp leaders but without receiving proper food. If we can bring them to our side they can certainly be of much help in case of need."

Bai Zemin remained silent for a minute or two until he finally decided, "Then so be it. Tomorrow when the sun rises, Fu Xuefeng and Zhong De will come with me to the Four Big Bosses Camp and we will pretend to be survivors to study the area before finally launching an attack to take control of the village."

Shangguan Bing Xue frowned and asked in confusion, "Why only the three of you?"

Bai Zemin looked at her for a moment and replied in a flat voice, "You, Wu Yijun, and Chen He are no good."

"What do you mean?" Wu Yijun looked at him with a playful smile, apparently already knowing the answer.

"You would attract too much attention." Bai Zemin shrugged and said casually, "You two are too beautiful women and Chen He is too handsome. On the other hand, Fu Xuefeng, Zhong De, and me are just average at best and won't attract anyone's attention after a few simple arrangements."

Hearing Bai Zemin's reply, Chen He unconsciously felt a little embarrassed but at the same time slightly proud because of his appearance. As for Shangguan Bing Xue, she finally silently accepted his reasoning and was secretly a little surprised as Bai Zemin was not praising her on her appearance; he was simply stating facts with complete indifference.

Even if she didn't particularly care about her appearance, Shangguan Bing Xue was a very smart woman and naturally knew that to men she was beautiful to the point where she sometimes appeared to be dazzling. Therefore, it was a rarity for someone not to praise her or actively try to court her. For a split second, she even thought that maybe they could be friends.

"You think so?" Wu Yijun stared at him and said with an honest expression, "I think you're quite handsome if we're talking physically... Especially lately."

Bai Zemin chuckled and shook his head, reluctant to comment on the matter. He knew better than anyone that his appearance wasn't dazzling by any means, but it wasn't bad either; it was just that he didn't think a beauty like Wu Yijun, who had seen handsome men like Chen He since she was a child, would think he was handsome.

Lilith looked at him from behind and secretly laughed. Bai Zemin might not notice it himself and even for the people around him, it would be different to notice it as the gradual change was hard to see. However, she could notice how very slowly, his appearance improved little by little; the more he leveled up, the more it improved.

The reason Wu Yijun said that especially lately was due to Bai Zemin's jump to First Order, a great milestone for any existence.

During dinner, they discussed a few more details and when everyone had eaten their fill they went to sleep comfortably. For the first time in half a month, everyone had beds to sleep in so practically every survivor went to sleep with a smile.

Something that used to be normal could now bring them so much joy... This was another proof that human beings really didn't know how to enjoy the small details.

* * *

After a refreshing night's sleep after such an eventful day of riding in which they were even threatened by a group of militants with guns, all the survivors inside the hotel woke up and the people in charge of food began to prepare breakfast.

Since the site was approximately twenty kilometers away from the village where the Four Big Bosses Camp was located, all activities that required going out were ceased to avoid being noticed.

As for Bai Zemin; he was currently sitting in the back seat of a pickup truck that had been taken yesterday from the militants.

Driving, Zhong De had a stoic expression as most of the time, and Fu Xuefeng, who was sitting in the passenger seat, looked nervous as he constantly rubbed his hands together while looking out the window cautiously.

All three wore tattered clothes with dusty faces and disheveled hair. The stink was so unbearable that they looked like someone who hadn't bathed for at least a week and if it wasn't for the fact that the three of them had already gotten used to the nauseating smell of blood and organs every time they killed zombies, they couldn't have endured it for that long.

No matter how much one looked at them, they definitely looked like wanderers; survivors who managed to evade being eaten by sheer luck and coincidence.

After about thirty minutes, Bai Zemin looked ahead and ordered, "Zhong De, stop the pickup truck here."

Without hesitation, Zhong De stopped the pickup truck at the edge of the road next to a small building.

Bai Zemin got out, followed by the other two, and they entered the building. He hid most of the contents of his fat backpack before taking a large plastic bag and putting in a small bag with 300 grams of rice and a carton of milk before stepping out again and continuing the ride south.

Ten minutes later, Bai Zemin narrowed his eyes and saw that a hundred meters ahead there were several wooden fences surrounding a small village as well as what appeared to be a watchtower about five meters high constructed with wood.

Two militants who were joking with each other without much concern seemed to be the custodians of the gate. Hearing the sound of the approaching engine, the two immediately became alert and raised their guns.

"Stop the vehicle and get down slowly or else we will shoot!" One of the militants shouted loudly.

Zhong De looked at Bai Zemin and seeing him nod slightly stopped the vehicle gradually until it came to a complete stop about ten meters far from the entrance to the village.

"Fu Xuefeng, you talk with them." Bai Zemin ordered and got out without waiting for a reply. As he got off the vehicle, he narrowed his eyes slightly and realized that the firearm in the militants' hands was actually two Type 79 submachine guns.

Although it was an old weapon that began to be mass-produced in the year 1983, it was a relatively powerful gun as it was capable of shooting up to 1000 rounds per minute... Of course, this would only be possible if it were not for its 20 round magazine capacity.

Still, with two Type 79 submachine guns at the forefront, even Zhong De and Fu Xuefeng could die if they were not careful.

Four eyes, are you fucking deaf?!" The militant who warned before yelled when he saw that Fu Xuefeng still didn't get off the pickup truck and stepped forward, "If you don't get off the damn car in five seconds I'll fill you with holes and feed you to the pigs!"

Fu Xuefeng finally reacted and quickly got off the vehicle. Being pointed at by such a weapon, his legs trembled and his face turned pale with fear. This was a Type 79 submachine gun, it was a completely different gun compared to the Type 54 pistol with which the militants assaulted them yesterday!

"Move." Bai Zemin whispered softly and walked forward followed closely by the other two.

"Damn, wasting our time." The militant from before grumbled again before looking the three up and down with a frown, "Where did you three come from? What are you coming to this place to do? This territory belongs to the Four Big Bosses!"

Fu Xuefeng looked at Bai Zemin subtly before he began to explain stammering, "W-We three are survivors from Beijing University. we escaped by fortune a few days ago and went into hiding..."

The reason Bai Zemin made Fu Xuefeng speak was precisely because of the nerves he felt. The militants could tell something was wrong if he or Zhong De spoke too much, after all, neither of them was actors and were too calm by nature.

As Fu Xuefeng answered questions, Bai Zemin scanned the surroundings subtly and was secretly surprised.

The wooden fences were useless for defending the village as a single evolved beast could easily tear them out of the ground. However, for normal low-level zombies that had no strength, these wooden fences were a major obstacle that could buy some time for the survivors.

In the streets, there were occasional people passing by wearing somewhat dirty and tattered clothes. The expressions of almost everyone were dark and their eyes glittered with fear as they cautiously looked around.

Most people were sitting outside their homes, staring at nothing with dead faces. Occasionally someone would squirm on the ground clutching their stomach hungrily, which was a clear sign that all these people had eaten too little or even nothing for quite some time.

"Hey! What are you bringing inside that bag!" The other militant seemed to be bored when he noticed the plastic bag in Bai Zemin's hands and immediately inquired loudly.

Bai Zemin looked at the militant and tried to put on a scared expression which failed miserably. In the end, in order not to cause any problems, he simply opened the bag quietly and showed the contents.

"Damn, is this guy mute or something?" The second militant muttered and casually looked inside the bag without much expectation. However, when he and his buddy saw the small bag with rice and the milk carton, their eyes lit up.

The first militant grabbed the small bag of rice and weighed it with his hand casually before exclaiming, "Damn it! It is more than 200 grams of white rice!"

The second militant also looked surprised and snatched the bag of rice from him to check it by himself.

In the camp, supplies were tightly controlled by the strongest of the four bosses, Ye Qigang. Normally, a person who did not work could only eat some rice made into mush diluted with water to form something similar to gruel but consisting mainly of water.

Except for the militants with guns who went out to risk their lives to fetch supplies, everyone inside the village was slowly starving to death. The four bosses obviously had no idea how to lead so many people as they did not even delegate jobs to give the village some brightness and order.

Even for these two militants guarding the entrance 500 grams of rice was small wealth. Working all day standing guard, they could at most earn 40 grams of rice each.

Bai Zemin's eyes glittered coldly. Although he already expected something like this, the brazen robbery still upset him. For the past half month, no one had dared to speak to him in such a tone, let alone try to steal from him, so naturally, his patience was wearing thin... But he endured and said nothing.

The militants looked at each other before looking at the three of them. The first militant to speak said in a deep voice: "As we are magnanimous, we will not examine your belongings and you can leave with that milk carton. As a token of kindness, let me tell you that west of town there are a few free houses still, you can use those."

Without waiting for a reply, the other militant waved his hand impatiently, "Hurry up and get out of here, you smell really gross!"

Zhong De looked at them coldly but seeing Bai Zemin subtly shaking his head, he finally looked down. The three of them walked into the village slowly, listening to the gloating laughter of the militants.

"Big brother Bai, why don't we just explode their heads and take over their guns?" Zhong De clenched his fists and cursed under his breath, "Damn those two dogs. A single blow from my fists is enough to make their heads explode into meat pulp but they dare to treat us like puppies?"

Bai Zemin laughed coldly and replied as he walked towards the south of the village, "Don't worry. When we get control of this whole place I'll see to it that they spit out those five hundred grams of rice completely even if I have to make them work as mules!"

Considering the rations they had, five hundred grams of rice could not be considered too much. However, no one would feel good if they were robbed and then acted as if nothing had happened; let alone Bai Zemin, who was slowly getting used to being in a position of power.

* * *

The village was not very large and in the past, only about sixty or seventy families lived there. However, due to the search for supplies carried out periodically by the four bosses, the number of survivors had increased exponentially so that makeshift huts had to be built.

Bai Zemin and the rest saw how a group of young children between eight and fourteen years old ran barefoot everywhere. They were all looking for small bugs that had not yet begun to mutate or tree bark to fill their empty stomachs. As the world changed, these children were also forced to change and leave their innocence behind to adapt to the new rules if they wanted to survive.

After walking for about five minutes, the group of three stopped in front of an ordinary-looking small house. The door was firmly closed but from outside they could hear a sweet voice singing like a happy bird coming from inside, which was a sharp contrast to the scene outside.

When Bai Zemin knocked softly on the wooden door and took a step back, the singing stopped and a sweet childish voice rang out, "One second please!"

A moment later, the door opened and the head of a little girl peeked out who immediately looked at them with her big eyes filled with curiosity.

"This... Hello! My name is Luo Ning, may I know what do you need?"

Bai Zemin looked at the girl in front of him with the same degree of curiosity she seemed to feel as she looked at them.

She was small, her body thin and petite without any sign of maturity, which was completely normal considering she was only nine years old. Her hair was as black as ink and her face extremely pretty like that of a porcelain doll. But the most striking thing was her eyes.

On the way here, Bai Zemin had seen other children and easily noticed that they all had cunning looks as they scanned the surroundings; like little foxes waiting for the perfect opportunity to launch an assault.

However, the eyes of the little girl in front of him were like two shining gems free of any impurity, it was as if even when the outside world had turned into hell it was incapable of staining her heart.

Just as she was happily singing a few moments ago inside the small house, it was as if the inside and outside were different dimensions,

Apparently that Luo Cheng guy did a good job taking care of his little sister. Bai Zemin silently analyzed as he crouched down to be at the girl's level.

"You are Luo Ning? My name is Bai Zemin and these two are my friends Fu Xuefeng and Zhong De." Bai Zemin smiled for the first time in a long time, a real smile and not a fake or forced one. "Your big brother's name is Luo Cheng, isn't it?"

Luo Ning's eyes shone with a hint of caution and she unconsciously stepped back slightly before cautiously asking, "This... Elder brothers, you are people sent by the four big village bosses? My big brother left yesterday morning but he still hasn't returned so..."

Seeing the girl's wariness, Bai Zemin took out the milk carton and held it forward as he said, "Actually, we are friends with your brother Luo Cheng. We met yesterday a few kilometers from here and we get along well."

"Oh..." The girl looked at the milk carton and swallowed softly. She obviously wanted it but still shook her head, "Elder brother, where is my brother?"

Bai Zemin didn't insist and gave the milk carton to Zhong De to look after before saying, "I'll take you to him tonight if you want. For now, how about giving me a walk around? I'd like to get to know the village more, if you're not too busy."

Luo Ning hesitated as she had heard her big brother Luo Cheng told her not to leave the house without him present. But it had been more than a day since he had left and there had been no news from him, so she was worried; after all, without her big brother she would not be able to survive alone in this world since he was her only source of dependability.

Besides, she somehow knew that the person in front of her would not hurt her. As for how such a thing was possible when she had just met him, it was unknown.

"Okay! Luo Ning will take you for a walk!" She closed the door and locked it with a small key she took out of her pocket before taking Bai Zemin's hand with a sweet smile.

The girl didn't seem to mind the smell on his body and didn't seem to be on guard either as she started walking pulling Bai Zemin's hand while pointing out some places.

"That's the place where the village fighters gather every day before going out to look for supplies or people."

This is where Boss Lei Su lives. Big brother, don't tell anyone but actually Boss Lei Su is a pervert with more than ten wives!"

"This is the village square and the bosses often gather the other survivors to give orders. It is also used as a gathering point every night where a big pot of food is made and distributed to the survivors!"

...

Bai Zemin walked hand in hand with Luo Ning, and the girl enthusiastically introduced the main places of the village. Her cheerful and lively attitude attracted a lot of attention as there were often survivors turning to look at her in astonishment, as if they could not believe that in such chaos there was a person who could act in such a way.

Even Bai Zemin had unconsciously relaxed, feeling the tension on his body ease. Luo Ning caused that Bai Zemin unconsciously thought on his little sister Meng Qi, so the girl had really started to like him.

Following them from behind, Fu Xuefeng and Zhong De were secretly surprised as this was the first time they had seen the normally cold and cruel Bai Zemin have such a gentle expression on his face.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the most luxurious villa of the village, an important discussion was taking place amidst a dark and heavy atmosphere.

Sitting on a couch and enjoying the tender hands of a woman massaging his shoulders, a burly man of about 35 years old had a grim expression on his scarred face.

This man was actually Ye Qigang, the strongest of the four camp leaders as well as the man with the most authority.

On another couch, to Ye Qigang's right, a middle-aged man was enjoying touching the breasts of two pretty women who had barely entered their thirties. His appearance was quite decent in comparison to Ye Qigang's deformed face, however, the truth was that this man was actually cruel and sadistic.

This man was Lei Su and it was said that more than three women had already died at his hands because they could not tolerate his "games" in bed.

At the left, on another small couch, a man between 25 and 30 years old with a monkey-like appearance was constantly looking around with cautious eyes. He was the only one without a woman accompanying him; this man was the third village boss, Du Meng.

"What about Yang Pei?" Lei Su casually asked as he continued to caress the two women's breasts. A strange smile formed on his lips and he laughed rampantly, "That idiot couldn't have amused himself with some booty? Hahaha!"

Du Meng looked at him without saying anything and his eyes glittered strangely.

"I don't think that's it..." Ye Qigang ignored Lei Su's jokes and shook his head.

Although Lei Su was a bit perverted and somewhat crazy, he was brave and could fight well so Ye Qigang tolerated him to the extent possible.

"I have a bad feeling." Ye Qigang muttered and the room went silent immediately.

Even Lei Su stopped playing and his expression changed slightly.

In the past, Ye Qigang had had several "bad feelings" and it was thanks to this that the three of them along with Yang Pei had managed to escape trouble. Even when the Soul Record came to Earth, it was thanks to Ye Qigang that the three of them were able to survive. Therefore, every time something happened, Lei Su and Du Meng knew that it was no time for jokes.

Ye Qigang waved his hand and the woman behind him stopped massaging him. He stood up and said in a deep voice: "Du Meng, prepare your men and scout the surrounding areas but don't go too far away. Lei Su, take twenty men and go up north... It is possible that Yang Pei has encountered problems and if that's the case he might need help."

Du Meng stood up without a word and went out the front door.

As for Lei Su, he licked his lips and ran out anxiously since every time he went out if he found some pretty woman he could have fun first.