UPC

King?" Shen Mei blinked in surprise and while looking Bai Zemin straight in the eyes asked a little lost, "Excuse me but I don't understand what you mean with that."

She understood the matter of the division of levels by means of a single title, something that was indeed simple and without too much structure but definitely organized and clear enough to avoid problems. It was a scale of divisions that could undoubtedly work for a long time and only when the faction wanted to take a huge step would it be necessary to make adjustments to polish the overall structure in order to move forward without staggering in the process like an old machine and losing several crucial pieces.

However, Shen Mei did not understand the matter of 'King'.... No, rather than not understanding it, she simply didn't want to think about it.

"Just as you heard." Bai Zemin said without changing his tone of voice. "The initial goal of our Transcendent faction is to control the entirety of China and unify all these lands under a single standard. Although there will be a government cabinet and those holding high-level Noble titles will be able to give opinions and even interfere in decision making, the final say will always be mine. Basically, I aim to become the King of these lands and subsequently Emperor once all enemy races are expelled."

"..." Shen Mei gawked at him and after several seconds of silence whispered, "Are you crazy...?"

"Who knows..." Bai Zemin chuckled and his eyes glittered strangely as he pointed behind him and calmly said, "That question was asked to me many times until now. You are not the first and several of those here thought the same as you. For all of them, it hasn't even been 1 month since they received the news of that target of mine.... But tell me what do you see in their faces now?"

"What do I see in their faces now?" Shen Mei repeated the question as it caught her off guard. Still, she looked into the eyes of those she could see.

Confidence, faith, pride, anxiety, desire, greed, certitude, cunning, etc.

Shen Mei saw many emotions flashing in the different soul evolvers, emotions that were as clear as sunlight for all to see.

They all seemed to be confident about the future, to have faith in something or someone, proud of their own strength and position, anxious to try something, desirous to achieve a certain goal, greedy for the benefits they will receive, certain that something will happen, cunning enough to take advantage of the opportunities they were given, etc.

If all these emotions were there because of what Bai Zemin had just said.... Shen Mei was frightened at the same time as her heart thudded.

Her dark eyes met the dark eyes of the Transcendent faction leader, trying to find what it was that others saw in him to follow him practically blindly even though they probably all knew that a single mistake would mean the end of their paths. A single mistake would mark the end, an end even more severe than the one brought by the changes of the Soul Record since this end would not mean the end of an era but the end of their lives!

"You don't need to think about it too much." Wu Yijun stepped forward and stood a step behind Bai Zemin.

She looked at Shen Mei with a small smile on her beautiful baby face and said word by word:

"Earlier, you were probably able to see what Bai Zemin's power can do. His current power has reached a realm that honestly even I am surprised even though I have been following him practically from the moment the world changed. However, even though his personal power reached a level that someone like me cannot comprehend, he never misused that power. There are many beautiful women willing to be with him but for the sake of finding his loved ones and for the sake of building a safer world for them, he never even stopped for a day to rest let alone flirt.... All of us here believe that following such a leader is not that bad despite the danger that failing in our path represents."

That's true!" Little Luo Ning suddenly rushed out of the lines and stood next to Bai Zemin as she said loudly, "Big brother Bai is really good! Unlike that old man named Lei Su who had many wives and mistreated them, big brother Bai doesn't even have a single girlfriend!"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Luo Ning's words immediately caused the original soul evolvers of the Transcendent faction to burst into laughter. Of course, rather than mockery over Bai Zemin's situation, the reason they were all laughing was because Luo Ning had actually done it again one more time!

After all, everyone was more than aware that if he wanted, forget about having a girlfriend; even having 2000 girlfriends wasn't difficult at all! He wouldn't even have to look for them and 90% of the female soul evolvers of the faction, which were mostly beauties after evolving and absorbing Soul Power purer than theirs, would line up to join him.

"These bastards..." Bai Zemin looked behind him and muttered through gritted teeth. Soon, however, his expression relaxed and he shook his head not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

It was naturally impossible to get angry over something as childish as this. Besides, Bai Zemin felt that it wasn't so bad to let his subordinates relax a little after experiencing so many abrupt emotional ups and downs.

'Uh?' Bai Zemin blinked in shock. If it was before he definitely wouldn't have thought like this!

Even if he didn't care, at least he wouldn't worry about the mental state of subordinates who were just a means to an end; no matter how slight and insignificant that concern was!

'Is it because of this title?' His attention focused on a certain record, attracted by the title Bright Mind he had just received.

Apparently, the title Bright Mind judged by itself that Bai Zemin's practically inhuman thought was detrimental to him so the effect of the skill Stone Heart was suppressed by 10%.... As to whether it was only the thought of "slight concern" that would appear or whether more would appear was yet to be seen as this title had just been born.

While Bai Zemin was lost in his own thoughts, Shen Mei watched the relieved and smiling expressions of the original members of the Blood Spear Legion. As she watched everyone laugh nonchalantly, as she watched the little girl who could summon strange cats from the shadows narrow her eyes cutely and laugh next to the leader of the Transcendent faction, for some strange reason her heart shuddered strongly.

For the first time, Shen Mei's heart and emotions completely overwhelmed her ever rational brain and mind; rational enough to make wise and optimal choices in times of need as had happened after deciding to let the then enemy Fu Xuefeng go alive.

'So, this is the faction these people call Transcendent...' She thought to herself before resting her eyes on Bai Zemin. 'Even though he was nothing more than a 20 year old college student in the past.... How did he manage to unite all these people under his standard?'

At this moment, rather than a leader guiding his subordinates, the members of the Transcendent faction looked like a family more than a military unit composed of soul evolvers!

Hehe... I hope getting carried away by the emotions of the moment won't make me regret it later." Shen Mei muttered to herself.

Although Bai Zemin's senses were very sharp, amidst the chaos he did not manage to hear the words of the woman in front of him clearly even though she was only a couple of meters away. Therefore, he looked at her and asked serenely:

"I'm sorry but I'm afraid I couldn't hear you. Did you make a decision?"

"As a matter of fact, I made a decision." Shen Mei nodded and approached him step by step, stopping only when their bodies were close enough that only a space of a palm remained between their two leather armors.

As she smiled weakly, she said in a clear voice, "You aroused my curiosity, Bai Zemin.... Let me see what all these people see special about you, since at this moment in my eyes, you look no different than a lunatic who aspires to achieve the impossible."

As Shen Mei smiled weakly, she said in a clear voice, "You aroused my curiosity, Bai Zemin.... Let me see what all these people see special about you, since at this moment in my eyes, you look no different than a lunatic who aspires to achieve the impossible."

Bai Zemin chuckled as he heard the words pronounced by Shen Mei. He made a small hand gesture to indicate to his subordinates and reliable soul evolvers that there was no need to worry about Shen Mei's proximity.

Although at this distance it was practically impossible for a First Order existence to respond if taken by surprise by another First Order existence, which would result in death or serious injury to the ambushed, that only worked with normal beings.

But who was Bai Zemin? An anomaly among anomalies. An existence that had been granted a title that allowed him to traverse space and travel between worlds to allow his own world to grow at ease as his own power began to surpass that of the world due to his fast speed of evolution and the purity of his Soul Power.

In that case, if someone like Shen Mei wanted or believed it was possible to hurt him just because they managed to get close enough and catch him off guard, then they were in for a great and rude awakening! One from which ironically they would never wake up!

Besides, Bai Zemin believed that a smart person like Shen Mei would not do something as foolish as that knowing that her life would be over not long after since even if she really managed to hurt Bai Zemin by a miracle there were still more soul evolvers that could kill her soon after.

Regarding Shen Mei's words, Bai Zemin not only chuckled but also said calmly: "You probably won't regret your decision. Although you will start with a level 5 Noble title, with your strength and battle prowess you can easily enter the top 5 soul evolvers of our faction. It won't be difficult for you to climb the ranks while making significant contributions."

This time it was Shen Mei's turn to chuckle. She looked Bai Zemin straight in the eyes and said in a strange voice, "Level 5 Noble? No no, I'm not starting from that low."

The expression of many people changed when they heard Shen Mei's arrogant words. She hadn't even spent two seconds as a member of the Transcendent faction but she was already yearning for a higher position? Wasn't she being too greedy? One needed to know that a level 5 Noble could enjoy a lot of benefits among which was a monthly salary enough to buy 100 kilograms of food!

Precisely because these Noble titles were too beneficial to anyone who received them, Bai Zemin only awarded them to those who held really important positions within the faction he established. There were only about 20 to 30 level 5 Nobles in the entire faction and far fewer level 4, 3, 2, 1.

In fact, there were only about 50 people who had received a Noble title to date. The rest of the members of the Transcendent faction were considered normal citizens and received different salaries depending on how valuable the work they performed was or how many hours a day they put in.

So, the fact that a new member coveted such a high position naturally attracted the discontent of many who hoped to climb the ranks of power and privilege.

Bai Zemin's dark eyes also glittered dangerously for a second before returning to normal. Shen Mei had been able to devise a truly perfect plan that allowed her and those close to her to get away from any kind of danger; such a person would definitely not be so foolish as to get on his bad side when they were just beginning to engage in some kind of relationship.

"I suppose to say such bold words you must have something in return for a higher position than the one I'm offering you now?" he said with narrowed eyes and that slight smile still shaped on his face.

"Before I say anything I want you to promise me the title level 3 Noble. I think the information I'm going to give you now is worth so much." Shen Mei said after thinking about it for a moment

However, Bai Zemin didn't even hesitate and immediately shook his head:

"No way. The title level 3 Noble is much more valuable than you think and there are only a handful of existences that have received that level of title so far, most of them are people who have followed me since the early days of the apocalypse and have contributed astronomical amounts of resources. If that's all you have to say then forget it."

Bai Zemin didn't expect Shen Mei to have a mouth as big as a lion trying to devour everything.

Noble level 3? That level of title was only held by people like Zhong De, Fu Xuefeng, Kang Lan, Cai Jingyi, etc. These people had not only entrusted their lives to Bai Zemin from the very beginning but had also helped him in countless cases to lighten the burden on his shoulders. It was absolutely impossible for him to give Shen Mei, who was no more than a newcomer, such a high title; to do this kind of thing would only cause disaffection in his troops and none of his soldiers would feel good in their hearts even if no one said anything out loud.

Shen Mei frowned slightly as she did not expect such a firm rejection. However, after considering it better for a moment she realized that perhaps she was really demanding too much about something she had no idea how it worked.

Since Shen Mei did not know about the structural functioning of the Transcendent faction in depth, it was naturally difficult for her to know what level of benefits she would receive depending on her title. That was why she immediately demanded to be a Noble level 3 since she was at least around the middle; between the highest privilege level and the lowest privilege level.

"Noble level 4. I will not accept less than this." Shen Mei said after a moment. She added, "Believe me, you will regret it soon if you refuse this offer from me."

"Noble level 4? No problem." Bai Zemin nodded easily this time since that level of title was received by those people at Xiao Ming's privileged level.

Besides, considering how powerful and smart Shen Mei was, she would definitely not take long to climb between the different privilege levels. On the other hand, Bai Zemin felt that he would really regret it if he continued to waste his time here.

Shen Mei nodded slightly and then looked Bai Zemin deep in the eyes as she said in a serious voice, "Mayor Bai Yong and Commander Jin Shun will take advantage of the fact that you are in charge of the armed troops to escape. I have no idea what Commander Jin Shun's plans might turn out to be since I don't know him well enough, but I know that Bai Yong keeps in the basement of his villa a large amount of supplies. He will probably take some of his trusted men and sneak out through the west gate as it is the closest to the area where he is staying."

Bai Zemin's expression sank when he heard this.

"It seems I overestimated this lord mayor." Bai Zemin's eyes flashed coldly as he spoke these words before looking behind him and casually giving an order, "Who wants to go and take care of this?"

Honestly speaking, Bai Zemin sincerely expected Bai Yong to put up some more resistance. After all, the fall of Baiquan Camp meant losing everything for Bai Yong. However, little did Bai Zemin expect that the former mayor of Baiquan Subdistrict actually possessed a personality decisive enough to abandon everything to plunge into the dangerous and mysterious outside world.

"Big Brother Bai, let me go!" Luo Ning leaped forward and raised her tiny little hand.

"You?" Bai Zemin frowned and said earnestly, "Forget it."

Seeing Luo Ning make puppy eyes and looked as if she was about to cry, Bai Zemin waved his hand and said impatiently, "It's okay, I already said no. If I say you're not going, then you're not going."

"Ugh...." Luo Ning grunted and kicked the ground while puffing out her cheeks. "Big brother Bai, you're too mean!"

"No matter how much you complain." Bai Zemin ignored her and looked at the rest with a frown.

Just as he was preparing to say something else, a slightly cold but with a slight tinge of closeness voice sounded a short distance away from him:

"Let Luo Ning take care of capturing Bai Yong. I'll go with her to make sure nothing bad happens to her."

Bai Zemin looked at Shangguan Bing Xue and the frown on his face slowly relaxed.

"If that's the case then I guess it's okay." He said nodding.

"Argh! Big brother Bai, stop treating me as if I'm a nine year old girl!" Luo Ning stomped the ground beneath her feet again and complained loudly.

"But you're nine years old, little Ning." Wu Yijun put a hand over her mouth to suppress her laughter even though her shaking shoulders exposed her.

Everyone immediately chuckled and looked at Luo Ning affectionately as the little girl clung tightly to Wu Yijun's arm and swung it from side to side as if she was retaliating.

Bai Zemin looked at Shangguan Bing Xue and said to her in a low voice, "Bing Xue, be careful."

Shangguan Bing Xue's eyes shone strangely when she heard his words. However, she suddenly thought of something and unconsciously looked at Shen mei; it was only then that she finally realized the reason why Bai Zemin said such words to her so she could not help but shake her head while laughing at herself.

Shagguan Bing Xue said nothing more and instead walked towards Shen Mei before saying in an authoritative voice, "You lead the way."

Her voice was not only authoritative, her words were cold as was the look in her sky-colored eyes.

Shen Mei did not know what to say about such a noticeable change in attitude. While chatting with Bai Zemin, this young silver-haired woman looked like an ordinary girl; but when she spoke to her, her first words were thick with orders and even well-hidden arrogance.

But seeing the normal looks on everyone's faces, as if they didn't notice anything strange with this, Shen Mei assumed that either this girl was arrogant as hell with those below her position, or perhaps her personality was cold and aloof with those she didn't know. Shen Mei was more inclined to the second option since she still remembered Commander Jin Shun's report while they were still in the command center; but if the reason behind Shangguan Bing Xue's attitude was her first theory, then Shen Mei could only secretly shake her head in disappointment.

Soon and under everyone's eyes, Shen Mei charged into the distance and disappeared in a whirlwind of wind and dust in the direction of the walls of Baiquan Camp. Not far away, Luo Ning was galloping furiously on one of her shadow cats with an excited expression and seemingly undisturbed by the blood and destruction in the area. As for Shangguan Bing Xue, her expression was cold and indifferent and she simply took it upon herself to watch Shen Mei as she protected Luo Ning.

After the three ladies completely disappeared from everyone's line of sight, Bai Zemin turned to look at his trusted troops and said loudly, "From now on Wu Yijun will be in charge of leading the Blood Spear Legion temporarily. Chen He, Fu Xuefeng, Cai Jingyi, Kang Lan, Zhong De, and Evangeline will be the people to support her when needed. The rest... I think you already know how things work so I won't waste time explaining anything else."

After the three ladies completely disappeared from everyone's line of sight, Bai Zemin turned to look at his trusted troops and said loudly, "From now on Wu Yijun will be in charge of leading the Blood Spear Legion temporarily. Chen He, Fu Xuefeng, Cai Jingyi, Kang Lan, Zhong De, and Evangeline will be the people to support her when needed. The rest... I think you already know how things work so I won't waste time explaining anything else."

Wu Yijun, who was only two or three meters distance away, looked at him in surprise and quickly asked, "Are you going somewhere?"

Although the war had ended with the overwhelming victory of their faction, a victory in which the opposing camp could barely do anything about, the truth was that there were still a lot of things to be accomplished.

While the power of the base seemed to have fallen firmly in the hands of Bai Zemin, the reality was very different from what outward appearances suggested. All it took was a little push from anyone with some prestige within the army of soldiers or soul evolvers who had surrendered; a small flame to start a forest fire.

The only real reason why these people were acting so obediently at this moment was solely because of the overwhelming power displayed by Bai Zemin since the only two times he personally made a move, on both occasions chaos spread throughout the entire war zone; one of those times he even put the lives of each and every living being in the area in danger.

Therefore, if Bai Zemin disappeared just now without first establishing his rule better and despite the fact that there were several modern firearms among which were included devastating machines such as IFVs and war tanks, there was some probability that some minor problems would arise; problems that while minor, would in no way benefit the Transcendent faction considering that ironically or not this was not their territory even though they had already conquered the lands.

"Don't worry. I don't think these people are foolish enough to try anything funny." Bai Zemin said calmly as he looked Wu Yijun in the eyes.

The woman in love found herself lost in those deep black eyes, practically letting her soul be sucked into those two black holes that she never wanted to escape from.

"Besides." Bai Zemin continued, "With you here, even if someone tries to do something I doubt they can raise waves. But mostly I can go quietly and leave you in charge since I know what you are capable of."

Bai Zemin was not joking with what he said. While he really trusted the power of his subordinates to keep the situation at bay, the real reason he could go off to do his business was because he trusted Wu Yijun's intelligence; he trusted that she would find a way to keep each cat in its cage in an orderly fashion and without allowing them to fight each other.

Wu Yijun felt sweet as if she had eaten honey when she heard the words of recognition from the man she was in love with; her first love and the only man to whom she was willing to give her all.

In the past, she was the proud second greatest beauty of the prestigious Beijing University, the favorite of the heavens belonging to one of the most influential and powerful families of a world superpower like China, the chosen one of the heavens endowed not only with innocent beauty and seductive body but also with enough intelligence to make her stand out among thousands with ease. Whenever she walked the streets or the university campus, she was the focus of attention in most cases and her gooseneck was always straight as her head was raised confidently before the world.

Little did she expect that at some point in her life, a few words from a man would be able to decide and rule over her heart and her mood. At this point in her life, Wu Yijun had no choice but to be realistic and accept the reality; to accept that a single sentence from Bai Zemin had the ability to make her heart pound and her smile blossom or cause her heart to die like a wilted flower in the middle of winter and her tears to fall disconsolately from her beautiful shining eyes.

"Leave it to me." She said unwilling to disappoint the trust he had given her. "I'll see to it that there's not even a shot between us and that when you come back everything will be easier for you."

Since he trusted her so much, Wu Yijun felt she should reciprocate accordingly. After all, a man such as Bai Zemin was destined to be surrounded by women of all kinds among whom there would definitely be no shortage of outstanding ones. If Wu Yijun ever wanted to break through his heart that was surrounded by a stone wall and earn a place next to him, then she will have to work hard to achieve it or else it would all end up in nothing more than a pretty friendship.

"In that case, I feel more at ease." Bai Zemin chuckled before putting on a serious expression on his face and saying, "I'll go hunt down that fellow named Jin Shun."

Then, as if thinking about something, he looked at some specific people and noticing the complicated look in the eyes of these few Bai Zemin sighed in his heart.

There were a few soldiers who joined his faction together with Fu Qigang and became soul evolvers. These soldiers were probably the ones who were suffering the most emotionally as they had not only seen some of their comrades fall in today's war but many of them killed many soldiers with whom they had fought side by side on the battlefield in the past carrying out different missions.

For better or for worse, left behind or not, betrayal or no betrayal; the truth was that Jin Shun and the rest of the soldiers had once been the family of these men. Therefore, even though they knew they were doing the right thing since they were taking revenge on people who betrayed them like dogs, it still did not help to make them feel better.

Bai Zemin was about to leave without saying much more, but just then, a person came out of the crowd dragging a wagon.

The wagon was quite large, about four meters high and approximately ten meters long and wide. There were four wheels that had been forged using the bones of some mutant beasts at the bottom and around the wagon were many thick bones that acted like bars harder than steel which sealed the wagon as if it were a prison.

There were many of these types of wagons in Bai Zemin's faction, some tougher than others as they were built with better materials but at the end of the day they only had one purpose; to trap mutant beasts or any other creature alive.

Mainly, the reason why Bai Zemin and the others were interested in trapping mutant beasts, zombies, goblins, or any other mutated living being, was because in that way they might be able to study the specialties of different races, understand weaknesses, strengths, they might even be able to use these creatures to train soldiers and future soul evolvers in combat to slowly take away their fear of war.

However, this particular wagon looked too large to contain the one living being that lay sprawled on the platform made of bone.

This living being was a human, a man. His hair was a mess and instead of hair it looked like straw from a wild bird's nest, his eyes were bloodshot and the dark circles under his eyes made it clear that this person had not slept well for the last few days. His face was covered with dirt and his limbs were completely crushed as if a heavy machine had run over them.

This person's condition was so miserable that it was a miracle he was still alive.

"Legion Leader, what should we do with this guy?" Zhong De gestured towards the wagon with his head while using

his right hand to pull the string made of mutant bear tendons.

Bai Zemin approached the wagon without saying a word and observed the captive person with indifferent eyes. A slight smirk adorned his face and after several seconds of silence, he calmly said, "Do you remember what I told you a couple of days ago? Or maybe I should refresh your memory?"

The young man raised his head slightly but even that seemingly insignificant movement caused his face to contort in pain as a slight grunt escaped from his mouth along with the air in his lungs.

After taking a deep breath for several seconds, the young man used his bloodshot eyes to look at Bai Zemin with a gaze of hatred but mostly horror and disbelief.

Seeing that the other party did not respond, Bai Zemin said in a manner that was neither too fast nor too slow: "Bai Jian. I told you that I would destroy before your eyes the Baiquan Camp and crush the forces of your uncle and that traitor surnamed Jin, do you remember? Do you remember I told you that before me, your arrogance and pride were nothing but the jokes of a worthless brat?"

Right. This young man was none other than young master Bai Jian, who had lived a life of luxury and pampering since birth. Unfortunately, Bai Jian believed that because his uncle Bai Yong was one of the supreme leaders of a large survivor camp he could still continue to act rampantly even after the world changed and the old rules fell.

This led to Bai Jian offending Bai Zemin without return, so Bai Jian was forced to experience the bad way that this new world had truly ceased to be what it once was. Bai Jian was forced to realize how stupid he had been to blindly believe in the modern weaponry created by mankind of the past, he was forced to open his eyes to the power of evolving humans absorbing large amounts of Soul Power.

For the past four or five days, Bai Jian lived a life worse than hell and many times tried to commit suicide, but in the end, he did not have the courage to do such a thing no matter how much pain he experienced. With his broken limbs and open wounds, Bai Jian did not receive any medical or magical treatment so his body slowly began to fill with maggots and other foul looking larvae that slowly wriggled and ate away at his rotting flesh.

The pain was so great that often Bai Jian would roar in pain to the point where his throat would often begin to bleed. If anyone who knew him in the past saw him at this moment, they would undoubtedly refuse to believe that the ever arrogant and proud Bai Jian who abused his family's power to do as he pleased and take advantage of beautiful young girls had fallen to such a miserable state as this.

However, one thing was certain; those people who had suffered at the hands of Bai Jian, those innocent victims who were forced to live through hell because of his inhumanity, would definitely be more than grateful to the person who unwittingly avenged them.

"Shangguan Bing Xue went to hunt your uncle. I think you know what that means, don't you?"

Bai Jian's eyes trembled when he heard this and his heart finally died completely; all hope had disappeared in its entirety. He had seen the power of the woman named Shangguan Bing Xue during the past few days while she was hunting beasts or zombies and was terrified to discover that this woman he had lusted actually possessed such terrifying skills.

If she had gone after his uncle and his family, then there was really no hope for him anymore.