Blood Warlock: Succubus Partner in the Apocalypse
chapter-695

"I see." Bai Zemin nodded as he listened to his sister's words, and after thinking about it for a moment, he realized that what Meng Qi was saying actually made a lot of sense.

If inside the battleship there really was an existence capable of controlling, or rather, capable of understanding and using the ship's control room commands, then it was only natural that any disturbance would be detected by this being. As to what being this was....

"It's probably the queen, isn't it?" Shangguan Bing Xue said with a slight frown.

"... It should be...?" Bai Zemin wasn't too sure either.

To be able to control this kind of strange and advanced ship, an existence definitely needed to be extremely intelligent and possess a lot of knowledge. Even Bai Zemin with his Special Forces Soldier skill that granted him colossal amounts of information and knowledge of the best soldiers that existed was not 100% sure he could control this Sky Destroyer; after all, in the knowledge Bai Zemin obtained from the Special Forces Soldier skill, there was not really any information of magic circles.

If the Queen of the Weaver Ants really had control over the magic circles and weapons of the battleship, it would really be problematic.

"But, if the captain on board really is the ant queen then why hasn't it fired any of the weapons yet?" Shangguan Bing Xue sensed that something was wrong and couldn't help but point it out as she looked at Bai Zemin hoping that he could answer her question.

Unfortunately, Bai Zemin shook his head without saying a word. He had no idea what was going on either and just like Shangguan Bing Xue his mind was blank.

"Besides, big brother," Meng Qi interrupted again and while looking at the white colored magic circle added, "I'm afraid this teleportation can only be used by six people at most. The rest will have to wait outside."

Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue frowned tightly as they heard Meng Qi's words.

If only five people could be teleported inside the battleship and the rest had to stay behind then the level of danger would increase tremendously. This was especially true for the people left outside the battleship since in theory the five strongest would be the ones who would take the risk of entering the Sky Destroyer to face the unknown enemy.

But then, what would happen to the others who would remain outside? If by any chance it turned out that the ant queen was really the captain on board and if the queen was making the humans believe that it no longer had any Third Order royal guard ants... It would be a disaster if the queen teleported Third Order existences to the bow of the Sky Destroyer; everyone would be slaughtered.

Bai Zemin's expression became somewhat hesitant, and for the first time since he obtained his Immovable Heart skill, he found it especially difficult to make a decision. However, after about five minutes of measuring pros and cons, Bai Zemin finally sighed and looked at Shangguan Bing Xue without saying a single word.

Shangguan Bing Xue and Bai Zemin had already experienced many things during this time, so even if he did not say anything she could mostly understand what his eyes meant just from the emotions flashing in them or from the context of the conversation.

After a moment of silence, she nodded slowly and said quietly, "Okay.... I'll stay behind."

"Sorry," Bai Zemin nodded with a slight smile and said in an easy voice, "Actually, I was thinking of letting you go in there since the current you is stronger than me and fighting in close places will be hell for me."

Shangguan Bing Xue's pupils trembled for a moment when she heard Bai Zemin's words, "You..."

"You don't need to pretend," Bai Zemin chuckled and pointed out, "Bing Xue, except for pure destructive force and ability to inflict massive amounts of damage in a single attack, the current you should have a minimum of 2000 points in every stat, shouldn't you?"

Shangguan Bing Xue just looked him in the eyes, not saying any words but somehow confirming Bai Zemin's words.

She was currently level 85 and had slaughtered several Third Order existences and many Second Order existences whose levels were higher than her. The amount of stats Shangguan Bing Xue had was not much compared to what she could have obtained, however, her Soul Power had become tremendously pure and, while it was true that the number of stats she had obtained was less than what she should have if she had not focused on purity, her current stats were indeed something that Bai Zemin could not compare to.

"Actually, I noticed this a long time ago but since you didn't say anything then I didn't point it out either." Bai Zemin looked at her with a faint smile and asked in a gentle voice, "Why are you hiding your strength? Do you think you will hurt my pride?"

Shangguan Bing Xue bit her lower lip and did not dare to look him in the eyes. She, who was usually cold as ice and paid no attention to anyone, now felt like a little girl being found out by her parents after doing something wrong.

Bai Zemin couldn't help but laugh out loud and subconsciously patted her on the head gently as he said in a cheerful voice: "Silly, why would I feel bad about the fact that my best friend is stronger than me? I trust you with all my heart, I know you won't hit me in the back. The stronger you are, the happier I'll be too... So you don't need to pretend anymore, break free completely and crush everything that stands in our way ahead of us."

Bai Zemin was a proud man by nature and his highest goal was to become an invincible existence, an existence in which not even the Soul Record could intervene; only then could he feel at ease. In theory, he should feel extremely uncomfortable now that he knew that Shangguan Bing Xue was undoubtedly more powerful than him in 95% of aspects, however, he did not feel that way at all and in fact felt really happy for her.

Even though Shangguan Bing Xue was not under the effect of the 'Lord' subclass, Bai Zemin was 200% sure that even if at some point in his life he was betrayed by the entire universe, Shangguan Bing Xue would be one of the few existences next to Lilith and his family that would definitely not hit him when he was down. His instincts and senses told him that Shangguan Bing Xue would rather stab herself in the heart than hurt him.

She looked into his eyes and for some reason felt the urge to want to cry, as well as to want to hug him. However, Shangguan Bing Xue was not Wu Yijun.... She had spent her entire life learning and mastering the art of controlling or suppressing her emotions under a calm expression, therefore, even though her expression was not perfectly indifferent in front of Bai Zemin as a consequence of everything they had been through together in this short period of time, as well as an effect of her UNIQUE skill 'Spirit of Ice', Shangguan Bing Xue did not throw herself into his arms like a little girl.

"Okay." She nodded and took a deep breath before saying in a firmer voice, "In that case, I'll stop holding back."

"Em." Bai Zemin nodded with a slight smile and without any idea how she felt or what her thoughts were. He chuckled and pointed out, "Now we will be able to control China way faster than before. With you leading an army in one direction and me leading an army in another, even without the Sky Destroyer we should be able to gather the entire living population of the country in a few months."

Shangguan Bing Xue could not stop a bitter smile from appearing on her face as a flash of sadness shone in her blue eyes for a split second before fading away. Bai Zemin's words marked one of the reasons why Shangguan Bing Xue had been holding back a great deal of her real strength all this time.

Besides not wanting Bai Zemin to feel uncomfortable with his pride being hurt or for him to subconsciously raising his guard against her, another reason Shangguan Bing Xue had wanted to keep a low profile was because she knew that if she revealed her real strength now, it would mean that she and Bai Zemin would probably be separated for months. After all, there was no point in keeping two soul evolvers with supreme power in the same army; at least not when time was crucial.

Possibly noticing the complicated emotions of the young beauty in front of him, Bai Zemin added, "Well, we'll talk about this matter later. For now we'd better get moving."

"... Yes." Shangguan Bing Xue nodded, trying to calm her fluttering heart.

Meng Qi had been listening to the two's conversation silently all this time and her expression hadn't changed at all. She simply looked at Shangguan Bing Xue for a moment and a strange flash sparkled in her eyes before she looked at Bai Zemin again.

"Big brother, can you give me the Soul Stones? It will take me a few minutes to do it."

"Oh! I forgot for a second." Bai Zemin face-palmed and immediately took out the amount of Second Order Soul Stones that Meng Qi had asked for earlier. "Ten Second Order Soul Stones, isn't it?"

"Yup." Meng Qi took the small glowing rocks and immediately knelt down on the floor to start working. It was as if for her to have ten Second Order Soul Stones in her hands was no big deal even though it was actually more than what the entire Chinese Renaissance faction could currently take out.

Meng Qi was muttering words in a language that neither Bai Zemin nor Shangguan Bing Xue could understand and under the effect of those words and the impetus of her Mana, the Second Order Soul Stones gradually released a strange multicolored light; multicolored light which under Meng Qi's magic fingers turned into small runes that blended with the runes of the white colored magic circle before her.

Bai Zemin tried to learn something while looking at his younger sister, but not even a minute later, he gave up.

While Meng Qi worked on the magic circle and Shangguan Bing Xue protected her with a serious expression and cold eyes, Bai Zemin approached the group resting in the distance with the intention of choosing five people to accompany him. However, seeing that almost all of them were in miserable conditions, Bai Zemin was a little tongue-tied.

Xia Ya approached him and asked in a sweet voice, "Leader, do you need anything?"

She was completely unharmed and energetic at this moment. She had been the only one who did not suffer any injuries while they were facing the red-colored Second Order weaver ants.

Bai Zemin looked at her with weird eyes. He was still finding it difficult to adapt to Xia Ya's change of attitude towards him.

After chatting a bit with the people in front of him, Bai Zemin finally identified those who despite their injuries could still fight without practically losing any power as long as they had willpower.

Minutes later, Meng Qi and Shangguan Bing Xue returned.

"Done?" Bai Zemin asked with a serious expression.

"It's done, big brother." Meng Qi nodded earnestly. She handed him one of the Second Order Soul Stones and said in a low voice, "After reaching the magic circle you just need to release the energy inside the Soul Stone I gave you. You and the others will be teleported then."

Bai Zemin looked at the Soul Stone in his hand and noticed a small rune written on the surface, the rune was so tiny that it could easily go unnoticed if one did not look for it especially.

"Understood." He said before looking back and saying in a deep voice, "Let's get moving."

A few minutes later, having reached the white-colored magic circle that now had multicolored lights around it, Bai Zemin did as Meng Qi had explained and moments later he and the five people he chose this time disappeared from the place.