Blood Warlock: Succubus Partner in the Apocalypse

China, Changping District, near what was once Yang Fang Town.

It was in this place that one of the two most important bases that the Transcendent faction possessed in Changping District was located; in fact, there were only two human bases that existed in the entire district, and although there were already projects to build two more bases, such projects would first have to wait until the conquest of the country was completed and the already captured territories were established.

This was the base that in the past was under the control of Wu Keqian, eldest son of the Wu Family and former Mayor of Changpigng District.

It could be said that this was the first large scale base that Bai Zemin conquered after he and his group crossed the bridge known as 'Eastern Dragon's Back' because although by that time the Transcendent faction already had a few tens of thousands of human troops, this number was simply pitiful compared to the more than 200,000 that Wu Keqian's base had at that time.

Although this was not the main base of the Transcendent faction, it was undoubtedly an important strategic point since it was this base the one supporting the base built by Bai Zemin's faction further north in Changping District prior to the conquest of the Yang Fang Town base; a base which was the faction's first defense against the marine race and the forces of the enemies in the north.

In addition, the base of Yang Fang Town was where the most destructive weapon of the entire faction was located.

This weapon was none other than the great battleship whose technology surpassed that of the current Earth by a large margin and it would probably take at least 4 or 5 centuries of past technological evolution to be able to build something similar.

The Sky Destroyer was no longer at ground level as before but was hidden underground. Over two hundred soul evolvers carefully worked to dig a large subway cave in which the battleship was hidden and the vault was sealed at the top by an alloy door forged from a variety of Rank 1 and some Rank 2 metals. Only a handful of people could enter there and the operators who had been chosen to observe the ship's functions had been very carefully selected.

The number of operators numbered only 12, all of them soul evolvers above level 25 with classes which made it easy for them to operate all kinds of means of transport or turned them into something similar to geniuses when it came to computers.

This was a normal day for the operators, noon had just passed and the team had just had their lunch while they chatted amongst themselves and paid occasional attention to the Sky Destroyer system. In reality, they didn't have to do much and the pay was surprisingly high so they treasured the position and trust the higher-ups were giving them.

The group of 12 were chatting quietly when a slight light on the large front screen flashed on the lower left side.

"This is Bai Zemin addressing to the Sky Destroyer. I repeat, this is Bai Zemin addressing to the Sky Destroyer."

For a few seconds, the room fell silent. After taking a few seconds to look at the small green dot on the lower left of the screen, the twelve looked at each other and all could see the pupils of their companions trembling fiercely.

One of them practically jumped on the command console and pressed a digital button while shouting in a trembling voice.

"L- Leader!"

"L- Leader!"

"Leader Bai!"

"It's the Leader!"

"Quickly report to the Second Leader Shangguan!"

"I- Is this really the real Leader?"

"Of course it's him!"

...

Xicheng District.

Shangguan Bing Xue was preparing to send Evangeline and Wu Yijun to the north of China. She had just finished a brief but important meeting regarding what was happening in the north of their territory when her attention was suddenly drawn to the small military radio on her waist.

Thanks to many modifications made by soul evolvers with technology-type classes, military radios now had a range incomparable to the past. Although the use of Soul Stones was required to power the device, thanks to the Sky Destroyer acting as a central antenna they only needed to use Unclassified Soul Stones or First Order at worst.

She picked up the radio and spoke in a cold voice, "It's Shangguan Bing Xue."

L- Leader Second Shangguan! T- This is Lin Shaoyan, leader of the team of operators in charge of supervising the warship under the name Sky Destroyer."

Shangguan Bing Xue's expression changed when she heard the mention of the Sky Destroyer and slowly asked, "Did something happen to the ship?"

The Sky Destroyer was one of the biggest trump cards of the entire Transcendent faction not only because of its terrifying destructive and defensive power but also because of the many functions the battleship had. To say that the Sky Destroyer was the reason why all the bases of the different districts, cities, and prefectures could communicate with each other was all thanks to the Sky Destroyer was not an exaggeration at all.

Shangguan Bing Xue definitely could not let anything bad happen to the battleship, not after having already failed to keep the people close to Bai Zemin alive. Even if Zhong De was a powerful soul evolver, Shangguan Bing Xue should have remembered that no one's life was on their pockets in this world.

"N- No, it's not the ship but it's the Leader!"

"Leader?" Shangguan Bing Xue repeated. The sudden change of subject perplexed her and for an instant her brain didn't process what was going on.

"Th- That's right, it's the Founder Leader! Mr. Bai Zemin just contacted us and informed us that he is flying from the United States to China!" Lin Shaoyan's voice trembled with excitement as he exclaimed those words.

Shangguan Bing Xue's pupils trembled fiercely and the indifferent expression on her face turned to shock in a single second as she held the radio in her right hand and stared into nothingness after falling down in a daze.

Had it not been for the fact that she was alone at this moment she would definitely have scared anyone nearby. However, it was highly improbable that she would care.

"Second Leader? Is everything alright?" Lin Shaoyan asked upon receiving no response for several seconds.

"L- Lin Shaoyan-" Shangguan Bing Xue clenched her teeth tightly and made a pause as her voice began to tremble. After several deep breaths, she carefully said, "He.... Bai Zemin, which base is he heading to...?"

"Leader Bai is on his way directly towards here." Lin Shaoyan replied respectfully. "He said to report this to you and that he hopes to be able to meet with the following people."

Shangguan Bing Xue listened to Lin Shaoyan naming several people as her heart pounded and after cutting off the communication she couldn't help but lean back against the wall as she looked up at the sky with a relieved expression on her face.

She gently closed her beautiful blue eyes and two crystalline lines of tears slid silently down her fairy-like face as her lips murmured in a whisper.

"Welcome home."

...

The whole faction practically went crazy and even the normal survivors noticed that something big was happening when they saw the always proud and aloof high officials who held important positions in the different bases were rapidly moving all over the place like anxious ants.

As dozens of helicopters with fighter swooped towards the distant horizon from the more than 150 bases under the control of the Transcendent faction, military vehicles that were rarely seen being used for patrolling were now continuously passing all over the streets of the base where Bai Zemin would be arriving in a few hours.

As helicopter after helicopter flew through the sky and landed at the military base before several armored vehicles guarded by soul evolvers set off towards the tallest building located in the center of the establishment, the clueless survivors naturally began to get a little uneasy and whispered among themselves as they pointed at the passing vehicles.

Even then, none of them was scared to the point of going crazy. There had been several zombie attacks in the past and the number of times the mutant beasts attacked during the previous months was not small but even so the base always stood as firm as Mount TaI. This made the survivors begin to trust more and more in the troops and the government and now very rarely did chaotic situations arise, not to mention that everyone knew in their hearts that the punishment for rebellion was life imprisonment at best and death at worst.

At the Bai family house, Ye Linger, Meng Qi, and Bai Delan looked in confusion at the number of helicopters and planes arriving at the base.

"Dad, do you know what's occurring?" Meng Qi asked in confusion.

Her beautiful face was radiant as always but in her eyes one could see fatigue both mentally and physically.

Not only Meng Qi but Ye Linger was the same or even worse with dark circles under her eyes getting more pronounced every day.

It had been almost half a year since Bai Zemin disappeared without a trace or any words left behind, and although they knew he was alive thanks to those who were linked to his soul, it was impossible not to worry and be afraid as a family. Every day that passed was a living hell for them.

Bai Delan shook his head at his daughter's question, "No. It seems to be orders from very high up but we were asked to stay at home. Even I was not informed of anything of this."

Bai Delan was tremendously confused. Although he did not boast about it, it was unquestionable that he was the father of the highest authority in the entire faction, right? He could not understand why he was being denied information about what seemed to be such a big movement and even received an explicit call from Shangguan Bing Xue requesting him and family to stay at home.

Ye Linger shook her head and turned around to return into the house as she said in a tired voice, "No matter what is happening.... If we have more time to spend as a family then it's good for us."

* * *

Back in the Artemis-class helicopter, Bai Zemin sighed in relief and without worrying about his appearance he plopped down on the back of the couch.

After a short communication with the operators of the Sky Destroyer, Bai Zemin learned that although they had indeed been attacked with nuclear missiles repeatedly, a secret technology that disconnected and shut down any nuclear powered device caused those missiles to become a pile of scrap metal in mid-flight.

"Are you sure you don't want to inform your family of your return?" inquired Angelo with a slight smile before adding, "I learned Chinese during high school. I'm glad your family is safe and sound, from the bottom of my heart."

"Em, thank you." Bai Zemin nodded. He continued, "I need first to do something with my eyes before I meet my family... or at least think what to tell them about it."

It was he who had asked Lin Shaoyan to tell Shangguan Bing Xue for her to see to it that his family did not learn anything yet. This was because Bai Zemin wanted to meet with his family in private and not in a meeting room and he also needed some time to calm his heart and chaotic thoughts.

"Speaking of your eyes," Eleanora interrupted, and as she stared at him she couldn't help but ask curiously, "What's with that eye color of yours? Even the sclera has turned red and you look like you have no pupils at all. When I first saw you I thought you were a genuine demon."

"These eyes..." Bai Zemin looked out the window and said in a low voice, "These eyes are the eyes of vengeance."

It was at that moment that Eleanora managed to see a little more of what was in his head and her face turned pale as she realized that the man in front of her might soon become a genuine demon.

Rather than feeling fear, however, she couldn't help but get hit by the sadness he felt.

* * * * * * *

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