After leaving the depths of the crater alongside Shangguan Bing Xue, Bai Zemin encountered nearly a thousand humans. Among these humans, most of them were men carrying firearms such as light machine guns, assault rifles, pistols, even some country shotguns that were found in the various villages surrounding the area.
The minority were all soul evolvers. At this point, each of these brave fighters who risked their lives every second to fight beasts, zombies, and plants in fierce hand-to-hand confrontations looked at Bai Zemin with eyes brimming with reverence.
In fact, seeing the heat in the eyes of all of them, Bai Zemin estimated that were it not for the military rules that had been slowly imparted on each man, they would all be shouting his name out loud.
"Pretty normal if you ask me." Shangguan Bing Xue whispered beside him. "The power and ability you showed them tonight go far beyond what the human mind can comprehend. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if each and every one of them is willing to throw their lives away for you and your cause.... It could be said that your goal in some way or another has been achieved, I guess."
Bai Zemin did not reply.
In fact, what he was looking for was people who were willing to fight bravely and who were willing to lay down their lives for the sake of him. Was Bai Zemin selfish? He probably was. But that was the way things were and it would probably continue this way for a long time.
Bai Zemin took a step forward and casually scanned the faces of each man in front of him before he began to speak slowly:
"As many of you probably know, my name is Bai Zemin and I am the leader of this base as well as the leader of a second base to which we will be joining soon. A large portion of you have probably never seen me in your lives before tonight as many of you are still new recruits.
However, let me tell you that regardless of the difference in status, in my eyes you are all brave warriors. Warriors who fight with their lives on the line every day and regardless of the reasons each of you may have for doing it, the truth is that whether you want to or not, you are also helping countless humans and thus making a small beacon of guiding light in the midst of so much darkness and death.... Therefore, let me tell you all with confidence that each one of all of you present and each one of our fallen comrades were, are, and always will be heroes in my eyes!"
Upon hearing Bai Zemin's speech, many men's eyes turned red and tears threatened to fall at any moment. Even many hot-blooded men who had already forgotten when they had last shed tears were deeply moved that the highest leader of the entire base, the king of them all, not only valued their efforts but also abandoned the safety that rightfully belonged to someone of his status to fight on the front lines.
"Tonight, due to the attack of these disgusting vile beasts, many have died." Bai Zemin continued in an extremely serious voice and everyone listened intently, "Regardless of whether we knew them or not, regardless of whether we were close to them or not, they were all our brothers in arms and will continue to be this way for all eternity regardless of how far we go in the future. Therefore, as a sign of respect to those who fell tonight, I would like everyone to keep total silence for 1 minute from the moment my voice stops."
And so, silence reigned over the battlefield.
The blood vortex was still whirling, slowly consuming Bai Zemin's Mana, the blood chains reinforced by the vortex still clung tightly to all the mutated creatures without allowing them to get up from the ground, and the beasts seemed to be too frightened to even growl.
With the clouds now clear and the storm moving further and further away from the area, the only sound present was that of the wind coming from the forest five kilometers into the distance.
Many men could stand it no longer and tears began to fall down their faces. There were many of them who tonight had lost friends, siblings, sons, nephews, nieces, grandchildren, grandparents, lovers, etc.... Regardless if Bai Zemin felt sad or not for the loss of these people and for the deaths of these soldiers, the truth was that he believed from the bottom of his heart that these people deserved at least a minimal token of respect like this.
A minute later, the tears gradually stopped and Bai Zemin turned to look at the over 2500 mutant beasts that were held prisoner by the blood of other beasts and of those who had fallen in combat to defend the position of mankind behind their backs.
"Tonight, let us use the blood of these vile beasts to take vengeance for the fallen ones! Let us use their blood to grow, to evolve, to become powerful enough to never let such things happen again!"
His voice echoed far and wide like a thunderclap.
Under everyone's gaze, he pointed his sword forward and bellowed, "All soul evolvers, get your weapons and charge! No need to fear! No need to hold back! Just kill as much as you can!"
For a brief second, no one moved. However, one of the soul evolvers at the front who had lost his father in the mouth of a mutated beast finally shouted out loud to the point where his voice rasped before dashing forward at the highest speed his Agility stat allowed him.
As if a dam had broken, dozens began to run, those dozens added up to form a hundred, and that hundred grew to become over two hundred and fifty soul evolvers among whom 80% were men and 20% were brave women unwilling to decay behind the walls of the base or leave the 100% of their fates in the hands of others.
The sharp flashes of swords, the explosions caused by heavy bones, the fierce stab of a spear made of bone, and so on. The moonlight illuminated the weapons in the hands of each soul evolver and highlighted with its silver rays the rage-filled, bloodthirsty attacks of these people.
Evangeline, Yan Tu, Nangong Lingxin, and Lu Yan were not far behind either. The four charged forward and began their own massacres with Yan Tu and Evangeline charging straight at the First Order beasts to claim what was rightfully theirs.
Even Kang Lan, who had received the two healings allowed by Wan Jian's Lesser Healing skill, the second healer Bai Zemin found after Kang Lan. While Wan Jian's healings were still considerably lower than Kang Lan's healings even though they both used the same skill, it was more than enough for at least her fingers to stop hurting so much; it would probably take another two or three days for her to fully heal if she healed herself. After all, Kang Lan's Health stat was not monstrously high like Bai Zemin's Health.
"That was a good speech." Shangguan Bing Xue commented.
She was the only one who hadn't dashed over to join the massacre. After all, she was already at level 46 so the Soul Power that this kind of enemy would grant her would not make any difference to her strength unless she was willing to spend months and even years killing low level beings to grow.
As for additional stats, First Order beasts could give her quite a few points but Shangguan Bing Xue would not steal other people's prey, so in the end, she decided to stand beside Bai Zemin.
"But I wonder if you really felt like you said." She smiled slightly and looked at him.
Bai Zemin watched as the blood of the beasts spattered the ground in large quantities and listened as the rage-filled roars of the monsters rumbled the earth. He was sure that even from the forest five kilometers away the shrieks could be heard and inwardly wondered if some mighty beast would come out of there.
Without looking at the woman next to him, Bai Zemin lazily replied, "Even though I was only a student from a middle-class working family in the past, I learned a thing or two simply by watching those people who were in high positions of power whenever they appeared at press conferences."
"You learned how to lie?" She asked with ridicule in her voice. Anything dealing with politics of the past was not something she particularly liked.
"Na." Bai Zemin replied indifferently and pointed with glittering eyes: "I learned to put on an act."
When a person held high office, they often could not simply say what they wanted and instead, to avoid controversy, had to say what the masses wanted to hear. In that way, not only could hundreds of big problems be avoided but also the support and appreciation of others, as well as the loyalty of the people, could be obtained.
"It may be despicable.... But to be a leader you not only need strength, you also need to know how to understand the needs of others." He concluded.
Shangguan Bing Xue looked at him for a moment before turning her attention to the battlefield where the beasts were being slaughtered like pigs on New Year's Eve. She did not comment on what Bai Zemin had just said as although it was despicable as he had pointed out, she was actually aware that his words were very real and true.
Approximately thirty minutes later, the roars of the beasts had been silenced in their entirety.
After thirty minutes of working as a team, the little more than 250 soul evolvers managed to end the lives of the 2500+ beasts without the support of firearms so they were not only able to vent a great deal of the anger and pain they were feeling but they were also able to absorb large amounts of Soul Power.
Bai Zemin approached Lu Yan and instructed, "Tell your daughter to take charge of moving several squads to carry the bodies of these beasts back to the military area. If she needs more people, she is allowed to use meat in exchange for offering work to other survivors who do not yet have jobs but want one. Also, take care to reinforce the defense of this area enough to handle an attack of a thousand beasts in case any of them dare to come back for more."
After giving a series of orders, Bai Zemin left the front lines and returned to his mansion in the privileged area along with Evangeline and the rest. While there was some minor possibility of some forest beast charging towards the base, with his current speed he could reach the front lines in a matter of seconds so he wasn't too worried.
Aside from Kang Lan and Evangeline, there were many other soul evolvers and soldiers who had been wounded in today's war. A small group of experienced medical personnel and a larger group of people hired to apply first aid began to treat the wounds of those who could be helped using the gauze, disinfectants, and many other valuable supplies available at the base.
By being willing to use this kind of precious resource on them, Bai Zemin unwittingly gained even more reliance and faith from his subordinates. Many of them were now willing to jump into a river of fiery lava for such a leader.
In the end, after taking a hot shower, Bai Zemin fell onto his bed and a minute later fell into a deep sleep like a trunk. Even when Lilith lay down beside him and looked at him with shining eyes, he did not wake up at all due to mental and physical exhaustion.
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Thank you very much to everyone who voted for Blood Warlock with their Golden Tickets! <3