225: Cracked Stone Heart

Cracked Stone Heart

After Bai Zemin accepted Shangguan Bing Xue's condition and gave her his word in front of everyone that, if at any time she thought or believed that he had gone mad because of the power he controlled, she would be given permission to leave with her loved ones at will, she did not delay and submitted her first request.2

"My first request is that you wait." 

"That I wait?" Bai Zemin asked again and looked at her blankly.

Shangguan Bing Xue calmly explained, "Before I decide whether I will join your crazy plan or not, I want to see the situation of the two camps set up by government forces."

"What? Two camps?" He was again shocked but this time it was about something else.

Two camps? As far as he knew, there was only one camp to the south, Camp Baiquan which daily transmitted its location by satellite radio.

As if he had thought of something, Bai Zemin looked at the beautiful Nangong Lingxin and her brother Nangong Yi. Shangguan Bing Xue's next words confirmed his theory.

"There is another camp to the north. Nangong Lingxin and Nangong Yi are survivors who escaped from that place due to certain circumstances."

Bai Zemin remained silent for a moment. After hesitating a bit, he shook his head and said, "Before I go into that topic I would like to know what your next request is. I agree with the first one... It's not like anything is going to change anyway."

This time it was Shangguan Bing Xue's turn to hesitate. Her wandering and evasive look really surprised Bai Zemin as this was the first time her indifferent but firm gaze looked so complicated.

"About my second request... I'll tell you in the future." In the end, she shook her head and sighed lightly.

Bai Zemin was silent for a while as he gently tapped the table with his finger before cautiously saying, " Okay... As long as your demand isn't crazy or doesn't harm my interests or that of anyone in the group, it should be fine."

Shangguan Bing Xue nodded indifferently and did not say anything else. Her expression did not change after hearing Bai Zemin's words, which suggested that her request should be more of a personal thing that did not involve other people. At least that was what he assumed; as to whether this was the case or not was unknown.

Seeing that she remained silent, Bai Zemin looked at Wu Yijun.

The beautiful woman with an extremely seductive body and an innocent face like that of a little girl looked hesitant. Her two black eyes seemed to be having an internal struggle as different emotions constantly blinked inside them.

But this was quite natural. Bai Zemin understood Wu Yijun's struggles perfectly.

Unlike Shangguan Bing Xue, who seemed to have her own story to tell and problems with her family, Wu Yijun was always happy in her family. This could be seen based on her outgoing and cheerful personality, like a butterfly fluttering among the spring flowers.

As the granddaughter of the Premier of China and a member of a family with who knew how many years of history, it was extremely difficult for Wu Yijun to accept what Bai Zemin was putting forward today. If she accepted it meant the same as opposing everything her family had fought to build and the ideals her loved ones had implanted in her from an early age.

"You don't need to worry."

Bai Zemin's calm voice caught her gaze. When she looked up and met that pair of eyes as deep as a depthless abyss, Wu Yijun's heart skipped a beat.

"Even if you can't join my ideals, it's also okay." He continued and looked at Shangguan Bing Xue for a moment before saying, "Since you are Shangguan Bing Xue's friend, I will not ask you to leave. However, if at some point your family and I clash, it is likely that at that time you will be forced to take a decision. Besides, as long as you are here, you will have to obey my orders as you have done so far. Of course, if you want to leave, you are free to do so at will."

The hall fell silent. All those who had already agreed to be part of Bai Zemin's crazy idea of unifying the whole country under a single sovereign looked at the beautiful Wu Yijun waiting for her reaction and her response.

Wu Yijun looked at Lili, who had been silent throughout the meeting as she stood behind Bai Zemin with a slight smile. She couldn't help but feel inferior to this girl whose face was nothing out of this world.

In the end, Wu Yijun realized how pathetic she must look at this moment. But what frustrated her most was her own indecisiveness.

At first, Wu Yijun felt only a slight attraction to the young man in front of her. This slight attraction was born out of her curiosity about him and his strength. However, as the days and weeks went by, this slight attraction gradually grew from attraction to liking.

Wu Yijun gradually became enchanted by the strong and firm but at the same time caring and kind personality that Bai Zemin could show when facing those who were still young and powerless. She slowly began to realize that while he was strong, terrifyingly strong like no one she had ever seen before, he was also a person of flesh and blood who made mistakes and got tired.

A few days ago, when Wu Yijun received the Walker Freezing Staff and the rest of the equipment that Bai Zemin forged to her, as she read the description of the item, she realized that he had persevered even after so many failures. At that time, Wu Yijun believed that she had fallen in love with him and just by not seeing him for a couple of days her heart felt empty.

However, now she realized that her crush was nothing more than a joke.

The word love and the feeling it represented could mean many things to different people. But Wu Yijun was always one of those people who believed that love was everything. For love, a person should be willing to go to hell itself even if it meant not coming back... However, she was hesitating about something so simple.

Curious and lost, Wu Yijun couldn't help but look at Lili and ask, "May I know what you will do?"

"Me?" Lilith in her human form was noticeably surprised as she did not expect someone to suddenly speak to her. For a moment she didn't know what to say.

Wu Yijun pursued, "Will you join Bai Zemin in this wild scheme he devised?"

'Lili' chuckled and said as if it was the most natural thing in the world, "Why wouldn't I? Let alone follow him with something as simple as this, even if he wishes to oppose God and the Demon Lord I will be his partner."

Wu Yijun was silent as she listened to the woman's reply in front of her. Like the rest inside the hall, her eyes were filled with surprise, and the way she looked at this woman changed completely.

Wasn't this love? she thought. Compared to the resolution in Lili's gaze, Wu Yijun felt like a little girl playing peek-a-boo.

In fact, Shangguan Bing Xue also looked at Lili strangely. Her eyes had a strange glint in them but her expression did not reveal her inner thoughts.

Bai Zemin did not know whether to laugh or cry when he heard Lilith's words. In contrast to Wu Yijun and the other people in the room, he knew that Lilith did not say such words out of blindness or love, she said it because she was confident in his talent and potential and needed his help in the future.

Even so, his heart that had been locked by a stone shell had for the first time a small crack. The crack was so small that it could practically be ignored, but a crack was a crack.

Everything big was once small...

Regardless of her motives, Lilith's words rang full of confidence and completely true from Bai Zemin's point of view. The fact that she, who knew better than anyone how powerful the two existences she mentioned were, said she would be on his side even if he wanted to overthrow them, represented a lot to him.

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