binnovel Chapter 241 Exchange Competition
Chapter 241 Exchange Competition
Time flies, and it's already early October. Early October has two major holidays: National Day and the Mid-Autumn Festival. On National Day, Dawn City held a grand celebration to commemorate its second National Day. Besides National Day, there's also Dawn Festival, celebrating the founding of Dawn City, officially set for April 27th.
October 6th on the Gregorian calendar is also the Mid-Autumn Festival, a traditional Chinese festival. Li Chenglong notified Yun Qian and Shen Menghua half a month in advance, asking them to collaborate and try to produce a batch of mooncakes with various fillings before the festival, hoping that every resident of Shuguang City could receive two. After receiving the notification, the two began working diligently. After half a month of effort, Shen Menghua estimated that the Shuguang City food processing factory had produced at least 400,000 mooncakes. With a population of 180,000 in Shuguang City, this was more than enough.
That evening, Li Chenglong and his family, along with several other people from the Central Computer Office who were also without family, gathered at Li Chenglong's house. They ate dinner, watched the Mid-Autumn Festival commemorative gala on television, and chatted occasionally, appearing quite content. The staff of the Central Computer Office was now finalized; including Li Chenglong, there were a total of 13 people. Because operating these instruments required supernatural abilities, these individuals were all also supernatural users.
To alleviate Wang Jie's stress, Li Chenglong found her an assistant. After several rounds of screening and review, he finally selected Pei Ji, a 24-year-old ordinary man, as his second office assistant. Pei Ji was also a graduate student from a prestigious university, and his major was somewhat similar to Wang Jie's, so he could help Wang Jie handle some things.
Although no new movements of the zombie army have been detected recently, Li Chenglong and the Feiyun and Qingshui bases have dispatched several reconnaissance teams, but all have returned empty-handed. Now he has no idea what the zombies are up to, and can only instruct the information support team to keep a close eye on things so that Dawn City and the Dawn Army can respond quickly in case of any emergencies.
On the morning of October 7th, General Chen Guoqiang sent a message, saying he wanted to hold a commendation meeting at the headquarters of the Central Theater Command to recognize individuals and groups that made outstanding contributions in this major battle. At the same time, to deepen communication between the various theater commands, Chen Guoqiang planned to gather some top experts from the relatively geographically close Central, Eastern, and Northern Theater Commands for an exchange competition, and then distribute prizes according to the rankings. However, he also emphasized that friendship came first, competition second; results were not important, the most important thing was to enhance relations between the various theater commands.
Li Chenglong thought for a moment and agreed. Firstly, General Chen Guoqiang's suggestion wasn't harmful, and secondly, it was a good opportunity to assess the strength of each base. Chen Guoqiang then sent a form specifying three participating war zones, each sending 16 players. The competition would be a points-based system, with each player fighting against four players from the other two war zones. A victory would earn 3 points, and a loss 1 point. The top 32 players with the highest scores would be the final 32, and then their opponents would be determined by drawing lots.
General Chen Guoqiang also suggested sending high-level combat personnel to the competition to showcase the strength of their respective war zones and bases, and to boost public confidence in fighting the zombies. After discussing with the heads of the other three bases, Li Chenglong decided to distribute the teams evenly, with each base sending four people, for a total of 16.
The list of participants from Dawn City has already been finalized. The military is currently undergoing restoration and expansion, and many newly enlisted soldiers urgently need training, so military officers will not be selected. However, apart from the military officers, there don't seem to be any other high-combat-capable units in Dawn City. After some consideration, Li Chenglong decided that his four teammates who would participate are Yun Lan, Li Xue, Han Xiaoling, and Yang Liu.
Li Chenglong brought Yunlan along mainly because Yunlan hadn't left Dawn City even once since giving birth. Now that the baby was weaned, and Qin Fangyu wasn't busy lately, she came to play with her grandson all the time. So Yunlan decided to let her mother take care of her for a few days, allowing her and Li Chenglong to relax. Li Xue, needless to say, had already reached Level 9 Awakened during the last great battle, making her quite powerful. Han Xiaoling and Yang Liu were currently both Level 8, but one was an Awakened and the other a veteran wood-attribute ability user; both were quite strong.
Li Chenglong and Feng Tian were going to attend a meeting on this trip, along with four participating team members and Feng Tian's bodyguard, making a total of seven people. The special forces team would also send ten members to accompany them. The teams from the four bases would still gather in Shuguang City, where the zombies had been largely cleared after the last major battle, making their journey relatively faster. According to the plan, they would arrive at the Anxi base on October 12th.
Since both Li Chenglong and Yun Lan are going on this trip, Dawn City is essentially without a supreme leader. According to Dawn City law, all matters concerning Dawn City will be discussed and decided jointly by Ma Tiancheng, Yun Qian, and Shen Menghua. Major matters will require consultation with Li Chenglong. As for the Dawn Army, it will be managed by Zheng Yong.
The four bases together only had 75 people, all traveling in off-road vehicles or SUVs, making them very convenient and swift to move around. Li Chenglong and the four women sat in one car, and Yunlan said with a smile, "I've been staying in Dawn City for eight months now, without even once. This time I can finally come out for a walk and relax. Besides, because I haven't participated in any battles, my level has fallen behind."
Han Xiaoling blinked: "No, apart from my brother who's level 10, the highest level the others have is level 9. Although there are a few more level 9s after the last great battle, currently the Dawn Army and Dawn City combined only have 26 level 9s." Yun Lan laughed and said: "Aren't 26 a lot? Back then, I was at least two levels ahead of the other ability users. Now, not only have I been caught up, but I guess some people have reached level 10 faster than me. No, I have to participate in the battle next time."
As she spoke, Yunlan pinched the flesh on Li Chenglong's right rib hard: "You must take me with you next time you fight, understand?" Li Chenglong nodded: "Yes, I will definitely take you next time." Li Xue then asked: "Brother, don't you still have some level 9 crystals? Can't you give them to your sister-in-law? That way, she can level up faster."
Yunlan then said, "You haven't used high-level crystals to upgrade yet, have you? Actually, after level 9, you can't use crystals to upgrade anymore? A long time ago, he gave me a few level 9 crystals to upgrade, but I found that I couldn't absorb them. He tried it too, but it didn't work either." Yang Liu's eyes widened: "So that's how it is. No wonder."
Li Chenglong added, "I also learned this from a book my teacher gave me. After level 9, crystals can no longer be used as upgrade materials. To upgrade, you have to go through arduous training and battles to gradually increase your energy reserves. Moreover, upgrading is not 100% successful. Some people may be stuck at level 9 due to their aptitude and potential."
Han Xiaoling asked, "Then high-grade crystals will be useless?" Yun Lan smiled and said, "How could they be useless? We will be fighting aliens later, and various weapons and spaceships will require high-grade crystals to be used in their production. Although crystals cannot be used for upgrades, they can still be used to restore energy. Therefore, crystals will always be a very important strategic resource, and we should collect as many as possible."
The group chatted as they drove toward their destination, finally arriving at the Anxi base at noon on October 12.