"Those bastards... They dared to use me and fool me!"
Seeing the young assassin girl clenching both fists with an angry expression on her beautiful but lethal face as if she wanted to kill people, everyone inside the room remained silent. Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue looked at each other for a moment before looking back at the blonde-haired girl once more.
"Apparently you realized something?" Bai Zemin folded his arms and while resting his back against the wall he couldn't help but sneer with clear disdain in his tone of voice, "In other words, because of your naivety you not only became our enemy but you might also lose your life... But even more importantly, if it weren't for my group and I having the strength to protect us, you would have killed innocent people."
Nangong Yi, Shangguan Bing Xue, and Nangong Lingxin looked at the young woman waiting for an answer. For some reason, now that the misunderstanding seemed to have been cleared up, the three of them began to feel a little angry. This anger they felt only increased even more after Bai Zemin said such words.
The young assassin, aggrieved, looked at Bai Zemin with her green eyes that seemed to be as cold and sharp as ice blades. However, after several seconds, she sighed and closed her eyes as she relaxed her body and fell to the floor.
Although the wound on her shoulder had been sealed by Bai Zemin's Second Order Blood Manipulation skill, the pain still lingered; after all, the flesh wound was still there. Every bone in her body ached horribly as a result of Bai Zemin's final attack that had caused her to lose consciousness. Moreover, the realization that she had been used and the young man's words in front of her were a great shock to her psyche, which weakened her strength even more.
Bai Zemin looked at her with indifference. Neither he nor anyone else inside this room had any intention of going to support the beauty.
After several minutes of silence where the only thing that could be heard was the sound of wood slowly burning, the young assassin sighed again before raising her head to look at everyone; especially Bai Zemin since he was the person she had attacked.
"I honestly apologize for what happened. Although I know that a word of apology is nothing but empty words, my true feelings right now are that I sincerely regret it."
Bai Zemin looked at her for a moment and realized that the woman in front of him had changed her temperament. While her eyes were still cold, they no longer looked as lethal as before and all her guard seemed to have completely disappeared. As if that wasn't enough, her baby voice became even softer after realizing that she was completely wrong in this situation.
"In the past, saying sorry wasn't worth anything. Less so now that the world and the laws that protected us collapsed." Bai Zemin replied coldly. However, he soon smiled slightly and continued, "But... While an apology might not be enough, how about you join us?"
"I-"
"Don't be so quick to refuse, how about you listen to me first?" Bai Zemin waved his hand and stopped her words before she could continue.
The young assassin hesitated for a moment. She was a lone wolf. From a very young age she had to survive on her own in this world after losing everything she had, her trust in people was not high to begin with, and joining a faction of this new world was not something she had in her plans.
In the past, humans were evil and selfish people who took advantage of the slightest disadvantage of the other in order to take advantage of any situation. What more now that the world had changed?
However, surprisingly even for her, in the end, she decided to listen to what the young man in front of her had to say. Although it was a surprise even for her to be willing to listen as this could translate into her at least being interested in the offer, she had her own reasons why she did this. Of course, in the end, it would all depend on what the young man in front of her said.
"How about we reintroduce ourselves? Now that all this misunderstanding was cleared up, it would be better to at least put the enmity aside for a brief moment." Bai Zemin smiled slightly and reintroduced himself being followed closely after by Nangong Lingxin, Nangong Yi, and Shangguan Bing Xue.
"My name..." As if hesitating about something, the young assassin finally gritted her teeth and responded in a somewhat stiff tone, "My name is Evangeline. Just Evangeline, you may consider that I have no surname. As for my background... I think my mother was Chinese and my father Russian."
Bai Zemin and the rest looked at each other for a moment before looking back at the woman who now rested her back comfortably against the wall and looked at them with clear eyes. They all realized from the words she spoke at the end of her sentence that this woman named Evangeline had her own story to tell as well.
"I see. Nice to meet you, Evangeline." Bai Zemin nodded with a faint smile.
Every person in this world had their own past. Some had a good life filled with fortunes, others had a normal life with ups and downs, while those less privileged by fate had to step on hot fathoms with every step they took; enduring endless pain and gritting their teeth in every moment so as not to fall down as it would be hard to get up once again.
As to whether one was willing to share their life experiences with another person, it depended on many factors such as trust.
After everyone finished introducing themselves, Bai Zemin put on a serious expression and began to tell the whole truth. From who the four of them were to where they came from and why they were here; he did not hide anything.
While it was true that Evangeline was an unknown person and neither Bai Zemin nor the others had any confidence in her whatsoever, if they wholeheartedly wanted her to join their faction, lies were not a good way to start a relationship.
Bai Zemin, who had fought this woman, knew that if everything went well then he had a lot to gain and little to lose in case things did not go his way.
If Evangeline joined him, then he would be gaining an extremely powerful and terrifying ally. She would immediately occupy an extremely high position, being the second or third most powerful person in the faction right behind him and fighting against Shangguan Bing Xue for the second place.
If it was in a normal match, Shangguan Bing Xue undoubtedly had the ability to 100% overwhelm Evangeline. However, if it was a sudden assault, even Shangguan Bing Xue could be seriously injured and potentially even die depending on the situation she was in at the time.
As for the worst case scenario, if Evangeline was pretending to be friendly to flee, then Bai Zemin had nothing to lose since he did not believe that she would go running to the North Camp government to tell everything he told her. After all, she had been tricked and almost killed by the machinations of the other party.
But even then, if Evangeline really did go running to the government to tell everything, Bai Zemin didn't care about any of this. He was 100% confident that he could bring down this base completely even if he was alone, not to mention that he had powerful soul evolvers standing by his side.
About half an hour later, Bai Zemin had finished giving Evangeline a pretty big idea about the situation of his faction and the way it functioned. From the current population to the rules, punishments, and divisions of labor. Even the rewards for the efforts put in by each person were not left out by him.
Evangeline lowered her head and was silent after listening to everything Bai Zemin told her. Although she showed no apparent reaction, the shock she received was by no means small.
If everything the young man in front of her told her was true... Then this base was doomed.
But more crucially...
She looked him straight into his eyes and stood up slowly as she said earnestly, "About the society you want to build... I am willing to join you, but I have two conditions."
"... More conditions, huh?" Bai Zemin unconsciously looked at Shangguan Bing Xue and couldn't help but think that women really were something.
But on second thought, it also made sense. Evangeline was strong, she could survive on her own for quite some time and as long as she didn't encounter some especially strong First Order beast, as long as she didn't find herself surrounded by an army of beasts or a group of First Order beasts, and as long as she didn't meet a terrifying Second Order existence, Evangeline had enough power to survive in this new world.
By joining his faction she would be losing much of her freedom as she would not only have to listen to the orders Bai Zemin gave her but would also have to work to raise a person even higher than she was raising herself. Therefore, taking all this into account, it was only natural that she and any other powerhouse would have their conditions.
Sure, Bai Zemin could threaten her with death, but for an assassin like Evangeline, it was clear that such threats would have little or no effect. On the contrary, they might make everything more difficult.
"Don't worry." Evangeline looked at him steadily and said confidently, "I have only two conditions. The first will not prejudice you in any way as long as everything you have said before is true... As for my second condition, it might even be considered a good thing for you."
"Oh?" Bai Zemin finally felt some curiosity. With a faint smile on his face, his eyes flashed with a hint of coldness as he calmly said, "An advantageous condition for me? That's quite interesting. Tell me what you have in mind."
"My first condition is simple... Before I agree to join your faction and follow your orders, I want to go to your camp and see how you operate it. Besides, I also want to see how you try to solve the problems that the lower caste survivors have." Evangeline said calmly.
Although she was a killer and the number of people who had died at her hands before the Soul Record's arrival on Earth could already be counted in more than a few dozen, she was not a cruel person and thus was not willing to follow a selfish and evil person.
Bai Zemin nodded. Such a condition was understandable.
Seeing him nod, Evangeline paused for a moment before saying word by word: " Following China... In case I really join your faction and we succeed in conquering China, you cannot stop here. My second and final condition is that you proceed north towards Russia and conquer its lands as well."
Cough! Cough! Cough!
Nangong Yi began to cough furiously and for a moment seemed to run out of air in his lungs as his face turned red.
Nangong Lingxin looked at the young assassin with wide eyes and her small mouth opened slightly. Her eyes seemed to be looking at a lunatic person instead of someone sane.
Even Bai Zemin himself could not help but be startled when he heard Evangeline's second condition. What kind of strange condition was this? Did she have something against the Russians? Did it have something to do with her past? Bai Zemin felt he could not process what was happening.
Surprisingly, the only person who had no reaction of surprise was Shangguan Bing Xue.
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Thanks a lot to all those who use their Golden Tickets to vote for BW <3