Bai Zemin spent the whole morning with his family before telling his father and sister that past noon he would be holding an important meeting regarding the future actions of the Transcendent faction so they both had the qualifications to attend given their status.
Of course, Ye Linger also wanted to participate, but Bai Zemin told her that unfortunately she could not since even if she was his mother and had certain privileges compared to other people, Bai Zemin could not break his own rules so blatantly.
Although his mother was not happy to let him go so soon, she knew that there was not much choice in the matter. At the end of the day, Bai Zemin was destined to walk down a path filled with difficulties that needed to be stepped on with steady and firm steps because stopping would mean his downfall; this was something Ye Linger naturally did not wish to see even in her nightmares.
"Don't worry, mom." Bai Zemin kissed his mother's forehead and said with a smile, "I'll be back in time for dinner and will spend the night here. Besides, I won't come alone so be sure to prepare some more food."
"... You will bring many people?" Ye Linger asked with some hesitation.
Bai Zemin chuckled and shook his head, "Nope."
"Okay then." She nodded before standing on her tiptoes as she made Bai Zemin lean down to kiss his forehead. "Go carefully."
"Don't worry." Bai Zemin nodded, and as he held Bai Shilin's right hand he gently pushed Kali's wheelchair with his free hand.
He had barely set foot on the sidewalk street when a beautiful woman around 30-32 years old wearing a lot of jewelry and a slightly too low-cut dress who was walking a dog was stunned for a moment because of his appearance. However, when the woman's eyes met Bai Zemin's blood-red eyes, all the blood drained from her face and backed away in fright as her legs trembled.
Bai Zemin shook his head and without a word continued on his way.
There were several people who were frightened, and Bai Zemin was stopped by some teams of soul evolvers who were sent to see what was going on. This was the privileged area of the base after all, nothing bad had to happen behind these walls or it would be a disaster.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})"Uh, isn't she the little princess?" a female soul evolver noticed Bai Shilin who was holding Bai Zemin's hand and her eyes flashed with surprise.
Little princess? Bai Zemin looked sideways at Bai Shilin and didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
'It seems that Bing Xue has taken Shilin to many meetings during this time.'
When the eyes of the others fell on Bai Shilin, the expression of most of them changed slightly.
One of them, who seemed to be the leader of this team, took a step forward and looked Bai Zemin up and down before asking in a slightly respectful voice, "Excuse me, may I know your name?"
Bai Zemin didn't have time to say any words when Bai Shilin stepped forward.
"He is Shilin's father!"
"Your father?" The group leader looked at Bai Shilin in astonishment, but as the meaning of these words began to become clear in his head, his face turned stiffly in Bai Zemin's direction.
"My name is Bai Zemin."
"..."
"..."
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})"Bai Zemin... Is... Isn't that the name of the Leader...?"
The leader of the group of five soul evolvers bowed deeply and said in a trembling voice, "L-Leader Bai, I-I am sorry for the offense. O-Our group was only fulfilling its function..."
"It's all right, I understand." Bai Zemin nodded and before continuing on his way he told the team to continue with the good work.
Honestly, Bai Zemin was very satisfied with what had just happened. No one tried to bully him, no one was rude, and everyone simply did the job they were supposed to do.
As the group of soul evolvers watched Bai Zemin carrying the two girls and disappearing after turning a corner, one of them cursed under his breath.
"Damn, do the higher-ups want to kill us or what? To think they would send us to give trouble to the highest Leader!"
"B-But... The Leader is really different don't you think? From the very beginning I felt like someone was choking me just by being near him."
"Well, it's not for nothing that he's the Founding Leader of our Transcendent faction. From normal student to future ruler of China, all in 1 year..."
"Our Leader's life really is like a legend..."
The team leader sighed and shook his head as he turned around, "Guys, let's get on with our duties."
They were respected soul evolvers that in the eyes of normal survivors were no different from gods with powerful divine skills. However, compared to true divine existences they knew they were nothing worth mentioning.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})...
"Bullet, you don't need to come pick me up today."
Those were the first words Kali said to Bai Zemin once he took the two girls to his workshop located in the western part of the base where all kinds of factories had been built.
"What?" Bai Zemin looked at her in surprise as he took out his forging tools and carefully organized them.
"I'll be modifying the runes of the earring after all," Kali pointed out with a serene expression on her face. "Although it won't be an earring meant for combat, what I will be doing with this earring is not something simple enough so it will take me at least 2 days."
"It's out of the question." Bai Zemin shook his head and said in a serious voice, "I will come to pick you up when the sun sets. Tonight we'll have dinner together at my house, you'll sleep in a bed, and in the morning I'll bring you here so you can continue working calmly for the rest of the day."
"But I-"
"Kali!"
The girl trembled in her wheelchair and her back became rigid as she looked in Bai Zemin's direction. The expression on her usually indifferent face turned into one of shock as she waited in silence.
Bai Zemin stared at her and said in a serious voice, "It's good to work hard and all, but you must not forget that you are not a robot. You, Kali, are a 14-year-old girl. You are my friend and a precious existence to me. If you want to follow me then you will have to adhere to nights of sleep and at least one meal a day... is that clear to you?"
Kali subconsciously nodded twice, and seeing her face slightly paler than usual, Bai Zemin wondered if he had been a little too hard on her.
He sighed and reached out to her to stroke her pure white hair as he said in a softer voice, "Look, I know you're used to living alone. However, you are no longer by yourself. You, Kali, are a precious and necessary existence of mine. Therefore, I hope you can have a dignified and warm life, not an emotionless and cold one where you move rigidly."
Without waiting for a response from her side, Bai Zemin asked Bai Shilin to stay to keep her company and left some food on the table so that the two girls would have something to eat in case they felt hungry.
After taking off the earring and putting it in Kali's small hand, he turned and left.
Kali only came out of her daze about a minute later, and as Bai Shilin looked at her curiously, she mumbled something that the future ant queen did not understand before getting to work.
After leaving the workshop, Bai Zemin put a cloak back on to cover his face in order to avoid scaring all the survivors in the base before heading towards the hotel where the American soul evolvers were staying.
"Mm?"
His footsteps stopped after a few minutes when he saw a familiar person sitting in a restaurant. He was enjoying a cup of coffee while looking off into the distance with a thoughtful expression on his face.
When Bai Zemin approached him, this person felt it immediately and turned in his direction saying with a faint smile, "What a surprise, I didn't expect to meet you here. It's still a while before the meeting isn't it?"
Bai Zemin sat on the chair in front of Chen He and nodded, "It's still about two hours before the meeting, don't worry... By the way, what are you doing here?"
Chen He pointed to the cup of coffee in front of him and asked, "What about you?"
"I just dropped Kali off at my workshop. She will modify an accessory to be able to understand our language."
"Kali? Oh... the little girl from the world you went to."
The two were silent before Chen He asked, "What do you plan to do now?"
"I'm going to go meet Angelo and his team." Bai Zemin stood up with the intention of leaving as he commented, "They will return to the United States today as they cannot afford to be away from home during wartime. Besides, as you well know, Angelo will want to exchange information with me so getting a few hours ahead of schedule won't hurt anyone."
"In that case, let me accompany you." Chen He stood up and took out a red-colored ticket. After putting the red ticket under the almost completely finished cup of coffee, he smiled slightly and asked, "Let's go?"
Bai Zemin said nothing and after pulling down the hood covering his face one more time he simply turned to leave.
Chen He followed closely behind him not knowing whether to laugh or cry as he heard the people murmuring and the women looking at him with shining eyes.
...
Sitting in the spacious living room of the hotel where Angelo and his team were staying, Bai Zemin settled on the couch as he took off his hood and looked at the group of three sitting on the opposite seat.
"What do you think about the base? Sorry, I couldn't give you a tour personally as unfortunately my faction has some problems in the north that I need to solve personally." Bai Zemin began to talk with a slight smile and without rushing to get into the subject at hand.
Angelo looked at Bai Zemin in silence for a moment before sighing.
"Bai Zemin, as you already well know, my father was the president of the United States. My education was very varied and among those fields were leadership, business, psychology, and many other fields intended to make me outstanding in leading and understanding people. However, I must admit that this base of your faction has a much higher level of civilian security than I thought and is even comparable to that of my faction's main base... No offense but I didn't expect much from you in this field since you used to be a normal student."
Eleanora looked at Bai Zemin in a new light as well since she was genuinely surprised. Even Angelo had admitted this morning that he had learned two or three things that he would implement after returning and taking back Dallas.
"Nothing to be offended about," Bai Zemin simply sighed and pointed out, "To be frankly honest, my job was to set the rules and show everyone the consequences of breaking those rules during the first few months of the apocalypse. However, if we are talking about government and order, then the one who deserves to be commended is the granddaughter of the former Prime Minister of China."
"If I'm not wrong, the little princess of the Wu family is named Wu Yijun?" Angelo smiled slightly and said in a joking tone, "That girl clearly has a lot more affection for you than ordinary. I'm sure she will be very happy if you show her your appreciation."
Bai Zemin froze upon hearing Angelo's words and a somewhat awkward expression momentarily crossed his face.
Chen He, who was sitting next to him, chuckled and after a brief silence remarked, "I think he has a good point, Bai Zemin. Besides... Yijun rejects any advances from any man on a daily basis you know? There even appeared several talents in other bases who expressed their interest in her but she didn't even give them a glance. I'm not saying take her as a partner, but at least spend some time with her as friends. It shouldn't be bad or should it?"
Chen He's words definitely had several valid points, and hearing it Bai Zemin couldn't help but fall into deep contemplation for a moment.
The world had changed, this was an irrefutable fact. However, the way friends behaved had to change as well? Wu Yijun had repeatedly proven to be absolutely loyal to Bai Zemin to the point where the girl had even decided to go against her family to follow in his steps.
One needed to remember that Wu Yijun's relationship with her family in the government was very good, unlike Shangguan Bing Xue who practically detested the previous government.
"I guess... That a friendly outing should be fine." Bai Zemin nodded.
However, he first needed to consult this with Lilith and would then discuss it with Wu Yijun but he would make things clear to her from the start to avoid hurting her with false hopes.
Chen He patted his shoulder and said with a smile, "That's good. I think everyone in the faction agrees that Yijun deserves at least a reward, and I'm sure she will be happy if that reward comes from you."
* * * * * * *
