Chapter 347 - Enemy Attack Just Before Departure
North of the base's central square, Yan Tu was wearing a suit of armor made from the skin of a First Order python that he himself had defeated in the past. The marks on the armor showed that the battle two nights ago had been hard enough that even the heavy defense of his armor was not enough to withstand the heavy attacks of his enemies.
"I want everyone to form in an orderly fashion in a single line! Children and women first, men next, and old men last! If anyone dares to cut the line, push, or cause trouble and is discovered; they will be whipped at the first instant and left behind without the possibility of boarding any vehicles!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.
His voice reached out to the end of the wave of people for all to hear and feeling the weight in that hoarse voice and seeing the bulging muscles that even that great armor could not hide, all the survivors obediently began to line up under the watchful observation of one of the most powerful evolvers in the entire base and a hundred or so armed men who watched them with cold eyes.
A woman dressed in cloth armor that, despite being Rank 0 had enough defense to withstand several attacks from a beast below level 10, stepped away from the line and walked with cautious steps towards Yan Tu. The woman's appearance was not outstanding by any means and was more on the normal side with several wrinkles at the corner of her eyes that exposed her age.
She was gently pulling a boy of about 13 years old who was wearing a small Rank 0 leather armor whose expression was still somewhat sleepy. Everyone would probably be surprised to see that, despite the fact that this woman was wearing a valuable armor that very few could afford to wear, her hands were actually covered in calluses, showing that in the past she had been someone who had used both of her hands to work really hard.
Yan Tu saw the woman approaching and indicated to the soldier next to him to do nothing. When the mother and son pair arrived in front of him and stopped, he asked in a hoarse, emotionless voice, "Full name of both of you."
"Y-Yes!" The woman was obviously scared, which was odd considering that due to her attire she should be someone with some power within the base. She hurriedly responded, "My name is Ding Ya and this is my son, his name is Gu Yuhan."
Yan Tu said nothing and instead silently received a list from the hands of a woman dressed as a cop next to him. After searching through several surnames, he finally found Ding Ya's name and ticked next to the box. Then Yan Tu did the same for the letter G and a moment later found Gu Yuhan on the list, doing the same as before.
He handed the list back to the policewoman and looked at the mother-son duo, making both of them shrink a little.
"Go ahead."
Hearing this, the woman named Ding Ya let out a small sigh of relief and thanked before leaving with her son.
The survivors who were lining up were naturally not happy about this, however, Yan Tu's earlier warning was still latent in their memories so they could only swallow those complaints in their stomach unless they wanted to risk being left behind which was basically no different from signing the death sentence.
Yan Tu coldly snorted when he saw the dissatisfied expressions, sending chills down the spines of the survivors. Lu Yan, who watched everything from the side, laughed inwardly and shook his head.
The woman named Ding Ya and the 13-year-old little boy named Gu Yuhan were actually the family of Gu Tao, the big man who had quickly become a powerful level 20 soul evolver not long after joining the melee ranks. This man was extremely loyal to Bai Zemin and his bravery had won the hearts of many of his brothers on the battlefield so he was held in high esteem by all.
All soul evolvers naturally had privileges that normal survivors did not. For example, their families did not need to form lines and at times like this, they had top priority just behind the families of the main leaders. This was a benefit that only they, who risked their lives every second on the battlefield and who were the future hope of mankind, had the right to enjoy.
Armed men, on the other hand, had the privilege of passing a member of their families. This was naturally much less than the soul evolvers, which was perfectly normal considering that the importance of the gunmen was incomparable to that of the soul evolvers to Bai Zemin and his faction.
This type of situation was not only occurring in the northern part of the central square of the base, but was also occurring in the southern, western, and eastern areas. The rest of the square was heavily fenced off and protected by armed men to prevent any survivors from sneaking in.
...
In the south, Fu Xuefeng stood next to his sister as he calmly checked on the survivors who passed through in an orderly fashion.
Fu Shuren wore a comfortable cloth armor and looked quite beautiful with her clean, flowing brown hair. She observed her little brother's behavior and couldn't help but sigh in her heart, clearly noticing the obvious changes in him.
Her little brother had become a great man, but what about her? She was still stuck, doing nothing and depending on him for everything. This was not the kind of life she wanted to herself; it was like this in the past and it was like this now.
"Xuefeng, this is not the way I want to live after all." She finally made up her mind.
"Mm?" Fu Xuefeng averted his gaze and looked at her in confusion for a few seconds before asking in puzzlement, "Big sister? What do you mean?"
Fu Shuren looked at her little brother and said earnestly, "I want to go back to work...." Then she blushed as if she had thought of something or remembered something and said slowly, "If you don't mind, I could work as the Leader's maid again."
"Big brother's?" Fu Xuefeng was at a loss for words. He said a little not knowing whether to laugh or cry, "Big Sister, could it be that you fell in love with big brother Bai?... Just forget it... There are many ladies who court him in a roundabout way or openly show interest in him but except for a girl who is at the main base he doesn't pay attention to any woman."
Fu Shuren gritted his teeth and said with some embarrassment, "Little brat, do you think you are too brave now? Do you want me to beat you up?"
Cough! Cough!
Fu Xuefeng coughed uncomfortably and looked away. The family was the family after all....
"Hmph!" Fu Shuren snorted and said earnestly, "Forget about love. I just want to work and that's all."
Fu Xuefeng rolled his eyes secretly. Still, after thinking about it for a while, he finally nodded and said calmly, "Okay.... I'll see what I can do. But let me tell you, you'd better not think wild thoughts. Big brother Bai doesn't spend much time at home so even if you work for him you won't be able to see him 90% of the time."
"Em? Did you say something?" Fu Shuren frowned and raised her small white fist, causing Fu Xuefeng to shrink back.
The armed men and soul evolvers who belonged to the battalion controlled by Fu Xuefeng wanted to laugh at the sight but did not dare. Still, nothing prevented them from looking at each other with amused smiles.
...
In the west, Kang Lan together with Evangeline controlled the area. Both women commanded a team of over a hundred armed men and several soul evolvers while they were in charge of keeping everything in order.
Since they were both quite reserved with strangers or with everyone in general, neither of them spoke more than necessary.
...
On the east side, Nangong Yi and Nangong Lingxin. The two siblings were doing a good job, working very well as a team. Even as they chatted they managed to draw out some anxious survivors who tried to sneak in from the sides and caused some trouble as they formed the line.
...
Standing atop the tallest building on the entire base, approximately two kilometers away from the central square, two people looked down with indifferent expressions.
Their pupils clearly reflected how more than 4900 people were lined up in four lines, forming what appeared to be four huge dragons that coiled along the length and breadth of several buildings that stretched down several streets as if they had no clear end.
These two people were Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue. Since what needed to be charged was charged the day before and this kind of movement did not need the intervention of the two of them considering that it was not really something that could be solved with brute force, the two of them decided to observe the surroundings.
After all, this was probably the time when the base's defense was at an all-time low.
All the armed men had been moved from the walls and the soul evolvers were nowhere to be seen guarding the surroundings. If a great horde of mutant beasts like the one two nights ago attacked at this time, then a great disaster would descend upon the mankind of the base, and more than probably all the survivors would be completely decimated.
The two did not talk much and mainly focused on extending their senses as much as possible.
Fortunately, two hours later, all the survivors who decided to follow the armed troops obediently had finally finished boarding and no major events happened other than the appearance of some zombie or stray beast that roamed the surroundings but were killed before they even understood what was going on.
"We should go too." Shangguan Bing Xue looked at Bai Zemin beside her and proposed as she saw the drivers start the engines of the vehicles.
Bai Zemin had his eyes closed, as he heard the pretty slightly indifferent voice of the woman beside him, he slowly raised his head and looked towards the central square as he calmly said, "You go first. I'll come after you."
Seeing Shangguan Bing Xue looking at him, he calmly said, "Someone needs to stay behind in case any beasts rushed towards the convoy, don't you think it would be bad if even a single creature manages to sneak in?"
Shangguan Bing Xue thought about it for a moment and realized that what Bai Zemin said made sense. If a beast sneaked in between the buses, even if it ended up dying in the end, it was highly likely that many survivors would die first since they were all densely packed together.
Although for some reason she felt that something wasn't right, she failed to point out that it was in a short period of time so in the end she simply nodded and calmly said, "Then, I'll go first."
Swoosh!
Bai Zemin felt a light cool breeze blow past him and soon saw Shangguan Bing Xue plummeting towards the ground, only slowing down slightly before touching the floor. Then, she dashed towards the central square at lightning speed, and just before stepping into a military jeep, she glanced in his direction.
Seeing him nod, Shangguan Bing Xue gave the order to march. The waiting drivers immediately shifted into first gear and slowly the vehicles began to move towards the southern exit.
Only a few moments later, the last vehicle was already about two hundred meters away and Bai Zemin slowly turned around to look behind him.
Several small creatures came running out of the forest. Their numbers were easily several thousand, too many to be counted accurately.
"Hmph." Bai Zemin snorted and the small pearl containing over a hundred thousand liters of blood of different species slowly floated out of his armor and stopped on his palm.
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A/N: 3/3 chaps cause yesterday guys. Enjoy!
Thank you very much to everyone who voted for Blood Warlock with their Golden Tickets! <3