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The reasons why Bai Zemin decided to help Shangguan Bing Xue were varied.

One of the reasons was because she still had his Bronze Bell in her hands. The Bronze Bell was a very important Magic grade Treasure for Bai Zemin as it was currently his safest defense and he could not afford to lose such an item casually as he did not know if he would be able to obtain another one anytime soon.

In fact, the only reason he lent the Bronze Bell to Shangguan Bing Xue at that time was because his breakthrough to First Order and the acquisition of his Blood Berserker job depended largely on whether she succeeded in pinpointing the location of a First Order creature.

That way, he would be able to prepare his strongest attack from a distance great enough for his killing intent to be sensed by his enemy or he might end up failing miserably... and if he failed even he would have to flee poorly or be killed by the army of First Order creatures.

As for the other reason he decided to help her was to make her owe him a favor just as he owed her in the past.

Shangguan Bing Xue had mysterious origins and even if the world had changed her family had not necessarily collapsed. She was a proud woman and would certainly do her best to return the favor of saving her life even if he did not ask for it.

Besides, she was currently an important asset to the group of survivors as there was no way Bai Zemin's eyes and arms could cover nearly five hundred people; he needed survivors or else the difficulty of reaching his family would become a thousand times harder!

In the current group of survivors, not only Fu Xuefeng, Cai Jingyi, Zhong De, and Kang Lan had the courage to fight. In fact, there were several male and female students who joined later who had enough courage to fight as long as they were given a appropriate weapon.

When they finally left the university, things would be completely different than they were now and Bai Zemin wanted to take advantage of that.

* * *

Arriving at the edge of the forest practically covered by burning crimson flames, Bai Zemin stopped and frowned under contemplation.

If he had his Bronze Bell it would be a simple task to exit and enter the place since with his current Agility he could definitely travel several kilometers in about one minute. But without proper protection, even if he had evolved to become a First Order existence he would definitely be injured and might even die.

After all, even powerful beasts with high defense like the Blazing Beetle and the Jiao-Lao Snake were forced to flee from the flames, let alone him.

After considering the problem for several seconds, he finally gritted his teeth and pulled out several bottles of blood before starting to spray his entire body from head to toe.

In a few blinks of an eye he had become a red person and only the color of his eyes differed. The rancid smell of blood was truly foul but his options were too tight at this point.

Bai Zemin activated his Blood Manipulation skill and the blood on his body shimmered under the stimulus of the Mana. Soon, the blood that constantly collated hardened forming a thin insulating layer that separated him from his surroundings.

"Just close your eyes and move forward, I will guide you." Lilith appeared beside him and patted his shoulder lightly.

Bai Zemin nodded and wordlessly stomped hard on the ground beneath his feet, lunging forward and stepping into the sea of flames.His current speed with an Agility of over 190 points was equivalent to almost 20 times faster than a person before the apocalypse! This meant that at his maximum he could overtake a supercar with ease before the arrival of the Soul Record on Earth!

Bai Zemin's body flashed through the flames under the guidance of Lilith, who followed closely unaffected by the surroundings.

The embracing heat seemed intent on devouring his existence completely and the solidified blood covering his body would have long ago evaporated already if it weren't for Bai Zemin con

constantly feeding the layer of blood with Mana.

However, even with his over 300 Mana points it was a terrifying expenditure that he could not sustain for too long.

After all, the crimson flame was the remnant of a Third Order skill! While it wasn't as strong now after the skill was cast, it still wasn't something that some blood of a First Order beast could casually endure!

Knowing that time was running against him like every passing second since the beginning of the apocalypse, Bai Zemin focused on Lilith's guidance and exploiting his speed to the maximum extent possible.

The muscles in his legs tightened to the point where if it weren't for his high Stamina and Health they would have been torn long ago.

About half a minute later, Lilith's voice sounded magically in his ears, "Right in front of you is a lake. That woman is inside."

Bai Zemin didn't even think about it and jumped in, entering the water that was evaporating at terrifying speeds. He canceled his Blood Manipulation skill and the blood on his body was immediately washed away by the water.

When Bai Zemin finally opened his eyes under the crystal clear water, the first thing he saw was the beautiful Shangguan Bing Xue submerged underwater, looking at him with her blue eyes wide open; it was as if she was asking him what he was doing there and why he had come.

Too bad, Bai Zemin couldn't talk underwater and neither could she or else he would have told her, "Nothing, I just came shopping."

He approached to her and saw that her face was starting to get redder and redder as a result of the lack of air. Holding her breath for a minute or two was fine since even if she didn't possess high physical stats she wasn't weak either.

The problem was that considering the time of the explosion and release of the flames so far, a couple of minutes had already passed and she had been forced to hide under water!

Bai Zemin quickly pointed to the Bronze Bell and fortunately she seemed to understand what he meant as she immediately nodded and passed it to him.

Fortunately there was still some power left inside the bell before the treasure lost its energy and had to be recharged for a whole day.

He naturally had no intention of kissing her like in romantic movies to share his oxygen with her. Bai Zemin turned around and pointed to his back while looking into her eyes, indicating her to jump up on his back.

Shangguan Bing Xue secretly gritted her teeth and did not hesitate as she climbed on his back, riding him like a horse. Moreover, to his surprise, she did not doubt to wrap both arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, easing the burden on him immensely.

Bang!

Bai Zemin stepped onto the bottom of the lake fiercely and taking advantage of the momentum jumped upwards. While normally it would be difficult for a human's strength to fight against the pressure of the water on the body, for him it was a matter of effort.

In just an instant his body together with Shangguan Bing Xue, who clung to him tightly, broke the surface of the lake that was struggling uselessly against the crimson flames.

Upon returning to the surface, crimson flames immediately began to assault them both. However, before they could even touch the corner of their clothes, the Bronze Bell flew out of Bai Zemin's pant pocket and floated above his head, releasing a faint glow that surrounded the two of them.

Bai Zemin began to run madly forward without stopping, surprising Shangguan Bing Xue by his frightening speed but at the same time easing her worries.

She unconsciously sighed in relief and the tension in her body disappeared, causing her to relax on his back as she looked at the crimson world around them; no matter where she looked all she could see was a blazing fire.

Earlier, after killing a First Order beast alone for the first time, Shangguan Bing Xue noticed that the fire had surrounded the forest from the south to the east and then spread to the northern area, practically sealing off the exit. With no other choice, she remembered the water lake and returned to the place to seek cover.

Although the Bronze Bell had power remaining, with her current Agility it was impossible to close the distance between the center and the exit of the forest in less than a minute and she would be stranded halfway.

Fortunately, Bai Zemin's Agility was just enough to get out unscathed with the support of the magic barrier.

* * *

Outside the flaming mutated forest, Chen He waited anxiously beside Liang Peng.

After collecting the treasure orbs and also a few skill scrolls that had been transmuted by the Soul Record from the Soul Power of the First Order creatures killed earlier, Chen He had not stopped looking in the direction of the burning forest.

"Damn it, can you stop moving?" Liang Peng couldn't help but curse as he looked at Chen He, "You've been walking back and forth and it's only been two minutes since you came here. You're getting on my nerves!"

Chen He did not respond to him nor did he seem to listen to what Liang Peng said. He was only worried about Shangguan Bing Xue and no matter what anyone else said it was not going to change by mere words.

"Tsk." Liang Peng clicked his tongue and muttered something that only he could hear but they were obviously not too nice words.

Bang!

Suddenly there was a bang from within the flames and when the two men looked over they arrived just in time to see two people surrounded by a thin layer of yellow energy in the air.

"They finally came out!"

Chen He was extremely happy to see that both of them had returned. Of course, he was happier for Shangguan Bing Xue but he was also glad that Bai Zemin had not encountered any problems holding him back.

Liang Peng looked at him and wanted to say something seeing how close those two seemed but in the end, he swallowed his words not wanting to ruin the mood. After almost two weeks of living together and working as a team, everyone was starting to get closer to each other.

Bang!

The ground broke out and dirt flew everywhere as Bai Zemin fell back down from over ten meters high, planting both feet firmly on the ground. His face was slightly pale and his forehead was covered with sweat as his agitated breathing constantly made his chest rise and fall.

Bing Xue, are you okay?" Chen He hurried over and looked her over from head to toe, still not noticing by the close contact they were having.

"You don't need to worry, I'm fine. But he..." Shangguan Bing Xue got off Bai Zemin's back and looked at him with a frown before asking, "Are you okay?"

Bai Zemin waved his hand without replying and walked with heavy steps over to the corpse of one of the Jiao-Lao Snakes to sit on it.

Why... Why am I so tired? Bai Zemin was dumbfounded.

With his Stamina, he should be able to fight for several hours without tiring and although the battle to the death against the small army of First Order beasts was fierce, it had not been to the point of consuming so much Stamina as to leave him in such a miserable state.

[Bai Zemin -

Status Points: 52

Level: 35

Race: Human

Job: Blood Berserker (Blood Will mode)

Title: One Hit to Kill

Strength: 161 (+30) / Agility: 186 (+5)/ Health: 158 (+5) / Stamina: 202/282 (+5) / Mana: 292 (+40) / Magic: 249 (+60)

Skills: Blood Manipulation (First Order) Lvl 5 / Special Forces Soldier (Unranked passive skill) Lvl 5 / Stone Heart (Third Order passive skill) Lvl 5 / Health Boost (Unranked passive skill) Lvl 3 / Bronze Skin (First Order passive skill) Lvl 1 / Throwing (Unranked passive skill) Lvl 5 / Regeneration (First Order) Lvl 5 / Blood Will (Second Order passive skill) Lvl 5 / Crimson Blood Judgment (Third Order) Lvl 5 ].

In fact, he still had a lot of Stamina. However, Bai Zemin frowned and realized that he had lost 80 Stamina points in a matter of four or five minutes, which was completely unnatural.

The reason he suddenly felt so tired was precisely because of such an abrupt loss of almost 1/3 of his total Stamina in such a short time!

Bai Zemin's status window had practically changed completely after evolving to First Order as he had finally made the first little big step. However, what caught his attention the most was the words 'Blood Will mode' next to his job Berserker Blood.

[Blood Will (Second Order passive skill) Lvl 5: Going into combat mode awakens the desire for the battle that slumbers in your veins. You gain 0.1% additional attack power for every living enemy 100 meters around you and 1% for every enemy killed The effect is limited to a maximum of 50%. The effect lasts 5 minutes and the timer resets to 0 for each enemy update. Secondary effect: Consumes 20 Stamina points every 50 seconds as a consequence of the abrupt increase of power. The side effect is canceled when the user goes out of combat mode].

Bai Zemin sighed and finally understood the reason why he had lost so much Stamina abruptly.

"Don't get so depressed." Lilith tapped his shoulder and smiled brightly, "Blood Will is an incredibly powerful skill to be just classified as Second Order, of course it would have some side effect or it would be nonsense. You should know that even I don't have a skill that increases my power by 50%!"

Bai Zemin nodded and said nothing to avoid being looked at as if he had gone mad but looked at her with grateful eyes. If it wasn't for Lilith's moral support, he might not be able to stand as firmly as he did now.

Besides, even though Blood Will had an annoying side effect, it wasn't as if he had no way to fight it. Although he could not solve the problem in its entirety, he could lighten the consequences to a great extent.

After all, Bai Zemin had acquired the First Order Regeneration skill. This skill allowed him to consume Mana to obtain Stamina in return, which was perfect for cases where he had to fight to the death and did not need to use magic skills or the effects of magic were not as efficient as was the case with the First Order Anti-Magic Zombie.

As Bai Zemin sat down to get some rest before returning to important business he didn't even feel like looking at his newly acquired skills nor did he feel like looking at which two skills he could evolve.

The battle against the First Order beasts had not drained his Stamina to dangerous levels even when Blood Will had been draining much of it. However, the mental exhaustion had been considerable; especially before the battle fully erupted.

After all, before launching the blood trident enveloped by flames, Bai Zemin was very clear that if he failed to kill a First Order creature with a single shot the odds of survival would plummet immediately. Therefore, although he appeared serene on the surface, he was actually under great mental pressure.

Meanwhile, Shangguan Bing Xue was looking at him with a frown and her eyes seemed hesitant about something. However, soon her attention was drawn by the person beside her.

"Bing Xue, are you really okay? What happened inside that forest?" Chen He asked still not feeling calm.

"Thanks to the treasure Bai Zemin gave me earlier, I'm fine." She nodded softly and observed the surroundings as she slowly explained what happened inside the forest.

"What, several dozen First Order beasts? And... Bing Xue, you're already level 25?!" Chen He exclaimed in fright and looked at her with wide eyes when he heard that she had killed a First Order creature single-handedly. But even more so, he was frightened to hear that there were so many terrifying beings inhabiting the mutated forest.

Only now did Chen He realize how lucky he was to get out of that place alive yesterday.

"Yes..." Shangguan Bing Xue nodded a bit distractedly. She looked at Bai Zemin who was resting with his eyes closed, and couldn't help but be surprised.

Currently, she had already reached level 25 and had also received the message from the Soul Record in which she received a number of options to choose her job. Shangguan Bing Xue naturally knew that advancing was not easy.

However, seeing the destruction of the surroundings, the corpses of the First Order beasts scattered on the ground and some of them in miserable conditions, Shangguan Bing Xue finally fully accepted that the young man before her was simply a monster in human skin.

Bai Zemin opened his eyes and sighed as he pulled out a chocolate bar from his backpack. However, before he began to eat it, he took out three more bars along with four cans of soda.

He threw a bar and a can to each of them as he said with a somewhat exhausted smile, "Good job, everyone."

Chen He, Shangguan Bing Xue, and Liang Peng looked at each other before shrugging their shoulders. The three of them casually sat or simply stood and began to replenish their energies with bright expressions.

No matter how small it was, everyone did their part today, being able to overcome the most difficult challenge since the apocalypse broke out and the world changed. A single mistake could have ended the whole group and the annihilation of nearly five hundred people as well as the hope of many others. Therefore, they were naturally happy even if they did not say anything.

Shangguan Bing Xue even thanked Bai Zemin for trusting her enough to lend her such a valuable treasure, to which he responded with a casual smile. As for the matter of saving her life earlier, she said nothing and he did not mention it either; they both seemed to understand each other's mind tactically, so words were unnecessary.

After properly resting for nearly thirty minutes, Bai Zemin began to replenish his blood supply under the watchful eyes of the others. Although it was unpleasant, there was no choice in the matter and he didn't want to die just because he didn't want to do some dirty work.

* * *

The survivors were waiting anxiously inside the first floor of the library building under the care of Cai Jingyi and the rest.

The atmosphere in the place was extremely heavy and there seemed to be a black cloud over everyone's head as no one dared to speak and even those who spoke did so quietly in extremely small whispers.

Occasionally, the eyes of the four hundred plus survivors would unconsciously turn to the entrance of the building with hopeful eyes. However, each time their eyes receded in disappointment at not finding the people they were looking for, increasing the worry they felt even more.

"How do you think the battle ended?" A male student asked quietly as his eyes drifted to the door.

"I don't know... There's been no roaring and no explosions anywhere for a while now." Another survivor whispered back as he looked at Fu Xuefeng and the others before continuing, "I bet the battle is already over. Besides, even the four of them are moving anxiously and looking towards the door so obviously what the group leaders are doing is not simple."

"How could it be simple?" Li Na, who was sitting nearby, overheard the conversation and couldn't help but raise her voice scared, "They are facing an army of dreadful beasts that are as strong or stronger than that strange blue-skinned zombie!"

Li Na, just like the rest, was incredibly scared; no... She was even more scared! Because she was aware of the danger the four leaders were facing this time. Therefore, she couldn't stop some words from slipping out of her mouth unconsciously.

"Blue-skinned zombie?"

"What do you mean?"

The surrounding survivors became agitated upon hearing those words and looked at Li Na for responses.

In order to keep the chaos as controlled as possible, one person had proposed not to reveal the existence of the First Order beasts or monsters until the group had enough power to safely deal with them.

Otherwise, letting the survivors know that there were even more terrifying enemies on the outside could cause some of them to go crazy and start losing their minds, making things difficult for everyone.

"Li Na!" Wu Yijun called out, startling her friend. She had been the person who had planned the idea and it was approved by Bai Zemin, Shangguan Bing Xue, Chen He, and Liang Peng right away as the four of them were aware of something so basic.

Seeing Wu Yujin's serious and angry look, Li Na realized that she had spoken too much and quickly lowered her head in embarrassment but still frightened.

Seeing Wu Yujin intervene, none of the survivors pressed the matter further as they knew that she was technically like a sister to Shangguan Bing Xue so no one dared to offend her. However, Li Na's words had already aroused the alertness of some people and the atmosphere quickly began to worsen.

Although no one did anything stupid or wild as yesterday's massacre was still firmly etched in everyone's mind, they all began to look towards the entrance in fear, waiting for the final verdict of their fates.

Wu Yijun also looked towards the entrance of the building and her beautiful big eyes glittered with slight apprehension; not only for herself but also for the safety of those who faced danger out there.

While it was true that the sound of battle had ceased several minutes ago, only based on the terrifying roars and thunderous bangs, as well as the constant shaking of the ground; she knew that the battle that was currently raging was of such a magnitude that her mind was unable to comprehend even if it was explained to her in words.