Dragon Transformation in the Apocalypse

Chapter 37 On the eve of the war

A month and a half had passed since the full-scale zombie outbreak, and five days had already passed since the Lunar New Year. However, no one at Dawn Base intended to celebrate the holiday, as they were all prepared to celebrate only after successfully capturing Apocalypse Base and achieving a partial victory. Early the next morning, Li Chenglong got up and washed up. He planned to let Yun Lan sleep in while he trained the special operations company.

He arrived at Shen Menghua's dormitory. Before he could knock, the door opened. Shen Menghua was about to leave when she saw Li Chenglong and quickly asked if something was wrong. Li Chenglong said, "I wanted to lead the special operations company in training this morning. Han Xiaoling is also a member of the special operations company, so I came to call her. Is she up yet?" Shen Menghua looked back into the room and said, "No, but she'll be soon. I just called them both." Li Chenglong continued, "Sister Shen, how are things going with the logistics department?" Shen Menghua smiled and said, "The people in the logistics department are all very good. Yunqian and Li Xue are all very hardworking, but they are still a bit too young. I found quite a few problems yesterday. Yunqian said that in order for your expedition tomorrow, everything must be ready today, so I got up early to go and help. By the way, when you go to training, please take Yuechan with you too."

Shen Menghua paused, then continued, "Captain Li, there's something I need to tell you. There are quite a few children under 14 in the base right now. I saw the statistics yesterday, and there were over 300. We can't just let them run wild. Once we get to the new location, could we set up a school and find some teachers so they can learn something?" Li Chenglong nodded in agreement. "Yunlan, Zheng Yong, and I have discussed this, but we haven't had time before. Once we take over the Tianqi base, we'll have someone get involved." Shen Menghua checked the time and hurriedly left. Li Chenglong entered the room. The dormitory had two rooms, an inner one for living quarters and an ensuite bathroom, and an outer one set up as a living room. Li Chenglong called to the two people inside to get up, but after several calls, there was only a response, no sound of them getting up.

Li Chenglong checked his watch; it was 6:30, 30 minutes before the special operations company's assembly time. It was impossible for him to just go in and wake the girls. After thinking for a moment, Li Chenglong had a sudden inspiration. He used his walkie-talkie to call Yang Liu, the deputy captain of the special operations company. Yang Liu was a girl, making it convenient for her to go in and wake them. A short while later, Yang Liu arrived and chuckled after hearing Li Chenglong's explanation: "They're just little girls, it's no trouble for you to go in and wake them." Li Chenglong waved his hand in refusal. Less than two minutes later, Yang Liu brought the two girls out and told them to wash up. Yang Liu even thoughtfully tied Cao Yuechan's hair into a small ponytail. After the two girls finished their last task—folding their blankets—Li Chenglong and Yang Liu took them to the special operations company's exclusive training area.

The Special Agent Company currently has only 27 members, including Li Chenglong and Yun Lan. Yun Lan is the captain, and Yang Liu is the vice-captain. Although Li Chenglong also holds the title of vice-captain, he has basically not been involved in the company's operations. Even Yun Lan is sometimes too busy to oversee the company's training. Li Chenglong looked at the Special Agent Company's roster: there is currently one Level 10 ability user, ten Level 14 ability users, and fourteen Level 1 ability users. Their resumes show they come from all walks of life, including nurses, veterans, white-collar workers, factory workers, delivery drivers, computer engineers, and more. According to Li Chenglong's requirements, all members are under 30 years old.

The group had already assembled at the training ground when they saw Li Chenglong and Yang Liu leading two little girls over. Han Xiaoling and the others had met them yesterday, and today an even younger girl had arrived. A young woman joked, "Could this little girl be Captain Li's child?" A burst of laughter erupted. Yang Liu was about to reprimand them when Li Chenglong smiled and said, "No, no, this is my little sister. Don't let her age fool you; some of you might not be able to beat her." A delivery driver protested, "Impossible! She looks only eight or nine. We can't beat her?" Li Chenglong asked with a smile, "Are you a Level 8 Strength Awakener? What's your name? Want to test your strength against this little girl?" The delivery driver gave a slightly awkward salute, "My name is Wang Fafa. I'd be willing to try, but she's so young. I'm afraid my strength might be too great and hurt her." Before Li Chenglong could say anything, Cao Yuechan stepped forward and said, "I challenge you. You're not afraid of this little girl, are you?"

Upon hearing that he had been looked down upon by the little girl, Wang Fafa activated his supernatural ability, saying, "Let's try it then, but I'll only use 30% of my strength, little girl, be careful." He then charged towards Cao Yuechan. Level one strength-based supernatural beings have very limited attack methods, limited to close-quarters combat or weapon-based melee. Just as Wang Fafa charged, Cao Yuechan used her lightning shield to send him flying, followed by a bolt of lightning striking the ground beside him. Wang Fafa was startled and quickly sat up, saying, "This little girl is also a supernatural being? She can even control lightning! I lost." Li Chenglong gathered everyone together: "Wang Fafa, don't be discouraged. Yuechan is already level two, with higher attributes than you, and she's a lightning-based supernatural being, which is a good counter to you. Elemental and elemental mutant supernatural beings are powerful, but their energy consumption is also relatively fast. If you face such enemies in the future, remember not to fight blindly, but to utilize the team's strength."

At this moment, someone in the team raised their hand and asked, "Captain Li, Vice Captain Yang Liu is a Level 3 Wood-type Ability User, and Captain Yun Lan seems to be a Fire-type Ability User. So what type of Ability User are you?" Li Chenglong then seriously thought about what type he was. Among the Awakened Users he had encountered so far, Yun Lan was Fire-type, Li Xue was Water-type, Han Xiaoling was Wind-type, and Sun Xiao, whom he had killed, was a Strength-type, but he really didn't know what type he was. Li Chenglong smiled and replied, "What type I am is a secret. You'll find out after you fight alongside me more often. Alright, let's begin training now."

More than twenty people began group training. These groups were formed by Yun Lan based on the characteristics of their special abilities, so that they could maximize their combat effectiveness in later battles. Li Chenglong carefully observed and provided guidance to each person. During the break, he heard that no one had eaten, so he took out food from his storage space and distributed it to everyone. As soon as the morning training ended, Yun Lan came to the training ground and whispered a few words to Li Chenglong. Li Chenglong said to everyone, "In order to prepare for tomorrow's battle, Captain Yun Lan and I will not participate in the afternoon training. You will practice well under Yang Liu's guidance. After discussing it, we have decided to take the Special Service Company to observe and learn from tomorrow's battle. However, it all depends on your willingness. Those who want to go, please sign up with Yang Liu. Okay, dismissed, rest." After speaking, Li Chenglong and Yun Lan led the two girls to the canteen in the office compound. Now that the team is more specialized, each battalion has its own canteen. The Special Service Company is too small, so they eat with the people in the office compound. As for the residential area, the population has now increased to more than 3500, and there are three canteens.

After lunch, Li Chenglong let the two girls go play on their own, while he and Yunlan met with several battalion commanders and deputy battalion commanders to further refine the battle plan. The meeting ended at 3 PM. The communications officer responsible for contacting Ma Tiancheng returned, bringing a handwritten letter from Ma Tiancheng. In the letter, Ma Tiancheng stated that he would contact his trusted confidants to mobilize the masses, hoping for a coordinated attack from within and without, which would surely be twice as effective. However, Ma Tiancheng also made two requests in the letter: first, no civilians should be killed indiscriminately; second, the veterans of the Tianqi Base should be treated leniently unless they had committed heinous crimes. Li Chenglong quickly read the letter and then handed it to Yunlan and Zheng Yong, who was standing nearby.

Zheng Yong and Yun Lan quickly finished reading. Zheng Yong asked, "Is this person trustworthy? Could he be colluding with Lei Bao to deceive us and set up an ambush?" Yun Lan nodded, "I also feel that while we shouldn't be malicious, we must be cautious. We have to be careful." Li Chenglong nodded, "Ma Tiancheng has already been demoted to a commoner by Lei Bao, and according to Sister Shen, he's usually reliable. But we still need to guard against unforeseen circumstances. Zheng Yong, go contact our intelligence agents and have them investigate further." At this moment, Yun Qian walked over happily and said, "Captain Li, we found some good stuff! Come with us!" Zheng Yong went to attend to his own business, while Li Chenglong and Yun Lan followed Yun Qian.

The three arrived at the logistics department and saw several pieces of equipment on the ground. Yunlan exclaimed, "Radio transmitters? Where did they come from?" Yunqian smiled broadly, "Our supplies search team found them this morning in the basement of a military enthusiast's house. There were five in total, but after a special inspection, only three are still usable. We've also found matching batteries." Li Chenglong was also very pleased. With satellite communications blocked and the ground power grid disrupted, communication methods were extremely outdated. Although radio was rarely used now, it was still a very good means of communication in the apocalypse. Li Chenglong immediately said, "Set up a communications team right away, find trustworthy people who understand Morse code to conduct communications. Keep two at the base, and we'll take one with us tomorrow." Walkie-talkies were still usable within the base, but for longer distances, a telegraph machine would be much more convenient.

Yunlan immediately organized people to vacate a room, set up an antenna outside, and then found several people in the Dawn Army familiar with telegraph machines to test and debug them to ensure smooth communication the next day. Li Chenglong felt he had nothing to do, so he left the logistics department. He returned to his dormitory and found Yunlan's dirty clothes. Realizing that there were quite a few clothes that hadn't been washed, he took out several basins and large basins from his storage space, filled them with warm water, and started washing the clothes. While washing the clothes, he thoughtfully washed Yunlan's underwear separately. After more than an hour of effort, the clothes were finally washed, and he hung them on the balcony to dry. At this time, Yunlan had also finished setting up the communications room and was preparing to report to Li Chenglong when she went downstairs and found him hanging clothes there. Yunlan blushed and immediately rushed upstairs, saying as soon as she entered, "Why did you wash my clothes? I said I would wash them myself when I got back tonight. You, the lord of the base, actually wash a woman's clothes."

After hanging up the clothes, Li Chenglong put the basins back into his storage ring, turned around and said with a smile, "It's nothing, it's only natural for me to wash my girlfriend's clothes." Yun Lan rushed into Li Chenglong's arms and kissed him on the cheek, continuing, "The communications room is all set up, and I've even assigned four soldiers to take turns guarding it, to ensure everything is foolproof." Li Chenglong stroked Yun Lan's hair, "Thank you for your hard work, but we can't relax yet. We'll work hard for another day tomorrow, and then I plan to let our base rest and recuperate." Yun Lan nodded. At this moment, Han Xiaoling led Cao Yuechan in, saw Yun Lan riding on Li Chenglong's back with her head resting on his shoulder, seemingly talking to him, and immediately closed the door. Yun Lan had already jumped down, her face as red as an apple, while Li Chenglong laughed, "Why did you forget to lock the door again, haha."

After saying that, Li Chenglong went out and brought the two little ones in. Han Xiaoling was also blushing: "Brother and sister-in-law, I really didn't mean to. I saw the door was half open and thought..." Li Chenglong smiled and patted her head: "It's okay, it's okay. Are you hungry? Yunlan and I will take you to eat. We won't eat in the dormitory today; we'll eat at the cafeteria." After saying that, he and Yunlan locked the door and led them to the cafeteria. As soon as they arrived at the cafeteria, they became the center of attention. Many staff members from the organization stood up to greet Li Chenglong and Yunlan. This was why Li Chenglong rarely came to the cafeteria to get his own food; being surrounded by people every time wasn't a pleasant experience. Tonight's meal was stewed pork with cabbage, hot and sour shredded potatoes, stir-fried bean sprouts, and stir-fried soybean sprouts. Li Chenglong got a little of each and also got several servings of rice. The group sat together, chatting and laughing as they finished their dinner.

The next morning, 35 vehicles of various sizes formed a long line. Each vehicle was lined with fully armed soldiers. Li Chenglong and Yun Lan saluted each vehicle in formation, starting from the back. Then, they approached the SUV at the front and activated their special ability, ensuring all the soldiers could hear: "Soldiers, we've been training for this moment. Today is your test! For our common home, advance!" With that, they got into the SUV, carrying Yun Lan, Li Xue, and Shen Menghua, and set off. The soldiers quickly boarded other vehicles and followed closely behind. Almost everyone in the residential area came out to see the troops off, while Yun Qian had already begun preparations for moving.