The wedding was beautiful.
I cried a lot and Ge cried a lot too. From it, I think all our past misunderstandings and grudges disappeared completely.
Having to hand off my Ge to another person, I was really angry and reluctant, but now, seeing him this happy and content, I really can't say anything.
Is this what a parent feels like? Having to give their daughter away?
Although people thought I was crying out of joy, of course, I was, but I was also filled with regret.
I know that Ge would still be able to meet up with us frequently, but it's like he's on his own now and separated from us.
I felt regret because I hadn't spent time together as much as I could have.
After the wedding, fireworks boomed to celebrate the occasion.
I stopped my sniffles and joked, "At least I get to name the baby."
Ge laughed and replied, "Yes, you can. But I'm not pregnant yet, and the surname will have to be decided between Lu and Shui."
I interjected, "It should be Shui, after all, our family is kind of small right now and needs more people. Your husband's family is large already, what's the need to increase it further?"
Ge laughed once more.
It really was great seeing him so happy like this...
Lu Han came to take Ge away and guests began to leave one by one.
In the hall, only a few people were left.
Me, my siblings, and some Lu clan members.
As Xiao Lai and Xiao Bing were still young, I told them to hurry home and get some sleep.
Soon, the Lu clan members left after giving me polite nods.
I was all alone.
Today, seeing Ge smiling so happily and looking so bright gave me a feeling that I couldn't properly describe.
...Why can't I be content like that?
Is it because I was too caught up in the past and was using every chance to fortify my 'fort'?
Is it because I was regretting many things that I could have thought properly through?
Or is it because I haven't found a significant other?
I scoffed.
Love couldn't change anything. That last thought was irrelevant to the present.
Love made you stupid.
It could be seen from the many things that I did to make my siblings more powerful.
If I had been harsher on them, they would be more powerful.
Actually, if I hadn't loved them enough to take their considerations of having people around them, I wouldn't even have created this base, much less bring in people that sometimes caused me more trouble than help.
The present was pretty good. Nobody would die if they were base members. Everyone was happy to escape from the apocalypse.
I'm not some humanity's savior. I'm not a goddamn Jesus.
I didn't feel bad for the people outside of the base. I didn't know them, neither cared. Why should I feel guilt for people who didn't concern my wellbeing?
Some would definitely call me evil for having enough power to kill out zombies but not using it to save their weak pitiful asses.
Would they even help me? They would probably feel that they were being pitied and fell animosity towards me instead.
I mean look at the world, tons of geniuses live, but they may not ever discover their talent even till death. The world is unfair, and every person who's hoping for something should know it.
...Ugh, going into deep moody thoughts always makes me feel bad.
I stood up and walked out.
Spreading my wings as I took on my Raven form, I flew to the base gates and accessed myself to go out for a while.
To be nice, I even messaged my secretary to notify everyone who was coming to the meeting tomorrow to take a rest day, including himself.
I remembered that I soon had to return my ex-parents to their base and sighed.
'Happy thoughts, happy thoughts,' I reminded myself.
En, my Ge being pregnant should make me happy.
Oh, the researchers had done a project on pregnancy as well.
The results were surprising.
A man could get pregnant from his wife. The researchers said that emotions were involved and explained it in hard terms that I didn't properly understand. I'm still learning about it.
Also, women impregnating other women were also involved with some emotion things from the brain.
The conclusion was: All of us aren't hermaphrodites but somehow are like them.
After studying in my head the terms I was supposed to memorize if I wanted to have a proper conversation with the researchers, I promptly decided to take a break and head towards Yun's.
Ge invited him to the wedding as well, but the boy said he was too busy and was sorry not being able to come.
I messaged him and asked how it was over there, and he replied with: "I'm fine, but the soldiers are all confused. My father is pretty depressed and I don't really know how to describe the situation."
So today, I decided to visit him.
It was pretty dark and late, but Yun was still awake and answered my call.
The window at the top of the mansion was opened and I slipped in quietly.
"Yun, you ok?" I asked in concern after seeing dark bags under his eyes.
"I'm a little tired," Yun gave me a tired smile.
"Eating makes everything better, do you want to share a hotpot with me?"
So we shared a delectable hotpot and shared stories with each other.
As I talked about the Valen clan, Yun asked, "But hasn't the red phase already passed? Shouldn't they know something about the powers at least?"
I widened my eyes as I had stupidly forgotten about it.
"Maybe they're hiding it until you or Lu Han tells the truth? I don't think any huge clan would just believe endless benefits if they aren't told the truth. I honestly think that if they weren't surrounded by much more powerful ability users in the base, they might just take over the whole base. They are, after all, a prestigious clan with so many influential and powerful - both physically and just you know, powerful in society -, so I wouldn't just blindly trust them."
Yun continued with his opinion, "I would say the same for the Yang Clan and Lu Clan. If they aren't monitored properly, they'll want to rule the base themselves. As a person who is the child of a government official, I know what those people like to act like. The Yang Clan is composed primarily of generals and commanders, but now the Clan Head is a businessman. How influential do you think he is to have taken control of a military family like that?"
Yun took in a deep breath and gave me a worried look.
"And the Lu Clan, they should be a little better since your brother's husband is in there, but remember that your bro-in-law is only half a member there. They wouldn't fully trust in him because he's like that. And you know the least of how the Lu Clan is like besides being in politics and being killers. That's really not enough. All you know of those clans are vague and even those vague descriptions sound terrifying already. If you really want to leave the base and travel around, you should have the hackers do research on them for you."
I sighed. How could I have been so foolish to think that those powerful clans would lie dormant in peace?
It was in their blood to take control of the situations themselves. They probably thought that the base was only a shield, a buffer, for the apocalypse. And when they gained sufficient influence and ability, they would take over.
I asked, "Then what should I do? I daresay that your thinking is 100% correct. Is there anything I can do to not let them take control?"
I was really lucky to have come to Yun today. I then remembered the Politics class that almost every student took in our academy. And the person who always came first in theories or discussions there was Mo Yun.
"Hey, it's alright, I can come up with a couple of solutions," Yun gave a cheeky grin.
"Huh, you became so confident after the apocalypse happened, and did you even grow a little?"
"Yup! 178 cm! I'm taller than your sister now! Wait, stop changing the topic!"
Yun grumbled and stole meat from my plate. I chuckled. He was still kind of childish but it assured me that he wasn't changing completely.
"Ok, listen up. There are 3 ways. You can either kill the clans off, make a council, or make medicine. But it seems like you wouldn't choose the 1st option out of fear of making the base members afraid, so I'll go on with the 2nd and 3rd choices."
After giving a cough to gain my attention which was straying to the boiling hotpot, he started talking again, "So, the 2nd option is to make a council. Each clan leader and some of their subordinates can meet up often with some other leaders of the community and your family. That way, they can keep each other in check and balance the ruling out. But you have to be sure to not let the other leaders be influenced by those clans too much. Basically, don't easily let the clans gain allies, especially each other. You have to establish the fact that you're the boss there and can overrule any decision."
I nodded, the idea was efficient technically but it would be a little hard to keep people in check since humans changed their hearts too quickly.
"Actually, I had in mind that each family could take rule in a rotation, but then they'd abuse their powers for sure, so it wouldn't work out. Ugh, I have so many failed ideas in my head..."
I laughed and gave him some more meat.
"Dear tactician, please accept my tribute."
"Hmph, I'll have to won't I!"
We laughed and fell to the floor laughing. I really couldn't remember when I had last laughed like this today. I didn't even give a smile usually. It was really embarrassing to cry in front of others at the wedding, but at least it would help with my public image. If I laughed in public, the people on base would get too familiar with me and they'd get arrogant. That's why I was distancing myself from them gradually.
Anyways, we talked about the 3rd solution while eating.
"The 3rd solution, *chew chew swallow* should be harder on the researchers than you. *chew chew swallow* So, it's to make a virus of a sort that would react- Actually, you know what, it's impossible. How could animosity be detected properly when it could be directed at another person?"
So we gave up on that 3rd solution and instead came up with a 4th.
"Hmmmmm, ok, I've got one, it's easy. Probably the hardest one for you though."
I was curious, what could be that hard?
This time, Yun looked me straight in the eye and seriously told me, "Be stronger."
I raised one of my eyebrows in question.
"I know you are the strongest right now, but I'm sure from what I can tell, zombies are growing stronger and abilities can evolve too. Those people, at the very least, need brute force to conquer. So you have to be able to beat all of them up in one go. Either research or find another way to gain more abilities and train yourself to perfection. And although brute force can overpower anything, brains over brawn. You need to study more tactics, and consider getting a team of tacticians that are absolutely loyal to you."
"But I don't know if people will be loyal to me..."
"And I can help with that!"
"How?" I was really curious, how could Yun help me?
Yun got close and made the suspense rise until he whispered, "I think I have two random skills."
"What? Really? Congratulations!" I smiled and slapped him on the back.
"Ow, Yu Yu, you really don't act like how you look..."
But even though he complained, Yu had a bright look on his face.
Again, with immense suspense, he whispered.
"My skill, is to see relationships."