Approximately 2 hours later, Bai Zemin and his group flew over American ground directly to the north of the Atlantic Ocean.
The meeting with Angelo was over, and he had made his decision. Even if decisions could change over time depending on circumstances, at least temporarily it was clear that the Leader of the United States of America had chosen his side.
Mounting Little Snow's back on the front, Bai Zemin looked at the artificial intelligence core under the name 'Abyss' for several minutes before stowing it in his storage ring.
"Now we just need to let our team work a bit on creating a copy with the highest possible capability to that of Abyss, install it in the Sky Destroyer's supercomputer, and let it merge with the ship's AI to become an even more powerful one."
Kang Lan nodded, but then suddenly thought of something and said in a conflictive voice, "Bai Zemin, I understand that this is a big step for us from a technological point of view... But, is it safe to install that thing in our computers?"
Abyss was an AI serving Angelo and his faction, so Kang Lan's doubts were not completely misplaced.
"I understand what you mean." Bai Zemin smiled at Bai Shilin sitting between his legs as he calmly said, "But you don't need to worry. I have full control over the Sky Destroyer so even if Abyss wants to play rough I only need a thought to remove it from the system."
"If that Angelo guy knows what's good for him he won't do anything foolish." Nangong Lingxin shook her head.
She simply couldn't imagine the Leader of such a large and powerful faction doing something so foolish after seeing what Bai Zemin could do.
"Angelo is a smart man." Chen He shook his head and pointed out, "While it's true that using Abyss as a virus can sneak into our systems and control our strongest weapons, even nuclear ones, a soul evolver capable of launching nuclear attacks left and right as an enemy is far more dangerous in comparison."
The testing of the different serums and energy shield technology was over so Eleanora no longer needed to stay in China just the same way Chen He no longer needed to stay in the United States.
Now everyone would be where they belonged. The mass development process would take a while, but once the faction received the first batch at each base the defense and overall attack power of the humans would skyrocket.
...
Bai Zemin's group encountered a few flying monsters along the way, but the monsters that were dumb enough to attack them even after one of them released their aura meant it was a weak beast, and those that were strong and intelligent enough to cause half a headache silently retreated as they noticed that this was not a group to mess with.
Five days later, the dawn of the first day of the week, Little Snow approached the vicinity of the Fangshan District.
"Finally home." Nangong Lingxin stretched her arms skyward, unconsciously emphasizing every curve of her sexy body.
Seeing Chen He looking at her without much disguise not with lewdness but with appreciation, the woman smiled and said amusedly, "Looks like the Western mentality changed you a bit, huh?"
"Maybe." Chen He chuckled.
If it was in the past he would have blushed, so what Nangong Lingxin said was not exactly wrong.
Bai Zemin took little Bai Shilin's right hand and Shangguan Bing Xue her left hand.
"Let's take a quick break here before we move. We need to get to Xicheng District as soon as possible to deliver the AI core." He said as he walked towards the group of armed soldiers waiting standing respectfully on the outskirts of a small forest.
The group stopped for no more than 2 hours to properly fill their stomachs as they had been flying without rest, allowing Little Snow to rest and eat delicious Fourth Order dragon meat that Bai Zemin had brought from America.
Less than two days later, Bai Zemin's group arrived at Xicheng District; a place where the best team of soul evolvers with skills focused on developing and understanding high-level technology were located.
Bai Zemin personally met with the leader of the not so large group of only 22 members and explained what he needed.
"Mei Li, this is a matter of utmost importance and must be treated with utmost seriousness and kept secret." Bai Zemin said in a deep voice as he looked at the pretty woman in front of him.
Mei Li was only a level 16 soul evolver whose combat ability was pitifully low. However, Bai Zemin appreciated her and the others for characteristics that any other young man his age would have ignored, and by the time they noticed her importance it might have been too late.
Although she was over 40, her appearance was that of a fair lady in her mid 30's mainly thanks to the high quality potions and food she could afford thanks to her position within the faction.
"Leader, you may have forgotten but I still remember perfectly well who was the person who saved my life and my husband's when we were starving to death without daring to leave because of the zombies." Mei Li looked at him with eyes brimming with infinite gratitude as she said, "Don't worry. Although my team is a bit crazy and they don't like working with others I will see to it that they pair up well with Team Leader Lin after we reach Changping District."
The Sky Destroyer was in Changping District, so Mei Li and her team would have to move in order to join Lin Shaoyan who was in charge of the team controlling the large flying battleship.
"How could I forget that moment?" Bai Zemin shook his head as a memory of over 1 year ago loomed from one of the most distant corners of his mind.
Back then, Mei Li and her husband were locked in the basement of their house. They did not dare to go out as there were several zombies inside the house not to mention on the streets. Bai Zemin learned that Mei Li had killed a zombie on day 1 using a kitchen knife, and it was there that she obtained the First Order passive skill Advanced Technological Engineer.
A great skill, but unfortunately it was of no use in helping a person survive in the apocalypse. In fact, only a large faction could take advantage of someone with a skill as complicated as that; and Bai Zemin certainly did not let her go but instead proposed a great deal that the then desperate Mei Li saw no reason to refuse.
Even today she was still grateful to the young man in front of her who could be her son, and surely would be for the rest of her life.
Bai Zemin took his leave of Mei Li and rejoined the rest of his group who had been waiting for him.
"All set?"
"All set." Shangguan Bing Xue nodded and approached him as if she felt he was too far away. "The combat helicopter will be escorted by two hunters to the Changping District base. Even Nangong Lingxin and Chen He are joining the technology development team so there will be no problems at all."
Bai Zemin nodded, and after looking around he noticed that apart from Shangguan Bing Xue there were only Bai Shilin and Kang Lan.
"Feng Tian Wu?" he asked feeling perplexed.
Shangguan Bing Xue was about to answer his question when the unknown cry of some kind of creature echoed in the sky, answering him in her place.
Bai Zemin and the others raised their heads just in time to see that from somewhere in the base a kind of fire bird whose wingspan measured more than 10 meters was soaring into the sky.
The fire creature screeched and with a flap of its large wings turned into a laser beam, disappearing over the horizon in a matter of seconds.
"She said she would head to Shanghai as there is something she needed to do there." Shangguan Bing Xue explained calmly.
She had not said anything about her not-so-friendly duel against Feng Tian Wu nor did she change her attitude towards her in any particular way. In fact, there were two reasons why Shangguan Bing Xue challenged Feng Tian Wu and among those two reasons there was no jealousy as in her eyes she had nothing to envy; it was more complicated than Bai Zemin believed, in fact.
First of all, Shangguan Bing Xue challenged Feng Tian Wu because she wanted to beat her up a bit after learning that she was the girl who in the past hurt Bai Zemin to the point where he ended up learning a skill that turned him into something not unlike an insensitive killing machine.
Second and more importantly, however, Shangguan Bing Xue wanted to beat Feng Tian Wu as a sign of warning and punishment. She wanted the powerful fire mage to know that apart from Bai Zemin, there was someone else capable of stopping her, and she wanted to make her understand that if she ever did anything against him again, Shangguan Bing Xue would be the one to make her pay with her life.
Shangguan Bing Xue knew that Feng Tian Wu was a smart woman, so she was confident that her two messages were correctly delivered to their destination.
Bai Zemin, who mistakenly thought that Shangguan Bing Xue had challenged Feng Tian Wu to prove to her that she was more powerful after Feng Tian Wu said hurtful words about half a month ago, nodded and asked no further questions regarding why Feng Tian Wu needed to go to Shanghai.
"Leader, what shall we do now?" Kang Lan asked as she knew that Bai Zemin's previous plan was to attack Russia, but given the current circumstances with the appearance of the Higher Existences it was highly likely that he had something different in mind.
Bai Zemin fell into deep contemplation before suddenly remembering that right at the base he was standing, there was a person he had not seen and needed to meet.
He looked at Shangguan Bing Xue and calmly asked, "Bing Xue, I want to see that person."
"That person?" she mumbled in confusion before her eyes flashed with understanding, "Oh... You mean him?"
"It's time to decide what to do after all." Bai Zemin nodded with a thoughtful expression on his face.
...More than 100 meters underground was the most secure dungeon in the entire Transcendent faction intended to solely and exclusively "seal" soul evolvers above level 40.
There, prisoners ranging from traitors, murderers, treasure thieves, and even loyal bodyguards of defeated enemies spent their days in almost complete darkness.
A small subway river of clean drinking water ran inside the dungeon so all the cells made of a Rank 2 alloy of various metals were damp and cold.
The soul evolvers there used to be tightly chained to the wall, but since Bai Zemin returned from Eventide World with the mana-blocking handcuffs they were released inside those small 2 meter x 2 meter boxes.
In the deepest hole of all, one whose bars even had Rank 3 metal, a man with a missing arm sat like a lifeless soul on the wet straw piled in the only space that the cold water did not touch.
This man used to be someone incredibly prestigious, one of the most powerful humans in the whole world not only before the advent of the Soul Record but even after all living beings were pushed into evolution.
Unfortunately, this man whose future should have been unlimited and turned into a great power to lead humanity to new heights made the wrong choices by seeking conflict again and again with enemies he disdained at the time but later learned were stronger than he was.
The man who abandoned his illegitimate daughter to her fate and the one to blame for her resenting and despising the male gender so much except for a handful of them even today.
This person was none other than Xuanyuan Wentian, the former highest authority in China.
* * * * * * * Really thank you very much to all those who send gifts to the novel and support with valuable Golden Tickets. I hope we can all keep it up <3

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