"Are you sure it's a good idea to leave the outpost base without any protection?" Shangguan Bing Xue asked as she looked into the distance.
The group was currently very close to the coast of the East Sea, this was a very nostalgic place for Bai Zemin, Wu Yijun, and Shangguan Bing Xue. After all, they were on the edge of the Yanqing District; the district where the formerly prestigious and extremely crowded Beijing University was located.
It was precisely the place where the three of them were when it all began a little over a year ago.
"The outpost base at the edge of Inner Mongolia is an important base but we could also consider it a risky one." Bai Zemin said as he looked out over the calm waters of the huge sea before his eyes. "When we are done with all this we can easily take it back again in case someone were to take it, which is not very likely."
"Well, we'll come back stronger than ever after all." Wu Yijun hesitated for a moment before finally pointing out, "But what if the base is destroyed?"
"If the base is destroyed we just have to raise it up again." Bai Zemin smiled slightly and said with a hint of mockery, "Even if an intelligent soul evolver were to happen to get into the base they would only find a bunch of trash."
He had stored all the important things in the Collector's Pocket World after all.
The more time passed the more Bai Zemin was grateful to the Collector's Pocket Watch... Quite an interesting name considering that it could actually be viewed as a treasure house for collecting and storing things in large quantities as if they were p*kem*ns.
Bai Zemin looked at everyone present and said in a serious voice, "Everyone, you all remember our plan don't you? We will try to avoid conflict against the alligator, if possible we don't even want to see him. Our priority is to find 2 Third Order monsters as soon as possible while heading to the kingdom of Xian Mei'er."
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})Xian Mei'er nodded, "When we get to Kraya City won't need to worry about being attacked all of a sudden. Now that the succession to the throne will begin in a day's time my Royal Father will certainly not allow conflicts and security will most probably be multiplied so there should be no problem."
"But... Your father the East Sea King has only broken into the Fourth Order recently hasn't he?" Shangguan Xinyue pointed out with a frown, "I don't think he is stronger than the alligator no matter how optimistic I want to be."
Although the others did not say anything, it was clear from their expressions that they thought the same thing Shangguan Xinyue had said sharply.
"Regarding that, there is no need to worry." Xian Mei'er shook her head and said softly, "Although my Royal Father is certainly not as strong as that alligator, Kraya City's defenses are really powerful. There are several Cosmic Particle Cannons around the city and many secondary cannons whose attack power is not small. Even my third brother's bodyguard won't dare to cause trouble there, I guarantee it."
"If you say so." Shangguan Bing Xue sighed. She looked out at the seemingly endless sea ahead of them and muttered something that only she could hear.
Seeing that the discussions seemed to be over, Xian Mei'er looked at one of the two female tritons and calmly said, "Sei Yin, give me that."
One of the two female tritons, the one carrying a black waterproof bag, pulled the string of the bag over her head and handed it to Xian Mei'er with a respectful expression.
Under the confused eyes of everyone, Xian Mei'er took out multiple full-face masks. All of the masks were ash gray with a small rune on the forehead and numerous blue-colored lines around the circumference.
"Although you guys can hold your breath for several hours underwater the consumption of Mana and Stamina will certainly not be small." Xian Mei'er passed a mask to each of them as she calmly said, "Since we don't even know what will happen down there it will be wise to save as much strength as possible."
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})Bai Zemin and the others were confused, but when they saw the records that made up each mask they finally understood.
[Shipwrecked Mask (Rare Grade Treasure): A treasure that allows the wearer to breathe underwater for 20 hours uninterrupted. After its use, 12 hours are required before the special skill of the Shipwrecked Mask can be used again.]
"Oh, this is pretty cool and handy." Bai Zemin's eyes immediately lit up.
"Indeed." Wu Yijun nodded. "Although there are no extra statistics, the ability to breathe underwater is something that can be life-saving depending on the circumstance."
"Away from the sea, this kind of treasure is certainly not something worth mentioning." Shangguan Bing Xue ran her palm over the surface of the mask before bringing it to her face. Although the mask had no holes, she did not complain which meant she could see clearly, "But right now these masks are a great treasure."
"I took them from the treasure of my family." Xian Mei'er said casually, "To us, sea creatures, those masks are useless but still treasures so they were saved. I'm glad I brought some with me just in case."
Soon, they all started walking towards the shore and with seven splashes their bodies disappeared into the waters.
All except one of them.
Bai Zemin looked back and raised his head to the sky. His black eyes seemed to look beyond the gray clouds, and one could see a bit of desolation and a bit of sadness in his stare.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})It had been over a month since Lilith had left, and Bai Zemin naturally hadn't heard a word about her.
He missed her a lot, missed her so much that he needed to keep his head busy with anything to avoid thinking about her too much and end up becoming sentimental as such a thing would end up affecting him during important decision making.
"I hope you're well, my naughty little succubus..." He muttered in a voice as low as the buzzing of a mosquito.
Bai Zemin didn't know how this battle was going to end, and certainly, the chances of him dying weren't particularly small this time.
He might never be able to see her again, and the very thought of it made him surprisingly sadder than the thought of never seeing his family again.
"Bai Zemin, what are you doing? If we don't hurry we'll never make it in time."
"I'm coming!" Bai Zemin called out back at the sound of Shangguan Bing Xue's voice.
After a last but long stare at the distant sky, he ran to the shore and with a quick jump submerged into deep water.
* * *
Approximately one and a half months ago.
After leaving Earth, Lilith continued jumping through space for four whole days before finally entering the planetary zone where Kram World was located, the world where the central base of the Demonic Army was located.
Of course, entering or finding this planetary zone was not easy as it not only changed location constantly but was also hidden by powerful magic spells that made it difficult for others to find the place.
All the Higher Worlds under the control of the various Higher Existence factions were exactly the same so cases of a Higher Existence faction attacking the home of others was not normal at all.
There were several demons flying around the area, all of them wearing shining armor and spears or swords that made them look especially powerful; they were, indeed, powerful.
However, none of these Fifth Order existences put up any obstacle when they saw Lilith flapping her black raven wings behind her back.
She ignored the stares of all the men, which were not few now that she was no longer holding back her natural Charm at all.
With an ice-cold expression and deadly indifferent eyes, a colossal contrast compared to her expression when she was beside Bai Zemin, she descended on top of the mountain where the castle of the Demon Lord was stationed and casually walked towards the entrance.
"L-Lady Lilith!"
The two guards at the entrance immediately grew nervous and out of instinct bowed as they called her name.
Lilith didn't even bother to nod, but the two soldiers of the Demonic Army didn't mind as they all knew that the Bloody Succubus Lilith was a woman of few words.
Arrogant or not, she had all the qualifications to be arrogant not only because of her beauty that transcended even the sense of the Higher Existences but also because of her personal strength.
Lilith encountered several members of the faction as she walked through the long corridors of the great castle but she ignored them all and walked with a destination in mind already fixed. Every step she took was as if she was teleporting as she left images of her past self constantly, moving hundreds of meters per second.
She looked extremely small compared to how high the ceiling separating the first floor from the second floor of the castle was, but after a few minutes, she finally stopped for a moment in front of the huge stone door.
When Lilith opened the stone door, what greeted her was a completely empty room.
Well, almost completely empty room.
In the meeting room, sitting in her designated seat immediately to the right of the small stone throne, Fire Sorrow raised her head and greeted her with a slight smile.
"Lilith, you're early."
Lilith walked into the meeting room and the door behind closed with a soft bang. She sat down and after looking around the room asked in confusion, "No one's here yet?"
She was grateful to Fire Sorrow for teaching her magic before and also liked her straightforward and mature personality a bit, therefore, Lilith softened her tone with her quite a bit.
"Other than the two of us? No one else." Fire Sorrow shook her head slightly, causing her long violet hair to shake lightly as she kept her smile, "We haven't seen each other for... Um... Come to think of it, this is the first time we've met two times in less than a year."
"Well, being summoned by His Majesty isn't normal after all since he would rather sleep." Lilith shrugged her shoulders.
"Hehe... True true, you're right about that." Fire Sorrow covered her mouth and let out an amused chuckle.
It wasn't at all normal for them to meet twice in the same year, they usually only met once a year at most and that was only if they were tasked with guarding some Higher World or in charge of searching for some kind of treasure or resource, else they were free to do whatever they felt like as long as it didn't cause problems for the faction.
Therefore, meeting two times in less than 12 months was certainly a great rarity.
After a few minutes of silence, Lilith asked, "Just by random but, Fire Sorrow, do you know the reason why His Majesty asked me to come to Kram World?"
"Probably for the same reason I'm here, I guess. But even I don't know what Her Majesty is thinking." Fire Sorrow sighed. "I don't even know to whom he summoned this time, but it seems to be something pretty big."
"That seems to be the case." Lilith nodded.
Her ruby-colored eyes glittered slightly as she recalled that on the way she had run into many members of the Demonic Army flying towards Kram World, tens of thousands of them in the span of four days.
After that, Lilith and Fire Sorrow did not speak again.
Higher Existences were quite eccentric even if they did not look any different from young Lower Existences with less than 100 years. Even Lilith, despite being so young, had lived through too many things to make her personality very much like that of monsters hundreds of thousands or even millions of years old.
The fact that she was always cheerful and joking along with Bai Zemin and those around him was reserved for that limited group of people, the rest would get nothing more than necessary from her, and some not even that.
* * * * * * *
