ici

After Bai Zemin accepted Shangguan Bing Xue's condition and gave her his word in front of everyone that, if at any time she thought or believed that he had gone mad because of the power he controlled, she would be given permission to leave with her loved ones at will, she did not delay and submitted her first request.

"My first request is that you wait."

"That I wait?" Bai Zemin asked again and looked at her blankly.

Shangguan Bing Xue calmly explained, "Before I decide whether I will join your crazy plan or not, I want to see the situation of the two camps set up by government forces."

"What? Two camps?" He was again shocked but this time it was about something else.

Two camps? As far as he knew, there was only one camp to the south, Camp Baiquan which daily transmitted its location by satellite radio.

As if he had thought of something, Bai Zemin looked at the beautiful Nangong Lingxin and her brother Nangong Yi. Shangguan Bing Xue's next words confirmed his theory.

"There is another camp to the north. Nangong Lingxin and Nangong Yi are survivors who escaped from that place due to certain circumstances."

Bai Zemin remained silent for a moment. After hesitating a bit, he shook his head and said, "Before I go into that topic I would like to know what your next request is. I agree with the first one... It's not like anything is going to change anyway."

This time it was Shangguan Bing Xue's turn to hesitate. Her wandering and evasive look really surprised Bai Zemin as this was the first time her indifferent but firm gaze looked so complicated.

"About my second request... I'll tell you in the future." In the end, she shook her head and sighed lightly.

Bai Zemin was silent for a while as he gently tapped the table with his finger before cautiously saying, " Okay... As long as your demand isn't crazy or doesn't harm my interests or that of anyone in the group, it should be fine."

Shangguan Bing Xue nodded indifferently and did not say anything else. Her expression did not change after hearing Bai Zemin's words, which suggested that her request should be more of a personal thing that did not involve other people. At least that was what he assumed; as to whether this was the case or not was unknown.

Seeing that she remained silent, Bai Zemin looked at Wu Yijun.

The beautiful woman with an extremely seductive body and an innocent face like that of a little girl looked hesitant. Her two black eyes seemed to be having an internal struggle as different emotions constantly blinked inside them.

But this was quite natural. Bai Zemin understood Wu Yijun's struggles perfectly.

Unlike Shangguan Bing Xue, who seemed to have her own story to tell and problems with her family, Wu Yijun was always happy in her family. This could be seen based on her outgoing and cheerful personality, like a butterfly fluttering among the spring flowers.

As the granddaughter of the Premier of China and a member of a family with who knew how many years of history, it was extremely difficult for Wu Yijun to accept what Bai Zemin was putting forward today. If she accepted it meant the same as opposing everything her family had fought to build and the ideals her loved ones had implanted in her from an early age.

"You don't need to worry."

Bai Zemin's calm voice caught her gaze. When she looked up and met that pair of eyes as deep as a depthless abyss, Wu Yijun's heart skipped a beat.

"Even if you can't join my ideals, it's also okay." He continued and looked at Shangguan Bing Xue for a moment before saying, "Since you are Shangguan Bing Xue's friend, I will not ask you to leave. However, if at some point your family and I clash, it is likely that at that time you will be forced to take a decision. Besides, as long as you are here, you will have to obey my orders as you have done so far. Of course, if you want to leave, you are free to do so at will."

The hall fell silent. All those who had already agreed to be part of Bai Zemin's crazy idea of unif

unifying the whole country under a single sovereign looked at the beautiful Wu Yijun waiting for her reaction and her response.

Wu Yijun looked at Lili, who had been silent throughout the meeting as she stood behind Bai Zemin with a slight smile. She couldn't help but feel inferior to this girl whose face was nothing out of this world.

In the end, Wu Yijun realized how pathetic she must look at this moment. But what frustrated her most was her own indecisiveness.

At first, Wu Yijun felt only a slight attraction to the young man in front of her. This slight attraction was born out of her curiosity about him and his strength. However, as the days and weeks went by, this slight attraction gradually grew from attraction to liking.

Wu Yijun gradually became enchanted by the strong and firm but at the same time caring and kind personality that Bai Zemin could show when facing those who were still young and powerless. She slowly began to realize that while he was strong, terrifyingly strong like no one she had ever seen before, he was also a person of flesh and blood who made mistakes and got tired.

A few days ago, when Wu Yijun received the Walker Freezing Staff and the rest of the equipment that Bai Zemin forged to her, as she read the description of the item, she realized that he had persevered even after so many failures. At that time, Wu Yijun believed that she had fallen in love with him and just by not seeing him for a couple of days her heart felt empty.

However, now she realized that her crush was nothing more than a joke.

The word love and the feeling it represented could mean many things to different people. But Wu Yijun was always one of those people who believed that love was everything. For love, a person should be willing to go to hell itself even if it meant not coming back... However, she was hesitating about something so simple.

Curious and lost, Wu Yijun couldn't help but look at Lili and ask, "May I know what you will do?"

"Me?" Lilith in her human form was noticeably surprised as she did not expect someone to suddenly speak to her. For a moment she didn't know what to say.

Wu Yijun pursued, "Will you join Bai Zemin in this wild scheme he devised?"

'Lili' chuckled and said as if it was the most natural thing in the world, "Why wouldn't I? Let alone follow him with something as simple as this, even if he wishes to oppose God and the Demon Lord I will be his partner."

Wu Yijun was silent as she listened to the woman's reply in front of her. Like the rest inside the hall, her eyes were filled with surprise, and the way she looked at this woman changed completely.

Wasn't this love? she thought. Compared to the resolution in Lili's gaze, Wu Yijun felt like a little girl playing peek-a-boo.

In fact, Shangguan Bing Xue also looked at Lili strangely. Her eyes had a strange glint in them but her expression did not reveal her inner thoughts.

Bai Zemin did not know whether to laugh or cry when he heard Lilith's words. In contrast to Wu Yijun and the other people in the room, he knew that Lilith did not say such words out of blindness or love, she said it because she was confident in his talent and potential and needed his help in the future.

Even so, his heart that had been locked by a stone shell had for the first time a small crack. The crack was so small that it could practically be ignored, but a crack was a crack.

Everything big was once small...

Regardless of her motives, Lilith's words rang full of confidence and completely true from Bai Zemin's point of view. The fact that she, who knew better than anyone how powerful the two existences she mentioned were, said she would be on his side even if he wanted to overthrow them, represented a lot to him.

Wu Yijun, Shangguan Bing Xue, and probably everyone inside the hall believed that Lili was in love with Bai Zemin or, at the very least, incredibly attracted to him.

Those who knew the story were really curious since the way Bai Zemin and Lili had met in the past had not been dramatic in any way but strangely they became closer than anyone else in a matter of hours.

On the other hand, Bai Zemin believed that Lilith's words came from the fact that she needed his help. Not at this moment, as he was still weak; but in the future. As for love... Honestly, Bai Zemin never thought about it.

In his eyes, Lilith was his benefactor in every sense of the word. She was a noble and exalted existence. He was sure that even among the Higher Existences not many women could compare to her; Lilith herself had confirmed it once in the past and Bai Zemin did not feel that she was lying.

So how could a being like her, who had never fallen in love and had never allowed a man to touch her, fall in love with someone who was not only infinitely weaker to myriads of men who were also infinitely more handsome than him? Bai Zemin was proud, but he was not a blindly arrogant person.

What did he have to offer her to believe that she loved him? The answer was so simple that it didn't even take much thought.

From Bai Zemin's point of view, every time Lilith joked with him and playfully teased him, it was nothing more than fun to lighten the heavy mood that hung in the chaotic world.

Everyone could judge or assume different things for themselves. As for how everything really was, only Lilith herself knew.

After a slight silence where Lilith was receiving different kinds of looks, a small sigh was heard that attracted everyone's attention again.

Everyone's eyes focused on the beautiful Wu Yijun, who seemed to have made up her mind what to do next.

Her eyes met the two black eyes of the young man sitting in the chair at the head of the large mahogany wooden table and thousands of thoughts were going through her mind at the same time. But perhaps, the most dominant thought was the one that somehow helped her to make a decision.

Somehow, Wu Yijun felt that entering the heart of Bai Zemin would probably be more difficult than reaching level 50 and evolving to Second Order. The amount of effort needed to achieve such a thing was so great that she could not even imagine it.

All her advances so far were practically fruitless and except for slight smiles on his part, she received nothing in return. In fact, now that she was observing more carefully she realized that while Bai Zemin and Lili might seem incredibly close and often joked between them, a kind of invisible barrier seemed to separate them.

Wu Yijun felt that this invisible barrier had been erected by Bai Zemin himself. Although there was currently a slight friendly smile on his face, his eyes that were as dark as the starless, moonless sky did not reflect the slightest emotion. His gaze was as cold as Shangguan Bing Xue's, but at the same time it was different.

While Shangguan Bing Xue's cold gaze represented rejection and made everyone unconsciously turn away from her; Bai Zemin's cold gaze seemed to represent wariness, distrust, and even overcaution.

What happened to him in the past? Why didn't he let anyone into his heart? Why when she or any other woman showed any kind of interest in him, he didn't take it seriously and just smiled as if he thought it was a joke? What kind of experiences did he have?

Dozens and dozens of similar questions popped into Wu Yijun's mind one after another. The more she thought about it, for some reason the more her heart ached and the more curious she became.

If only I had known him earlier. She thought to herself.

But... If I had met him before the world changed, would I have seen him the same way? She realized that if the world were not as it was today, she may not have appreciated Bai Zemin in the same way she did today.

But if one thought about it carefully, such a thing was quite normal. After all, people surrounded themselves with those close to them for common purposes: doctors with doctors, thieves with thieves, businessmen with businessmen, rich with rich, poor with poor, and etc.

A person who came from an average family, whose qualifications were average, and whose appearance was average, could never join into the circle of a person who came from a high-class family, whose qualifications were excellent, and whose appearance was incredibly beautiful.

This was reality, not a fairy tale or a fantasy where such things often happened.

But, things are different now. I just have to try harder. Show him that he is not as alone as he thinks he is. Wu Yijun lifted her spirits and finally, the dark cloud hovering over her head broke up completely.

The present her could help him in many ways. She was an incredibly intelligent woman, her mind was filled with ideas, and although she was not the most powerful, her strength was unquestionable. Besides... I am beautiful. Wu Yijun thought and smiled with new confidence.

She firmly believed that even a heart made of stone would eventually give way in the end!

"Mm?"

Perhaps sensing the change in her attitude and seeing her smile brimming with confidence, Bai Zemin blinked a couple of times as if wondering what was going on.

"I will join you." She declared without further ado, leaving everyone dumbfounded.

"Yijun, you..." Chen He was the most astonished of all.

The Chen family Chen He belonged to had its roots firmly planted in the field of military. His father was a Regimental Commander of Colonel rank who controlled over two thousand soldiers with military training. But the most powerful power in his family, his grandfather, was a Military Division General with about twenty thousand men under his command!

However, as his family was strictly military and no member worked in the government, although it was difficult to accept what Bai Zemin said it was not impossible from Chen He's point of view. But his childhood friend was completely different!

She came from a 100% government family! If Wu Yijun wanted to support Bai Zemin then she would have to go against the very roots of her entire family!

"Are you sure?" Shangguan Bing Xue couldn't help but frown slightly and ask her friend if she knew what she was doing.

Wu Yijun looked at her and said in a firm voice, "I am sure. Besides, I can't leave you alone, can I?"

Shangguan Bing Xue looked at her deeply for a moment and after looking away she did not say anything about it again. She knew that although Wu Yijun was kind, when an idea got into her head she became stubborn as a mule and no one could make her back down.

Although Bai Zemin was also surprised, he was happy to receive a powerful ally. Therefore, he smiled warmly and welcomed her: "Then I will be relying on you from now on just like in the past. Don't worry, if your family is still standing, I will do my best to avoid clashing with them unless absolutely necessary."

The Wu family was a family simply too powerful. Bai Zemin, who was previously just a small college student working hard to barely make ends meet, could not compare to them in terms of influence. If he could gain their support, Bai Zemin's path would be countless times smoother.

Gathering survivors using the Wu family name, recruiting soldiers, obtaining logistical support, knowing the location of advanced military camps, even acquiring weapons of mass destruction; all would be within his grasp!

The value of Wu Yijun was so great that if one thought about it carefully one could only consider her a treasure!

"As for that, just leave it to me." Wu Yijun smiled slightly as a somewhat funny and slightly crazy idea flashed in her mind.

If this idea succeeded, Bai Zemin's path would be much easier and at the same time, she would have an excuse to be closer to him. That way, she could gradually get warmer to him without her family or him suffering the consequences of a dreadful battle.

Indeed, Wu Yijun knew that while Bai Zemin was powerful... But he did not have the power to really oppose her Wu family. If her grandfather was still alive and there was only one person alive inside the nuclear bomb base, a single call from her grandfather was enough to end his life. But this was the last thing she wanted.

Bai Zemin looked at Chen He and asked as if he already knew the answer, "You will also wait a bit and then, depending on certain things, you will join, won't you?"

"Oh?" Surprisingly, Chen He smiled and looked at him in amusement before saying, "Why do you think so?"

Bai Zemin looked at him with a smile that was not a smile and said slowly, "You and I know the reason."

Wu Yijun also looked at Chen He with an amused smile. Shangguan Bing Xue had already agreed that she could join in the future after seeing the situation of the two camps set up by the government and the military in the north and south of Rulin Subdistrict. With his crush making such a decision, Wu Yijun believed that Chen He would make a similar decision.

Chen He chuckled and shook his head. He looked at Bai Zemin calmly and said slowly, "Well, I will have to disappoint you this time, but you are wrong. I will join you and help you with all my might regardless of whether Bing Xue joins your conquests or not. I just have a single condition."

"Huh?" Wu Yijun was dumbfounded and looked at her childhood friend as if she was looking at an alien out of television.

This was the first time in approximately 17 or 18 years that Chen He had made a firm decision that might even go against Shangguan Bing Xue and could take him away from her! Wu Yijun was so shocked that her little pink mouth opened slightly and her two big dark eyes were glittering with utter disbelief!

She looked at Shangguan Bing Xue to see her reaction. Unfortunately, Shangguan Bing Xue seemed as indifferent as ever; even after hearing what Chen He said, it seemed like she didn't care or that it wasn't enough to move her emotions in the slightest.

"Oh?" Bai Zemin was also very surprised. Although he had only met and interacted with this young and talented archer for a month, Chen He was acting depending on the movements of the silver-haired woman sitting next to him.

Could it be that he finally grew some balls? Bai Zemin thought amused and asked, "Tell me what your condition is. As long as it is not something excessive, I will accept without preamble."

Chen He was currently a First Order existence. his power was unquestionable. Moreover, if his family had not yet collapsed and they maintained some military power, even if it was only 5% of their peak, it would be of great help to the growth of Bai Zemin's faction and conquer all of China.

But Chen He's next words shocked Bai Zemin to the marrow of his bones.

"When you become the King, when I have confidence in myself, I want to challenge you to a duel which you will not be able to refuse. If I defeat you in that duel, I want you to crown me as the new King of China!"

The atmosphere inside the hall became cold and the temperature seemed to drop several degrees. The place was so quiet that even a needle could be heard falling.