When the Reinforced Iron Boar fell, the survivors who had sought shelter inside the building looked at the young man standing on the back of the huge creature with eyes filled with disbelief.
Before this, the survivors had occasionally seen Ye Qigang, Du Meng, Lei Su, and Yang Pei activating their skills to make demonstrations of the supernatural power they possessed; in that way they would not only be able to urge more people to fight but also be able to show the difference in power, instilling fear in them.
However, this was the first time they had seen someone so powerful.
Everyone knew instinctively that if the Reinforced Iron Boar appeared in the village and launched a charge-type attack, then no one would be able to stop its wild madness. Even the four previous leaders would have to flee or die.
When the survivors saw the skills and monstrous strength of the four leaders back then they felt fear. But when they witnessed Bai Zemin's display of power, what they felt mostly was gratitude, surprise, and reverence.
This was because when the power between two beings reached a point where it was simply impossible to comprehend, fear, envy, or hatred automatically turned into reverence and admiration.
Humans were greedy and envious by nature, but didn't they worship different gods? This was because the difference in power in their minds between them and those existences was simply impossible to compare so it made no sense to be envious.
This was a similar case.
Bai Zemin looked at the Xuanyuan Sword in his right hand and sighed. He really needed a new weapon since the strength of his current sword did not have the ability to pierce the defenses of enemies above level 40 and even when it managed to pierce their defenses he needed to consume large amounts of Stamina.
At least for now he would have to make do with the sword as it was not easy to obtain a new weapon stronger than his current one. After all, the Xuanyuan Sword was a Rare grade treasure and at the top of its category, therefore at least a Magic grade treasure was necessary to surpass it.
Bai Zemin circled around the beast's corpse several times and found a red orb and a skill scroll.
[Piercing Glove (Normal Treasure): Attacks performed with this weapon allow the user to pierce through the defense of almost any enemy below level 25. When equipped, Strength +5]
[Wild Charge (Unranked Active Skill) Level 5: Turn into a shadow capable of traveling 10 meters in a straight line within 0.01 seconds. This skill can only be used once every 2 minutes].
After thinking for a moment, Bai Zemin decided to learn the Wild Charge skill. The scroll in his hands disappeared into particles of light and a rune with the drawing of a bull formed deep within his soul.
[You have learned an active external skill. You can learn three additional external skills].
"Good job!"
A cheerful voice brought him out of his inner thoughts and as looked ahead he saw Shangguan Bing Xue, Chen He, and Lilith slowly approaching.
Bai Zemin smiled slightly and nodded to Lilith, who had praised him and was looking at him with a bright smile.
Shangguan Bing Xue even raised an eyebrow at their exchange. Even a fool could tell that the relationship between the two of them was anything but normal.
"Maid? More than that they look like a couple or close friends..." Chen He whispered under his breath.
Although it was a small whisper, it was impossible for it to escape the ears of people strong as the others, let alone from such a close distance.
Bai Zemin ignored him and threw the Piercing Glove to Shangguan Bing Xue since he had one and since she had done her part deserved something too.
She took the treasure without saying a word and nodded towards him.
* * *
The survivors finished carrying the two tractor-trailers with mechanics' tools and blacksmith tools that were used in ancient times. While there were modern tools for blacksmithing, the old man liked the ancient methods of forging as he always told Bai Zemin that by relying too much on technology one's skill would begin to rust.
Because Bai Zemin together with Shangguan Bing Xue and Chen He had moved the giant corpse of the Reinforced Iron Boar to the Dongfeng truck, they had no choice but to look for two other trucks nearby to transport the rest of the stuff.
Even with the three of them together it was almost impossible to lift the body of the beast and they had to do it bit by bit, taking them almost two hours as it was not only incredibly heavy, but they also had to be careful or the truck would be crushed by the size and weight of the First Order creature.
...
When Bai Zemin and the rest arrived at the Beginning Village it was already past noon.
"What is that?!"
"My God..."
"It looks like a mythological beast!"
"They even hunted such a terrifying monster...?"
Due to its size, it was impossible to hide the body of the Reinforced Iron Boar. When the few survivors who were walking around the village aimlessly or those who were in the square registering to try to get a job saw the four-meter beast being carried and the dried blood on its body they couldn't help but be scared and shocked.
The reverence, as well as the gratitude of being under the protection of such powerful people, added another notch.
* * *
Inside the villa that was used as a meeting hall, Bai Zemin was sitting on a sofa with a frown on his face as he looked at the radio in front of him.
On the sides, Shangguan Bing Xue, Chen He, and Wu Yijun who had temporarily stopped enlisting were looking at the radio and at him intermittently.
"This is Mayor Bai Yong of Baiquan Subdistrict. I hope that you, who are listening to this broadcast, are safe and secure... In case you need shelter, food, security, the government in conjunction with the military troops of Baiquan Subdistrict have managed to establish a safe zone in the area between Ruilin Subdistrict and Baiquan Subdistrict of Yanqing District. The arms of the government are open to welcome you at all times..."
A recorded transmission that discussed a little about the world situation was constantly repeated from the satellite radio.
Bai Zemin's eyes had a strange glint in them as he secretly thought: So the government really did manage to set up a small base.
Although he already expected it since it was simply impossible for humanity's armed troops to fall so quickly when most of the enemies were slow and unintelligent zombies, the warning bells rang in his head noisily.
I don't think the person in charge of the place is unaware of the leader subclass. He thought with narrowed eyes as he gently tapped the wooden table with his finger.
He had already discussed the matter with Lilith the night before and she had made it clear to him that a existence could only obtain a subclass upon reaching the Second Order. However, there was one exception to this rule; those who met occult requirements.