"So, this female soul evolver who discovered you seems to be very skilled in close combat and also throwing weapons?" Bai Zemin summarized with a serene expression on his face.

Fu Xuefeng thought about it for a moment and then said somewhat hesitantly, "Even though she and I didn't fight hand to hand since the entire development was mainly her throwing two flying needles, just based on the position of her feet and how she moved I could estimate that she is also an experienced fighter."

"... I see." Bai Zemin lightened up when he heard it.

Bai Zemin, like all soul evolvers, trained at least once a day in close combat and often gave each other tips to improve. While the armed soldiers also underwent rigorous military training guided by Fu Qigang, the level of difficulty was a lot lower compared to the almost hellish training the soul evolvers went through as long as they were not out of the base in a mission.

If not for the fact that the bodies of the soul evolvers were much more resistant, a normal human would definitely collapse before reaching the halfway point of the training regimen. 

Fu Xuefeng and the rest spent at least two hours a day training with people such as Evangeline, Shangguan Bing Xue, Chen He, and Bai Zemin. Therefore, it was only natural that they all became good in hand to hand combat at surprisingly high speeds. It was precisely for this reason that Fu Xuefeng managed to identify that Shen Mei possessed great dexterity not only in playing with throwing weapons but also in close-range fighting.

While it was possible that his estimation of Shen Mei had been shaken by the unconscious fear he generated towards her after almost being killed, it probably wouldn't be too far from the truth. After all, even if they did not possess a cheat skill like Bai Zemin's Special Forces Soldier skill, one could train combat prowess naturally and without needing to rely on a passive rune.

The reason why he previously named only Shangguan Bing Xue, Evangeline, and Chen He but did not name Bai Zemin was not because the latter was less skilled in close combat.... It was just that in Fu Xuefeng's eyes, Bai Zemin was simply in another category, and ranking him on the same level as the other soul evolvers was an insult.

"I see. Don't worry. When we're done with the other party I'll take care of killing that woman personally." Bai Zemin said serenely. Instead of sounding as if he was talking about taking a woman's life, it looked as if he was talking about trampling an ant by the roadside.

"What?" Fu Xuefeng looked at him with wide eyes before shaking his head like a rattle, "No no no no no no!"

"And what's wrong with you?" Bai Zemin looked at him dumbfounded before frowning.

Fu Xuefeng was rather quiet and endured many things silently for the sake of avoiding trouble. Therefore, it was very rare to see him lose control like this.

"Big brother Bai, this woman I'm telling you about actually allowed me to escape!"

".... What?" Bai Zemin almost fell to the ground when he heard Fu Xuefeng's revelation.

Fu Xuefeng sighed heavily and nodded with a serious face as he said, "She really let me escape. That female soul evolver had the chance to kill me if she really wanted to. I felt as just before the last needle penetrated my head, a wave of mana foreign to mine deflected it off course and just tore my mask. I think that woman must have activated some skill to misdirect the attack at the last second and make it look as if she had failed. Also, she reacted very quickly even after I used the False Poison Seed and could have chased me but she didn't. Otherwise, I'm afraid I might be more dead than alive now."

Bai Zemin frowned tightly as he heard Fu Xuefeng's words and his mind raced wildly in search of answers to the great unknown that now weighed on his heart.

Why on earth would a powerful enemy soul evolver allow an intruder like Fu Xuefeng to escape? 

The 'False Poison Seed' that Fu Xuefeng had just named was actually a new type of seed that grew from a plant that was discovered by some of the mutant botany team members while exploring the forests under the protection of several armed soldiers and soul evolvers.

This False Poison Seed came from a plant that was named Last Breath because if one mistakenly consumed its flowers one would actually die in the next second. The effect of this terrifying plant was discovered after using as a guinea pig a woman who after secretly becoming a soul evolver used her strength to rob and kill several people from nearby villages. She was caught by Cai Jingyi during one of her expeditions in search of supplies and after breaking her limbs to prevent her from escaping was kept as a prisoner until a use was finally found for her.

Surprisingly, however, the seeds of this mutant plant were harmless. After breaking them, a dense cloud of green smoke with a faint fishy odor would be released which gave the impression of being fatal poison but in reality, was false as even a normal human would simply suffer from a slight dizziness for a couple of seconds before returning to normal.

Therefore, these seeds were named as False Poison Seed. Virtually, every soul evolver of Bai Zemin's faction had at least a few of these seeds as in times of need it could potentially buy them a couple of essential seconds to save their lives.

If the enemy soul evolver really reacted fast enough to discover that the fog was just smelly, colorful smoke, then why didn't she chase after Fu Xuefeng? If she was as powerful as he described, then this woman should possess at least one or two ways to catch up with him.

Objectively said, this mysterious woman should be at least one of the most powerful soul evolvers in the entire enemy base. Therefore, her position, prestige, as well as the benefits she received from the Baiquan Camp government should be extremely high; at the very least, enough for her to work for them willingly.

What reason then would such a person have to let go of an enemy who intended to completely crush the good life she was living?

Fu Xuefeng watched silently as Bai Zemin stared into the distance with narrowed eyes, seemingly lost in his own world. The doubts that Bai Zemin had were the doubts that Fu Xuefeng had asked to himself but even after racking his brain a thousand times over thinking he could not find answers.

However, unlike Fu Xuefeng who was thinking not only with his brain but also with his heart after being affected by emotions such as fear, surprise, gratitude, and many others, Bai Zemin possessed the skill Stone Heart which kept most of his strong emotions imprisoned in a powerful shell. Therefore, his thoughts were much more rational and his mind was a lot clearer than that of a normal soul evolver; hence, his judgment could be considered to be quite frightening in the good sense of the word.

"Heh..." Bai Zemin grimaced and chuckled to himself as he discovered the other party's thoughts.

When there were resources, there would always be wars involved. When there were wars, there would always be a winning side and a losing side; draws did not exist and even if both sides managed to come to a difficult agreement it would be after both sides had lost many things in the process. However, in the case of the impending showdown between the Transcendent faction and the Baiquan Camp, it was absolutely impossible to reach an agreement because even if the other side wanted to cooperate Bai Zemin would definitely not agree.

How could he agree to something like that when his goal was to control the whole country in less than 12 months? Therefore, one side was definitely destined to fall.

"Interesting." Bai Zemin nodded and spoke to no one in particular while smiling slightly, "Since that's how things are, let me join you in your game."

Since the female soul evolver on the other side had no intentions of participating any more than necessary in this battle, Bai Zemin had no reason to provoke her. After all, even though he was strong, it was always better to have an extra ally rather than an extra enemy; especially if that ally was someone powerful, brave, and intelligent.

Many leaders in ancient times and even in the modern world feared their intelligent allies more than their powerful allies; because someone intelligent could bring down someone powerful. However, Bai Zemin thought differently from all those leaders.

Why did all leaders always think about controlling everything? In Bai Zemin's eyes, leading and ruling was not necessarily about having everything under control.

In many light novels, the leaders of large factions often tried to assassinate the protagonist just because it had great talent and feared they would not be able to control the protagonist in the future once it became too strong. However, what was the end result? They all ended up being trampled underfoot and their thousands of years of history turned to dust overnight simply because they made a bad decision.

Humans were not machines and Bai Zemin was not the protagonist of a light novel. He was fully aware that one slip up on his part would mean eternal goodbye. So, instead of stupidly making enemies left and right, Bai Zemin believed that the smartest thing to do was to make many allies.

He did not need to rely fully on his allies. After all, allies were there to use each other for mutual benefits. As long as there were benefits, the alliance would be as tough as the fictitious Adamantium metal; sometimes, alliances were even more reliable than friendship based on fleeting and ever-changing feelings.

Since a powerful soul evolver from Baiquan Camp wished not to get more involved than necessary in the whole mess that was soon to be unleashed, Bai Zemin had no reason to forcibly drag her into it. After all, it wasn't as if just because she belonged to the enemy camp she was his enemy, or otherwise, Bai Zemin would have to kill all the survivors of the Baiquan Camp for helping his enemies grow stronger; something that was naturally impossible and heartless.

Hearing how Bai Zemin talked to himself and seeing how his face lit up with a slight smile, apparently having made some kind of decision, Fu Xuefeng wanted to ask what happened. However, he didn't get the chance to do so on that occasion as a series of light footsteps approached them closer and closer from the side they came from earlier.

"Legion Leader Bai, Brigade Leader Fu. Second Legion Leader Shangguan sent me to report to you that dinner is ready to be served." A female soul evolver reported respectfully.

"Got it." Bai Zemin nodded with a faint smile before looking at Fu Xuefeng and calmly saying, "Come on, Fu Xuefeng. You probably haven't eaten anything all this time with all you've been through. You need to replenish your energy for the war ahead."

Fu Xuefeng took a deep breath and nodded, following Bai Zemin and disappearing into the bushes again.

...

After dinner, each soul evolver was in charge of cleaning their own utensils with which they ate and after they had stored everything in the trucks they immediately went into one of the ten large military tents to sleep.

Each of these ten large military tents had the capacity to accommodate up to one hundred people inside. In addition, several tailors in training had used the skins of bears, tigers, panthers, and other furry creatures to weave a large number of warm sleeping bags so that even outside the comfort of their homes everyone was quite warm inside.

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