Of course, little did the high command of the Baiquan Camp expect that Bai Zemin had actually acquired at the beginning of the apocalypse a skill that almost completely changed his attitude... No, perhaps more than changed his attitude, the Stone Heart skill caused Bai Zemin's emotions to become firm and allowed him to make decisions without hesitation.
There was no doubt that one of the main factors behind Bai Zemin's great and fast growth was the skill Stone Heart. Even if he was brave and had great talent for magic and close combat, his unwavering mentality was undoubtedly what allowed his diminutive body in comparison to the burdens that weighed on his shoulders not to collapse.
"So, what do you suggest, Major Bai Yong?" Shen Mei asked after handing over the picture but not before giving it one last look.
Bai Yong carefully kept the picture for which he paid more than he expected and said slowly, "Although I really don't think that having an all-out confrontation against people who are clearly powerful, I'm afraid we have no choice but to do it."
"So it really is war..."
"I wonder how many will die in the process..."
"We're finally going to wipe out these savage bandits!"
"After conquering another camp with so many survivors, I bet that this Bai Zemin has a lot of supplies in his base. If we manage to get our hands on all his treasures...."
...
The room immediately became noisy as everyone began to comment loudly.
Some agreed to attack, others seemed unsure. While some seemed to be a little afraid of the possibility of being defeated and losing everything, others firmly believed in the power of the Baiquan Camp so they were already thinking about the treasures they would get after the victory.
"We finally agree on something." Jin Shun nodded in satisfaction as he gave Bai Yong a self-satisfied look and said, "If you had listened to me earlier, those bandits wouldn't have been able to grow to this extent and everything would be much easier."
Bai Yong sighed and while forcing his forehead said quietly, "The problem is those 20,000,000 zombies.... If we want to grow beyond the Baiquan subdistrict, we have to spread north and south. To the north is the faction of this young Bai Zemin, and to the south millions of enemies.... If we stay like this, stuck as we are, it will only be a matter of time before a hard enemy shows up."
The most efficient way to reach the southern district was to cross using the Eastern Dragon's Back. The Eastern Dragon's Back was a huge bridge that stretched for over 100,000 meters where the only thing underneath was water. The other way was to head northwest or northeast and cross another district and then go around it and finally reach the southern district. However, this would take weeks in the past not to mention now that the world was no longer the way it was.
This was precisely the reason why Bai Zemin constantly aimed south. He did not have time to spend several months circling districts before finally finding his loved ones.
Therefore, the two sides were destined to clash. It was only a question of whether the clash would be sooner or later.
"Is there no way to come to an agreement?" Shen Mei asked with a frown.
Even though she had been a gangster's wife in the past, it didn't mean that she loved war and death. She was just a woman in love and for love anyone would do anything. If there was any way to avoid war, then Shen Mei hoped to find it.
"I'm afraid it will be difficult." Bai Yong sighed and shook his head as he explained his thoughts, "This person called Bai Zemin must definitely be powerful to rise from being nothing to leading a large faction in such a short time. Unlike people like me or Commander Jin Shun who already had a solid foundation before the apocalypse, this Bai Zemin established everything from the ground up by himself, and to do something like that you need to wield a great deal of power."
Shen Mei was silent when she heard this.
"In all the past meetings, Bai Zemin never showed himself." Bai Yong continued, "According to reports, he is a very proud person who prefers death rather than submission and judging by the way things are going, I'm afraid he will definitely not hand over his faction.... Now we can only hope that Bai Jian manages to lure him out using the position of Police Forces Leader as well as an important position in the government cabinet.... Otherwise, we can just fight."
"Hahaha! I wonder if that Bai Jian guy will manage to do that or will his arrogance go to his head?" Mo Zan laughed out loud, ignoring Bai Wei's gaze.
Shen Mei also frowned at the thought of Bai Jian's arrogant attitude. She couldn't help but say in a low voice, "I'm afraid that Bai Jian might bring more problems than solutions.... Even more so considering how lustful he is."
Bai Wei slammed the table and said angrily, "My son may be lustful and have many faults, however, he is definitely not foolish enough to not see the big picture!"
Shen Mei sighed and shook her head: ".... Let's hope that's the case..."
Mo Zan scoffed and said no more. From his point of view, whether it was one Bai Zemin or two Bai Zemins the only difference was one more head to chop off and that was it. His current level was 45 and he was very close to reaching the threshold of the next stage, he could feel the Soul Power inside him almost touching a boundary barrier. He was fully confident in his power and feared no one. As long as he was not caught by heavy weaponry, Mo Zan firmly believed that there was no human capable of taking him down.
After discussing a few more details, Bai Yong looked at Jin Shun and said in a deep voice, "Commander Jin, I hope we can put aside our differences at least for a moment. The present and future of the entire base rests on our shoulders."
Jin Shun also put on a serious expression and said in a dignified voice, "Don't worry, Mayor Bai. For the sake of the country and the people, we, the army, will give our all to root out the bandits who took advantage of the instability of the motherland to plan a takeover."
The expression of some people in the hall became quite amused as they looked at Bai Yong and Jin Shun with weird eyes. It was clear that the two men were making use of their positions again to throw dirty water on someone else's head. However, one needed "righteous" reasons to launch a fierce war like the one that was soon to break out.
By using the name of the country and the people to eradicate traitors as a base, even if the central government ever recovered the top commanders of the Baiquan Camp could immediately excuse themselves and their actions as them saving the Chinese people from the clutches of a dictator.
Bai Yong also understood Jin Shun's thoughts so he too nodded and said deeply, "Commander Jin is a hero. I hope you will order your military troops to cooperate with my special forces to attack the enemy. If the two of us join hands, then even if this Bai Zemin person is really as strong as the rumors say he will definitely fall."
"Take them to a point that they can't get out of, and they will die before they can escape." Jin Shun quoted. "Our numbers are definitely at least four times greater than the enemy's. Even if the enemy leader is a four-armed, two-headed monster, he will have to fall from exhaustion."
"Since an agreement has been reached, I will go and prepare."
"I will do the same for my part."
The two men stood up and gave orders to the people on their side within the hall. Then, with the two leading the way, they all walked out together before splitting up to go give orders to the forces they were leading.
Little did they know that an enemy had already sneaked into their base while they were discussing the war.
* * *
Dressed in threadbare clothes and with several patches of dirt on his face, Fu Xuefeng tousled his hair to make it look like a bird's nest of straw and mingled among the survivors who occasionally entered the base.
Although there were a large number of soldiers guarding the north gate of the base as they were aware of the existence of another camp at the north of their current position, Fu Xuefeng had no trouble getting through as not only did his body smell extremely bad but he also had no belongings on his body.
After a quick search, the soldiers did not want to stay close to a smelly and worthless survivor so they sent him off in a hurry after giving him a couple of slaps.
If it was Zhong De those soldiers would definitely have died horribly. However, Fu Xuefeng was calmer so he didn't mind too much and it wasn't as if the slaps of normal humans meant anything to him. Therefore, after enduring a couple of slaps on the head and ridicule, he successfully entered the enemy base.
As he looked around, he noticed that this base was in roughly the same condition as the North Camp after three days of improvement following the arrival of Bai Zemin, Shangguan Bing Xue, Nangong Lingxin, and Nangong Yi. In a nutshell and at first glance, the Baiquan Camp was in slightly better condition than the North Camp before it fell into the hands of the Transcend faction.
"Big brother is big brother after all." Fu Xuefeng whispered proudly as he secretly compared Beginning Village and Baiquan Camp. His respect and admiration for Bai Zemin grew more and more every day.
Like him, Bai Zemin had been just an ordinary man before the apocalypse. But in such a short time he had managed to establish a base that although it was much smaller than the Baiquan Camp, the foundation was undoubtedly firmer. After all, even though Bai Zemin had a much thornier start than people who already enjoyed high positions, all the power of the Transcendent faction was firmly in his grasp in contrast to the Baiquan Camp which was divided into two large groups and several smaller ones.
Because Fu Xuefeng had nothing to do at the moment and could not simply sneak into the private areas of the base in broad daylight, he simply wandered around the base and pretended to be just another survivor. He heard several rumors of which he could not be sure but he also got some information while wandering around the market.
'Apparently, the soldiers are more restless than usual. I wonder if they are preparing for the war?' Fu Xuefeng thought secretly as he watched people pass by from inside a dark and wet alley.
"This is the tenth group of soldiers I've seen pass by in 4 hours and if add to that the other ten police groups I think it's safe to assume something big is going to happen." Fu Xuefeng stood up as the sun went down and muttered, "I'd better get moving too. I have to hurry back to base to report this to the big brother."
Making use of the night cloak, Fu Xuefeng's active skill Invisibility showed great effect in evading patrols. This in conjunction with the active skill Suppressed Presence made it extremely easy for him to leave the base and then sneak back in without having to go through so much trouble.
It was just that when he re-entered the base, his clothing was no longer that of a dirt-covered survivor. He wore black leather armor, a dark metallic colored dagger, he even wore a white bone mask on his face capable of protecting his head from smaller caliber bullets.
Quietly and unnoticed, Fu Xuefeng charged into the deepest parts of the base. His first target was the military base of the enemy.
* * * * * * *
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