Chapter 253 - Three Vs Hundreds (Part 5)
Shangguan Bing Xue's concerns about another world invading Earth were not unreasonable and thus the slight break in her character was understandable. Until now, even if everyone had their own theories and thoughts, they had never thought of such a possibility... No, rather than saying that they had not thought about it, perhaps it would be more correct to say that they were simply unwilling to think about such an event.
Earth was already facing too many problems to count; zombies, mutant beasts, goblins, and who knows if there were more fantasy species roaming around out there. Even humans themselves were not allies as a race, separating out of fear of each other and fear of seeing their personal property harmed.
In Yanqing District alone, Bai Zemin's group had encountered many huge problems and the life and death situations they had to deal with could not be counted as just one or two. Then, how dangerous would the rest of China be? And how about the rest of the world?
The problems and dangers humanity faced were too many. But now there was a weapon created from a strange material from another world that no one had ever heard of. If a weapon could get here, then who could guarantee that the inhabitants of that world could not? Even if the weapon had been born thanks to the Soul Record using a material called Orchid Baddtialaite, no one could be sure what would happen in the future.
At the very least, the possibility of being invaded was now present and that alone was enough to make even Shangguan Bing Xue fearful; not to mention the rest. Nangong Yi and Nangong Lingxin also turned slightly pale at the thought, and unconsciously or not, they all looked at Bai Zemin waiting for an answer.
After all, for some reason, Bai Zemin always had an answer for everything.
Bai Zemin sighed inwardly. After a moment's hesitation, he decided to tell the things he knew so far and his thoughts. Of course, he narrated everything as a possibility and as theories rather than certainties since otherwise he would have no way to explain how he knew such things.
"Although I'm not really sure, temporarily we should be fine."
"Temporarily? What specifically do you mean?" Nangong Lingxin hurriedly pursued.
Bai Zemin was silent for a moment as if in thought before slowly saying, "This is just a theory, but I think it would be good to keep in mind... As we already know, humans and wild beasts are divided into Orders and within each Order there are different levels. Unclassified from level 0 to level 25, First Order from level 25 to level 50 and Second Order from level 50 to unknown. For now that's all we know since while none of us have reached the First Order limit, we have faced a Second Order beast in the past."
Although Nangong Lingxin and Nangong Yi had not yet joined the group back then, both siblings already knew that Bai Zemin's group had faced a horrendously powerful beast and that it had been that powerful beast who had managed to injure someone as strong as Bai Zemin before perishing.
"So, since we, living beings of this world, are constantly evolving and growing... Why wouldn't the world do so as well?" Bai Zemin paused here and looked at everyone's reaction.
As he expected, everyone was filled with disbelief. However, soon enough that disbelief turned to shock, realization, and they even seemed to have enlightened themselves about something.
"How did I not think of that before!" Nangong Lingxin exclaimed, apparently forgetting about Yi Fang and Xiang Feng who were sleeping upstairs, or perhaps too engaged to worry about minor matters, "Since we evolved, of course, the world must evolve as well!"
"Indeed... Because if the world can't evolve..." Nangong Yi paused
Shangguan Bing Xue finished what he wanted to say, "If the world cannot evolve or keep up with the rate of evolution of the beings that inhabit it, then it will one day end up facing its own destruction."
"That's right." Bai Zemin nodded with an earnest expression, "If the world does not evolve, then someday it will be destroyed. Look at what we can do being relatively low-level existences and barely First Order or even Unclassified... Then try to imagine how devastating the clash of two beings of higher Orders such as Third, Fourth, even Fifth Order or more could be!"
Bai Zemin could already make a small wasteland with an extension of one kilometer being only a First Order existence. So what could he do when he reached the Fourth Order? Just imagining it made everyone feel a chill.
"So, I think the world will definitely evolve." He concluded. "I don't know when, and I don't know how, but it will definitely evolve. As for what happens in each evolution of the world... There is no way to guess, we can only try to predict to adapt as soon as possible to the changes."
In the end, what they as humans could do was limited.
Whether or not Earth was invaded by other worlds was not something they could decide or avoid. The best they could do was prepare for the worst possible events so that they would be able to, at the very least, not be caught with their pants down.
Seeing everyone's worried faces, Bai Zemin smiled slightly and said confidently, "But don't worry. Who knows how long it will have to be before this new world faces its first major change... By the time the time comes, we will be far more powerful. We will survive, no matter what. Even if we have to wipe out myriads of enemies and races, we will definitely survive."
Bai Zemin's words managed to ease the heavy mood in the group a bit. As to whether his words were meant to calm them or him, only Bai Zemin himself knew.
Now that the matter of a possible invasion had been slightly put aside, Nangong Lingxin shook her head and decided to focus on another matter at hand. She looked at the strange dagger and asked in confusion, "This dagger is undoubtedly a high-quality treasure... But there is something I don't understand."
She paused and then looked at the fainted assassin, "Why didn't that girl activate the dagger's skill? I clearly saw how Bai Zemin caught the dagger with his bare hands. If she wanted to, she could have cut off his hand and could have even paralyzed him, which would give her 1 second to even attack him mortally..."
This was the doubt that everyone present had. As each of them picked up the dagger, they clearly felt that the skill Death's Kiss was still available to activate. So, why didn't the assassin activate this skill since she probably knew that this would be her only option to run away?
In fact, the reason why Bai Zemin did not wake up this killer girl by beating or breaking some of her limbs was because at the last moment he saw the hesitation in the girl's eyes. Otherwise, he would definitely not wait for his enemy to wake up comfortably.
"Ugh..."
While everyone was immersed in their own inner thoughts, a small groan sounded amidst the crackling of the flames coming from the bonfire.
The eyes of Bai Zemin and the others immediately focused on the silhouette lying on the floor.
The person who had sneaked into the building and attempted to assassinate Bai Zemin was a young woman of about 23 years old. Her hair was as blonde in color as the clear rays of the sun, her skin free of imperfections to the naked eye was pale and smooth to the touch, and her body, while not exceptionally developed, was definitely tempting enough to charm any healthy man.
The young assassin's beauty was unlike that of any other woman Bai Zemin had met in the past. Her entire body seemed to exude some sort of strange aura that in conjunction with her body made her look like a beautiful rose waiting to be gathered by someone. However, as everyone knew, roses came with thorns and if one wanted to pick one, one had to be prepared as there was a likelihood of getting pricked.
This woman was that kind of beauty: gorgeous, charming, but at the same time filled with hidden dangers.
Although many Chinese men preferred Chinese women, Bai Zemin did not belong to this category. A beauty was a beauty, and the fainting woman was a foreign beauty. It was as simple as that.
Gradually, the young assassin opened her eyes. At first she struggled to adjust to the darkness and the pain in her body caused her vision to blur for a moment. Soon, however, she could finally see the faces of four people illuminated by the nearby fire; among them, the terrifying young man she had faced earlier was staring at her with ice-cold eyes.
Bai Zemin took a step forward and noticed that this girl had jade green eyes. However, her gaze was cold, and indifferent. But unlike Shangguan Bing Xue's distant coldness, the coldness in the young assassin's eyes was lethal.
"You are finally awake. My name is Bai Zemin." He initiated the conversation.
"..."
"What is your name?"
"..."
"Why did you come here tonight?"
"..."
"Why did you try to kill me?"
"..."
"Who sent you?"
"..."
Bai Zemin tried to ask several questions unsuccessfully. No matter what he asked, even if it was something as insignificant as her age or her name, she did not answer in the least and kept her mouth closed. The young foreign assassin simply looked at him coldly.
Time passed and several minutes later, Bai Zemin's patience finally began to run out. He looked at the woman who looked like a wild and untamed horse unwilling to submit and his expression gradually clouded over. However, Bai Zemin was not a child, at least he did not consider himself one; therefore, he endured.
After a moment, he asked another question, "Why didn't you activate your dagger's skill?"
The young assassin's expression changed slightly, and although it soon returned to normal, Bai Zemin easily noticed how her green eyes moved through the darkness before finally stopping on Shangguan Bing Xue, who was holding the young assassin's dagger in her right hand.
Just when Bai Zemin thought she would fall silent again, the young assassin finally spoke. Her voice was too soft, like that of a baby and as sweet as that of an innocent young girl. It was definitely not a voice of an experienced assassin who did not even hesitate to attack lethally.
"Give me back my dagger."
"You want your dagger back?" Bai Zemin nodded calmly. "Sure. I'm willing to give it to you. But first I want you to answer my previous question. Why didn't you activate the skill Death's Kiss earlier? You could have escaped and might have even injured me if you had."
Bai Zemin didn't care about the dagger. While it was a powerful Magic grade treasure, it was not a weapon that suited his combat style. Furthermore, while it granted a large number of stat points and possessed a powerful skill, Bai Zemin felt that it was best not to rely too much on external stats as far as possible.
For example: in a battle, if your enemy managed to shake your grip onto your weapon and send the weapon flying away from you, then not only would you lose your weapon but you would also be losing a huge amount of stats, greatly weakening you in the midst of mortal combat. Therefore, Bai Zemin believed that it was better to use weapons that increased physical or magical attack power rather than soul stats.
The young assassin looked at Bai Zemin for several seconds. Her green eyes were as sharp and deadly as a pair of daggers. She seemed to be searching for any trace of trickery in his face and gaze, but Bai Zemin's expression remained pure and unchanged.
"The reason I didn't activate Death's Kiss in the last moment was because I felt you had no malicious intent towards me."
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