Dragon Transformation in the Apocalypse

Chapter 181 Contact from Headquarters

The recruitment drive lasted for over ten days, and the required number of recruits was finally secured. Today is March 25th. No major battles occurred during this period, although a level 10 behemoth appeared, which was easily defeated thanks to the efforts of Li Chenglong and the special forces. It's worth mentioning that Li Xue also participated in the battle and ultimately advanced to level 8 Awakened. According to Li Chenglong's estimation, Wu Gang, Zheng Aiguo, and others should also be close to reaching level 8.

Before level 7, everyone leveled up quite quickly, but since then, the pace has slowed considerably. Li Xue reached level 7 last August, but has only reached level 8 now, a gap of seven months. Wu Gang and Zheng Aiguo are also only about to reach level 8. Li Chenglong was quite surprised that Li Xue didn't gain any new skills after leveling up; this means she didn't gain any new skills during either of her two level-ups.

Erica also explained that although Awakened Ones theoretically have far more skills than Psychic Ones, there are also cases where they don't acquire any skills. However, Li Xue's current skills are already significantly more than those of Psychic Ones at the same level. When Yun Lan reached level 8, it wasn't really about acquiring new skills; it was just upgrading her storage space to a spiritual energy space, but that was already quite remarkable.

Li Chenglong activated the Eye of the True Dragon and carefully examined Li Xue's attributes after reaching level 8. Li Xue, an A-rank Mermaid Spirit Awakener, level 8, with 330 Constitution, 310 Strength, 335 Agility, and 384 Spirit. Her skills include: Extreme Cold Ice Arrow level 6 (max level), Ice Shield level 6, Azure Staff level 8, Healing Purification level 8 (max level 12), and Hero's Song level 2 (max level 6). Although she hadn't gained any new skills, there were still some differences compared to before. The Azure Staff was now at the same level as her, which would be a significant boost.

However, the difference in potential is quite evident in their attributes. Currently, Li Xue, at level 8, has attributes similar to Li Chenglong, at level 7, and some attributes are even lower. Moreover, some level 7 ability users already have attributes similar to Li Xue at level 8, such as Zheng Aiguo, who, as a dual ability user of strength and earth element, has a strength of 310 even though he is currently at level 7.

However, in a real fight, Zheng Aiguo would still be no match for Li Xue, because Li Xue has a significant advantage in other attributes, especially spirit. Zheng Aiguo's spirit is only 190, while Li Xue's is twice that.

However, Li Xue was originally a support-type Awakened, and combat wasn't her forte. Like Erica, she was also a support-oriented Awakened. Although she had reached level 10, her stats weren't particularly high: Constitution 460, Strength 420, Spirit 500, and Agility 437. Li Chenglong, though still level 9, had similar stats except for Spirit. As an SS-rank Awakened, Li Chenglong currently had Constitution 450, Strength 437, Spirit 445, and Agility 435. Even Erica admitted that if she were to fight Li Chenglong, she could only manage to survive; if she faced that level 10 merman, she would likely lose.

云岚作为8级SS级觉醒者，目前四项属性分别是390、370、385和394。李成龙也是发现这自己7级到9级之间属性好像并没有加的很多，要知道自己7级的时候四项属性就已经是355、350、345和352了。艾丽卡对此表示，无论是异能者还是觉醒者，刚开始前面升级加的属性会比较多，但是后面就会少一些，而且潜力越低每级加的属性也就越少。

However, she also mentioned that if she were fortunate enough to reach level 11, it would be a qualitative leap. At that time, their planet's high priest was only a level 11 A-rank Awakener, yet all four of his attributes had already exceeded 600. According to a conversation she had with Erica, her attributes also skyrocketed after reaching level 11. At level 10, her constitution was only 445, but after level 11, it reached 602.

In the past two days, Li Chenglong spearheaded the establishment of the Central Computer Office, with himself as the director and Erica as the deputy director. He had previously wanted Erica to join Dawn City or the Dawn Army, but she said she was used to her free life and didn't want any official position. Later, after several invitations from Li Chenglong, she joined the newly established Central Computer Office as the deputy director, responsible for teaching everyone about the Central Computer Room and the universe, along with Alice.

The Central Computer Office currently only has six members: Yun Lan, Li Xue, Han Xiaoling, Chen Xiaoke, Zhao Liying, and Wang Xiao. Since operating the equipment in the central computer room requires psychic or supernatural abilities, Wang Xiao cannot operate it and can only provide auxiliary work. Li Chenglong decided to select a few trustworthy supernatural individuals to join the team whenever he had time.

The next morning, Li Chenglong received a message from General Chen Guoqiang, relayed through the Qianyun Base. He first highly praised Li Chenglong, commending him for cooperating with several bases to win a great victory. He also approved the establishment of the 11th and 7th Divisions and approved all personnel appointments.

In his communications, he also mentioned that he should have provided some compensation and reward supplies to Dawn City and the Dawn Army, but unfortunately, the Provisional China Military Commission was not very well-off, and it was unlikely that land, sea, or air transport would be available at the moment, so he could only give Li Chenglong and his men a verbal commendation.

However, General Chen Guoqiang did bring some arrangements from the China Military Commission. They transferred General Feng Tian to serve as the Director of the Political Department of the Dawn Army, and that was it. Feng Tian's main responsibilities were to strengthen cooperation between bases and convey some of the Commission's instructions. However, Chen Guoqiang also said that this was only a suggestion, not a mandatory order, and if Li Chenglong was unwilling, then so be it. After thinking for a moment, Li Chenglong agreed.

Although Feng Tian did have some unpleasantness with Li Chenglong and his group when he first came to Dawn City, he later explained that it was actually an arrangement he and Lieutenant General Sun Tianlong made to test Dawn City and the Dawn Army. Afterwards, Li Chenglong and this man nearing 50 years old had a very pleasant conversation. When they went to attend the meeting, Major General Feng Tian provided them with considerable assistance and later personally delivered a large amount of military supplies.

At Sun Tianlong's suggestion, and after consideration by Chen Guoqiang, it was decided to change the original transfer order, appointing Major General Feng Tian, ​​a Level 6 fire-type ability user, as Chief of Staff of the Dawn Army, with Zheng Yong concurrently serving as Director of the Political Department. The two would work together to advise Li Chenglong and formulate battle plans, with Li Chenglong taking the lead in disagreements. Yun Lan and Zheng Yong were also promoted to Senior Colonel. Feng Tian expressed his willingness to assist Li Chenglong. A staff department was established for the Dawn Army to enable it to play a greater role.

There were also some personnel changes at the top level in Dawn City, but these were decided by Li Chenglong through a meeting of the Dawn City Committee. The meeting decided to remove Comrade Zheng Yong from his position as Deputy City Lord of Dawn City; from now on, Comrade Zheng Yong will focus solely on the Dawn Army. Comrades Yun Qian and Shen Menghua were appointed as Deputy City Lords; one is the Minister of Logistics, and the other is the Minister of Industry, both holding pivotal positions in Dawn City.

Thus, Dawn City now has one city lord, Li Chenglong, and four deputy city lords: Yun Lan, Ma Tiancheng, Shen Menghua, and Yun Qian. The oldest among them is Ma Tiancheng, who is 52 years old this year, but he looks only 40 years old now after becoming a superhuman.

On the third day, Feng Tian arrived in Dawn City with two soldiers and a small squad, where they were welcomed by the city's residents and the Dawn Army. Feng Tian smiled and said, "I'm just here to make a show of it. From now on, our Dawn Army will fight the same way we always have, and act the same way we always have." Li Chenglong added, "Not at all, General Feng has many years of experience leading troops. We'll have to learn a lot from you in the future." Feng Tian shook his head: "The past is the past, the present is the present. Let's learn from each other."

He declined Li Chenglong's suggestion to have dinner, instead taking two of his personal guards and getting back to work. The other group of soldiers left afterward. The next day, Feng Tian and his assistant had already built a huge sand table in the Dawn Army's command center, covering all the terrain and major roads and cities in Black Gold Province, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, Nanhe Province, Donghai Province, and Jiangsu-Zhejiang Province. He also brought a newly drawn map of the Chinese military, updated with information about the post-apocalyptic situation.

Li Chenglong also felt this was quite good. Although his Dawn Army had many former military personnel, and the Huaxing and Lanli bases that joined later also had former military personnel, there were very few senior commanders, and they lacked experience in commanding combat, which made them vulnerable. At Li Chenglong's suggestion, Feng Tian decided to open a military training class to teach these commanders and enhance their combat command capabilities.

Wu Gang and his team strongly agreed with the suggestion. They admitted they sometimes felt their command skills were lacking, and now they had a good teacher to learn from. Besides Feng Tian, ​​Qi Guoan also joined the teaching team. Having attended a formal military academy, he was perfectly capable of teaching simple courses.

Feng Tian conveyed Chen Guoqiang's request to meet with Erica, as their Military Commission's understanding of the current situation was not as clear as that of Dawn City, which was clearly not a good thing. They wanted to have a face-to-face talk with Erica to clarify the situation and formulate future plans. After considering it, Erica agreed. She and Alice said goodbye to Li Chenglong and Yun Lan, and then left using their teleportation bracelets.

Li Chenglong, Zheng Yong, Wu Gang, and others had just finished a military meeting that morning. Seeing it was already 11 o'clock, they had food delivered to the military headquarters. Feng Tian took a bite of Shuguang rice and smiled, saying, "I have to say, the food in Shuguang City is really good. To be honest, back in the Qianyun base, being able to eat my fill was a luxury, let alone eat this well." Li Chenglong nodded, "This is also the result of everyone's hard work. We still have over 4000 mu of winter wheat. I went to check on it before; the wheat has already started to turn green, so this year's harvest shouldn't be bad." Feng Tian affirmed this, "Sustainable development is absolutely the only way out in the apocalypse. Your long-term vision puts you far ahead of others."

At this moment, Li Chenglong asked, "General Feng, what is the response from headquarters now that they have learned about the aliens?" Feng Tian first said that he shouldn't call him that anymore, but rather by his first name or "Comrade Feng Tian" or "Chief of Staff." He then said, "We will definitely fight to the end. Our Chinese nation has never been one to bow down and submit. Any enemy that dares to invade us will be annihilated. If one year isn't enough, we'll fight for two years; if two years aren't enough, we'll fight for three years. Our predecessors have sacrificed their lives, but there will be successors. With the efforts of countless people, we will definitely be able to drive those enemies out."

Wu Gang then asked, "Chief of Staff, when the army commander fought a level 10 alien, he said he wanted us to surrender. He said if we surrendered, he would cooperate with us. Do you think there might be people who would be willing to cooperate with alien invaders just to avoid being attacked?" Feng Tian said, "There will definitely be such people. There have been many such people throughout history, both in China and abroad. They are willing to be the lackeys of evil people for their own benefit. But in the end, such people will either be silenced by their masters or defeated by the people."

Zheng Yong also said, "We welcome friends with fine wine, but we also meet wolves with hunting rifles. Our Chinese nation is a land of etiquette, but we don't treat everyone with the same courtesy. We must resolutely strike back against invaders. As for friends like Miss Erica, we will warmly welcome them and cooperate with them."

At this moment, Zheng Aiguo inquired about the situation abroad: "Chief of Staff, you are close to headquarters, do you know the current situation abroad?" Feng Tian shook his head: "Our satellites, whether military or civilian, all lost contact a few days after the full outbreak of the apocalypse. It is estimated that they were all destroyed by aliens. We do know some information about some countries that are relatively close, but it is not good news, especially Impression Country. It seems that the disaster there is much greater than ours. According to the communication of the Southwest Military Region, no living people can be observed anymore."

Li Chenglong concluded by saying, "To forge iron, one must be strong oneself. After you all go back, you must continue to train the new recruits. We never know when war will break out again, so we must be fully alert and ready for battle at any time."