Chapter 913: Third Order Evangeline
Bai Zemin did not exchange many words with Shangguan Bing Xue and the others. Not only this was not the best moment but there were people present who needed to be introduced first.
"Oh!" Dylan couldn't help but exclaim as he looked at the fighter jets several meters apart. His eyes glittered as he subconsciously asked, "Hey, Angelo, Eleanora, do you think these Chinese fighters are better than our F-35 Lightning? I'd like to see both of them fighting in the clouds!"
Dylan's voice was quite loud in the middle of the night not to mention that the military base was located on a site considerably remote from any other part of the base so noises from outside hardly reached this part of the human establishment. In addition, the robust man's English was unmistakable to anyone.
It was unnecessary to say that the expressions of some of those present changed noticeably after hearing Dylan's voice, especially those who had some mastery over English.
"American?" Chen He frowned slightly and a glint of wariness flashed in his eyes.
As a member of a family that before the apocalypse had its roots firmly planted within the Chinese army, Chen He naturally knew a little about the U.S. fighter airplane under the name F-35 Lightning. Moreover, the American accent was simply unmistakable to him.
"What? American?" Xiao Ming opened his eyes wide and looked at Dylan with sharp eyes.
The past he might have cursed but now he was able to restrain himself in certain circumstances.
Wu Yijun slowly raised her head from Bai Zemin's chest but did not move far away from him. While using her small left hand to cling to her cloak, she used her big black eyes that shone especially brighter tonight as a result of the tears she had just shed to look at the unknown group.
Angelo's eyes sparkled slightly as his eyes met Wu Yijun's and in his heart he could not help but exclaim in shock at the beauty of the woman in front of him.
Western beauty differed from Eastern beauty. For example, American and European women were usually more curvaceous than Asian women and this could be seen at this very moment as the curves displayed by Eleanora who was only 19 years old were only matched by Sun Ling's already fully matured body. However, Angelo was momentarily captivated by Wu Yijun's pure and angelic face as her sad expression and the tears dangling from her long eyelashes magnified her characteristics even more.
Even then, Angelo had no shortage of beauties to embrace. Besides, it was clear that this woman in front of him had a very high position in this place, and from what he had heard before, her feelings for Bai Zemin were evident to everyone gathered here.
Angelo had no plans to start a fierce war between factions all to get a woman.
"This is...?" Wu Keqian also raised his wariness as he looked at the group of three.
Bai Zemin turned slightly and introduced them calmly.
"These three are members of the elite team of the faction that is probably the most powerful faction in the United States right now."
The most powerful faction in the United States? Several alarm bells rang in everyone's heads when they heard these words and the wariness grew in everyone's hearts.
In fact, Bai Zemin noticed that some of those present were looking at him with eyes that seemed to be talking; it was as if they were asking him why he had brought such dangerous and powerful people to this place, a military base that had so many secrets that could not be known by others.
Eleanora grimaced and ignored everyone as she played with her nails casually.
Angelo naturally noticed the wariness of the people before him, something completely normal. He stepped forward and spoke using fluid control over the Chinese, "My name is Angelo Gallagher, but it is not necessary to mention my last name when you address me."
"Gallagher?" Wu Keqian muttered as he rubbed his chin. "That surname I have heard it several times before... But where...?"
"Angelo Gallagher, 27 years old. Only male son of the former and last president of the United States and currently leader of the faction that controls roughly half the country in the extreme east."
An indifferent voice attracted people's attention, and Angelo could not help but look at Shangguan Bing Xue with surprise.
He had naturally already noticed this woman, it was impossible not to considering that she was the most beautiful of all the females present by a considerable margin. However, Angelo could also sense danger of death coming from that seemingly delicate and perfectly proportioned curvy body.
Bai Zemin also looked at Shangguan Bing Xue with a hint of surprise.
She looked at him and said in a soft voice, "We have a satellite base so we can see some movements in the world now, though only in some parts since most of the satellites went down."
Satellite base... Bai Zemin couldn't help but smile with bitterness in his heart.
A lot had happened, after all, it had been almost six months since he left Earth. He really needed to catch up with everything that had been happening in his faction.
Although possessing a satellite base did not explain why Shangguan Bing Xue knew the American faction so well, Bai Zemin did not ask any more questions for now as this would surely reveal information that was best held in secret.
"Be that as it may," Bai Zemin continued, "The thing is that due to certain events I ended up on American ground and met Angelo's team not long after. They lent me that helicopter to return to China, and since the helicopter is state of the art naturally they couldn't send me alone."
They all looked at the Artemis class helicopter and finally understood a little better what was going on.
The Artemis class helicopter was not only huge in size but had over five cannons of different sizes on each side with a larger cannon located at the front. This kind of beast could not be compared to anything they had seen before and even the four Chengdu J-20s on the airstrip could not compare when it came to imposing appearance.
Bai Zemin looked at Angelo, but before he could say anything Eleanora stepped in front of him.
"Hey, Bai Zemin! Don't tell me you're planning to send us back home?!"
"This..." Bai Zemin was a bit speechless since he was indeed planning to do that.
Eleanora put both hands on her hips and gasped in indignation, "We've been flying for more than half a day from one end of the world to the other to get you here safely and you already want to scare us away? It seems your China manners are not so good after all!"
Bai Zemin hesitated for a moment as to what to do next here.
Eleanora's words were valid, besides, Bai Zemin hoped to form at least a temporary alliance with the United States faction as this would make things much easier for his future conquest. However, he also could not risk having such powerful people in one of his bases; especially since Bai Zemin could not have his eyes on them for long as a babysitter since he had things to do.
Angelo seemed to realize the problem so he stepped forward to lighten the mood a bit as it began to get heavy. "Don't worry, we'll be leaving tomorrow before noon strikes. I understand your apprehension, if I were you I would probably find it difficult what to do in this situation."
After a moment's thought, Bai Zemin nodded and calmly replied, "All right."
Eleanora rolled her eyes and muttered something under her breath.
Bai Zemin added, this time his voice getting some depth to it, "However, let me warn you of something. You better not try to sneak in anywhere or break the rules of my place or I will not be indulgent with any of you."
Angelo nodded calmly as Dylan stepped forward and said with wide eyes, "Hey, Zemin. We can at least tour the free parts of the city, can't we? This is my first time visiting another country! Man, I've always been curious about Asian beauties hehehe..."
"You can tour the free parts of the city at will. There is a lot of entertainment that has been going on since I gained control over this establishment." Bai Zemin nodded before giving one more warning, "Lastly, let me warn you two in particular that rape is penalized through death in my faction. If you wish to satisfy any kind of need you will have to pay the proper price and receive approval from whoever sells said service first."
Angelo looked at Dylan and the latter nodded to indicate that he understood.
Satisfied, Bai Zemin pulled out some colored papers from his storage ring and after making sure there was only enough to have some fun at ease handed them to Angelo.
"Angelo, I will have one of my people guide you to one of the hotels near the military base and to show you to your rooms. You can do whatever you want within the rules I mentioned just now after that."
...
On one of the higher floors of one of the more luxurious hotels on the base, Angelo looked at the view outside the window, which despite being as transparent as glass, it was clearly different as whatever they had used to make it was definitely capable of withstanding medium caliber bullets.
"Did you find anything?" he asked calmly as he looked out at the starry night.
There were a few hours before sunrise.
Sitting on the sofa and drinking orange juice, Eleanora said in a serious voice, "Angelo, apparently Bai Zemin was away from home for almost half a year after the previous president of China fired a nuclear missile when he retreated defeated from the battlefield. Besides, that woman from before is actually Xuanyuan Wentian's illegitimate daughter."
Angelo was silent for a moment before nodding, "I see. Considering the overpopulation problem China was experiencing and the one child per family law it's no wonder Xuanyuan Wentian hid his daughter."
"No no... Far from hiding his daughter, that old man apparently threw her aside next to her mother and didn't bother about them." Eleanora shook her head before she said with enthusiasm, "However, I bet you don't know where this Bai Zemin guy was after Xuanyuan Wentian launched the nuclear missile even without caring about his daughter's life?"
"Oh? Where could it be?"
"In another world!"
For a few seconds, Angelo said nothing.
Eleanora couldn't help but laugh as she read his mind and continued, "Angelo, this Bai Zemin character really opened a portal to another world and took the nuclear missile with him. That's why he doesn't know the current situation of his faction, and if you think about it carefully it would also explain the reason why he suddenly appeared in the United States."
"... Because of Abyss's spatial disturbance." Angelo muttered seemingly entranced.
"Bingo." Eleanora snapped her fingers with a beautiful smile and nodded. However, her expression soon became tremendously serious as she said in a low voice, "Angelo, this Bai Zemin guy really is a monster. I couldn't get much information but from what I could read from the mind of one of the girls it seems that he's still at level 50 without being able to break in the Second Order."
"What?" Angelo turned abruptly and his eyes trembled as he looked at Eleanora in shock, "Eleanora, are you kidding me?"
Eleanora's serious expression was answer enough for the leader of the United States of America.
"How... How can that be possible?" muttered Angelo with wide eyes. "First Order? He overwhelmed that level 152 monster to the point where he made it look like a toy so he's clearly stronger than me if I don't use Solemn Sacrifice to the max but he's just a level 50 soul evolver?"
"It seems to be... honestly, even I find it hard to believe it, but that's the truth." Eleanora sighed and nodded, "I think we'd better suspend the idea of being enemies of China.... At least for a few years we'd better focus on getting as strong as possible. This guy, Bai Zemin is simply too mysterious. That woman, Shangguan Bing Xue, she seems to be in the same situation as you since she's been stuck in the Second Order for months now so maybe she's not inferior to you in terms of power, Angelo."
It took several minutes for Angelo to be able to calm down. He looked outward and asked now more calmly, "Where is Dylan?"
"Where else? He went to visit the cathouses." Eleanora pursed her lips and sneered, "According to him, his goal is to learn about the culture and customs of other countries. 'Man of culture!' or so he said."
Angelo nodded, and after a moment of silence, he sighed.
"If Bai Zemin really was in another world then we can't rule out that he has a gateway to visit other earths at will... This means that he most likely brought many things with him."
Eleanora had difficulty reading Angelo's mind now that his thoughts were slightly in disarray. Her skill was passive so even she wasn't able to control it, and whether she wanted to or not she was constantly hearing voices in her head and that's the reason for her personality not being very friendly; it was already a miracle that she didn't lose her mind.
Besides, everyone who knew about her mind-reading skill stayed away as much as possible. After all, no one wanted to be around a person who could read their darkest secrets. Even Angelo sometimes stayed away from Eleanora, and she knew that he was wary of her since Eleanora knew too many things because of this skill of hers. However, Angelo was someone Eleanora admired and was grateful to as he had saved her in a difficult time years ago.
"All right." Angelo nodded. His serious expression was reflected slightly in the glass before him as he said slowly, "I know what we will do. It will be beneficial to all of humanity and it will make our relationship with Bai Zemin's faction grow."
"Oh? And what would that be?" Eleanora frowned in puzzlement.
Angelo turned to look at her and said in a deep voice, "Exchange of information and technology."
...
Sitting in a spacious living room, Bai Zemin listened to Evangeline's report with a relaxed expression on his face. After she stopped, Bai Zemin continued petting Bai Shilin's hair that was sitting on his lap with a happy smile while a thoughtful expression crossed his face.
"Mmmm... To think that little brat can actually read minds. Looks like she's not as stupid as I thought. I'll have to do something to counter this, but it's a good thing Angelo's a smart guy." He nodded calmly.
Evangeline was now a level 132 soul evolver since in contrast to Shangguan Bing Xue who was still stuck she had managed to complete her evolution requirements about a week ago. She was now so stealthy that even Bai Zemin in his present condition could not sense her, and her attacks had definitely become so fatal that she would probably be able to put Shadow Killer to shame.
She was the highest level soul evolver in the entire faction apart from Shangguan Xinyue and her power had reached a stage where probably only Bai Zemin could handle her. If it came to killing, even Shangguan Bing Xue would have to be careful of her in an open field.
Because Bai Zemin felt that something did not seem right about Eleanora's supposed sneaking into the helicopter, he sent Evangeline to follow them. However, he definitely did not expect to uncover such a big secret and thanks to that everyone could now be more cautious.
Although Eleanora had already discovered some things, none of it was information that could harm Bai Zemin or his faction. In contrast, and if they played well it could even be beneficial; depending on the extent of Eleanora's skill, of course.
* * * * * * *
Really thank you very much to all those who send gifts to the novel and support with valuable Golden Tickets. I hope we can all keep it up <3