Dragon Transformation in the Apocalypse

Chapter 23 Searching for Food

Several days passed, and as the Dawn Base gradually took root in Qing'an Town, survivors from some surrounding villages also arrived at the base with the search team. According to the base's regulations, newcomers were provided with food and temporary accommodation, and if necessary, some medical support was also provided. Two professional psychological counselors were even prepared for some people.

Just after lunch, Yun Qian came over to report: "Captain Li, as of noon today, our base has a total of 2347 people, including 60 superhumans. Besides you, Yun Lan, and Xue'er, there are 5 level 3 superhumans and 37 level 2 superhumans." Li Chenglong nodded: "You've really worked hard. Now that we have so many people, you can ask Wu Suqiang and Liu Qingqing to help you more." Yun Qian was about to say something when Wu Gang's report came from outside.

"Come in!" Li Chenglong said. Wu Gang walked in, looking travel-worn, picked up the water glass on the table, and took two gulps. He said between gulps, "Boss, we set off yesterday afternoon, walked over 30 kilometers of mountain roads, and couldn't make it back in time, so we rested here. Later, we met some survivors, and one of them provided some very useful information, so I brought him here." Li Chenglong asked suspiciously, "What kind of information is so useful? By the way, you haven't finished eating yet, have you? I'll have Xue'er tell the canteen to heat up the food we saved for you and send it over." Wu Gang waved his hand, "We'll eat later. I want you to see him quickly, and the situation seems a bit urgent." With that, Wu Gang let the man in.

The man who entered was a middle-aged man in his forties, with a protruding belly. His clothes were somewhat worn, probably due to his escape. Wu Gang said, "Tell me what you said again." The man said, "I'm so hungry. Is there anything to eat? Give me some food and I'll talk." Li Chenglong put his left hand into his pocket and pulled out a 250g pack of soda crackers. Of course, taking it out of his pocket was just an illusion; he actually took it out of his storage ring. Then he poured him a glass of water and said, "Eat first, and talk while you eat." The man grabbed the crackers, tore open the packaging, and started stuffing them into his mouth. He finished the whole pack of crackers in just a few bites. However, soda crackers are very dry, so he choked on them, comically patting his chest, and then drank the water in the glass in one gulp.

Li Chenglong waited until the man finished eating before speaking, "Alright, you've eaten enough. Why don't you tell us that important news, and then Captain Wu Gang will take you to the canteen for a meal. As long as the information you give is useful, you can eat as much as you want." The man then slowly said, "I work for the Long'an County Grain Bureau. I know a county grain storage point, one of which is almost full, conservatively estimated at 200 tons. But it's very dangerous there. There are several mutated beasts like the ones you mentioned. We originally wanted to go, but we were scared away when we saw them. Also, it seems that several forces have their eyes on that grain depot." Upon hearing this, Li Chenglong immediately asked, "Where exactly is it? If you tell us and we successfully obtain a large amount of grain, I will give you the position of a squad leader, guaranteeing you a life of comfort." The man gave Li Chenglong the detailed address, which Li Chenglong marked on the map before having Wu Gang take him to eat.

Yun Qian glanced at the map and said, "It's about 40km away. We can give it a try." Li Chenglong nodded and immediately used the walkie-talkie to notify Zheng Aiguo, instructing him to send half of his Second Company to assemble immediately. Li Chenglong looked at the map again: "40 kilometers isn't a long distance, but it's not short either. I'll get the troops assembled right away. Then you arrange four trucks for us. I'll go get Yun Lan. We'll depart in 15 minutes!" He then walked out. Li Chenglong walked to the drill ground behind the town office compound and saw Yun Lan training the newly recruited soldiers of the Dawn Army. The recruits listened with great interest to Yun Lan's explanation of the weak zombie squad and demonstration of combat techniques. When Yunlan saw Li Chenglong arrive, she instructed them to continue their training. Then she walked over and said, "Are you here to inspect our work?" Li Chenglong told her about the grain depot. Yunlan said, "When the zombie virus broke out, many grain depots were damaged by the falling spheres, and the grain was contaminated. I didn't expect that there would be a large grain depot that is still so well preserved. What are we waiting for? Let's set off immediately." After saying that, she handed over the remaining training to the others and left with Li Chenglong.

In less than 15 minutes, 60 men, led by Company Commander Zheng Aiguo, had assembled in the office compound. Zheng Aiguo saluted Li Chenglong: "Reporting, Captain Li, as per your request, half of the Second Company is dispatching for this mission. Please give instructions!" Li Chenglong glanced at the group: "They're starting to look good. This time, our mission is to search for grain 40 kilometers away. Time is tight, and the workload is heavy. Everyone, be prepared. Okay, get in the trucks." After saying this, he first greeted Zheng Yong and Li Xue, then got into the driver's seat of the off-road vehicle. The sixty soldiers immediately boarded the truck, and the group set off in a grand procession.

Because Wu Gang and his group had just passed through this area, they hadn't encountered many zombies. Yun Lan fiddled with her hat drawstring in the car, looking at the broken walls and ruins beside her, and said, "Zombies are more destructive now. Although we've been hunting zombies quite often these past few days, we feel like we're still a bit far from leveling up." Li Chenglong said while driving, "The highest level zombie we've encountered recently is only level 2. They're not enough to be our experience points. But we can't go too far, so when we heard there were mutated beasts around the grain depot, we thought we'd bring you along to see if we could level up. If we're both level 5, then we'll be confident we can move to Linhai City."

After driving for over an hour, the group finally arrived at the perimeter of the grain depot mentioned by the staff member. Li Chenglong immediately activated his True Sight to scan the area and discovered four relatively large creatures, presumably mutated beasts. Just as they were about to enter, they heard sounds of fighting inside and saw several vans parked at the gate. Li Chenglong signaled for them to remain on guard, and then he and Yunlan crept up to them.

Two people approached from the side and jumped onto the high wall outside the granary to observe the situation inside. They saw two groups attacking a pig, but this pig was enormous, no smaller than the giant rooster they had killed recently. Li Chenglong lowered his voice and said, "These two groups are quite formidable; each has a level three ability user." Yun Lan was a little curious and asked, "They're working together to fight that pig, how do you know they're two groups?" Li Chenglong pointed to a few of the people and said, "Those people are wearing stab-proof vests. Of course, a stab-proof vest alone doesn't tell the whole story; it's the fighting style that matters. The group wearing stab-proof vests has clearly received some training, though it's not very obvious, and it's not military technique, more like jujitsu. The other group is just fighting on instinct; except for the level three ability user, they're basically just fighting blindly." Yun Lan nodded and continued to observe the situation in front of the granary.

At this point, the two groups were locked in a fierce battle with the giant pig. One of the two level-three ability users was a fire-type, the other a strength-type. The fire-type user periodically unleashed fireballs at the mutated beast, while the strength-type user used stone blocks to smash it. Although the mutated beast was level three, its aggression was very low. Li Chenglong found this strange; a level-three mutated beast shouldn't be so weak. He activated his True Eye and saw: a mutated domestic pig, infected and mutated, with a gentle temperament and its attack method being charging. Its attributes were: Constitution 50, Strength 49, Agility 30, Spirit 33. "So it's a mutated domestic pig. No wonder it doesn't even have tusks," Li Chenglong thought to himself. Under the relentless attacks of the two level-three ability users and others, the level-three mutated pig, despite its thick hide, gradually succumbed and collapsed.

The tall, thin, level-three fire-elemental ability user said, "Finally killed it. I wonder if this pig is edible." The fat strength-elemental ability user said, "If you want to eat it, you Little Knife Gang will. We, the Mad Knife Gang, wouldn't stoop to eating this stuff." He then prepared to go inside to move the food. Yun Lan approached Li Chenglong at this moment, "What should we do? They're moving the food." Li Chenglong hesitated, "If we go in now, wouldn't that be considered stealing food? I feel uneasy. I can be ruthless towards zombies or monsters, but I still can't quite bring myself to do it with ordinary people." Yun Lan pinched Li Chenglong hard, "What are you thinking about at a time like this? We have over two thousand people to feed. This is the apocalypse, not peacetime. Put away your compassionate heart."

The two were still discussing when they noticed the two groups below had started fighting. The tall, thin man shouted, "You Mad Blade Gang are shameless! So much food, and you only have a few carts. It'll take you days to haul it all away. Can you even eat it all? Besides, we were the ones who killed the monsters together to get the food, and you're trying to hoard it all!" The fat man said, "Then don't blame me. These days, food is everything. Once I get the food, I don't care if you live or die." With that, the two started fighting again, and the remaining underlings joined in the brawl. Yun Lan said, "You see? This is what humanity is like in the post-apocalyptic world." Li Chenglong sighed and said, "Indeed, I can't look at things with old eyes anymore. As the leader of a small base, I must consider my own people first."

Li Chenglong called Zheng Aiguo via walkie-talkie, ordering him to send five men to guard the vehicles and the rest to immediately move into the granary. After saying this, he and Yunlan jumped off the wall. The two groups were engrossed in their battle and didn't notice Li Chenglong and Yunlan's arrival. Then, they heard synchronized footsteps outside and stopped. Although there were two groups, they only numbered about 30 people in total. Seeing a group enter, they immediately ceased fighting. Li Chenglong and Yunlan stepped forward. Li Chenglong smiled and said, "This granary has been occupied by our Dawn Army. Out of humanitarian spirit, I can give each of you a cartload of grain. If you'd like, you can join us, but our recruitment criteria are quite high; we don't accept those of questionable character."

The tall, skinny man was enraged: "Who do you think you are, trying to recruit us? Don't be fooled by your numbers, I'm not someone to be trifled with!" He then launched a fireball at Li Chenglong. Zheng Aiguo, furious, fired a dirt bomb, shattering the fireball, and then charged at the skinny man, giving him a sound beating. The skinny man's gang, not expecting their level-three leader to be so badly beaten, threw down their weapons and surrendered. Seeing this, the fat man also shouted, "We surrender! We surrender!" After Zheng Aiguo's attack, the skinny man, bruised and battered, lay motionless on the ground. Li Chenglong continued, "I'll repeat myself one last time: out of humanitarian concern, we can each send you a cartload of grain, but because of that man's actions, he has declared war on us. So, take that piece of trash and get out of here. If he's still in my sight in two minutes, get rid of him." Hearing this, the skinny man's gang quickly picked him up and ran away.

Li Chenglong then looked at the fat man: "What's your name?" The fat man scratched his head and blurted out, "My name is Zhao Rui, I'm 30 years old, the leader of the Mad Blade Gang. These 13 people are all my brothers. Our stronghold is in a village about 1 kilometer from here, and there are dozens of people in the village..." Seeing that the fat man was going on and on, Li Chenglong quickly stopped him: "Stop! I know, I said it again, we can give you a truckload of grain from the granary, what do you think?" Zhao Rui immediately nodded: "Okay, whatever you say, brother." The granary door was very heavy, with an electronic lock, and it would be difficult to open without a password. Zheng Aiguo went up and activated his superpower, but the door wouldn't budge after a few tries. Li Chenglong drew his Dragon Emperor Sword, ready to cleave it open. Yun Lan stepped forward and said, "Your sword is too powerful, what if you accidentally cleave it all away? Let me do it."

After speaking, Yun Lan walked to the gate, placed her right hand over her right eye, and separated her ring and middle fingers to reveal her eye: "Eye of Exorcism!" Instantly, a completely black phoenix flew back and forth in her right eye, and then the gate was suddenly surrounded by black flames and burned, melting away in a short while. Everyone present was almost speechless with shock, and Zhao Rui even shouted, "My God, what terrifying power is this?" In fact, even the Dawn Army's ability users were seeing this for the first time, since Yun Lan had never used this skill since learning it. Yun Lan smiled at Li Chenglong: "How about it, isn't this girl amazing!" Li Chenglong clapped and said, "This move is indeed powerful. I feel that even a level five zombie could be instantly killed by this move." After saying that, Li Chenglong immediately led Zheng Aiguo and the others into the granary with Yun Lan.