The main road that led south from the base where the Transcendent faction was located to the Baiquan Camp was in the past filled with destroyed vehicles, trees that had been uprooted by some mutant beast or simply collapsed after being hit by some large vehicle, etc. 

The road was in such a deplorable condition that it was basically impossible to drive a vehicle, let alone a caravan of vehicles driving in that area; it was simply undoable unless a large number of human power was mobilized to slowly remove the trees and move the vehicles or other obstacles out of the way.

After about a week's time, the troops that had been led by Zhong De shortly before Bai Zemin left for the north of the district had finally succeeded in clearing the road. 

While this now made it possible for vehicles to circulate basically without major problems except for certain areas where the road had been destroyed, in reality it also had certain consequences. For example, one of these consequences was that the Baiquan Camp finally discovered the location of the base called Beginning Village.

When the united forces of the government and the military discovered that just at one day's distance there was a human camp with more than one thousand survivors, everyone was thrilled. After all, one thousand survivors was a large sum of human power and from the Baiquan Camp's point of view such a camp should definitely not possess the power to oppose the weaponry they had.

Unfortunately, during the first clash between Zhong De's advanced forces and the Baiquan Camp, the results did not satisfy the high command at all.

The power of the more than fifty soul evolvers armed with heavy weaponry led by a brave young man like Zhong De caused some of the most prominent soul evolvers of the Baiquan Camp to be wounded; some of them even on the verge of death.

Realizing that the other side had sharp teeth, the top commanders of Baiquan Camp had come to the conclusion that it would be best to try to have a trialogue. Through some pressure as well as some advantages, the Beginning Village would probably surrender; it was what they thought.

Unfortunately, no matter how hard they tried, they were pushed back. Moreover, now that they were finally willing to fight a war, they were surprised to discover a couple of days ago that the small base with just over one thousand survivors now numbered over 9000!

* * *

Inside the government building at Camp Baiquan several people had gathered around a round wooden table, totaling fourteen of them.

Twelve of these fourteen people were actually important figures within the base and a single word from each of them could easily decide the life or death of the others.

"So..." A man around 50 years old but whose complexion still looked imposing surveyed the people around him and slowly said, "What do you think we should do about this 'Beginning Village', as they called the place where they are settling? Even though my nephew Bai Jian insisted on going and I even sent two powerful soul evolvers with him, I doubt very much that the leaders of the other party will easily submit."

"I think we should crush them." Said a man dressed in military uniform wearing several medals. His stomach was slightly bulging, giving him the appearance of a woman three months pregnant and his head was completely bald. His small fingers gave him a rather suspicious look but no one inside the room dared to scoff at all.

"Crush them? Commander Jin Shun, do you really think everything can be settled by using violence?" A young man wearing an extremely eye-catching violet colored suit asked with a slight smile while hugging two beautiful women.

This young man was Mo Zan. Mo Zan was only 27 years old and in the past, he was the leader of a small gang. When the apocalypse fully broke out, together with several of his confreres, he managed to break through the ranks of power, and in a very short time he ended up becoming the most powerful soul evolver on the base after cooperating with Mayor Bai Yong.

"Mo Zan, aren't you ashamed to say those words?" Said a beautiful woman of about 29-30 years old. Her expression was proud and at the same time slightly cold as she watched Mo Zan enjoying the body of the two women clearly awkward with the aggressiveness of the powerful soul evolver in front of so many people.

This woman's name was Shen Mei, and although her strength was slightly lower than Mo Zan's, the number of soul evolvers under her command was higher since before the apocalypse broke out her husband had been a heavyweight in the subdistrict mafia before he turned into a zombie.

Mo Zan simply laughed and said nothing. However, it was obvious from the way he looked at Shen Mei that his thoughts were pure lust as he used his eyes to enjoy every curve of her form.

"Mo Zan, Shen Mei." Bai Yong, the man who had spoken first, said faintly.

Mo Zan simply chuckled and said nothing more while Shen Mei snorted. The two of them, despite their differences, were under Bai Yong's direct command. It was Bai Yong who controlled the most supplies and no one really knew where he hid them so the vast majority of soul evolvers were under his control.

On the contrary, the vast majority of military power rested in the hands of Jin Shun. With around 5,000 men armed to the teeth and several vehicles of all kinds prepared for war, there was absolutely no one who dared to underestimate this little fatty.

The relationship between Bai Yong and Jin Shun had never been good. The two men secretly fought for supremacy but no one really dared to take the first big step so except for small fights under the table, no big things worth mentioning happened.

Bai Yong knew how terrifying the firepower of heavy machine guns, IFVs, war tanks, and other modern machines under Jin Shun's command was. At the same time, Jin Shun was fully aware that while his modern weapons were terrifying, the mysterious power of the soul evolvers was not to be underestimated. So, the two of them reached a kind of equilibrium and thus Baiquan Camp was enjoying somewhat of an inner peace.

However, that did not mean that the two men did not secretly try to take over each other's power.

For example, leaving aside Bai Yong and Jin Shun, the other ten people were somehow related to the two of them. Therefore, the real power of the base was undoubtedly in the hands of these two men.

When two of Bai Yong's allies jumped in to hit Commander Jin Shun's proposal, the Commander's side naturally did not stand idly by and soon the entire meeting hall became quite agitated.

The two armed soldiers and police force officers guarding the entrance to the hall could even hear the voices from outside. However, none of them had any change in their expression as this happened quite often when dealing with overly important matters.

About half an hour later, the meeting continued in the same manner. Many raised ideas but most rejected so the atmosphere quickly heated up.

"Damn it!" Jin Shun slammed his fist on the table and blurted out, "I've been telling all of you that we needed to placate those bandits for a month now however none of you listened! Look now! Those damn bandits have become powerful enough to bear the weight of almost ten thousand people!"

Hearing Jin Shun's anger-filled words, everyone immediately shut their mouths and even Bai Yong frowned without saying anything. After all, if it was true Jin Shun had wanted to send one or two war tanks to the north; not to shoot, but as a dissuasive weapon.

If it were before, it was highly likely that Beginning Village would collapse after seeing the two iron giants. However, such a thing was no longer possible because the high command of Baiquan Camp had sent several spies who had pretended to be survivors so they knew a few things about the current situation of the enemy faction.

The organization was pretty good, the security within the walls of the Beginning Village was basically perfect, the distribution of troops was strategic, the constant movement of soldiers and soul evolvers coming in and out with new supplies or survivors, etc.

"They definitely have some talented people with them." Bai Yong said calmly. "Not only must they have some people with government backgrounds capable of forming a makeshift but firm cabinet but they must also have the support of people with great military knowledge. Otherwise it is simply impossible for a bunch of bandits to form a turtle shell-like bastion like that."

Bai Yong had secretly tried to corrupt several of the higher-ups in Bai Zemin's faction. However, he was surprised to find himself up against a huge, thick wall that he could not get through no matter how hard he tried. No matter what Bai Yong promised, be it beauties, status using his position as a true member of the government, vast amount of supplies, Soul Record treasures, forged equipment, etc; everything was rejected.

But Bai Yong had no way of knowing that unlike him, who made use of his position to sit in the seat he was in now, Bai Zemin had started from the bottom and at least 90% of the people who followed him right now, in the past were just workers, students, and even gang members or ex-convicts.

In contrast to Bai Yong and Jin Shun, 90% of the higher-ups within the Transcendent faction raised and established by Bai Zemin had been saved by him in some way or another. These people not only respected Bai Zemin or were grateful to him but also greatly enjoyed the many benefits promised and provided by Bai Zemin.

Moreover, unlike Bai Yong and Jin Shun who relied on the power of other people or modern weaponry, Bai Zemin was truly terrifying. All those who saw him in action at least one time had already lost all intention of betraying him because they instinctively knew that this young man who was once just a normal college student would definitely rise to great heights.

In the Transcendent faction everyone knew that Bai Zemin was considerably fair. He did not mistreat those who did not deserve to be mistreated, did not murder those who did not deserve to be murdered, bestowed honor and glory on those who deserved it, and even did not make use of his power to take private property from others. Therefore, the vast majority preferred to follow him in silence rather than risk losing everything for a small improvement in status.

If the traitors won, then all would be well. But if they failed, it was clear to everyone that Bai Zemin was by no means merciful and even he himself made it clear that the traitors would be slaughtered and their families enslaved. No one wanted to risk before such punishment.

"Now that you mention it, didn't a girl named Wu Yijun claim to be Premier Wu Jianhong's granddaughter?" Jin Shun suddenly looked at Bai Yong and leaned back in his chair as he slowly said, "Mayor Bai, don't you think you should cede your position to this girl with the last name Wu?"

"Hmph."  Bai Yong snorted.

How could Bai Yong not understand the thoughts of an old fox like Jin Shun? If Bai Yong really surrendered his position, Jin Shun would definitely try his best to overthrow Wu Yijun and take full power. After all, in Jin Shun's eyes, dealing with an immature 23 or 24 year old girl should not be too challenging compared to dealing with a cunning old man like Bai Yong.

"Just because that girl has the surname Wu doesn't mean anything." Bai Yong sneered, "Does someone who has the surname Xuanyuan immediately become a relative of Sir President?"

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