Chapter 708 - God-like Back to the base where the Chinese Renaissance faction that Wu Keqian had established with a lot of effort, planning, risks, and even at the sacrifice of his future was located.
Things had not been quiet at the base for the past three days.
The air seemed heavy and the atmosphere dark, the survivors could feel the pressure of the atmosphere every time they left their homes. Armed soldiers began to patrol more frequently, the security became tighter to the point that even hunting parties were forbidden to leave the base before the identity of each and every member was corroborated by the high command themselves.
The number of military vehicles with soul evolvers roaming the streets practically tripled and the rule application force was strengthened to the point that all survivors were scared to death to even leave their homes unless it was really necessary.
Three days ago, a drunken man began to shout threats in the streets and insulted a police officer; this type of behavior was usually punishable by imprisonment for several years according to base rules. However, the officer who was about to learn the man seemed to receive some kind of order as he immediately stopped and without hesitation shot him directly in the head, ending his life on the scene.
The police officer fired several shots skyward and shouted, " From this day forward, anyone who dares to cause a disturbance will be executed on the spot regardless of social or economic position!"
Similar events occurred a couple of times more during the last two days and finally everyone stopped trying to cause problems; even some minor gangs seemed to be on the verge of dissolving.
All the survivors looked towards the privileged area, that area they all wanted to get into someday. Beyond those high walls were the only people who knew what was really happening.
... Privileged area, government building. Inside a large room, seated around a large round table, a group of about 7 or 8 people were gathered and were currently in the middle of a discussion as they read the reports in front of them.
Usually, the number of people present would be more. However, people like Feng Hong, Huang Tian, Teng Hua, Liang Jing, Xia Ya, and Sun Ling were not present as they had been sent on the expedition team.
"Leader Wu... I know it's not hard to accept but.... I'm afraid it's best to be prepared for the worst." A middle-aged man with several gray hairs in his hair sighed as he looked at the person sitting in front of him.
The man's name was Hong Xen and he dominated approximately 60% of the trade within the base; it was no exaggeration to say that a great part of the economy was under his control and trade could come to a halt or suffer terribly with just a few words from him.
Everyone looked at Wu Keqian with complicated eyes and several sighs echoed inside the hall.
Wu Keqian said nothing, he continued to stare at the sheets of paper in front of him while his hands tousled his hair. His current appearance was quite a mess as he had not slept for several days and had not even managed to find the motivation to take a proper bath.
Bang! A bang suddenly resounded inside the room, and except for Wu Keqian and Sun Yun, everyone else jumped in their seats as they looked with some trepidation at the person sitting in the seat closest to the door.
This person was Bai Delan, father of Bai Zemin.
The name 'Bai Zemin' was currently known by everyone in the privileged area of the base and there were even rumors beginning to spread about him. An intrepid young man who had openly defied practically all the supreme leaders of the establishment, however, unlike what everyone would expect, this person named Bai Zemin came out perfectly alive and kicking after slapping and half disabling the son of the base's second in command.
Everyone began to wonder what kind of person this Bai Zemin was and therefore all kinds of rumors began to spread around. However, it was a fact that since the higher-ups did not "disprove" the rumor, then this person called Bai Zemin was definitely not a small role.
Bai Delan looked at the middle-aged man who had just spoken and said in a deep voice, "Sr. Hong, are you suggesting that the team sent on the reconnaissance mission was annihilated?"
Hong Xen looked at Bai Delan with complicated eyes, and after a few seconds, he sighed: "Hai.... Delan, I know that your son and daughter were among the team members who were sent on this mission, and I understand your pain because I lost my daughter during the early days of the apocalypse... However, as you just said, the mission they were sent on was a recon mission... Let's be honest here, what kind of reconnaissance mission does it take 11 days to complete?"
Hong Xen's words made a lot of sense and four of the eight people in total could not help but nod as they looked at Bai Delan, Wu Keqian, and Sun Yun with complicated emotions as the three men had family in the scouting team.
Bai Zemin's mission was not to obtain treasures or anything like that, what he had to do was to lead the team to the Five Silver Pagodas and see if they could find the reason why the structures were still intact when in theory they should have collapsed during the expansion of the world.
Even after 11 days, almost half a month, the team had not returned. Not to mention the fact that about a week ago flashes of fire and lightning could be seen in the distance glowing in the night sky that alerted everyone; precisely from the location where the Five Silver Pagodas stood.
"My son is not dead, and if he is not dead then I doubt the team was destroyed. Probably the situation turned out to be more complicated than we all expected and that's why they haven't returned even after several days." Bai Delan said with a voice filled with conviction that surprised everyone.
Even Wu Keqian raised his tired eyes from the documents to look at him with a strange sparkle flashing in them.
Sun Yun looked at Bai Delan and said in a cold voice, "How are you so sure of that? Just because of your fatherly faith?"
To be honest, Sun Yun was feeling very conflicted at the moment. On one hand, he wanted nothing bad to have happened to the scouting team since there was his younger sister Sun Ling and his niece Wu Yijun whom he loved dearly, however, a part of Sun Yun hoped that everyone had died there; especially Bai Zemin and Meng Qi.
This was because Sun Jie, Sun Yun's only son and direct relative, was currently half-paralyzed after Bai Zemin brutally beat him that night twelve days ago. Although Sun Jie was alive, half of the right side of his body had been paralyzed and even speaking was difficult for him; if not for the healing pill Wu Keqian had given him, Sun Yun was sure that his son would definitely be dead right now.
"It's not about parental faith." Bai Delan looked at him and calmly replied, "I have my reasons. You all don't need to ask too much since there is no way for me to answer temporarily."
Hearing his words, Sun Yun and the others simply shook their heads. Wu Keqian's eyes even flashed disappointment and he lowered his head again to try to find a mistake in the reports he received.
Bai Delan just shook his head and leaned back in his seat without speaking anymore as he saw that no one believed him.
In fact, Bai Delan was sure that his son was still alive, and if Bai Zemin was still alive then the rest of the team should be relatively well since Bai Delan knew perfectly well how proud his son was.
As for why Bai Delan was so sure, it was naturally not out of paternal faith or the blind desire of a father wanting his children to live....
Hidden in the invisible space without anyone noticing her presence, just a step behind Bai Delan, a great beauty with golden hair and emerald eyes watched the people inside the hall with eyes as cold as the edge of a dagger.
This person was precisely Evangeline, who had been mobilized by Bai Zemin to protect his family; she was one of the many trump cards that Bai Zemin had prepared to ensure the safety of her mother and father, who were being left at the base after he offended some people.
Now that Bai Zemin had reached an agreement with Wu Keqian, he did not need to fear that the Chinese Renaissance would attack his Transcendent faction. Of course, it wasn't that Bai Zemin blindly trusted Wu Keqian's word but that with Wu Yijun and Sun Ling at his side, there was no way Wu Keqian would do something stupid enough to endanger the lives of his daughter and wife.
With at least one danger less to worry about and hours before leaving, Bai Zemin returned to where his faction was in the north and after explaining everything to Evangeline he left Lu Xiaoyao and Fu Xuefeng in charge of everything, bringing Evangeline and Shen Mei back to the Chinese Renaissance's base.
While Evangeline was at Bai Delan's side to protect him in this event, Shen Mei was at the Bai family house protecting Ye Linger. With both assassins there, unless Wu Keqian and Sun Yun joined hands it would be impossible to hurt his family; but even if the two men joined hands, it was highly probable that they would lose their lives thanks to the strongest card Bai Zemin had left in his mother's care.
Bai Delan knew that Evangeline was one of the few existences that were somehow connected to the soul of his son Bai Zemin as she herself had told him several days ago when she noticed that both Bai Delan and Ye Linger were beginning to panic due to the long absence without news of their children.
Evangeline had told them both that if anything happened to Bai Zemin, then she would know immediately as she would lose her Loyal Follower subclass and her connection with the soul of Bai Zemin would be severed.
Although Ye Linger and Bai Delan didn't quite understand what was going on, the two of them believed Evangeline's words without hesitation. To begin with, if Bai Zemin really had died then there was no reason for two such strong soul evolvers to stay behind working as bodyguards, finally, the mother-father duo didn't want to think the worst no matter what.
It was around that time when everyone was awkwardly silent when something strange happened.
"Uh?" Hong Xen looked up at the window a few feet away and blinked as he muttered in confusion, "What's wrong? A cloud?"
However, Sun Yun, Wu Keqian, and Bai Delan jumped out of their seats as they realized something was wrong.
Swoosh! Evangeline, who had been invisible, suddenly showed herself to everyone.
"Who are you?!" Sun Yun immediately looked at her in shock and subconsciously jumped back to put some distance.
But Evangeline had no time to entertain Sun Yun. Her expression was serious and she said in an urgent voice, "Sr. Bai Delan, I'm afraid we might be in some problems."
In fact, there was no need for Evangeline to tell him. Bai Delan smiled bitterly and said in a tired voice, "Child, you don't need to tell me.... I think we can all feel those terrifying auras."
"...Over 250 First Order and at least 10 Second Order...." Wu Keqian's expression was ashen as he looked outside. The sunlight seemed to have been blocked by a giant object hovering over their heads. Wu Keqian closed his eyes and sighed wearily, ".... The gods really want my China to disappear so badly?"
Sun Yun stopped paying attention to Evangeline for now, there were other matters that required immediate attention. He opened the huge window wide and stood at the edge, however, when he looked up at the sky, Sun Yun froze instantly.
"Sun Yun?" Wu Keqian called out, with no reply. He frowned and moved forward. There wasn't much they could do anyway.... 10 Second Order existences were more than enough to flatten the entire base to nothing.
When Wu Keqian reached the window and looked up at the sky, his expression turned similar to Sun Yun's. However, after a few seconds, he finally sat down on the floor and shook his head.
"... God help us." Bai Delan whispered with a pale face as he looked at the huge ship right above them.
Even Evangeline, who was usually indifferent to everything, froze when she saw the huge battleship that had stopped just over 500 meters up and about 100 to 200 meters in front of them.
"Look to the top! S- Someone is coming!" Sun Yun pointed upwards, his whole body trembling with fear.
Everyone looked to where Sun Yun was pointing but only the few soul evolvers present managed to see that, just as he said, a person was approaching the edge of the warship suspended in the sky.
However, when the people who knew that person's face managed to see it clearly, they all froze.
It didn't matter if it was Sun Yun, Wu Keqian, Bai Delan, or Evangeline; none of them expected this turn of events.
Standing on the bow of the massive warship, a young man wearing deep blue almost black armor in poor condition, a cloak that looked more like a floor rag than anything else due to how damaged it was, stood tall atop the top of the ship. His black hair waved gently in the wind and despite his damaged equipment, his bearing was not different from that of a true god.
In fact, had it not been for the fact that they recognized the young man's face they would definitely have thought he was a god. After all, there was no such type of modern warship even among mankind's most secret weapons created in all of China.
"Father, Evangeline, Uncle Wu.... It's been a while."
The unmistakable voice of the young man that had left almost half a month ago echoed throughout the privileged area as all the survivors of the base looked up to the sky in shock.

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