binnovel Chapter 242 Warm-up for the Exchange Competition
Chapter 242 Warm-up for the Exchange Competition
On October 12th, Li Chenglong and his group of 75 finally arrived at the Anxi Base. They received even more courtesy this time than before; before they even reached the center of the Anxi Base, members of the China Temporary Zombie Countermeasures Committee came out to greet them. Because Li Chenglong's Eastern Theater Command was the furthest from the other two theater commands where the meeting was being held, they were the last to arrive, despite their hurried journey.
Zhao Wannian, the Director of the Provisional General Affairs Council of China, and Chen Guoqiang, the Chairman of the Provisional Military Commission of China, personally came out of their offices to meet with Li Chenglong and others. Director Zhao Wannian praised Sun Tianlong's Eastern Theater Command's performance in this major battle and chatted with Chen Guoqiang for a long time. They had been friends for nearly thirty years, and since Sun Tianlong had once again led his theater command to victory, they naturally had to have a good talk.
Chen Guoqiang shook hands and had friendly exchanges with the top leaders of the four bases of the Eastern Theater Command one by one. The top leaders of the four bases of the Eastern Theater Command, namely Sun Qingpeng and Gao Shixin of Qingshui Base, Xu Limin and Wei Jing of Feiyun Base, Li Chenglong and Yun Lan of Shuguang Base, and Sun Tianlong and Kong Liang of Qianyun Base, were all present.
On the one hand, this was a requirement of the meeting, as some bases needed to be commended, and an emergency meeting of the three theater commands was to be held, requiring the participation of the highest levels of leadership. On the other hand, they all wanted to come to headquarters in person, meet with the main leaders of the other bases, deepen their understanding, and see if there were any opportunities for cooperation.
After introductions and pleasantries, the main leaders of the various bases in the three war zones got to know each other. In the afternoon, a conference and commendation ceremony were held to exchange ideas among the three war zones. To encourage everyone's enthusiasm, the scope of the commendations was broad, with virtually all the leaders of the bases attending the meeting receiving awards. Li Chenglong and others were even personally awarded medals by General Chen Guoqiang.
Chen Guoqiang patted Li Chenglong on the shoulder with a smile: "Although we didn't advance any further this time, we've given you everything else we were supposed to. To compensate you, we'll give you more crystals from Dawn City this time." Li Chenglong saluted and said with a smile: "Commander, that's secondary. Crystals are all that matters. Crystals are the lifeline of the army right now."
Currently, the Central Theater Command has four main bases, the Northern Theater Command has three, and the Eastern Theater Command has four. At this commendation ceremony, all the highest-ranking military leaders of the bases, except for Li Chenglong, were nominally appointed as deputy commanders and awarded the rank of lieutenant general; however, only one person was appointed per base. Furthermore, the Qianyun, Anxi, and Hohhot bases, as the main bases of their respective theater commands and already the locations of their headquarters, were not further promoted.
Following this conferment ceremony, Xu Limin of Feiyun Base and Sun Qingpeng of Qingshui Base were both promoted to lieutenant general, while the remaining army-level and deputy army-level officers were also awarded the rank of major general. Of course, these rewards are not given lightly; the Eastern Theater Command will now be primarily responsible for defending against the sea monsters in the eastern seas and the zombie army in the southeast, a considerable burden indeed.
That evening, Chen Guoqiang and Zhao Wannian hosted a banquet for the heads of various bases and delegation members who had come to attend the meeting. The Ye brothers, Ye Xuan and Ye Kai, arrived at the table where Li Chenglong and the others were sitting. Ye Kai said with a smile, "General Li, you're not going to participate in the competition too, are you? If you do, then our two war zones won't have a chance at all." Shangguan Jingyun from Black Gold City also came over with a drink and said with a smile, "I'm participating this time too. I was hoping to get first place, but with Commander Li here, I can only go back to the bottom."
Li Chenglong stood up and shook hands with the three people before saying, "No, no, I won't be participating this time. Let me introduce you to the four team members sent by Dawn City. This is Yun Lan, my wife. You three have met her before. These two girls, one big and one small, are my sisters, Li Xue and Han Xiaoling. The last one, the short-haired female officer, is my special forces captain, Yang Liu."
Ye Kai and Ye Xuan had met them before in Dawn City and exchanged greetings. Shangguan Jingyun had met Yun Lan and Yang Liu before, but this was her first time meeting Li Xue and Han Xiaoling. She went over and chatted with the four women for a long time, and they laughed frequently, indicating that they got along well. Ye Kai exclaimed, "Strong, incredibly strong! Two level 9 Awakened, one level 8 Awakened, and one level 8 Ability User. It seems Brother Li is determined to win the championship this time."
Li Chenglong shook his head: "No, no, your Central Theater Command is not bad either. Comrade Shangguan Jingyun is now a Level 9 Awakener, Ye Kai, you've reached Level 9 too, right? And I just saw a Level 10 dual-elemental ability user. Who is that person? Can you introduce him to me?" Ye Kai said in a low voice: "That's our Central Theater Command's top combat force, a Level 10 dual-elemental ability user of both lightning and wood elements, named Xu Chu. He has the same name as an ancient general, and he's also tall and strong, with extremely formidable strength."
Ye Xuan added, "This time, there are 16 people from each of the three war zones participating in the competition. As far as we know, there are only two level 10 individuals. One is Xu Chu, whom I just mentioned, and the other is Ding Hai, the top combatant in the Northern War Zone. He is a level 10 ability user with wind, fire, and strength abilities. In terms of strength, he may be even stronger than Xu Chu."
After dinner, the political officers of each base were summoned for a meeting. Zheng Yong did not attend this time, but Feng Tian, accompanied by his bodyguard Xu Sanqiang, went as representatives of Dawn City and the Dawn Army. Li Chenglong and his four teammates who participated in the exchange competition, along with 10 special forces members, sat in the courtyard that had been arranged for them. The courtyard was quite large, with many houses. According to the arrangements of Anxi Base, each base had a courtyard as temporary accommodation during this meeting and exchange competition.
Li Chenglong sat in the courtyard and told them about the formidable opponents he might encounter in the competition that day, and shared some information he had obtained from Ye Kai and his own True Dragon Eye. When they learned that both the Northern and Central Theater Commands had Level 10 ability users with considerable strength, everyone was quite surprised.
Because the ability users of Dawn City and the Dawn Army have all fought their way up, engaging in countless battles and facing life-or-death situations many times. However, so far, among the more than 4000 ability users in Dawn City and the Dawn Army, only Li Chenglong has reached level 10.
Li Chenglong said with a smile, "It's nothing. Although they sent a level 10 participant this time, our Yunlan and Li Xue are both level 9 awakeners. I believe Yunlan can defeat Xu Chu and Ding Hai relatively easily. As for Xue'er, since she is more support-oriented, she has a higher chance of winning against Xu Chu, but it will be more difficult against Ding Hai. I have looked at Ding Hai carefully, and his attributes are higher than Li Xue's except for spirit."
He paused, then added, "As for Han Xiaoling, everyone has witnessed your strength. You easily defeated an 8th-level zombie on the battlefield recently. With your strength, if you were to take it seriously, fighting those 8th-level warriors would be relatively easy. As for Yang Liu, although she is a wood-type ability user, both her combat skills and the use of her abilities are superb. Among all the participants in this exchange competition, there are two 10th-level individuals, 12 9th-level individuals, and the rest are 8th-level individuals. I believe Yang Liu will definitely have no problem making it into the top 20."
After Li Chenglong finished speaking, the four contestants also stated their goals. Yun Lan smiled and said, "My goal is definitely first place, no doubt about it. As an SS-level Dragon-Phoenix Body Awakener, my average attributes are even higher than Ding Hai's at level 10. Besides, it's been a long time since I've had a good fight, so I'm going to take first place this time."
Li Xue continued, "My goal is to be in the top 5. I only recently reached level 9, and I haven't gained any offensive skills in these two levels. If I encounter someone with particularly strong burst damage, I might not be able to beat them, but I'm still confident of getting into the top 5." Han Xiaoling and Yang Liu also stated their goals. Han Xiaoling's goal was to be in the top 12, and Yang Liu's goal was to be in the top 20, both relatively stable goals.
As originally planned, the personnel from each base were to rest and adjust for two days, giving the Anxi base time to set up a competition venue. During these two days, Li Chenglong personally trained with the special forces members, acting as a sparring partner for four of them, striving to help them perform at their best in the competition.