inko
Besides improving himself, Bai Zemin really needed Nangong Lingxin to become as strong as possible in the shortest possible amount of time. Her Energy Barrier skill was very valuable to Bai Zemin as her defense was even greater than Shangguan Bing Xue's ice creations. The more powerful Nangong Lingxin became, her usefulness to him and the amount of help she would be able to give him in the future would increase accordingly so no matter how Bai Zemin looked at it there was nothing to lose.
Nangong Lingxin's eyes sparkled with gratitude as she looked at the young man in front of her. She was fully aware of how important this bridge was to Bai Zemin, a single mistake meant that they would all have to turn around to go back the way they came and thus find another way.
If that happened, not only would the two days of travel so far be wasted as well as fuel and food but they would also have to travel another two days to retrace their previous steps, after finding another road they would have to slowly clear the route as unlike this one probably no large group had passed by there to have the need to move vehicles and other obstacles. In the end, they would probably lose about a week of time before finally reaching the Beginning Village.
To say that the bridge before them was a treasure was not an exaggeration from a certain point of view. At least, it would be one until all the vehicles crossed to the other side.
Therefore, Nangong Lingxin felt a little touched by the trust Bai Zemin was placing in her. Of course, she was aware that with him present, major mishaps were unlikely to arise. But this did not diminish her inner joy at all.
"Be careful."
Nangong Yi approached and said in a deep voice as he looked at his younger sister. Other than his father in Beginning Village, his sister was the only thing he had in this life and losing her would leave him devastated.
Nangong Lingxin said nothing and simply nodded firmly. She was aware that if she received even the slightest scratch from the giant zombie it would be all over for her; although considering the power that monstrous beast was demonstrating it was likely that one slap would be enough to crush her small body.
Under the watchful eyes of everyone, she advanced with firm steps while maintaining her head up and looking at the giant zombie that was still tasting its food without worrying at all about the army in the distance.
She wore leather armor that clenched every curve of her body tightly and clung to her figure perfectly, exposing part of her white thighs and her waist along with the junction of her limbs to prevent her movements from being obstructed to a great extent.
Her extremely hot body, especially the bust area, continually attracted the gaze of countless men no matter where she went. In fact, were it not for the fact that it was widely known that Nangong Lingxin was not only a powerful soul evolver on the verge of breaking through the barrier to the first stage of real evolution as well as one of the three people who came alongside the Supreme Leader to conquer the North Camp it was highly likely that some powerful official would have tried to do something to obtain her.
Although using strength was firmly forbidden and was punishable with death, if it was not exposed no one had anything to worry about and a woman with a seductive beauty like Nangong Lingxin's was enough to tempt and cloud the thoughts of most men.
Naturally, so far there had been a number of men with prestige and some power who had approached Nangong Lingxin in an attempt to woo her or to gradually get closer. However, she did not seem interested in romance. This led many to believe that, perhaps, she was only interested in a one-night relationship, which was also fine with them; after all, a young 27-year-old woman like Nangong Lingxin should also have her own physical needs in the bedroom.
Unfortunately, this did not seem to be the case either since the last time someone dared to make
an indecent proposal to her without the slightest tact was beaten black and blue by her own hands.
In the end, Nangong Lingxin became a sun-like existence. She was beautiful and extremely hot, but if anyone tried to get close to her, they would definitely get burned.
Ignoring the heated gazes she felt pricking her back, Nangongong Lingxin advanced with her head held high like a proud and arrogant swan. She wasn't worried at all even though she knew that the difference in power between the giant zombie and her was definitely great enough to die in an instant if she was hit.
The reason behind her confidence came from the fact that she precisely needed to be attacked.
The giant zombie noticed a tiny human approaching its area and stopped its movements, ceasing to eat the body of the mutant boar it had killed and captured earlier.
Roar!
A terrifying roar came out of the beast's mouth and just when everyone thought it was a warning sign, the giant zombie raised its right arm high in the sky and extended it backward. Then, under the stupefied and scared gaze of everyone, the creature swung its arm fiercely forward and released its grip on the mutant boar's corpse.
The two-meter tall but incomplete body literally flew like a cannonball towards Nangong Lingxin. The different soldiers and soul evolvers were terrified to witness this and many of them even closed their eyes as if they did not want to see the scene of such a beautiful flower being crushed.
Even Nangong Yi could not help but worry for the safety of his beloved sister. The strength with which that giant zombie had thrown that animal's body was enough to compete with him after activating all of his power-up skills! This did not mean that Nangong Yi could compete against the giant zombie at all, after all, a scratch meant the end; it was precisely because of this that he did not dare to step forward when Bai Zemin suggested that one of them deal with the beast.
Nangong Lingxin did not panic and instead hurriedly extended both hands forward. Her mature voice rang out:
"Barrier!"
Flash!
Multicolored light flashed in her soft palm and in an instant, the light spread out to form a three-meter wide barrier whose thickness was comparable to that of a normal concrete wall.
Bang!
The mutant boar's corpse powerfully impacted against the barrier erected by Nangong Lingxin, causing the barrier to shudder fiercely and even tiny cracks to appear.
Nangong Lingxin's curvy body shuddered for a second before she gritted her teeth and expended a small portion of her Mana to repair the damage on the barrier. She could not afford to have her barrier destroyed as the consequence would be to suffer a huge backlash!
For a few seconds, the resulting strength after the throw made by the giant zombie caused Nangong Lingxin to have trouble resisting. However, when this strength was completely nullified, all that remained was the natural weight of the mutant boar's corpse and this no longer posed any challenge for her.
The giant zombie roared again before beginning its forward charge. Although it was like a raging bull, its Agility was only around 40 points; this, while enough to make a normal human despair and completely different from the slow movement of normal zombies, was no big deal in Nangong Lingxin's eyes.
Nangong Lingxin reduced the size of her barrier to only one meter wide, which also caused the required Mana consumption to be reduced to 1/3 compared to the previous three-meter wide barrier. Then, she activated the skill she was eager to test.
Her thick red lips moved slightly and she whispered in a voice that only she could hear:
"Reflect."
A huge wave of invisible mana burst outward and in an instant blasted the giant zombie's body.
Bang!
The beast was taken by surprise and without even knowing what happened its charge was stopped as it was forced to take several steps back. A bizarre roar escaped automatically from its bloodied mouth while the right arm, the place that received the impact, bled continuously.
"Awesome!"
Nangong Yi relaxed as he shouted in joy and surprise. Even he didn't know that his sister had gotten her hands on a skill of such quality!
The night the beasts attacked the North Camp's base, Bai Zemin had said that the scrolls and treasures everyone obtained from their hunt that night would belong exclusively to them. This caused many to become much more powerful overnight and in return, Bai Zemin gained even more prestige among his troops and stronger soul evolvers.
Bai Zemin was also slightly taken aback as he could not even notice how it was that Nangong Lingxin attacked at the first instant. He didn't expect her to acquire such a good skill but he wasn't upset either as he knew that if it was him who slew the beast she killed, which was probably First Order, he definitely wouldn't have received anything due to the huge power difference.
Nangong Lingxin did not wait for the giant zombie to recover and instead leaned her body forward as she ran at full speed to begin what was a fierce melee combat. After all, despite the fact that she was a mage, her skills were focused on melee and ranged fighting equally.
The giant zombie steadied its body and swung its fist downward with the intention of crushing the small ant-like human.
Bang!
The fist the size of a giant truck cab impacted harshly on Nangong Lingxin's barrier, causing the cracks to reappear. However, the cracks were soon repaired and the same thing happened as before.
Bang!
The wounds on the giant zombie's right arm opened even wider and the beast let out a roar that sent chills down the spine of everyone watching the battle from a distance.
Apparently, this First Order zombie was not immune to pain like the Unclassified zombies!
Nangong Lingxin seized the opportunity and unsheathed her sword from her small waist. With a swift movement to the side, she jumped and slashed the zombie's arm. Although it was just a normal slash with no ability, her sword was a Rank 1 weapon with over 400 physical attack damage!
Surprisingly, when her sword struck the zombie's skin, a clanking sound echoed across the battlefield.
She frowned as she felt the hardness transmitted from the blade of the sword to the hilt. Her frown deepened slightly as she noticed that she had barely managed to pierce 1 centimeter of skin; considering how thick the beast's arm was before her, even a thousand cuts would not be enough to pierce it completely!
The giant zombie suddenly grabbed a nearby family-sized car and used it as a weapon to smash Nangong Lingxin. She, fortunately, was counting on her barrier to save her life.
Boom!
The weight of the car, the weight of the giant zombie's arm, the gravitational force as well as the Strength that the creature had used to defy the frictional force caused by the wind; all came together as one and caused dozens of cracks to appear on the magic barrier.
Nangong Lingxin's little mouth opened slightly and a small grunt of pain escaped from her half-open lips. She immediately gritted her teeth and to prevent the cracks from spreading further she increased the supply of Mana to the barrier.
Flash!
The multicolored glow over the barrier increased several folds and the cracks disappeared without a trace. Followed by this, Nango
Nangong Lingxin's voice sounded again and only the zombie with 0 intelligence heard it:
"Reflect!
Boom!
The left arm with which the zombie was clinging to the car suddenly bent at an impossible angle backward and a roar that shook the bridge caused the eardrums of several armed men 300 meters in the distance to start bleeding.
Bang!
The giant zombie's body fell to the ground and Nangong Lingxin seized the opportunity as she activated another of her reserve skills.
When Nangong Lingxin arrived at the Beginning Village together with her older brother and her injured father, she decided to join without hesitation after hearing that apart from losing part of her freedom there were only benefits. Of course, all this downplaying the matter of a possible betrayal; but the her of that moment never thought of betrayal since no matter how powerful she or her brother were, they definitely could not survive alone for a long time and even less so with their father, who was just a normal man without any power.
After Kang Lan healed her father, she and her brother Nangong Yi met Shangguan Bing Xue and shared their skills with her. Immediately after that, they both officially joined the faction that a young man named Bai Zemin was leading and began to team up with other soul evolvers and armed troops to gather supplies and expand the controlled area while searching for survivors.
A week later, Nangong Lingxin met Bai Zemin. Since she was new into the faction and it was the first time she had met him, she naturally had to talk about her skills as well; it was just that Bai Zemin's attention had mainly focused on her Energy Barrier, ignoring the skill that was then one of her two.
As time passed, Nangong Lingxin acquired the skill Lightning Movement after consuming the Lightning Fruit that Bai Zemin bestowed to her not long ago and the skill Reflect after killing a First Order beast so her active skill pool was 4 and would be only one away from the limit set by her power scale were it not for the fact that one of these skills had been obtained through the consumption of a natural treasure.
Lightning Movement, Energy Barrier, Reflect... and her 4th active skill was a not too flashy one but still useful in certain circumstances.
For example, this skill was very useful in the current situation.
Seeing the giant zombie fall, Nangong Lingxin didn't even hesitate for an instant as she hurriedly sent out a mental thought along with a Mana wave to stimulate the rune that had a strange drawing engraved on the surface.
"Cat's Eyes." She muttered and immediately felt a slight stinging in her eyes that for an instant forced her to blink.
When her eyes opened a moment later, the world before her did not seem to have changed at all and for an instant, she even went so far as to think that the skill had not been properly activated. However, when Nangong Lingxin looked at the giant zombie that was struggling to stand up with some difficulty due to its size and weight, she noticed that there were several fluorescent green dots marked on the giant zombie's body; dots that previously she could not see with her honey-colored eyes but with her current light green eyes she could.
--------------------------
[Cat's Eyes (First Order active skill) level 2: Consumes 20 Mana points to activate and 1 point every 3 seconds to keep the skill active. Effect: Increases the user's vision range by 50% and increases perception by 15%. When fighting against enemies whose size is at least three times that of the user and whose Strength exceeds the user's, the user will be able to see the weak points of an enemy that does not exceed the user's level by more than 30, thus pointing out places where the defense is especially low. After deactivation, Cat's Eyes goes into cooldown for 3 hours.]
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The sword in Nangong Lingxin's hands flashed under her sharp and swift movements.
Rays of sunlight reflected off the blade of the sword constantly and with each swing of her wrist it was as if countless sword slashes were sent towards different parts of the giant zombie's body.
The giant zombie roared in pain as it received several attacks in sync on areas that were not only its weak points but were also in poor condition due to the injuries it had suffered earlier.
Nangong Lingxin's attacks were fierce and precise. She not only attacked the giant zombie's arms but also attacked its eyes, throat, legs, etc. It was only a few seconds but in that brief moment, the giant beast's body was bathed in its own blood.
Nangong Lingxin's sword, which previously could barely break through the giant zombie's defense, now seemed to have been transformed into a legendary sword as it easily pierced through the skin and flesh of the mutant creature.
Swoosh!
As she focused on attacking, a breeze of wind from one of her sides snapped her out of her murderous frenzy and without even looking hurriedly moved the defensive barrier to that side.
Bang!
The giant zombie had swung one of its legs like a whip and the blow had been so strong that Nangong Lingxin was forced back a dozen meters even though her body had not been hit directly.
A thick crack appeared on the magic barrier and even though Nangong Lingxin was constantly supplying Mana, that crack was only slightly repaired but did not disappear completely. This was proof that she was running out of Mana and draining fast.
"Ugh..." A small whimper escaped from her lips as she used her sword to stop her body.
Maintaining 3 active skills was by no means a simple task for an Unclassified existence like her. Even less so when all of these skills were of First Order.
Realizing that she had to end this quickly, Nangong Lingxin did not give the giant zombie a chance to stand up and ignoring the pain she felt in her chest charged forward like a fearless and brave tigress.
The giant zombie evidently could not move with complete freedom due to its exaggerated muscles obstructing its own movements. However, its power was undeniable.
Seeing that the hateful human was coming back for more, the giant zombie's red eyes glowed viciously and with a ferocious roar, it smashed its hand up and down.
The air pulsed and the atmosphere seemed to freeze as a result of the beast's Strength. What was worse was that with the magic barrier damaged, Nangong Lingxin knew instinctively that it would not be able to withstand this attack!
All or nothing! Nangong Lingxin gritted her teeth and deactivated her defensive skill, completely giving up on defense since it was of no use at this point. However, even though she deactivated one active skill, she used her remaining Mana to activate the only active skill in her arsenal that had not been used by her in this day so far.
[Lightning Movement!]
Lightning crackled over her leather armor, illuminating her flawless skin and sending chills up and down her body. Only a few inches from being struck, her limber waist swayed tantalizingly and an instant later she seemed to disappear from her previous position.
Boom!
The zombie's giant hand struck the bridge, causing it to shudder and under everyone's startled eyes, the part that had just taken the impact broke away from t
he rest.
The bridge was about a hundred meters wide, but now, a large amount of concrete flew straight down and hit the waters below hard.
A huge wave rose high in the sky and as the river water swirled fiercely, several creatures appeared near the surface, baring their sharp teeth menacingly. There was even a small goldfish that had mutated and was now comparable in size to a shark before the apocalypse; it was clearly a powerful First Order beast.
Seeing approximately 10 meters of the initial part of the bridge being ripped away by the giant zombie's ferocious swipe, Bai Zemin did not panic at all. As long as there was room for the caravan to pass it was enough even if they had to pass that part of the bridge one by one.
Swoosh!
Nangong Lingxin appeared right above the chest of the huge beast. Her size was completely disproportionate compared to the creature beneath her feet, similar to an ant next to the walls of a house.
When her now green eyes due to her Cat Eyes skill met the beast's red eyes, all Nangong Lingxin saw in that gaze was murderous intent without the slightest sign of intelligence. But even if there was, the creature before her eyes had long since stopped being human and the condition of its body was proof of that.
A tiny fluorescent dot that would normally be impossible to reach due to the size difference entered Nangong Lingxin's eyes as she stared right at the center of the monster's forehead. With barely a couple of seconds remaining before her Mana was completely consumed, she stepped forward and stabbed ahead with her sword.
Puchi!
The tip of the sword's blade easily pierced the creature's forehead, burying itself beyond the skull as if it were a hot knife cutting through butter. Nangong Lingxin's body bowed and she made use of her own weight to plunge the entire blade of her sword all the way to the hilt into the monster's head.
The giant zombie shuddered for a moment before its mouth let out a strange sound and its movements froze completely.
Nangong Lingxin put a foot on the beast's face and then pulled her sword back.
Blood slowly flowed from the small hole along with small fragments of what appeared to be brain matter, giving the already hideous creature an even more horrifying appearance.
[You have absorbed the Soul Power of First Order Brutal Zombie level 42. You have obtained Strength +67, Agility +7, Health +42, Stamina +64, Mana +19, Magic +18.]
Nangong Lingxin gasped heavily and needed to make use of her sword to steady herself without falling. Her body was bathed in sweat, some strands of her lustrous dark hair had stuck to her lovely pale face while her chest rose and fell repeatedly as proof of how desperately her lungs were searching for air.
"Not bad."
A slightly lazy but with a hint of praise voice came from somewhere, attracting her attention.
Nangong Lingxin raised her head and used her tired eyes to look up at the top of one of the columns supporting several decorative bars on the bridge. There, sitting on the edge of the column, the shadow of a person was vaguely distinguishable under the bright sun behind its back.
Although she could not see him, she knew that this person was Bai Zemin as his voice was unmistakable. That self-confidence was clear as day and as big as the sun.
A happy smile automatically appeared on her face, causing many men in the distance who saw this to feel their throats go dry.
Nangong Lingxin was happy, how could she not be? Even though she was only a level 25 Unclassified existence, she had just defeated and killed a First Order existence higher than level 40 with her own hands!
Even if all the conditions had been set before her to win, a victory was a victory!
However, the exhaustion of not only Stamina but also Mana made Nangong Lingxin finally unable to take it anymore. Unable to help herself, her eyes closed and her body weakened, slowly losing her grip on her sword.
Swoosh!
A large glowing red hand caught her body before she felfell while another smaller hand grabbed the sword and returned it to its sheath.
Bai Zemin waved his hand casually and the red hand flew into the distance.
As Nangong Lingxin was slowly lowered by the giant blood hand under everyone's surprised eyes, Bai Zemin's voice rang out:
"Nangong Yi, you take care of her. The rest of you, prepare to move. We are leaving immediately."
Bai Zemin confirmed that there was no Soul Stone in the giant zombie's head, and by the time everyone raised their heads, he was nowhere to be seen; he had disappeared like a ghost, as quickly as he had appeared.
Nangong Yi hurriedly took his sister's body in his arms and retreated from the front, entering a vehicle and personally taking care of her until the moment she woke up.
Nangong Lingxin's heroic bravery along with her strength and fighting ability had been demonstrated before all. Many men felt ashamed of themselves and those who had previously had the idea of wooing her could not help but feel unworthy.
With the death of the First Order Brutal Zombie that was blocking the road, now all that was left was to slowly start moving the vehicles at the front that had been overturned or sent flying into the middle of the bridge by the sudden movements of the beast or some battle that may have broken out there.
After Bai Zemin retreated from the front lines, several soul evolvers and armed soldiers carefully advanced and began to move out the troublesome vehicles cautiously to clear the way.
On the other hand, Fu Xuefeng stepped forward and aimed Infinite Reduction, the Epic grade treasure, and pulled the trigger in the direction of the Brutal Zombie's corpse. The energy beam immediately began to work and in a matter of seconds, the creature's body had been reduced to a small miniature. Then, with the teamwork of several soul evolvers, the body was moved to one of the modified trucks.
Most of the soul evolvers had followed the advice of the veterans, focusing mainly on three stats; Strength, Agility, and finally Stamina. These three were the main stats to ensure minimum safety in combat against zombies and other enemy creatures.
Regardless of whether it was in movies or books, Bai Zemin had always seen or read that raising a mage was much more difficult than raising a warrior. Now, he was experiencing it in real life.
Anyone could be a warrior, but not everyone could be a mage. This was because not everyone had a high Magic stat at the beginning of evolution like Kang Lan, and distributing points to that stat at the beginning of the apocalypse was not a good idea unless someone powerful protected you until the time you got big enough. This was precisely what happened with Kang Lan, since at the beginning she was the weakest by far, needing everyone's protection until several days later when her investment in Mana and Magic began to show its fruits.
...
"You took longer than I thought. Any problems?"
Shangguan Bing Xue looked at Bai Zemin curiously as she watched him return to the interior of the vehicle.
He ordered the driver to start the engine again and then looked at her before replying, "It's nothing important. It was just a giant First Order zombie blocking the road to the south, Nangong Lingxin took care of the creature splendidly."
"Oh?" Shangguan Bing Xue raised an eyebrow in surprise and said lightly, "That's quite surprising. I think other than the past you, Chen He, and myself.... Probably only Cai Jingyi has the ability to fight against a First Order existence despite being only an Unclassified existence. To think that Nangong Lingxin would also become so powerful."
Fighting against an existence one stage higher was a bit odd but not too surprising either. There were always several beings in every world capable of accomplishing such a thing.
On the other hand, killing a higher stage existence was considered an amazing feat in the entire universe. Relatively speaking, very few existences had the ability to do such a thing; each and every one of them were geniuses among geniuses, beings capable of becoming Higher Existences if they did not fall before reaching the necessary requirement.
Even though Nangong Lingxin's enemy was exactly the kind of enemy she did not fear thanks to her skills that were perfectly suited to combat strength-but-slow type existences, a victory was indeed a victory.
"You, Evangeline, Cai Jingyi, Nangong Lingxin, Chen He..." Bai Zemin calmly reviewed aloud, "For now, you five can be said to be the central pillars of the faction. Although Fu Xuefeng, Kang Lan, Zhong De, and Nangong Yi are extremely powerful, they still need a signature skill, something that becomes their fatal moves to take the life of someone who surpasses them in terms of power."
Shangguan Bing Xue was silent for a brief moment, and after some thought, she realized that Bai Zemin's words made a lot of sense.
Leaving aside Bai Zemin himself and Shangguan Bing Xue herself; Evangeline, Cai Jingyi, Nangong Lingxin, and Chen He had their specialties that somehow made them stand out from the rest.
For example: Evangeline's whole body was a lethal weapon. Cai Jingyi was not only fast and quick to learn the use of different weapons but also extremely cunning like a fox. Nangong Lingxin possessed a powerful defensive skill capable of withstanding the blows of a being in a higher Order, which served to buy time and seek a path to victory. Chen He possessed a very high talent for melee and ranged combat, which if not for monsters like Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue would probably make him the most powerful of the faction.
All of the aforementioned had in some way or another the ability to oppose beings that surpassed them. They were true geniuses, some of them were born privileged as was the case with Chen He while others had to work hard to get where they were, as was the case with Evangeline.
"I think you also forget one person." Shangguan Bing Xue suddenly thought of something and pointed.
Bai Zemin looked at her puzzled, and after a moment, he asked, "Who?"
"It's Yijun." She said earnestly.
Yijun? Bai Zemin blinked blankly before the image of a beautiful young woman appeared in his mind. Even though it had been little more than a week, for an instant he had even forgotten Wu Yijun's existence. After all, a lot had happened during this period of time.
"Even though her skill Plant Empowerment allows her to fight several hundred enemies and even thousands at the same time, I don't think the current her possesses the ability to fight a First Order being while she is an Unclassified existence." Bai Zemin reasoned calmly.
Wu Yijun was undoubtedly powerful. In the entire faction led by Bai Zemin, apart from Shangguan Bing Xue, Wu Yijun was the only one with the ability to be able to kill hundreds of enemies in an instant as long as she had plants or seeds around her. However, this was not enough to consider her a genius; at least, not from Bai Zemin's point of view.
As the vehicles began to move again, indicating that the march had resumed, Shangguan Bing Xue gently shook her head and said something that greatly surprised Bai Zemin.
"Currently, Yijun has already become a First Order existence three days ago."
"Oh?... That's great." Bai Zemin was naturally pleased.
A First Order existence might be nothing in his eyes, but for a faction as it was, a First Order existence was no different from a powerful guardian and general.
But Shangguan Bing Xue was still not finished. She continued:
"Do you know what was one of the requirements Yijun had to complete for the Soul Record to allow her to breakthrough?"
Bai Zemin narrowed his eyes slightly as an idea flashed in his heart.
Looking at him silently, she stared at him to study his expression before slowly saying:
"To advance to First Order, Yijun had to defeat a First Order plant-type creature and obtain a First Order Soul Stone by herself to then evolve her Plant Empowerment skill to the next stage."
Bai Zemin's eyes lit up upon hearing this, realizing what those words represented.
After a moment of silence, he chuckled and said quietly, "I guess you can count her too then."
Mhm." Shangguan Bing Xue nodded in satisfaction and didn't say much more. She just hoped that her best friend's efforts would not go unnoticed by the person she was trying to surprise to catch his attention.
...
Time passed very slowly, especially since the trip was extremely tiring and boring. Since no one had anything to do, 90% of the time was spent inside the different vehicles; the only reason they got out was to prepare food and eat.
Except for meal times, all the survivors spent all their time in the vehicles and even slept in them. While many were anxious to get off, no one said anything, much less dared to complain. They were all people who had already seen with their own eyes how cruel the outside world was and were aware of how blessed they were to have people willing to protect them.
The various drivers of the vehicles rotated every 6-hour turn, allowing the others to rest and spend time with their loved ones.
Throughout the ride, while the caravan encountered a few zombies or mutant beast attacks, nothing too major happened. All problems were solved before they grew to become headaches for the soldiers or soul evolvers.
There was not even one instance where Bai Zemin's strength required presence so he was able to relax. Although it was not much, the fruits of his efforts were slowly beginning to show.
Although these fruits were still small and unripe, at least he began to see and understand the reason why Lilith always tried to make him build an army that would follow his commands. If everything required his presence and act, Bai Zemin might fall due to exhaustion or neglect important things due to lack of time.
* * *
Three days later.
A huge caravan composed of more than 300 large vehicles was moving at a steady speed along one of the main roads leading to Baiquan Subdistrict, the subdistrict bordering Yanqing District and Changping District.
In the distance, the drivers of the first vehicles in the caravan caught sight of a large lineup ahead, which caused them to unconsciously slow down.
A large troop of armed men consisting of two hundred soldiers neatly dressed in military uniforms and another two hundred men dressed in light armor and swords were firmly guarding the passing road, and anyone who wanted to force their way through this area would definitely have to pay a huge price as apart from this troop of four hundred men there were also several vehicles with mounted weapons and some heavy machine guns on top of what appeared to be a large wooden wall.
The first vehicle leading the caravan stopped a hundred meters away and little by little the rest of the vehicles following the lead vehicle slowed down until finally coming to a complete stop.
A modified military jeep came out from inside the base, stopping 50 meters away from the caravan. The doors opened almost simultaneously, and four people got out; two men and two women.
All four appeared to be young, young enough to be college students.
One of the males was burly and tall with a serious look, the other was handsome like an elf from the legends and his bright eyes sparkled with excitement as he stared at the vehicle from a short distance away.
As for the women; one of them had a small and lithe body along with a witty smile on her face, the other had an incredibly sexy body coupled with an angelic face and pure eyes that stared at the vehicle from a short distance with the same intensity as the aforementioned man.
The lead vehicle started up again, moving forward and stopping ten meters away from the modified military jeep.
The doors of the lead vehicle opened in unison and slowly, four people descended.
As in the previous case, those who descended were two men and two women.
The eight people looked at each other in silence for a few moments, each one of them with different thoughts.
Although they had not seen each other for several days in the midst of this chaotic world, being far from each other by a distance of several days' travel, the eight did not feel in any way strange when they met again.
After all, these eight had fought countless battles together since the first day the world changed with the appearance of the Soul Record and the activation of the world's mana.
The eight of them had been part of the initial team that, after much effort, not only managed to escape from the university that had then become a prison but also managed to form together what was now a large faction with almost 10,000 survivors and a powerful army of armed and evolved men.
The four people who descended from the modified military jeep were Zhong De, Chen He, Cai Jingyi, and Wu Yijun.
On the other hand, those who had descended from the lead vehicle of the huge caravan were Fu Xuefeng, Bai Zemin, Shangguan Bing Xue, and Kang Lan.
None of them knew if they would still be alive tomorrow. Safety was not a guaranteed thing for anyone and each of them was aware that perhaps a moment later it would all end.
However, as they had done in the past and as they had done to this day, they would fight.
They would fight together.
After all, for better or worse, the eight of them were a team.
Bai Zemin's thoughts were probably the most indifferent. He was using his sharp eyes to see if he could get anything from the aura of the people before him to understand what level of power they were at.
However, he didn't have too much free time to think or to analyze things as one of the women on the other side did something that shocked him.