Shangguan Bing Xue's distinctive silver-colored hair that most of the time fell free and unrestrained all the way down onto her lower back. at this moment was tied in a high ponytail, exposing her slender neck like that of a beautiful swan that shimmered under the glow of the moon and the artificial light bulbs.

The survivors and the armed men stood stunned as they looked at her passing by as if she were a goddess from another world, and it was only after several seconds that everyone finally managed to snap out of their daze before bowing hurriedly in respectful greeting. 

Everyone knew perfectly well that this beautiful goddess, who was as cold as ice, was basically the second in command just below the highest leader. Technically, she was the real representation of just below one but above all the others.

While everyone was stunned and flashes of lust and desire passed through the eyes of all the men regardless of their ages, the only one who had no visible reaction was Bai Zemin.

But how could he react like the other humans? After all, next to him was a woman who was not only more beautiful but also exuded seductive charm from every pore of her body.

In a few seconds, Shangguan Bing Xue emerged from the walls of the base and in a few blinks of an eye appeared before Bai Zemin. 

As she looked him up and down as if studying something, he asked in confusion, "What are you doing here...? I thought I saw you walking into your room earlier."

Before leaving to the dark forest, Bai Zemin had witnessed with his own eyes as everyone, including Shangguan Bing Xue, walked off to their rooms to sleep. Considering that it was already past 2 am and it had already been several hours since he left the mansion, everyone should be sleeping comfortably in their beds.

Shangguan Bing Xue finally looked at him with her two beautiful blue eyes and answered his question calmly, "I just couldn't sleep. I woke up in the middle of the night and since insomnia was stronger than me, I decided to go out to level up... It's just that I didn't expect to meet a commotion on my way to the forest, and only now I know you were here too."

"Is that so...?" Bai Zemin frowned slightly and felt that something didn't make sense but he couldn't put his finger on what it was. 

Besides, it was also true that Shangguan Bing Xue had fallen behind with her level due to all the logistical work that needed to be done at the base, so it was reasonable that she would want to take every opportunity to absorb Soul Power from different creatures.

Of course, although Shangguan Bing Xue had stagnated around level 40, this did not mean that her strength had stagnated by any means. Even putting aside the equipment Bai Zemin forged for her, Shangguan Bing Xue herself had absorbed a lot of Soul Power from powerful soul evolvers during the suppression of Kang Rong's forces, gathering at least 50 stat points.

"I understand." Bai Zemin finally nodded after thinking things through carefully.

"En." Shangguan Bing Xue nodded without saying anything else and simply looked him straight in the eyes.

After a moment, he calmly said, "But anyway, you've come at a good time."

"Oh?" She raised an eyebrow and looked at him as if hinting him to continue.

Bai Zemin explained as he pointed to the corpse of the Infernal Scaled Lizard, "As you can see, I've been hunting in the forest for a while now and this is the second First Order beast I've hunted in the night. The second one was a huge snake that fortunately was already moved to the military area, but this beast is simply too big and its weight makes it simply impossible for our current vehicles to lift it, let alone move it."

Shangguan Bing Xue put an index finger to her lower lip and while gently tapping with her delicately manicured fingernail, she thought aloud, "Even if the vehicles could withstand the weight of the monster, I'm afraid the strength of the engines won't be enough."

In fact, even though the vehicles were modified, the engines were exactly the same. In Bai Zemin's group, engineers of all kinds were being recruited, but modifying the current technology was by no means simple and without clear plans or ideas it was just impossible to get any work done in the short term.

Therefore, the power of the current engines was barely enough to move the modified vehicles; let alone modified vehicles weighing several tons. Such a thing was simply an unattainable fantasy dream.

"That's right." Bai Zemin nodded before calmly continuing, "Therefore, I thought that since you also wish to level up, we could both go hunting in the forest. That way we can freeze the corpses with your skill to prevent a beast from touching them and then, when we finish hunting to our heart's content, return to bring them back to base one by one... What do you think?"

"Sounds good to me." Shangguan Bing Xue practically nodded the next instant he asked the question, slightly surprising him. Perhaps realizing this, she calmly explained, "I can't think of a better idea than yours. If one of us had to move the bodies one by one a lot of hunting time would be lost and the other's plans would be affected."

"... Decided then." He nodded with a slight smile before turning to look at the middle aged man and ordering in a deep voice, "Geng Shi, I want you all to start dismantling what can be dismantled from this beast's body while she and I go deeper into the forest. If you need more people simply look for Lu Yan's daughter, she will take care of it."

"Understood." Geng Shi, the person in charge of this small group of twenty hardworking survivors nodded.

Lu Xiaoyao was basically the person delegated by Shangguan Bing Xue to take charge of the logistics team, so regardless of the time or place, even if she was sleeping comfortably in her bed, she had to work when circumstances required it.  Like any high-paying job, the responsibilities were also too great to worry about things like schedules.

After giving a few more orders to the personnel, Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue looked at each other for a moment, and as if by prior agreement, they both dashed straight into the dark depths of the forest. In just a second or two, they both completely disappeared from the sight of the workers and the armed men, leaving behind nothing but an explosive breeze of cold wind whipping across the ground on which they were previously standing.

* * *

"Why do you want them to start working now?" Shangguan Bing Xue asked as she followed Bai Zemin from a distance of fewer than two meters.

Moving through the forest like a fish moving in the water, he casually replied, "I'll probably stay here until dawn since I still need to do some more experiments with the Gravity Manipulation skill I received after killing that soul evolver named Shan Li. Considering that there are still around 5 hours until sunrise, those 5 hours can be well spent instead of wasted."

A group of one or two dozen people working on the body of the Infernal Scaled Lizard for 5 hours would be more than enough to, at the very least, remove a lot of the beast's scales. Even if they only managed to remove about an eighth of the total, that was better than nothing.

The survivors who had experienced starvation were afraid that one day the rations provided by the base government would again be of poor quality or unstable as in the past, so whenever a job opportunity appeared they were all willing to give their all even if it meant staying up all night without sleep.

In addition, considering that the pay for working a day helping to dismantle the bodies of the beasts was not only a good piece of mutated beast meat but also being fed properly during that day, there was basically no one willing to decline such an offer.

For the survivors of the North Camp, the appearance of Bai Zemin and his group was literally like gods descending on Earth in times of crisis.

Shangguan Bing Xue naturally understood everything after hearing the explanation he gave, so she simply nodded with a neutral expression on her face and followed him closely.

What Shangguan Bing Xue did not know was that, on the opposite side of Bai Zemin, a beautiful woman was also following him closely. 

As he moved and jumped between the trees with dexterity, Bai Zemin could not help but look back a couple of times to observe the two great beauties following him closely and was secretly surprised as Lilith and Shangguan Bing Xue were literally as if they were two completely opposite beings.

Lilith possessed a deep black dress that covered almost every part of her beautiful skin but outlined her body perfectly.

On the other hand, Shangguan Bing Xue wore most of the time a white dress that came just below her knees and was slightly puffy but still could not hide her perfect body.

Lilith's hair was as black as the blanket of the night without stars and moonlight, it seemed as if all the light would be swallowed up just by being close to its brightness.

Meanwhile, Shangguan Bing Xue's hair was a cold silver color similar to the rays of moonlight at night, shining like snow lotuses.

Lilith's eyes were red like intense fire and it was as if a flame was constantly burning inside them while mocking glints could be seen occasionally.

On the contrary, Shangguan Bing Xue's eyes were blue like the ice accumulated on the planet's poles that only exuded coldness and distance while its sharpness seemed to be enough to keep all living things away.

Lilith's personality was warm, playful, mischievous, even slightly naughty; on the other hand, Shangguan Bing Xue's personality was cold, serious, indifferent, and it seemed as if she was a saint who never thought about worldly matters regarding a man and a woman.

This was the first time Bai Zemin had the opportunity to observe both women carefully. Although he had had them side by side in the past, this was the first real time he could take a moment to properly appreciate both beauties.

Both women were strikingly beautiful, but the charm and beauty they exuded were complete opposites just like south and north or heads and tails on a single coin.

In a moment of careless slippage, he couldn't help but ask in a whisper as he looked at her, "Do you have a sister who is the complete opposite of you?"

"Excuse me?" Shangguan Bing Xue's eyes widened slightly due to the sudden question and she unconsciously replied, "My mother only had me."

Even she herself did not realize that she honestly answered Bai Zemin's question until after the words left her lips.

Bai Zemin was already regretting it when he murmured that question. Although the two of them got along relatively well and it could even be said that the trust between the two of them had grown a lot, he by no means believed that his relationship with her was close enough to talk about such personal matters.

However, little did he expect to receive an answer.

When he looked back in surprise, he saw the same stunned and surprised look in Shangguan Bing Xue's eyes.

Apparently, even she herself did not expect to answer. Bai Zemin thought silently.

But in fact, Shangguan Bing Xue felt her heart flutter fiercely. If someone else were to talk to her about her family, her mood would probably melt to the point where that person would shiver with cold. However, she surprised herself by answering honestly and with no apparent problems.

* * * * * * *

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