Shangguan Bing Xue was a wary person by nature. Moreover, such wariness was especially high against men as throughout her life she had received different looks and treatment from men based on her appearance.
However, the fact that Bai Zemin kept his word even when he clearly had little to gain and might even end up dying on this mission had caught her off guard. At the same time, it made her realize that maybe, just maybe, not all people or even all men would look or act the same way towards her.
Of course, such a thought was still in its infantile stages and was just that, a fleeting thought. As to whether that thought would turn into something more, such as confidence, it was too early to say.
* * *
After staying inside the building for three whole hours, Shangguan Bing Xue's Mana had recovered enough to influence the battle to come.
During these three hours none of the four especially did anything, with only Chen He and Shangguan Bing Xue chatting occasionally and Liang Peng's sudden interruption by saying something not too meaningful and inconsequential.
As for Bai Zemin, he just sat quietly in a corner while looking at a small picture with a longing look that no one could see except Lilith, who was silently sitting beside him.
There were four people standing in the picture, with an adult couple behind a little boy and girl of barely eight or nine years old. In the background was the beautiful green view where the trees spread out in the distance like an endless sea.
This picture was a family photograph of Bai Zemin's parents, his little sister, and himself. At that time he had just had his birthday and his mother decided to go with the whole family to visit the Great Wall of China and other beautiful places with history.. This was a treasured memory that Bai Zemin always took everywhere with him since due to the distance between the university and his home he could not see his family often.
Now, in this crazy world where trust and betrayal went hand in hand even more than in the past, Bai Zemin could only gather warmth from past memories that previously had not been so important to him as he considered it something normal.
"Family?" Lilith asked even though she already knew the answer. After all, this was the first time in six days that she had seen such an expression on his usually stone-hard face.
Bai Zemin nodded in response. Although he and Lilith did not talk a lot, Bai Zemin knew that she was there for him and, strange as it was, deep in his soul he trusted that she would not betray him.
Although he and she were usually silent, Bai Zemin felt very comfortable since he had never been a person of many words even before the arrival of the Soul Record to this world.
The silence that usually surrounded them was in no way uncomfortable, on the contrary, it was extremely relaxing.
"My Mana recovered almost completely."
Shangguan Bing Xue's icy voice brought Bai Zemin out of his thoughts. When he lifted his face, his longing gaze could no longer be seen anywhere and that face that practically let nothing be seen on him ruled once again.
"If you are ready, we can start now." Shangguan Bing Xue stared at him with an expression just like his and pointed.
"... Then let's start now. There's no point in wasting more time and further delays might make things more difficult than they already are." Bai Zemin stood up and let out a small sigh inaudibly.
Shangguan Bing Xue and the other two nodded to express that they thought the same way he did and also stood up.
Bai Zemin seemed to want something but after a moment's hesitation he decided to simply shook his head and walked towards the window without another word.
Before he could leave, Chen He's voice rang at his back, "Hey, Bai Zemin!"
Bai Zemin turned around and looked at him with questioning eyes.
"Be careful. If you think the zombie is too hard just run. We can try another day." Chen He nodded and looked at him with a serious expression.
After a slight surprise, Bai Zemin nodded and said in a clear voice, "I'm relying on you for the next part."
Chen He gave him a thumbs up as if telling him to leave it to him. Seeing this, Bai Zemin no longer dawdled and jumped out the window before turning into a gale of wind charging towards the building a few streets away; the female dormitory.
When Bai Zemin left, Liang Peng looked at Chen He with raised eyebrows and laughed: "I thought you didn't like that guy very much? Aren't you two rivals in love or something? Hahahaha!"
Chen He frowned and looked at him with some anger as he slowly said, "The reason why I don't like him too much is because of his previous cruel act, he is not my rival in love. Besides, just because I don't like Bai Zemin too much because of his cruelty doesn't mean I hate him. Isn't it natural to wish him good luck? At the end of the day he's still our ally."
"Tsk, what a boring guy." Liang Peng, who expected Chen He to blush in embarrassment after having his feelings exposed, in the end ended up shrugging his shoulders and clicking his tongue when he saw that the handsome archer's reaction was normal and calm.
Shangguan Bing Xue looked at him coldly and said in an icy voice, "If you have time to talk nonsense why don't you prepare yourself as well?"
Liang Peng snorted and walked towards the exit with his big hammer on his shoulder. With such a weight he didn't dare jump out of the window or he might end up breaking both his legs trying to show off.
After Liang Peng disappeared, Shangguan Bing Xue picked up what appeared to be a string and tied it to the tip of the ice stake before freezing it and joining the string and the stake together.
This string was actually carbon fiber and was taken from gym exercise machines. It was especially resistant to weight and extremely durable under pressure as well as being a very good flexible material capable of withstanding sudden pulls. It was usually used in the creation of boats, cars, airplane parts, bicycle hoops, etc. Although the quality depended, the carbon fiber cable Shangguan Bing Xue was using was very strong and flexible.
Seeing that the two of them were alone, Chen He decided to break the silence: "Bing Xue, about what Liang Peng said earlier... About rivals in-"
"Focus." Shangguan Bing Xue interrupted him before he could continue and while looking out the window reminded him, "Your help is crucial here. You can't afford to lose focus no matter what."