Chapter 170 - Fu Qigang
Bai Zemin backed up several steps while raising both arms in front of his face, covering most of his head.
The muzzles of the guns in the hands of the military roared in sync and covered his body with hundreds of shots in a matter of a second.
However, all those bullets simply ricocheted and flew to the ground falling with loud metallic sounds.
Bai Zemin's Full Coat was a Rare grade treasure capable of protecting him from smaller caliber bullets, but it did not protect him against intermediate caliber bullets, let alone high caliber bullets.
Fortunately, with his passive Bronze Skin skill and his Full Coat working in tandem, 90% of his body only felt a slight tingle that was easily ignored by him. However, the same could not be said for the area of his legs below the knee and his bare hand.
Bai Zemin's face wrinkled slightly due to the pain and for a moment the urge to slaughter all the people inside the armed arsenal consumed him; however, he fought against that desire and forcibly suppressed it.
While these rather old vintage gun bullets did not have the power to really hurt him, his internal organs were as weak as they had always been in the past so it was extremely painful to receive such metallic impacts at such speed constantly.
The Broken Bronze Bell was currently recovering its depleted power within the pocket of his Full Coat. After all, about an hour ago, the defensive barrier was completely crushed by the First Order Frost Control Lions' magical attacks and it needed 24 hours to recover its power again.
Bai Zemin took a side step and his body swayed, disappearing from the sight of the armed military men.
"Disappeared!"
"He really is a monster!"
"It's over! We're dead!"
The soldiers began to wail.
"Remember!" A middle-aged man with an average appearance but with a brave and stern expression, apparently the leader of this troop, shouted, "If the worst comes to the worst, then we will detonate this whole place and take this demon with us to hell!"
Behind the wall, Bai Zemin rubbed his hands together, and seeing the white marks he couldn't help but grimace as he cursed under his breath.
He had not killed the military for two reasons.
The first reason was because these military men had fired immediately out of fear of what was happening in the world outside the vault. Even with so many guns, they had not yet left the place, which meant that whatever they had seen outside had destroyed all their hopes.
Such people were not necessarily their enemies... On the contrary, they could become one of his strongest allies in the early stages if Bai Zemin played his cards right.
This was precisely the second reason.
He lacked people with military training and skill in firearm control!
Not only would it be good for him if these militias obeyed him for a mere reason; if he could get them to become his subordinates, then Bai Zemin could get them to train more survivors under a strict military regime!
Besides... Bai Zemin needed people who knew how to operate military vehicles.
If Shangguan Bing Xue and Wu Yijun found armaments similar to tanks or even battle helicopters, Bai Zemin would need people capable of operating such machines. Something he currently lacked.
"Don't open fire! I'm human just like you!" He shouted in a deep voice from his temporary hiding place.
"Nonsense!" A military man roared from a distance and spat on the ground, "A human immune to bullets from a dozen guns and capable to move at such speed? Hah!"
Other military men echoed his words and did not let their guard down. They were still holding on to their weapons tightly and some of them were even preparing to throw hand grenades.
Bai Zemin frowned and replied in a flat voice, "I really am human. Didn't you see the status window? By killing zombies or other types of enemies with your own ability and without using forces that don't belong to you, you can absorb an energy called Soul Power and grow. That's how I became more powerful."
Hearing his words, the military fell silent and looked at each other. Hesitation flashed in the eyes of many so after a moment they looked at their leader.
"Platoon leader Fu, what do we do?" a bespectacled and somewhat thin man whispered to the middle-aged man.
Platoon Leader Fu fell into deep contemplation. Seeing this, some of the military men became agitated and began to shout that they should fight to the death.
"Platoon leader Fu, don't believe him! You yourself saw how cruel people have become now!"
"Platoon leader Fu, let's fight! With all this weaponry, even if we have to die we will drag him with us!
...
Seconds turned into minutes and Bai Zemin finally began to lose his patience.
Although he valued the bravery of being willing to die fighting in times of crisis where there was nowhere to run, he did not have too much time to waste trying to convince a group of people. There were still many things that needed his direct intervention before they could get going properly.
"Too bad..." Bai Zemin sighed. His eyes grew cold and his body began to exude overwhelming murderous intent that made the military men's faces turn pale.
To survive, to become stronger, and gain the power needed to fulfill his promise as well as to find and protect his loved ones, Bai Zemin had killed tens of thousands of zombies, nearly thirty First Order beings, hundreds of thousands of mutated animals and insects.
To say that he had walked over mountains of corpses and stepped on the bones of so many living beings while bathing in their blood was no exaggeration. His once white and innocent hands were long gone.
Therefore, Bai Zemin's murderous intent was powerful!
Murderous intent was something a normal person could never feel. However, the military men inside the weapons vault were not normal people. Therefore, they could sense death coming closer and closer.
"Wait a moment."
The voice of the man called Platoon Leader Fu rang out and stopped Bai Zemin's movements momentarily.
"Platoon leader!"
"Platoon leader Fu!"
...
The military looked at him in shock and exclaimed loudly. However...
"Shut up! You all shut up for me!"
The immediate superior's reprimanding shout echoed through the thick walls and all the military men unconsciously shut their mouths. As soldiers, following orders was something that had already become deeply ingrained within them.
The man the military referred to as platoon leader Fu looked towards the place where Bai Zemin's voice came from and while taking cover behind a large metal box filled with ammunition said in a friendly voice:
"Little brother, may I know what your name is? My name is Fu Qigang, leader of the tenth platoon of the fourth military company belonging to the second battalion of this base. I would like to chat with you."
Hearing the words of the man named Fu Qigang, Bai Zemin secretly let out a sigh of relief. As long as they could chat, then he was confident in taking things to where he wanted them to go.