Chapter 168: In the shadows

After searching for a couple of minutes inside the giant skulls of the beasts, Bai Zemin sighed and approached the two women who were just walking in his direction with helpless expressions.

"Looking on your faces, I guess there wasn't so much luck?" Bai Zemin smiled bitterly and, although he asked a question, his voice sounded more like a certitude.

Wu Yijun opened her palm, revealing the bright glow of a deep blue rock the size of a baby's fist with several imperfections and splinters.

"I only managed to find this one inside one of the First Order lions." She revealed somewhat bitterly.

Shangguan Bing Xue opened her two palms and shook her head, "I wasn't so lucky either. I only found these two."

"...Forget it..." Bai Zemin sighed and opened his palm, revealing a First Order Soul Stone as he said in a self-comforting voice, "At least we managed to obtain four First Order Soul Stones. That's good enough, I guess."

The two beautiful women exchanged glances with each other before shrugging and nodding. Then, they handed the three First Order Soul Stones they had found to Bai Zemin and he kept them together with the others in his bag.

Out of a total of ten First Order creatures, the group of three had only managed to obtain a total of four First Order Soul Stones. This meant that less than 50% of the beasts had managed to form a Soul Stone in their bodies.

"Shall we continue then?" Wu Yijun asked as she looked at Bai Zemin and leaned her face in a cute manner.

Bai Zemin nodded with a serious expression and pointed at the bodies of the First Order beasts, "We should finish everything quickly to bring workers to this place. The bodies of the First Order existences are a treasure no matter which way one looks at it and losing even one of them would be a sorrow."

Shangguan Bing Xue nodded in agreement and pointed out, "Indeed. Not only are their pelts and shells extremely tough and hard, some even like metal or surpassing it. The flesh of their bodies and the blood is extremely nutritious for the human body."

The flesh and blood of First Order creatures were not only extremely delicious when it was properly cooked, but it could also grant free stat points to those who were weaker and even helped to cure illnesses such as colds.

Fortunately, in addition to the four First Order Soul Stones, Wu Yijun had also found a skill scroll that was given to Bai Zemin.

He simply put it in his bag to look at it later since the sun was barely illuminating the thick forest with the approach of night and he knew that it would be better to finish the ride as soon as possible to maximize their safety.

Soon, the three of them left the area and went deeper into the forest.

* * *

"Phew..." Bai Zemin loudly exhaled a sigh of relief when he finally saw the military camp a few meters ahead.

All along the way, his muscles had been tensed to the max and he was on constant alert.

This was because the appearance of the ten First Order creatures and the other Unclassified beasts was too abnormal. Generally, the beasts fought each other since they had no intelligence; they just followed the instinct to constantly evolve without stopping.

Therefore, Bai Zemin had been waiting for the appearance of some monster or anomaly just like when they had not yet left the university grounds where the existence of the Mana Embryo had caused the creatures in the area not to fight among themselves, suppressing the fierce instinct within them.

However, it seemed that his concerns were unnecessary as there was no trace of a creature capable of threatening the lives of the trio present.

Shangguan Bing Xue also let out a faint sigh of relief, showing that he was not the only person present who was worried about the dangers that might lurk further down the path.

From the terrifying appearance of the sea of Wolf Spiders to the pack of Unclassified beasts under the leadership of the ten First Order creatures, no matter which of the two situations it was, both were extremely dangerous. A normal human being or even an armed army would have been annihilated without a doubt under such attacks.

In fact, if not for Bai Zemin's irregular existence, Shangguan Bing Xue herself and Wu Yijun would have been killed by the sea of spiders. Even if Shangguan Bing Xue did not faint due to her arachnophobia, her Mana and Stamina would have been exhausted before she managed to get out of the arachnid ring.

As for killing over a hundred thousand beasts single-handedly... It was not something a First Order being could accomplish just because they were a higher Order.

Therefore, it could be said that only Bai Zemin's group currently had the qualifications to reach this place and, perhaps, a few outstanding geniuses or lucky people who had their own fortuitous encounters.

Unknown to Bai Zemin was that several hundred meters distance away, on a tree, a small ape with a head almost as big as its body was gazing at them coldly. 

The ape's body was slender and about five feet tall. Its two bulging eyes flashed with intelligence that a normal monster should not possess, and the beast seemed to hesitate before leaping from the tree and fleeing in a southwesterly direction, disappearing into the dense forage of the forest.

...

Bang!

Bai Zemin kicked the double metal gate sealing the entrance to the military settlement, sending it flying several meters and causing a rather loud bang to echo everywhere.

A group of zombies near the entrance turned their pale faces and their lifeless eyes fixed on the group of three that had just entered the facility. With growls that seemed to come from the depths of their throats, the twenty-plus zombies began to stagger toward them while waving their hands.

Wu Yijun and Shangguan Bing Xue sighed at the sight of the military uniform the zombies were wearing. Although they had guns on their waists and a few of them even carried machine guns on their backs, the zombies did not know how to use weapons; they just moved forward and scratched or bit out of instinct.

Bai Zemin did not care whether these zombies were brave soldiers of the country in the past or not. To him, anything that stood in his way of survival and his family was an enemy that needed to be eradicated.

Therefore, without even hesitating, he pulled out the Desert Eagle he had hidden on the inside of his Full Coat and pointed it forward.

A thunderous bang sounded and fifty meters ahead, a zombie in military uniform received a bloody hole right in the middle of its forehead before collapsing with a thud on the floor. 

With the skill Special Forces Soldier, Bai Zemin was comparable to the best elites of humanity before the apocalypse. Therefore, his shooting skill was almost perfect; in fact, he was confident of successfully hitting his enemy's head as long as he was a maximum of 200 meters away from him.

Attracted by the sound of the loud gunshot, more and more zombies were attracted by the noise and began to move towards the entrance of the military camp with staggering steps.