"Bing Xue is right." Bai Zemin said in a serious voice before turning his eyes to the sky with a slight frown. "What is this all about?" he asked even though inwardly he was aware that he would not have answers soon.

Shangguan Bing Xue noticed something peculiar about Bai Zemin and that was that he was clothed only by a bathrobe. Judging by his still damp hair and by his partially uncovered torso at the top between the junction of the neck and chest, it was more than clear that he was taking a bath minutes or even seconds ago.

Moreover, Shangguan Bing Xue recalled that when Cai Jingyi said she would go to inform Bai Zemin about the situation, she was so anxious that it seemed she would not be able to be stopped by just a door.... Shangguan Bing Xue shook her head to clear the useless thoughts before looking at the sky and slowly saying:

"I don't know. No one knows." She shook her head and frowned slightly. "It was all sudden... But I did notice the surrounding mana stirring unnaturally."

Then, she looked at Bai Zemin and asked curiously, "Can't you feel it? The surrounding mana is getting heavier and heavier and even the mana inside my body feels harder to control than usual. It's no big deal but the change in mana is noticeable to me."

The mana became more stirred? More difficult to control? Bai Zemin was surprised. He hadn't noticed anything strange but he also didn't doubt the words of Shangguan Bing Xue since there was no reason for her to pretend or lie to begin with. Besides, Shangguan Bing Xue was also the person with the greatest affinity to mana that Bai Zemin knew so far and therefore her words were undoubtedly important and should be taken into consideration seriously.

Indeed. As Bai Zemin focused on his surroundings, he not only noticed that the mana invisible to the eyes trembled as if excited about something but also became denser and heavier compared to the mana he had felt hours ago.

"What's this all about?" Bai Zemin muttered again as he walked to stand in front of the rest. He was still holding Annihilation of the Falling Sky tightly as his eyes flashed with a hint of worry.

"For some reason, I doubt this is a good thing." Nangong Lingxin said in a low voice.

"Ever since this thing called Soul Record came to Earth, no good things have happened." Zhong De replied in a serious voice.

In this kind of situation where anything could happen, separating was undoubtedly the worst thing they could do. Only by being together could they explosively increase their survival rate.

Even though if something really big were to happen now it was highly likely that most of the survivors in the settlement would perish, there wasn't much the soul evolvers could do but try to protect themselves and their closest friends or loved ones. As for the rest, they would have to fend for themselves.

The human camps served to preserve humanity more safely in the midst of disaster, but in the end, everyone was on their own. This new Earth was susceptible to continual change since the Soul Record awakened the mana and with those changes, the death of some was probably inevitable.

While the small core of Bai Zemin anxiously awaited a new change, nothing actually happened. After about twenty minutes, the black sky slowly returned to the blue color of any other day with bright sunshine. 

There was no attack of beasts, no enemies appeared from a portal, no invasion, no meteor shower, no thunderstorms, no hurricane winds, no much less.... But there was a noticeable change that this time did not escape anyone's senses.

"... Suddenly, it kind of became a little harder to breathe." Fu Xuefeng said out of nowhere.

"... Indeed." Zhong De nodded in agreement.

"My body feels a little heavier than normal." Cai Jingyi pointed out as she took several steps forward and backward. "Even my movement speed dropped somewhat."

"I feel like it's easier to use magic now!" Nangong Lingxin said excitedly even though she also seemed to be experiencing certain minor difficulties.

"That's true, I can now activate my skills more smoothly." Wu Yijun nodded in agreement with Nangong Lingxin's words and as if to prove it, she immediately began to play with her Hydrokinesis skill, demonstrating different forms for all to see.

As everyone expressed aloud with excitement or bewilderment at the changes they were experiencing, Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue looked at each other with confused expressions on their faces.

He watched everyone and quietly approached her before asking in a low voice, "Hey, Bing Xue. Do you feel anything different?"

"..." Shangguan Bing Xue did not respond immediately and instead tried to notice some difference, however, she did not notice anything strange so after a few seconds she shook her head and said with a whispering voice, "Nothing strange for me."

Suddenly, she thought of a certain possibility and looked at Bai Zemin with clear eyes as she explained her theory, "Could it be that both you and I felt no changes because we had just recently returned to Earth from a world that had evolved a lot beyond?"

Bai Zemin looked at her in surprise before realization suddenly hit him.

Right!

He and Shangguan Bing Xue had gone to Oblon World a few hours ago and were there for several hours. On that world, which was clearly much more evolved than the current Earth, the gravity was at least three times that of the blue planet, its size colossal, and natural laws such as the law of sound was tremendously stronger as even at his peak speed Bai Zemin did not feel close to the sound barrier on any occasion.

If this change that everyone was talking about had happened a few days later, then probably Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue would have noticed it perhaps more clearly than they did. However, after experiencing the abrupt change of moving from Planet Earth to Oblon World, it was highly improbable that they would feel any heavier or similar.

In fact, from the point of view of Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue, Earth's current gravity was negligible in their eyes and they would probably be able to move faster than normal due to the "training" they had undergone on Oblon World.

"That makes sense." Bai Zemin said subconsciously. Suddenly, however, his face sank as he thought about something.

Shangguan Bing Xue noticed the abrupt change in his expression so she hurriedly asked, "What did you find out?"

Bai Zemin did not answer her question and instead turned to look everyone in the eye. Once he got the desired attention, Bai Zemin said in a deep voice:

"Everyone, get ready... Earth is likely to undergo a tremendous change again."

The expression of everyone changed terribly when they heard Bai Zemin's words, and added to his serious face it was clear that he was doing everything except telling jokes.

"W- What do you mean?" Kang Lan asked in dread.

"The world that invaded us was a much more evolved world than our world. After spending hours there, my body and Bing Xue's body were forced to adapt to many changes such as increased gravity, increased wind resistance.... Except for the excess of mana that the Earth is experiencing now, everything in that world was superior. Therefore, I dare to assume that sooner rather than later the Earth will enter its Second Evolutionary Stage... And when that happens, I fear that the dangers will increase to much higher levels than they are now." 

The words of Bai Zemin were not any different from dumping a bucket of ice water over the heads of everyone on a snowy night in the middle of winter, sending chills running through everyone's hearts.

More changes? They were already going through so much hardship to hold solid ground and were just slowly regaining the territory that once belonged to humanity but was now ruled by zombies but yet even more noticeable changes were coming?

"Will we survive through this?" Nangong Lingxin whispered hesitantly.

Evangeline looked up at the distant sky and sighed as she said softly, "It was only about 65 days since the whole world changed and during that time a world power like China collapsed, so I refuse to believe that the rest of the countries in the world are not in similar or even worse situations.... If changes of similar magnitude are coming, then it really is a great unknown if humanity will be able to hold the little ground it holds now."

Silence immediately ruled the surroundings once Evangeline pointed out what everyone knew in their hearts but inadvertently refused to accept.

The voices of survivors living outside the central area of the Baiquan Camp could be heard from a distance as the armed troops tried to quell any commotion that the phenomenon that had just happened may have raised.

There were many weaker survivors who fainted directly when the changes in mana occurred while others fell to the ground while gasping for breath due to the changes in the Earth's gravity. They had been minor changes that anyone could endure, however, humans who had not yet evolved were undoubtedly having a hard time as their organisms adapted as quickly and as well as possible to such changes.

Bai Zemin closed his eyes as he felt his surroundings, and when he opened them again, he saw that although the twins surnamed Wang were relatively well thanks to Bai Yong having fed them the best possible food including evolved beast meat, the two little girls were also having trouble catching their breath.

Then, Bai Zemin realized that at this rate everything might collapse. Therefore, he looked at Wu Yijun and ordered in a serious voice, "Wu Yijun, see to it that all the survivors willing to work get once a day a strip of evolved beast meat higher than level 15. Also, take that opportunity to let them understand the governance system of our faction so that they understand how they can rise in rank to get higher benefits."

"Understood!" Wu Yijun nodded with the same seriousness she saw in the eyes of Bai Zemin.

He looked at four people and ordered, "Zhong De, Kang Lan, Cai Jingyi, Fu Xuefeng. I want you four to take a group of survivors and set up stands to recruit new soul evolvers. Those willing to join need not worry about zombies as the established soul evolvers will take care of helping them until they all reach at least level 5 and will naturally be paid accordingly depending on their respective performances. Be sure to explain the freedoms they will have within the facility as well as the priorities that will be given to them and their families over normal survivors in times of crisis."

"Evangeline, I want you to take 1/3 of the current armed forces and head north. Once there, join Chen He and the two legions of armed forces at Beginner Village. I need you to increase the pace so that all survivors will reach the Baiquan Camp in less than 5 days."

"Lu Yan, I know what happened to Yan Tu may have you sad, but in this moment you need to stand firm not only for the 20,000 survivors here nor for the nearly 10,000 survivors who will soon arrive but for your daughter. Lu Xiaoyao has matured a lot and is slowly becoming a worthy woman who will one day give birth to your future grandchildren. But for that to happen, you have to protect the ground we are standing on."

Lu Yan looked at Bai Zemin with complicated eyes. He had heard that Yan Tu challenged a severely injured Bai Zemin in an attempt to take the position of the highest leader for Lu Yan himself. However, Yan Tu failed and as a result, he was naturally killed by Bai Zemin.

It would be impossible not to say that Lu Yan felt some hatred for Bai Zemin. After all, Yan Tu was his totally trusted subordinate with whom he had spent many years and who had saved his and his daughter's lives repeatedly. Still, Lu Yan understood that such hatred would only lead him and his daughter to total doom.

Therefore, after he heard the words of Bai Zemin, this former leader of the North Camp took a deep breath and nodded, "Tell me what I have to do."

Bai Zemin nodded in satisfaction and ordered in a deep voice: "The south gate. I need you along with 50 soul evolvers and 300 armed men to protect the south gate for a week's time. If things get ugly, then don't hesitate to call for reinforcements but preferably try to hold as much as possible in case any beast or any enemy tries to sneak in.... Although honestly, the southern gate probably will face the least trouble during that time."

Even though Lu Yan did not fully understand what Bai Zemin meant, he did not dwell too much on useless questions either. He nodded and said in a deep voice, "Protect the entire south with only 350 men..... Leave it to me. For a week, I'll make sure no one gets through that gate before they take my head."

Bai Zemin nodded in satisfaction at Lu Yan's words and then gave one series of orders after another without stopping and in a matter of five minutes he had delegated tasks to more than twenty people.

"What about me?" Shangguan Bing Xue approached Bai Zemin curiously.

So far, she had not received any tasks.

Bai Zemin looked at her for a moment before calmly saying, "Bing Xue, you are probably going to be the first to break through the Second Order in our entire faction, and other than me, right now there is no one capable of stopping your moves for more than a few seconds. Therefore, I need you to stay here to protect the fort."

Shangguan Bing Xue was without a doubt the second most powerful existence in the entire Transcendent faction; this was a fact that no one currently doubted. Even Evangeline could not hold firm ground against Shangguan Bing Xue regardless of whether it was a surprise attack or not as the difference between the two women had triggered after the war in Oblon World.

Shangguan Bing Xue's Soul Power at this moment was so, so pure, that only Bai Zemin's Soul Power surpassed it in terms of purity. She was undoubtedly a terrifyingly strong little charming monster.

Bai Zemin would love to count on her to help him in what he planned to do next, but he needed someone trustworthy and strong enough to protect all that he had built up during all this time as he would soon be away for a few days and Bai Zemin did not want his efforts to go to hell due to the machinations of minor roles.

Therefore, he needed to count on her. It was something Bai Zemin could not do on his own.

Shangguan Bing Xue frowned slightly but seeing the serious look in Bai Zemin's eyes she realized that he really needed her help this time, so without hesitation, she nodded. Then she asked in a low voice, "What about you?"

"Me?" Bai Zemin looked forward with cold eyes before slowly saying, "I have over 20,000,000 zombies to purge."

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+2600 words >.>

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