Dragon Transformation in the Apocalypse

Chapter 134 Inter-provincial Alliance

After resting for a while, Li Chenglong regained his energy. Although it only took him a few minutes to kill the two level 7 ability users, which seemed very easy to others, Li Chenglong had used his full strength in every attack to finish the battle quickly, which allowed him to defeat his opponents in just a few moves. Although he was a little tired, he had still gained something. He felt that his use of spatial movement had become more flexible, and he could now travel between different locations in an instant.

Xu Limin, his son Xu Qingming, and Wei Jing, the head of the Wei family, arrived at Li Chenglong's place. Xu Qingming stared at him with astonishment and slowly said, "Li Long, who exactly are you? And who are these people?" At this moment, Wu Gang stepped forward: "Let me introduce you. This is Li Chenglong, the city lord of Dawn City, and also the supreme commander of the Dawn Army, a level 7 Awakened. We are all his subordinates." Li Chenglong corrected him, saying, "Not subordinates, comrades-in-arms. I am indeed the city lord of Dawn City, and Dawn City is one of the three bases you are going to attack." Li Chenglong introduced Wu Gang, Zheng Aiguo, Yang Liu, and the others to them one by one. Xu Limin sighed, "With the fighting strength of your Dawn City, I'm afraid even if we had united from the beginning, we wouldn't have achieved anything."

Li Chenglong smiled and said, "Patriarchs, now is not the time for idle chatter. We have almost wiped out the strongest forces of the three families, leaving them in a power vacuum. Plus, we still have so many troops. With your capabilities, I don't need to elaborate. We will leave after a short rest. Once you've settled down, I'd like to discuss an alliance with you. After all, more friends mean more opportunities, and more allies mean fewer rivals." Wei Jing and Xu Limin nodded in agreement.

Xu Qingming said with some difficulty, "Although we definitely have an absolute advantage in combat strength, the three families are deeply entrenched, and I'm afraid it will be difficult to change this predicament in a short time. I wonder if City Lord Li could help us?" Li Chenglong thought for a moment and said, "Alright, I'll leave Wu Gang and Zheng Aiguo, two level 6 dual-elemental ability users, to help you stabilize the current turbulent situation." Xu Limin was also a bit troubled, but when he heard that Li Chenglong was willing to help, his brows relaxed. Li Chenglong continued, "But it won't take long, at most 10 days. After all, this is your internal matter, and you'll have to handle it yourselves. To put it bluntly, if I send a large number of ability users here, I'm afraid you won't be able to sleep soundly." Wei Jing smiled and said, "Not at all, not at all."

A short while later, Yang Liu led the special forces soldiers to their positions and reported the results to Li Chenglong: "Reporting to Captain Li, our special forces team consisted of 25 members. We killed 2 level 6 ability users, 15 level 5 ability users, and 43 other ability users. Only 5 of our members sustained minor injuries and are otherwise unharmed." Li Chenglong nodded: "Your performance this time was excellent. Yang Liu, give me a written report when you get back; we will award you a commendation." Seeing Li Chenglong's satisfaction, the special forces soldiers were also very happy. Li Chenglong then spoke with Wu Gang and Zheng Aiguo, asking them to stay and help stabilize the situation. He then bid farewell to the Xu family father and son and the head of the Wei family before leading his special forces soldiers away.

Before leaving, Xu Limin gave Li Chenglong some vehicles and a bag of crystals as a token of his gratitude, which Li Chenglong accepted. On the way back, Li Xue asked, "Brother, we just had a fight this morning, why didn't we rest? Why are we leaving in such a hurry?" Yang Liu smiled and said, "Captain Li, you're probably trying to avoid suspicion. We've revealed such great strength this time; if we stay there any longer, those two families will likely become wary." Li Chenglong nodded, "That's about right. I don't want to use this favor to my advantage. Besides, our main goal for Dawn City right now is to develop our own strength first; expansion isn't urgent. There are still a lot of zombies and monsters around. Although there haven't been any unusual movements recently, if we rush to expand, we'll definitely run into problems when the zombies attack."

The special forces team, traveling in eight vehicles, headed towards Shuguang City. Following Li Chenglong's instructions, they hoped to return to Shuguang City that day. They stopped for a meal and rest. During the rest, Jiang Hui approached and said, "Lord, as you instructed, Li Xue and I went to see Li Qiang's grandfather to see if Li Xue could help. However, when we arrived, the old man had already passed away. The villagers said he had been dead for three days, and they helped bury him. As for the things Wang Shuang sent, the old man hadn't touched them at all; they were still there safely. We took some to offer as a sacrifice to the old man, and distributed the rest to the villagers." Li Chenglong sighed, "After we return to Shuguang City, you should entrust Li Qiang to the welfare home for care. School in Shuguang City will be starting soon; you can send him to school then." Jiang Hui nodded, indicating he would handle the matter immediately upon returning.

Almost all the special forces members at level four and above came for this mission, except for Han Xiaoling. When Li Chenglong asked what Han Xiaoling had been doing, Zhao Liying smiled and said, "She really wanted to come, but Yang Liu and I told her to take care of Team Yun, and she happily agreed." Yang Liu then gave a brief report on the recent developments in Dawn City. Besides the sensational news of Li Xue reaching level seven, another piece of good news was that, thanks to the efforts of various combat battalions, the main urban area of ​​Linhai City had been cleared.

Linhai City, as a prefecture-level city, has 2 urban districts, 2 county-level cities, and 10 counties, with a total area of ​​2 square kilometers. The main urban area alone covers 1300 square kilometers, significantly larger than Shuguang City, and had a permanent population of 95 before the apocalypse. Shuguang City now has nearly 4 people. While life in Shuguang City, with its 176 square kilometers, is quite comfortable, the population will inevitably expand to the main urban area as it grows. Li Chenglong also felt that, given the division and use of Shuguang City's various areas, a population of 10 to 12 would be sufficient for a consistently comfortable living environment; any more would be too crowded.

At 6 PM, after a day's drive, the convoy finally arrived at the south gate of Dawn City. Li Chenglong, mindful of the special forces' recent continuous work and combat today, gave them two days off starting tomorrow. He wanted Li Xue to come upstairs with him, but Li Xue said she needed to check on the research department and quickly left. Li Chenglong first went to Ma Tiancheng to get the latest updates. After chatting for over half an hour, he returned to the city lord's office. Wang Xiao had already left work by then. He picked up the documents Wang Xiao had organized and placed on his desk and carefully reviewed them, resolving those that needed immediate attention. As for the documents on the crystal computer, he planned to deal with them later in his study.

After a busy hour, Li Chenglong stretched and then made an internal call, chatting with Zheng Yong for over ten minutes. Zheng Yong indicated that the Dawn Army could expand. Currently, Dawn City has nearly 4 people, but the army only has a little over 3000, the lowest ratio among the various bases. Furthermore, the main urban area of ​​Linhai City has been cleared, and managing these areas requires cooperation between the military and other departments, making the Dawn Army's numbers insufficient. Li Chenglong said he had thought about this issue and would discuss it with Wu Gang and Zheng Aiguo when they returned.

Looking at his watch, it was already past eight o'clock. Li Chenglong quickly went to Alice's place. Alice first reported on the recent situation in Dawn City. Currently, Dawn City has a total population of [number missing], with 1145 people including those with superpowers and awakened individuals, of whom 5 are awakened. Among these 1145 people, there are 3 at level 7, 24 at level 6, and 46 at level 5. Li Chenglong used green crystals to exchange for 3 more crystal generators and 1 identity card manufacturing machine. Xu Limin had given him quite a few green crystals today, and combined with the ones he had collected over the past period, he could use them to exchange for items. Currently, Dawn City has 6 crystal generators, which, together with two small hydroelectric power stations, generally meet the electricity needs of Dawn City's production and daily life.

After saying goodbye to Alice, Li Chenglong prepared to go home. As soon as he entered, he saw Han Xiaoling chatting with Yun Lan. Seeing Li Chenglong return, Han Xiaoling asked, "Brother, didn't you come back at 6 o'clock? Why are you only getting home now?" Li Chenglong smiled and said, "I took care of some things and went to check on a few departments, so I'm late." Han Xiaoling immediately said, "Well, since you're back, brother, I won't stay here any longer. I'll be going now." With that, she left.

Only then could Li Chenglong properly look at Yunlan. Ten days had passed, and Yunlan hadn't changed much. She came over and asked, "You've been so busy since you got back. Haven't you eaten yet?" Li Chenglong picked Yunlan up and sat her on the sofa. "I haven't eaten, but I'm not really hungry." He carefully sensed Yunlan's body; her strength and spiritual energy had indeed decreased slightly compared to ten days ago. After they poured out their hearts to each other, Li Chenglong carried Yunlan to the bed in the bedroom so she could rest. He then took out some convenience food from his storage space and went to his study to handle some official business.

Seven days later, Wu Gang and Zheng Aiguo returned to report, accompanied by Xu Qingming and his team. Li Chenglong warmly hosted a banquet for him. After these few days of hard work, the Xu and Wei families had essentially gained control of all the power in the two cities. Xu Qingming had come as an ambassador to discuss an alliance. Xu Qingming praised Dawn City highly: "I originally thought our Xuzhou City was well-developed, but compared to your Dawn City, it's like comparing heaven and earth." Li Chenglong said with some pride, "This is all thanks to the many like-minded brothers and sisters who have helped me, which is why I've achieved what I have today."

Xu Qingming stayed in Dawn City for half a month before leaving. During this time, he signed a strategic alliance and many trade contracts with Dawn City on behalf of the Xu and Wei families. Before leaving, he also used 40 green crystals to buy a crystal generator from Li Chenglong before happily departing.