Bai Zemin found himself up against a pretty strong defense the moment he arrived at the military area. However, after what happened the night before he was basically known by every single soldier and soul evolver.
Two powerful level 17 and level 18 soul evolvers guarding with swords and with firearms from the top of a makeshift wall that had been erected to separate the military complex from the rest of the base saw the young man who the night before had displayed godly power and immediately stood with their backs straight.
"Leader!"
"Leader!"
The two men shouted with respect and enthusiasm at the same time. The fervor in their gaze was too clear to be missed by anyone who saw them and Bai Zemin naturally did not miss it.
Although being treated with such reverence was precisely something Bai Zemin sought so that no one would ever think of betraying or opposing him, the gaze of the two people in front of him somehow made him a little awkward.
This was also understandable considering that it had not yet been a long time since he had become the top leader of a faction that was composed of several thousand people.
"Good job." He nodded toward them with a slight smile and then walked past them.
The two men were immediately excited and began to pay more attention to their surroundings. Previously, for these two soul evolvers close to level 20, being stationed as a gate guard was not something they were excited about since from their point of view it was a waste of time, believing that they should be leveling up instead of standing like statues for hours in the same place.
From a certain point of view, these two men had a point. However, the real reason why two soul evolvers like them were placed in a position like this was because the area behind them contained the entire armed arsenal and 80% of the rations by which the base could still stand. If this was stolen, damaged, or any other mishap happened; then even if Bai Zemin were twice as powerful he would not be able to avoid the chaos that would arise.
Leaving the two somewhat overjoyed soul evolvers behind, Bai Zemin walked through the complex for several minutes and passed several checkpoints. It was only approximately ten minutes later that he finally reached the deepest part and immediately heard several shouts and curses from the distance.
"Fan Bo! I told you to let go of my son! Are you fucking deaf or what?!"
"Even if that's what you want.... I'm afraid I can't carry out that order, team leader Shao."
"Damn it! You think this father doesn't dare to blow your head off in this fucking instant?!"
Immediately after those words, Bai Zemin heard several shouts of shock, and apparently a fight was about to break out.
He frowned hard and his body swayed slightly, blinking and appearing several meters ahead as if he had teleported. In just two seconds he appeared inside a large clearing where there were several people kneeling with a few armed men around.
However, the problem was that four armed men were aiming at a team of two men armed with pistols and machine guns. The two armed men were not just sitting around waiting to die at all as they also raised their light machine guns and aimed at their own teammates while glaring cautiously at them.
"Team leader Shao, please reconsider!" A young man dressed in a police uniform and neatly combed hair around 26 or 27 years old shouted loudly while aiming at a man of around 35 or 36 years old.
Bai Zemin realized that this young man who had just spoken was the same Fan Bo who apparently had captured the son of this person called 'team leader Shao'.
Seeing that things might get out of hand soon, he walked forward and said in a cold voice:
"What the hell is going on here?"
Feeling the approaching footsteps and hearing the cold and indifferent voice, the six armed men immediately tensed up and shifted their gazes hurriedly to the side.
"Leader!"
The eyes of the person whose name was Fan Bo lit up upon seeing and recognizing Bai Zemin immediately.
On the other hand, Bai Zemin noticed that the expression of the officer surnamed Shao sank as well as that of the three armed men accompanying him. Although they soon returned to normal, that change did not go unnoticed by him at all.
"Leader." That team leader immediately hailed but without much enthusiasm, his gaze still wandering to the kneeling people tied with strings in the back.
Bai Zemin needed no more than this to immediately understand what was going on. However, he acted as if he knew nothing and calmly said, "I asked a question. Can someone tell me why the six of you raise your guns against your own comrades?"
The expression of the opposing four changed again as even though the young man's voice before them was calm and low, the pressure and depth were comparable to that of a large waterfall.
The one who was obviously the leader of these four took a deep breath and lowered his gun before saying loudly, "Leader! My name is Shao Yang, and I am the leader of the 17th team composed by ten men. I beg you to let my son go and forgive his offenses at the expense of my contribution to this base!"
"Oh?" Bai Zemin raised an eyebrow and his eyes flashed with a hint of amusement as he calmly said, "And who might be your son? Explain the situation to me."
"Yes!" The person called Shao Yang nodded and looked at a young man of about 15 years old as he narrated the events, "My only son Shao Meng, yesterday committed.... He committed offenses that harmed public order and the safety of the survivors to some degree.... However, he did not kill anyone! That's why I beg you to forgive him this time and I will personally take care of educating him accordingly!"
Your son committed offenses that harmed public order and compromised the safety of the survivors and consequently the base as a whole but just based on the fact that he didn't kill anyone you want him to be excused? Bai Zemin secretly scoffed and his expression grew colder and colder.
Seeing his expression sinking, Shao Yang's heart tightened and his grip on his firearm tightened.
Bai Zemin ignored this and looked at the young man Shao Yang had been looking all this time.
The young man could hardly be considered a teenager on his way to adulthood, his face was tender like a child's.... Or at least that's how it was supposed to be since he currently had several contusions all over his face and his left eye was purple and swollen to the point where it wasn't possible to open it.
"Are you Shao Meng?" Bai Zemin asked as he walked towards the young man.
Shao Meng raised his head and tried to say something but all that came out of his mouth was a whimper followed by tears and sobs.
Bai Zemin looked at him and shook his head, "You can't even bear this kind of pain but you dare to cause suffering to others?"
Then he ignored everyone and looked at the armed officer whose name he had heard before.
"Your name is Fan Bo, is that correct?"
"Y-Yes!" Fan Bo replied hurriedly, finally snapping out of his daze and lowering his gun.
Fan Bo was just an officer of the lowest rank whose only privilege in contrast to normal survivors was carrying a firearm and the fact that he could eat quite comfortably every day. Other than that, he was no different from a normal person so talking directly to someone of Bai Zemin's level was no different from standing before the former president of China from his point of view; one could only try to imagine the nerves Fan Bo was feeling.
"What were the crimes this young man committed last night?" Bai Zemin asked and released a hint of his Soul Power as he said chillingly, "You don't need to lie or worry about anything. Just obey my words and everything will be fine for you."
Everyone's face turned slightly pale as they felt the invisible pressure on their shoulders. This was especially the case for Shao Yang and the three men accompanying him as they could barely stand on wobbly legs.
Fan Bo swallowed heavily and nodded before slowly beginning to narrate, "Shao Meng, son of team leader Shao Yang. This year he turned 15. This.... Last night, while you, Leader, along with the other comrades were fighting on the front lines of the west gate of the base, this person Shao Meng was captured alive by Battalion Commander Fu Xuefeng. His accusations are setting fire to private property, banditry, and finally attempted rape. Other than Shao Meng, the three young men next to him are his friends and their charges are the same."
At this point, Bai Zemin's faction in the North Camp had several hundred armed men. Since Fu Xuefeng's position in the army was that of the Commander, he was the person in charge of leading a team of over two hundred soldiers and a dozen soul evolvers; his power was indisputable as was the trust Bai Zemin had placed in him.
Since Fu Xuefeng knew how careful Bai Zemin was in dealing with juniors, instead of executing Shao Meng on the spot the night before, he imprisoned him and brought him to the military prison to be treated later.
Bai Zemin nodded silently and looked at Shao Yang as he said casually, "Since you are a team leader, you should have seen me at the meeting several days ago when I took control over this base, is that correct?"
Shao Yang nodded with a pale face and Bai Zemin continued:
"Since that is the case, you should have heard that I am the top leader of a faction further south that we will be joining in soon." Without waiting for a reply, Bai Zemin continued, "In the list of rules I made explicitly clear, the one I highlighted the most at the time was that rape or attempted rape would not be tolerated regardless of the rank or position of the person at fault. Correct?"
"B- But! Leader, my son-"
"Your son is a rapist, he is scum." Bai Zemin cut Shao Yang off without letting him finish and activated Blood Manipulation as he said indifferently, "Just because he failed to accomplish the act since he was arrested in the process doesn't mean the punishment should be any better. Therefore, he will die."
A cry of pain escaped out from Shao Meng's mauled mouth. His eyes began to bleed, his eardrums seemed to explode as blood began to gush out, and an instant later a large gush of blood spurted out of his mouth before he collapsed lifelessly on the ground.
Shao Yang's eyes retracted to the size of a needle when he heard his son's cry. However, by the time he turned his face to look at him, all he saw was his precious boy lying on the ground in his own blood.
Realizing what had happened, Shao Yang felt as if something broke inside him and in a fit of rage and madness he raised his gun in the direction of Bai Zemin.
"You bastard! My son was all I had!"
However, before he could fire, both of his hands were cut by thin blood threads that were only revealed when the sun shone on them.
"Argh!!!!!!!!!" Shao Yang cried out in pain and recoiled as blood gushed from his wrists.
"You had your life before too. Now I'm afraid you really have nothing."
It was the last thing he heard before his heart stopped completely and his body fell lifelessly to the ground, joining his son.
* * * * * * *
Thank you very much to everyone who voted for Blood Warlock with their Golden Tickets! <3