Dragon Transformation in the Apocalypse

Chapter 12 Troop Training

After dismissing them, Li Chenglong led Yunlan and Li Xue out of the meeting room and headed to the hospital cafeteria. The cafeteria was noticeably more orderly than last time. In fact, with the supplies Li Chenglong had in his storage space, it would last the three of them a long time. However, he mainly came to see if there was anything new. Li Chenglong checked his storage space; it was currently level 3 (maximum level 10), 8 meters long, 4 meters wide, and 9 meters high—quite a large space. However, it only contained a few 100L gasoline cans, two large backpacks full of food, and four motorcycles. Li Chenglong immediately decided to have the team train for a day tomorrow, and then set off the day after to search for various supplies and quickly kill zombies to level up.

Wu Gang and Zheng Aiguo got their food and sat down with Yun Qian, Liu Dongliang, and other ability users to discuss tomorrow's training. Li Chenglong sat with Yun Lan and Li Xue. Li Xue winked at Yun Lan, and Yun Lan winked back. Li Chenglong was confused, wondering what they were doing. "What's wrong with you two? Hurry up and eat." Li Xue said to Li Chenglong, "Brother, I heard I have a sister-in-law? You didn't even tell me about something this big." Li Chenglong stared at Yun Lan, who lowered her head shyly. "It was bound to happen sooner or later anyway." Li Chenglong said seriously, "I agreed to be with your sister Yun Lan, but not now. Right now, we're struggling to survive, so let's not talk about the future. The reason I didn't tell you about this, Xue'er, is because of the current situation." Li Xue nodded. "Yes, I know. Sister Yun told me everything. I wholeheartedly support you two being together."

Li Chenglong nodded, but didn't continue the topic. He said to Yun Lan, "The skill levels of our 22 ability users vary greatly. There are ordinary people, police officers, and soldiers. So you need to pay close attention when training them. Don't set the bar too high for some, and don't lower it too much for others. Tonight, I plan to take all twenty-odd of us out into the field. As the saying goes, seeing is believing. Talking to them is less effective than showing them real combat. Besides, we just fought a battle early this morning, and there are no zombies around, so they won't be harmed." Yun Lan nodded, "Okay, I'll listen to you. But we can't go too far. If a high-level zombie attacks the hospital while we're away, it would be a huge loss." After saying that, the group quickly finished their meal and notified Wu Gang and the others to gather after dinner.

Twenty minutes later, 25 people stood in front of the hospital gate. Each person was issued a military dagger, and the strength-type awakened individuals were also equipped with a fire axe. Those with lower attributes, such as the wind-type awakened individuals, were also equipped with lighter weapons like baseball bats in addition to their daggers. The hospital gate had already been reinforced multiple times by the Second Company, resembling a fortress. Yun Lan stepped forward: "Captain Li Chenglong, the ability users have assembled. 25 people were expected, 25 people are present. Please give instructions!" Li Chenglong looked at them and said, "Proceed." Several soldiers immediately came over and worked together to open the gate, and Li Chenglong led the group out. As they walked, Li Chenglong said, "We have two purposes for coming out this time. The first is to cultivate teamwork, and the second is to cultivate your combat awareness and skills. We will take a circular path with a radius of two kilometers, using the hospital as the center. Vice Captain Yun and I have calculated that, taking into account the terrain, the entire route is about 12 kilometers. It is 7 pm now, and we will be back at the hospital before 8:30 pm."

Li Chenglong and Yun Lan each led a team forward side by side. Initially, they encountered scattered zombies, which were dealt with by the superhumans among the eight survivors and another superhuman from the military police unit. This was also to build their courage. One of them, Chu Kexin, a speed-awakened individual, was so frightened that she ran away when a zombie charged, almost causing another teammate in her group to be bitten. Although they wouldn't be infected, a bite would still take several days to heal. Fortunately, Wu Gang reacted quickly, drawing his dagger and eliminating the zombie. Li Chenglong didn't say much, as it was only the beginning and understandable.

Yunlan couldn't hold back any longer and said to Chu Kexin, "We're a team. I hope you can't just think of yourself and not your teammates. If you escape, it could lead to the collapse of the front line. A small leak can sink a great ship. I hope you can grow up quickly, even for your own sake." Chu Kexin cried pitifully, "I really didn't mean to, zombies are too scary, waaaah." Yunlan frowned at Li Chenglong. Li Chenglong indicated to leave it at that for now and then told everyone to continue. At this time, it was still winter in Xia Country, and Jinghai City was in the north, so it was quite cold. In order to complete the mission as soon as possible, everyone quickened their pace, killing any ordinary zombies they encountered along the way.

After walking for about twenty minutes, the group arrived at the entrance of a shopping mall. Seeing the mall reminded Li Chenglong of the supply search team that had encountered the mutated beast earlier that morning. Based on their description, the beast was likely a cat that had mutated. Li Chenglong said to Yunlan, "Come with me tomorrow and see if we can find that big cat. I'm almost leveled up, but fighting ordinary zombies is still too slow." Yunlan nodded, "The three of us should level up quickly. There aren't many superhumans these days who can fight them. If powerful zombies come, we'll have to be the ones to handle them." After only two minutes of rest, Li Chenglong told everyone to set off.

But then a cracking sound rang out, and a massive, orange-yellow body leaped gently from the second floor of the mall, shattering through the glass, onto the ground. Li Chenglong and Yun Lan immediately rushed forward, signaling everyone to retreat slowly. The cat, even without its tail, was nearly three meters long and at least 1.5 meters tall. Its greedy eyes stared at the group, meowing, as if it were about to devour them. Li Chenglong scanned it with his True Eye: Level 3 Mutant Cat, Constitution 40, Strength 40, Agility 50, Spirit 35. A domestic cat mutated due to a viral infection; its special moves were biting and claws. Wu Gang and Zheng Aiguo wanted to help, but Li Chenglong said, "You two lead the others to retreat more than 50 meters away. This beast is quite powerful; only the three of us can handle it. But you should also observe our teamwork."

No sooner had she finished speaking than the big cat lunged forward. Li Xue struck first, summoning two ice arrows that shot towards the cat like streaks of light. The big cat meowed and leaped twice to dodge the arrows. But just as it landed, Yun Lan unleashed a fiery slash in that direction. The big cat couldn't dodge in time, and its tail was struck by the slash, severing off a third of its tail. The big cat cried out in pain and charged towards Li Xue. Li Xue remained calm and immediately gathered her strength to create an ice wall. This was a skill she had learned at level three, but the ice wall was only at level one and still somewhat fragile. The big cat slammed it twice, and several cracks appeared in the ice wall.

Yunlan then unleashed a barrage of meteor showers from afar. Several bursts of fire rained down, and although the giant cat nimbly dodged, the large area covered by the fire still resulted in significant burns to its fur. However, the giant cat's defense was quite high; neither Li Xue's rapid-fire water bullets and ice arrows nor Yunlan's meteor showers caused it fatal damage. The Fiery Slash was also too slow, allowing the giant cat to escape. While the two were engaged in combat with the giant cat, they weren't idle either, already gathering their energy for a powerful attack. The white light emanating from their index and middle fingers was already dazzling. The giant cat seemed to sense the danger and prepared to flee, but Li Xue's ice arrows and Yunlan's fire rain blocked its path. "Powerful Attack!" Li Chenglong shouted, and a dazzling white light shot out from his joined index and middle fingers, almost instantly piercing the giant cat's body. "Meow!" the giant cat cried out in pain, collapsing to the ground after only a few steps. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Yunlan unleashed a Fiery Slash, slaying the large cat that wasn't quite dead yet.

But Li Chenglong didn't move at this moment, because his sea of ​​consciousness was currently surging with immense waves, constantly crashing against the Martial Power Tower. The Martial Power Tower was also blazing with white light, and suddenly a beam of white light shot out, breaking through the gate of the fourth level of the Martial Power Tower. Li Chenglong scanned his own data:

Li Chenglong, an S-rank True Dragon Spirit Body Level 4 Awakener, possesses Constitution 93, Strength 90, Agility 90, and Spirit 89. He has the following skills: Explosive Light Bullet Level 4 (Max Level 7), Balanced Development Level 4, Proficiency in Firearms, Proficiency in Melee Weapons, Storage Space Level 4 (Max Level 10), Focused Strike Level 3 (Max Level 6), Dragon Emperor Sword Level 2, and Eye of Truth. Having already accumulated considerable energy after the battle at the hospital, and now having slain a Level 3 Great Cat, he has directly evolved to Level 4. Li Chenglong then probed his consciousness into the fourth level of the Tower of Martial Power. The fourth level of the Tower of Martial Power contains only three scrolls, one of which is Star Dragon Slash: one of the Dragon Emperor Sword techniques. Using this technique releases a blue dragon energy wave formed from countless starlight condensed into it; the higher the user's level, the stronger the Star Dragon Slash. The other is the Dawn City blueprint: it requires three cyan crystals and ten green crystals to activate. Activation will automatically activate the Dawn City base, but the base's construction requires a large number of crystals to be supplied to the Dawn City core. The third scroll: True Dragon Body. The user's physique will gradually evolve into a True Dragon Body. Each subsequent level up will grant True Dragon bonuses to attributes, and will also activate True Dragon skills such as Dragon Scales, Dragon Flame, Dragon Ascension, and Dragon Blood.

Li Chenglong was dazzled by the descriptions. He first put away the Dawn City blueprint, as he couldn't use it for the time being; he didn't even have the yellow version, let alone the cyan one. Star Dragon Slash and True Dragon Body were two excellent skills, especially True Dragon Body. Upon hearing this, Li Chenglong immediately used it, and everyone heard a dragon's roar coming from him. Then, a golden energy resembling a golden dragon shot straight into the sky, but it vanished in an instant. Yun Lan felt that Li Chenglong gave off a different aura. If she didn't also possess the Fiery Phoenix Body, she would have wanted to bow down and worship Li Chenglong. Li Chenglong felt his power surging out wildly. He used the Eye of Truth to examine himself: Constitution 125, Strength 120, Agility 120, Spirit 115, almost double that of level three. He couldn't help but marvel at the power of the True Dragon Body.

Yunlan ran over first, excitedly saying, "Brother Long, you leveled up! I feel like you're different this time, you've suddenly become so powerful." Li Xue also came over and said, "Brother, that golden dragon energy was so strong just now, I felt like it was going to punch a hole in the sky." Li Chenglong patted Li Xue's hair: "Now that I have new abilities, I can better protect you." Yunlan and Li Xue nodded. Yunlan clenched her little fist and said, "Xue'er and I will level up as soon as possible, let's have a competition when we're both level 4." Li Chenglong laughed heartily: "Then you'd better hurry up, maybe I'll be level 5 by the time you're level 4." This made Yunlan roll her eyes. At this time, the people behind also caught up, congratulating Li Chenglong one after another. Yun Qian originally wanted to go over and chat with Li Chenglong for a few words, but seeing how close Yunlan and Li Chenglong were, she only said "Congratulations" and went to the back. Li Chenglong walked up to the big cat, searched for a while, found a yellow crystal, and threw it to Yunlan, telling her to keep it for later.

Li Chenglong glanced at his watch and pointed to the shopping mall behind him, saying, "Due to an unexpected situation, we were delayed for a while, so we've changed our plans. For the next 30 minutes, Yunlan and I will go in as a team. Then Xue'er, Wu Gang, and Zheng Aiguo will each lead three teams to explore the mall. If you encounter ordinary zombies, team up to kill them. If you encounter high-level zombies, immediately call for backup via walkie-talkie. Yunlan and I will go to the fourth floor. Xue'er, you take seven people to the third floor. Wu Gang, you take seven people to the second floor. Zheng Aiguo, you take six people to the first floor. With the two of us leading the way, there shouldn't be any danger. Oh, and don't forget to collect the crystals. Also, here's a little bonus for you. Our supply scavenging team has only been to this mall once so far, and we still have a lot of supplies left. I'll give each of you a backpack. You can take anything you need, but this is a one-time thing, don't do it again." After saying that, he took out the backpacks he had collected in Qing'an Town from his storage space and distributed them to them. Everyone was overjoyed.

Li Chenglong and Yun Lan entered the mall first. They didn't encounter many zombies along the way. He first went to the warehouse of the supermarket on the first floor and found that it had been almost completely looted. It seemed that in addition to the Second Company's supply search team, many other survivors had been there. So he activated his storage space ability and put all the daily necessities, such as 50kg bags of rice, flour, cooking oil, salt, and sugar, into it. His storage space was now at level four, measuring 8 meters long, 8 meters wide, and 16 meters high. Although it couldn't hold a lot, every little bit counted. After this operation, Li Chenglong had taken almost half of the mall's food supplies: 100 bags of rice, 100 barrels of cooking oil, 100 bags of flour, 500 bags of salt, and 50 bags of 50kg sugar. Seeing that they had collected enough, Li Chenglong and Yunlan continued their shopping spree, adding to their collection of potato chips, dried tofu, sausages, luncheon meat, milk, and even about 200 bottles of alcohol. Since time was frozen in their storage space, the items wouldn't spoil no matter how they were stored. Thanks to Li Chenglong's efforts, the storage space was almost full.

Li Chenglong and Yun Lan walked from the first floor to the fourth floor. Li Chenglong said, "It would be great if you had a storage space too, so I could put even more in." Yun Lan rolled her eyes at Li Chenglong, "You've collected so much food and supplies, what about the survivors? They consume a lot every day." Li Chenglong nodded and said, "This is also to push them a bit. If we keep giving them food unconditionally like this, they'll definitely become lazy. Only when they feel a sense of crisis will they have the motivation to work hard." Yun Lan nodded. At this moment, Li Chenglong mysteriously took out three or four packages and handed them to Yun Lan. Yun Lan looked at Li Chenglong with surprise when she saw that they were sanitary napkins. "I noticed that you seem to have started your period, but I don't know which kind you should use, so I'm giving you one of each. I have many more here, just ask me for them later," Li Chenglong said in a low voice. At this moment, Yunlan carefully examined herself and immediately blushed: "How did you know! You pervert!" Li Chenglong told her about the Eye of Truth, and Yunlan clenched her fist and waved it at Li Chenglong: "Don't talk to me again." But she still grabbed her sanitary napkins and ran to the fourth-floor restroom. Li Chenglong took the opportunity to browse around the clothing market on the fourth floor, collecting hundreds of different kinds of clothes and putting them into his storage space. Ten minutes later, Yunlan, her face slightly flushed, came to Li Chenglong and said: "I didn't expect you to be so observant. Actually, I didn't even realize it myself." Li Chenglong smiled, picked Yunlan up, and spun her around a few times, making Yunlan giggle.

Five minutes later, Li Chenglong, seeing it was time to assemble, immediately spoke into the walkie-talkie: "Everyone, assemble in the plaza in front of the mall within five minutes. Anyone late will have to do 50 push-ups and won't be training with us tomorrow." He then pulled Yunlan down to the plaza. When Li Chenglong arrived, he found all the other members already there, their backpacks stuffed full, their faces beaming. Li Chenglong stepped forward: "Please report your results from today's zombie-clearing operation. I'll go first, Li Chenglong: 68 zombies killed, 20 white crystals obtained." Yunlan followed, saying, "Yunlan: 50 zombies killed, 17 white crystals obtained..." Everyone reported their results. The 25 people collectively killed over 530 zombies and seized 176 crystals. Li Chenglong said, "You level one ability users can level up by consuming white crystals, but once you reach level two, they're useless. You can hand them over to us then, but we won't give them away for nothing; you'll receive various rewards. Go back tonight and try to level up, especially those who have killed a lot of zombies—they should have enough experience by now. But when you level up, be careful to find a relatively open area and don't destroy the hospital."

After a pause, Li Chenglong continued, "Start running now, destination: First People's Hospital. Anyone who falls behind will have half of their backpack contents confiscated." He and Yun Lan then led the way, but to accommodate the slower-moving ability users, they kept their pace slow. Fifteen minutes later, all 25 people had returned to the hospital. Li Chenglong signaled for them to disperse, and he and Yun Lan went upstairs.