Time flew by like a white steed, and in this month, Zhong Chen and Benimaru led their troops, using teleportation circles, to traverse the entire world of 'Black Bullet'.
They conducted a thorough cleansing of this world, ultimately rescuing around five million Cursed Children and nearly two hundred thousand kind-hearted adults.
Compared to the world's total population of 750 million, the mere two hundred thousand kind people only indicated that this world was truly rotten to the core.
Early morning, Zhong Chen's bedroom.
"Hehehe! Hahahaha! Jie jiejie jiejie!"
Rimuru couldn't help but ask, seeing Zhong Chen's increasingly erratic behavior:
"A Chen, are you alright?"
Hearing Rimuru's question, Zhong Chen closed the system interface and responded excitedly:
"I'm fine! I just thought of something happy!"
"Rimuru, let me tell you, we're about to become the strongest force in the entire world!"
Rimuru heard Zhong Chen's words and asked, puzzled:
"What strongest force?"
"Rimuru, you should know what an awakened Demon Lord is, right?"
Zhong Chen calmed his excited feelings and looked at Rimuru, asking.
"I do! After I defeated the Orc Lord, I obtained a Demon Lord Seed. They said one more step and I'd be an awakened Demon Lord!"
Zhong Chen nodded upon hearing Rimuru's reply and continued:
"Then do you know what conditions are required to become an awakened Demon Lord?"
Rimuru fell into a daze at this. Although she knew about awakened Demon Lords, she had never considered becoming one.
Because Zhong Chen had always been there to back her up in terms of top-tier combat power, and Rimuru hadn't been stimulated by Shion's death as in the original story.
So, her desire for strength wasn't that great right now.
"Great Sage! Do you know the conditions to become an awakened Demon Lord?"
"Notification: To become an awakened Demon Lord, two conditions must be met!"
"The first condition is that you must obtain a Demon Lord Seed!"
"The second condition requires the sacrifice of at least ten thousand human souls!"
"Neither condition can be missing!"
"Ah! Great Sage, you knew all along!"
"Notification: Master, you never asked!"
"Uh..."
"A Chen, I know the conditions. I have the Demon Lord Seed, but ten thousand human souls..."
Zhong Chen looked at Rimuru, who seemed a bit troubled, and showed an expression that indicated everything was under his control.
"Hum hum hum! Since I can ask this question, then naturally I can also solve it."
"A mere ten thousand human souls is a piece of cake for me now."
Zhong Chen said triumphantly, looking at the eight million souls remaining after being thoroughly refined by the human emperor banner.
But then again, out of over seven hundred million souls, only eight million qualified souls could be refined.
The gap between the humans of that world and the humans of Slime World was too great.
"Really? Then I can become an awakened Demon Lord!"
Rimuru asked, surprised and delighted, upon hearing that Zhong Chen could provide souls.
Her pursuit of power wasn't great, but if there was an opportunity to improve, why not take it?
"Of course, let's go out and make some arrangements, and then we'll start everyone's big upgrade!"
"Mhm!"
With that, Zhong Chen and Rimuru walked out of the room. As soon as they reached the staircase, they saw a group of people sitting and drinking tea in the living room downstairs, and Zhong Chen asked, surprised:
"Hey! What day is it today? Why are all of you here?"
Kagaya Ubuyashiki, who was holding a teacup and drinking tea, saw the two descending the stairs, put down his teacup, and said:
"Isn't it because we have important matters to discuss with the two of you, sirs!"
"That's right!"
"There is something!"
"And it's a major event that will affect the future!"
Benimaru and the others also echoed in agreement.
Zhong Chen and Rimuru, who had come to sit on the living room sofa, asked, puzzled:
"Major event? There shouldn't be any major events now, right?"
"That's right, that's right. Haven't the children all been settled?"
Sakuya placed two cups of black tea in front of them and then softly said:
"Indeed, it is a very important matter, and it can only be decided by the two of you, sirs!"
Hearing that even Izayoi Sakuya called it a major event, Zhong Chen couldn't help but ask:
"What exactly is it that made all of you come here?"
"Hehe! A Chen, it's about founding a nation!"
At this, Rimuru asked, surprised:
"Founding a nation? Haven't we already established the Jura Forest Alliance?"
Kanae Kocho heard this and said gently:
"That's not the same. The Jura Forest Alliance is just an alliance of monsters in the forest, but now..."
Miss Shizu, sitting next to Kanae Kocho, continued:
"Now, the composition of the personnel is a bit complex. If we include those children, the entire town—no, it should be called a city now!"
"The total population of the city has already exceeded 5.5 million. Not counting the children, the human population has reached over two hundred thousand."
"It's almost catching up to the monsters living in the city. In this situation, we discussed it and feel that we can directly found a nation!"
Hearing Miss Shizu's explanation, Zhong Chen reached out and stroked his chin in thought. With the current population base, founding a nation was indeed a good idea.
It just so happened that the Monster Country Federation could appear ahead of schedule. Thinking of this, Zhong Chen said:
"Hmm, founding a nation is indeed a good idea, but have you all considered the organizational structure?"
Rigurd, dressed in a black suit like something out of 'The Matrix', with a muscular build, stood up and said:
"The two of you, sirs, needn't worry about this at all!"
"As for governmental affairs, Mr. Yaozai and I will still be responsible. Below that, we will set up departments for Finance, Construction, Education, Research, and Foreign Affairs."
"I will temporarily serve concurrently as the Minister of Finance, and Mr. Kurut will serve as the Minister of Construction."
"The Education Department will be handed over to Miss Shizu. For research, Mr. Kajin said he could temporarily serve as the Minister."
"And finally, the Foreign Affairs Department will be concurrently headed by Mr. Yaozai."
Zhong Chen and Rimuru nodded in satisfaction upon hearing Rigurd's arrangements for the high-level positions in the entire government department.
"Hmm, this arrangement is very good. I have no objections! Rimuru, what do you think?"
Zhong Chen turned to Rimuru beside him and asked.
"I also think there's no problem!"
What problem could she have? These matters had always been handled by these people; it was good enough if she didn't cause trouble.
"It seems you all had everything discussed before you came! So, you were just waiting for the two of us to nod, huh!"
"Hahahahaha!"
"Isn't it because we were afraid the two of you, sirs, wouldn't agree!"
"After all, founding a nation involves many aspects, so of course, we had to have a complete plan before coming to the two of you, sirs!"
Everyone present said excitedly.
"Alright! Since everything is planned, what should the nation be called?"
Zhong Chen slowly asked, looking at the excited crowd before him...