Chapter 604: Long Time No See, Father... (part 3/4)
Chapter 604: Long Time No See, Father… (part 3/4)
There were more than twenty maidens waiting at the entrance of the villa where the family of Wu Yijun resided. All of them wore long black and white frilly dresses in the French style. Of course, the ages varied; there were young women in their twenties, women just touching their middle age, mature women.
In fact, there were even two pretty blue-eyed foreign beauties with extremely voluptuous bodies awaiting the arrival of the important figures and as they bowed made it clear that foreign blood was really nothing to scoff at.
However, Bai Zemin for some reason felt that something was wrong with the atmosphere between Wu Yijun’s parents but he still did not say anything as he did not know Wu Keqian or Sun Ling well enough to jump to conclusions or to go around asking questions aloud.
“Those who wish to take a shower, follow Dong Ling. She will lead you to the bathroom.” Wu Keqian glanced at an Asian woman whose hair fell to her shoulders before pointing to another woman and calmly saying, “Those of you who wish to go directly to rest, follow Gu Li. She will prepare your rooms in an instant.”
Right after Wu Keqian finished speaking, Sun Ling stepped forward and said with a warm smile on her face, “Those of you who are feeling hungry, follow me to the dining hall. Even though it’s a bit early, I don’t see anything wrong with having lunch before time once in a while.”
Soon, the group split into several parts with Zhong De heading to the main bathroom, with Shangguan Bing Xue, Chen He, and Wu Yijun following the latter’s parents to the dining hall to have some important conversation which was normal considering that both Chen He and Shangguan Bing Xue were close to the Wu family, and with Cai Jingyi choosing to go straight to the bedroom as did Nangong Lingxin.
“Uncle Wu, if it’s not too much trouble I’d like to have a list of the army organization and the requirements for climbing the ranks.” Bai Zemin looked at Wu Keqian and made a weird request.
“Uh? Young Bai, why are you interested in such things?”
Of course, Bai Zemin already expected that the father of Wu Yijun would ask such a question, therefore, he answered easily. Without changing his expression, he said with a faint smile on his face, “Well, we can’t just stand by and do nothing, can we? Personally, as a soul evolver I’d rather enroll in a job related to the military and hunting.”
Of course, the reason why Bai Zemin was asking for that information was not as simple as he had just said out loud. However, he naturally could not tell to Wu Yijun’s father that his goal was to understand in depth the organization of armed and evolved troops of the base.
Wu Keqian slapped his forehead and nodded, “Of course…. I completely forgot about that matter in the midst of rejoicing after my daughter Yijun’s return.”
“I assume you all will aspire to the army?” Wu Keqian looked at everyone, including his daughter, and seeing that everyone nodded, he nodded as well. “Perfect then. I’ll have everything ready for the afternoon.”
* * *
About five or six hours later, everyone was gathered in the living room around a large rectangular table made of cedar wood. On the table were several folders and these folders were spread out in seven corners along with a cup of aromatic tea and several snacks in the center.
Bai Zemin, like the rest, looked at the papers in front of him with a serious expression on his face. The more he read, the more he was astonished to discover that in reality, the lineup of the faction led by Wu Yijun’s father was actually not too different from the armed and evolved lineup of the faction that Bai Zemin himself led.
Of course, there was one very noticeable difference; the number of troops.
The Transcendent faction had around 10,000 armed troops and approximately 4500 soul evolvers. On the other hand, the Chinese Renaissance had around 80,000 armed troops and approximately 6000 soul evolvers.
The difference in armed troops was simply abysmal to say the least as the armed troops of the Chinese Renaissance alone exceeded the number of total survivors under the Bai Zemin government by almost three times. But this was also natural considering that the Chinese Renaissance had over 200,000 survivors; it would not be difficult for Wu Yijun’s father to recruit people as long as he had the firepower to equip them.
What made Bai Zemin feel a bit proud was that the difference in the number of soul evolvers was actually considerably small when one took into account the huge disparity in the number of survivors between the two factions. This meant that at the very least, the percentage of survivors that the faction led by Bai Zemin had, compared to the percentage of survivors of the faction led by Wu Keqian, was higher when it came to evolved humans.
Furthermore, Bai Zemin was quite confident that when it came to quality in terms of Soul Power, his faction definitely surpassed Wu Keqian’s faction such that even if the soul evolvers belonging to the Chinese Renaissance had a higher average level they would still have a lot of problems dealing with the evolved troops of the Transcendent faction.
Although Bai Zemin had promised to do everything possible to avoid a war between the two sides, he still did not exclude such a possible future. Therefore, in his mind, he began to think of several different plans just in case.
About twenty minutes later, Bai Zemin, Shangguan Bing Xue, Chen He, Cai Jingyi, Zhong De, Wu Yiju, and Nangong Lingxin put down their folders on the table before exchanging glances with each other as if communicating silently.
Wu Keqian, who was seated at the head of the table, folded his hands and rested his chin lightly on the top as he looked at them one by one.
“I guess now everyone has a rough idea of the division of power here?” he asked calmly.
Chen He nodded and spoke for everyone as he slowly said, “The faction that Uncle Wu currently leads is mainly composed of four soul evolver guilds which are closely related to a higher guild, which in turn is composed of two motorized assault brigades, an armored team, and finally three campaigns of 20,000 men each.”
“That is correct.” Wu Keqian nodded before looking at Shangguan Bing Xue and asking with a smile, “Bing Xue, you don’t need to hold your doubts with me, girl. Just tell me.”
Shangguan Bing Xue hesitated for a moment before asking in a low voice, “According to this arrangement, the soul evolvers are below the modern army… I was wondering if Uncle Wu arranged it this way to keep the soul evolvers under strict control.”
Wu Keqian sighed and leaned on the back of his chair as he calmly said, “The soul evolvers are definitely the future of mankind, I have no doubt about it…. But, they are too unstable. Right now I have a dozen assault helicopters and about fifty battle tanks with which I can barely keep them at bay. I need all of them to go through a lot of military training to get them used to obeying commands and fighting for a general good instead of their own.”
Just as Bai Zemin always said, the human mind was fickle and each head was a world apart. Therefore, it was difficult to know what each soul evolver was thinking; even less so when they were all getting stronger with each passing day. Therefore, Wu Keqian’s approach was not exactly wrong from a certain point of view.
However, while looking at the papers in front of him, Bai Zemin detected several problems with the current administration; problems which naturally someone like Wu Keqian and his trusted people did not overlook either.
“Phoenix, Blue Dragon, Black Tortoise, White Tiger.” Wu Keqian said in a thoughtful voice. “Those are the names of the four soul evolver guilds, as you all must have already seen after reading those documents.”
“The Phoenix guild is composed of mages with high magical attack power, on the other hand, the Blue Dragon guild is composed of mages with crowd control skills. Meanwhile, the Black Turtle guild is mainly composed of strength-based soul evolvers with high physical attack power and the ability to raise large shields to protect the rest. Finally, the White Tiger guild is a mix of archers and Agility-based soul evolvers such as assassins or scouts.” The mother of Wu Yijun explained calmly.
After a short pause, she continued, “By separating them into groups, it is not only easier to give commands depending on the need of the moment but it is also possible to make a gap caused by the competition between the different parties which in turn will make it difficult for these four guilds to unite to cause problems for the central government.”
Everyone present had to admit that the idea of Wu Keqian or whoever came up with the idea of splitting the soul evolvers into four different groups was great since as Sun Ling mentioned the chances of revolt would plummet that way.
“The only big problem is that by splitting them up like that, the competition can get a little out of hand sometimes.” Wu Keqian smiled bitterly and shook his head.
For the sake of gaining more resources, benefits, and honor; the four guilds often plotted against each other and certain annoying incidents occurred. However, this was also a certain relief for the central government since that way the four guilds would keep each other busy.
Moreover, with trusted people taking the most important positions within the four guilds, Wu Keqian had further reduced the chances of someone targeting his head.
“This kind of arrangement is really brilliant considering the kind of leader Uncle Wu aspires to be.” Bai Zemin could not help but praise sincerely.
While Bai Zemin would never make this kind of arrangement, that was because he and Wu Keqian were people whose ultimate goals were simply different. No, even if the goals of both were the same, the path that Bai Zemin had taken and would continue to move forward on was different from the path that Wu Keqian walked and would walk.
That was the very reason why he said the words “considering the kind of leader Uncle Wu aspires to be” before.
Wu Keqian forced a smile but said nothing. He was clearer than anyone that it was only a matter of time before some things got out of hand. Still, he wasn’t afraid; after all, it wasn’t for nothing that he was a powerful Second Order existence. Unlike all the other leaders Bai Zemin had met on his path before, Wu Keqian was someone with actual combat capability to back himself up instead of relying 100% on the strength of others!
“So, which guild will you guys join?” Sun Ling slightly changed the topic and asked with a charming smile on her beautiful face as she looked at everyone with bright eyes: “Remember that before joining one of the guilds you have to consider your own active and passive skills. Choose one of the guilds depending on your skills and combat styles.”
About two hours ago, the seven had shown some of their skills to Wu Keqian; the man had personally studied each of them as a proof of respect and appreciation for helping his daughter so much but it was also because he was aware that the strength of each of them could not be ignored.
In the end, it was more than clear which guild each would join.
Shangguan Bing Xue and Wu Yijun; both women had magical skills with a lot of crowd control so they were naturally destined for the Blue Dragon guild.
Chen He and Cai Jingyi to the White Tiger guild as they were both Agility type soul evolvers.
Finally, Nangong Lingxin, Zhong De, and Bai Zemin would join the Black Turtle guild.
“Hey, you little scoundrel.” Lilith’s voice rang in Bai Zemin’s mind. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as she said a little speechless, “Isn’t that Black Turtle guild the weakest of all? Why don’t you join another one? Considering your stats you only have to show one skill of yours to choose any other.”
Bai Zemin shook his head and sighed in his heart.
He naturally had his own plans for doing what he did. If things went well, in no time the entire Black Tortoise guild would be under his control, and best of all, Wu Keqian wouldn’t even know about it.
He was almost completely alone here and while he didn’t lack strength he lacked ears in every corner. The Black Turtle guild would be his support here as he slowly swallowed everything….. Or at least those were his plans.
As to whether fate wanted everything to go so smoothly or not, it remained to be seen.
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