translator: xiin

editors: apricot & juurensha

It wasn"t that Bai Jing was being petty. Although they had quite a lot of people with them for this journey, when it came to the Capital, they would still come under the influence of various factions. If the balance of power shifted, they would only be able to grit their teeth and swallow any dissatisfaction. And what Bai Jing disliked the most was having to accept things with forbearance.

No matter whether it was before or after the apocalypse, regardless of where they were, as long as politics held sway, there would be no eternal enemies, only eternal interests. A few months ago, Bai Jingcheng was at odds with the Zhou Family despite his wife’s surname being Zhou. However, if he didn"t want his power to be swallowed up and be forced to become a yesman for the Zhou Family, the only thing he could do was confront the Zhou Family and slowly try to drag them down.

As the saying went, circ.u.mstances would change with the times. A few months later, with Zhang Qiucheng"s help, Bai Jingcheng was now br.i.m.m.i.n.g with vitality. If he used to be akin to a child holding a treasure bowl who had resources but no way to protect them, he was now full of ambition, with both materials and power in hand.

People"s standpoints would always change with the environment and situation. The current Bai Jingcheng naturally no longer needed to oppose the Zhou Family. On the contrary, their relationship as in-laws made their relationship closer.

Bai Jing wasn"t a fool. He didn"t expect anything like fatherly love or friendship. In his previous life, Xiao Sa"s mercenary regiment hadn"t been bad either, but when they arrived at the Capital, they were picked so clean that not even bones remained. He didn"t deny that it had been because he"d kicked up too big of a fuss, but if they really got to the bottom of the whole situation, the Zhou Family and the Bai Family were closely related, while he himself was an obscure illegitimate child, a person whose existence disgusted them.

The Zhou Family did not require any excuse to get rid of him because n.o.body would stand up for him. Who told him to be a disobedient child with nothing to his name at the time?

The closer they got to the Capital, the worse Bai Jing"s mood became as he grew increasingly depressed. Despite knowing that his life now was different from his life in the past, the scene of Xiao Sa dying in front of him always rose up before his eyes. Even if nothing had happened in this life, he still remembered this hatred against the Zhou Family from the bottom of his heart. He didn"t want to relax for even a moment in case anything unexpected happened - it would be too late by then.

Bai Jing also thoroughly believed that the cooperation between Zhang Qiucheng and Bai Jingcheng was definitely not as smooth as it appeared. The reason why he had sent separate telegrams to both of them before was because neither of them could be relied upon, but they both mutually restricted each other. Zhang Qiucheng had troops, while Bai Jingcheng had supplies. Neither of them would be able to do well in the Capital without each other.

“What are you thinking about?" Xiao Sa turned over in sleepy confusion, frowned, then took his lover into his arms. He closed his eyes and muttered, "Sleep!"

Bai Jing couldn"t help but smile as he looked over at his lover who didn"t stop being domineering even in his sleep, and his heart was tickled. He suddenly felt like he was just finding trouble for himself; in this life, he and Xiao Sa were both living very well.

He found a comfortable position and settled in. Bai Jing thought that he had a lot on his mind and wouldn"t be able to sleep, but soon drifted off.

When he woke up the next day, the sky was already bright, and everyone had already eaten breakfast. The convoy was ready, and they were only waiting for a certain someone to wake up before they resumed their journey.

Bai Jing’s cheeks were slightly red. Although he generally didn"t care about other people"s gazes, he felt a little embarra.s.sed at this point. He glared hatefully at Xiao Sa, and after washing and tidying up, he rushed into the car and didn"t dare delay another second.

Xiao Sa lowered his head and snickered before glancing coolly at the people around them. Everyone quickly bowed their heads and pretended to be busy with their own affairs, but in their hearts they felt like Xiao Sa had only made matters even worse by trying to cover it up.

“Eat something first. We"re expected to arrive in the Capital this afternoon. You haven"t been in good spirits these past few days, so I didn"t wake you up."

Bai Jing pursed his lips and turned his head to the side to watch the scenery, expressing his acceptance of Xiao Sa"s explanation. In fact, he had no way to be truly angry.

Xiao Sa laughed briefly and sat down beside him. "Don"t be angry. I was afraid you wouldn"t sleep well and placed a barrier around our house so that the crowd couldn"t" bother you. It’s my fault.”

Hearing him take responsibility for the matter, Bai Jing couldn"t help his chuckle. He asked curiously, "What kinds of things are they saying?"

“What else would they say. Now that they"ve enough to eat and are idle, each and every one of them are overly excited and looking forward to the future." Xiao Sa snickered. It wasn"t hard to hear the contempt in his words.

Bai Jing curved his lips. "We"ve finally almost arrived at our destination. You still won"t let them be excited for a while?"

Xiao Sa really looked down on these kinds of emotions. “I’m afraid they will be disappointed.”

Bai Jing was silent. How could he not understand what he meant? After thinking about it for a while, he continued, "As long as they remain unchanged by the Capital, what"s the harm in protecting them thoroughly?" After teaming up with each other for several months, he felt that he could trust these teammates. After all, when he set up the team, he used the excuse of going to the Capital. At present, except for Xu Feng and Wu Guoan, no one else knew that they also had Jing Sa City in a place further away.

“Let"s wait until we"ve arrived at the Capital first. Beijing is prosperous, and people’s hearts are malleable.” Xiao Sa spoke indifferently as he made the decision to spread the word out later.

Bai Jing thought about it and agreed. He waved his hand grandly and patted Xiao Sa, "I"ll leave these things up to you."

Xiao Sa laughed and joked, “Yes, this small one will obey orders. Lord Bai"s word is law."

Bai Jing pushed at him and cursed, “Get lost. Lord Bai is my old man."

Xiao Sa came up and hugged him again, “You are my heart and soul.”

“Ew--”

“I can’t hold on anymore; I’m going to throw up. Don’t stop me, you guys.” Yang Lin had only just opened the door to the car and hadn"t even gotten in yet, but gooseb.u.mps rose up all over his skin and he dropped back onto the ground.

Bai Jing"s expression turned black. Yang Lin felt a shiver run through his body, and seeing that Xiao Sa was about to start letting out cold air, he hurriedly let out a "ha-ha" and slipped into the car behind them. He swore, he wasn"t bullying the soft while fearing the weak!

They laughed and enjoyed themselves the whole way, and finally arrived at the Capital Base at around 3PM. There were many people at the entrance to the base, and quite a few others that were blocked outside the base. Regardless of whether they acted miserable and pitiful, or talked until their lips were dry, the guards at the entrance were still indifferent, sticking to their rules and refusing to let them in.

This situation was a common sight at every base. Bai Jing could only praise the security at the Capital in his heart; no matter how noisy these people stuck outside were, they still didn"t dare to make any rough moves.

There were a lot of people watching the show here, and Bai Jing"s team naturally attracted a lot of attention. Luckily, Bai Jing didn"t let them down. As soon as they arrived at the guarded entrance, the team neatly got out of the cars at the same time, their momentum grand. Just as people began to speculate on whether or not this team that appeared to be pretty good would be able to enter, they saw a graceful and refined person step forward and wave the doc.u.ment in their hands. That person then turned to Bai Jing and asked, "May I ask if you are Young Master Bai?"

Bai Jing frowned without confirming or denying it, “Who are you?”

“h.e.l.lo, Young Master Bai. Mr. Bai sent to me to pick you up?"

“Proof.”

“Mr. Bai showed me your picture, and also--” The person who had come over gave a good-tempered smile and stretched out his right hand to reveal a watch-like wrist guard on his wrist. "This is my communicator. Wait a moment, I will contact Mr. Bai."

Having said so, he pressed down on the surface several times, and Bai Jingcheng"s voice emerged from the wrist guard soon after. Bai Jing"s eyes widened as he saw something new. By this time in his last life, he had already departed from the Capital a long time ago. He hadn"t expected the Capital"s development to be so fast.

"Is it Little Jing? Father will come over in a little while. You should go ahead and register with Little Lin first. If you need anything, just tell him. Father will help you arrange it."

Bai Jing"s lips twitched. After making an affirmative, "Oh!” sound, the communication was quickly terminated. Little Lin asked them to park their cars to the side, then took them directly to the inspection office. He patiently explained, “You must go through inspection before entering the base. Even Mr. Bai isn"t exempt from this treatment. Please wait here a little while."

After entering the inspection office, Bai Jing felt like a country b.u.mpkin once again. In the empty room, other than a desk, there were only two metal instruments that were about the height of the door and covered with colourful lights. The equipment was manned by two staff members and surrounded by an armed guard who was there in case of sudden outbursts or unexpected events.

Bai Jing stepped back and pushed the people next to him forward. Wu Guoan choked for a second, then took the lead in walking forward. He secretly felt a little depressed inside; didn"t this mean he was being used as a guinea pig?

Xiao Sa was amused but did not say much. He also wanted to see what the instrument did. In the past year or so, they had visited many places, but normally, when they went to a new base and needed to be inspected, they either had to take off their clothes or wait for seven days. They had never seen such high-tech equipment before.

Wu Guoan stepped up in front of the machinery, and the staff arranged for him to stand in place before pressing a b.u.t.ton. All the lights on the machine went out, and only one laser beam remained as it scanned him from top to bottom. Soon after, the machine beeped, and three brown lights lit up on the left, while a row of green lights lip up on the right.

The staff members weren"t surprised by the results. They pointed to the desk and said lightly, “Okay, earth ability user, level three, in good health. Go ahead and register."

Wu Guoan was tongue-tied; he hadn"t expected that it would be so simple. Xiao Sa"s expression didn"t change, and he was able to keep his equanimity, but Bai Jing considered things more deeply. A third level ability user couldn"t be considered a low rank, but the staff"s att.i.tude was too ordinary, as though they had seen level three ability users everywhere.

Bai Jing found it difficult to remain calm. They had spent the entire trip trying to strengthen themselves and improve their power so that they could be full of confidence when they arrived at the Capital and wouldn"t be underestimated, but who could"ve known…

What was wrong with this world???

Bai Jing’s heart sank, but he did not worry for long­­--

Following that, another person stood in front of the instrument, and two long lines formed behind the two pieces of machinery. Other than their group, there were also other individual mercenary teams who were returning from their hunting trips outside.

The staff member"s voice continued…

“Fire ability user, level three, healthy.”

“Water ability user, level three, healthy."

“s.p.a.ce ability user, level three, healthy."

“No powers, healthy.”

“Fire ability user, level one, healthy."

“Speed ability user, level one, healthy."

“No powers…”

“…”

Following one inspection after another, Bai Jing discovered that there were also several level three ability users in the other mercenary regiments. He had thought that their team would have a very dominant position, but unexpectedly the others weren"t bad either. He really suffered a mental hit, but compared to Bai Jing’s frustration, in fact, the staff members and mercenaries around him were even more surprised. Level two ability users were common, but it was unusual for there to be so many of them in a team.

Bai Jing felt really dissatisfied and was unwilling to go up. He was extremely depressed; although there were advantages to using such equipment, this kind of examination left them with no secrets.

Bai Jing"s expression was ugly. When it was his turn, he tested as a level three s.p.a.ce ability user, and then it was someone else"s turn. Little Lin pushed up the gla.s.ses on his nose, and the gaze he used to look at Bai Jing turned a little more cautious.

It wasn"t until the instrument tested seven level four ability users in a row that noise burst out around them. Even the eyes of the staff shone brilliantly, but then Xiao Sa finally went up and stood steadily in front of the instrument, his expression cold and solemn. Five golden lights lit up, and it was particularly dazzling.

“Oh my G.o.d! A level five ability user."

"It"s a level five metal ability user."