Dragon Transformation in the Apocalypse

Chapter 52 Exploration

It was 3 PM. Li Chenglong finished his rest and sat in the living room with the other three. Zhao Rui asked, "Captain Li, why were you able to easily take down that giant turtle, which was level 6 last time, but this one is also level 6, yet it's so difficult to defeat?" Li Chenglong smiled and said, "Although that turtle was also level 6 last time, only two of its attributes were high. But this time it's different. This warrior zombie's four attributes are all incredibly high, some even higher than mine, and its skills are also abnormal. Fighting it is really difficult. If it weren't for my special physical abilities and the ability to activate the Dragon and Phoenix Blood, I would definitely be finished. It's no exaggeration to say that even if all the other ability users in our base joined forces, besides me and Yun Lan, it would be very difficult to defeat it."

Yunlan was a little scared: "Just now during the battle, I saw that the space behind him seemed to have torn open, letting out red light, and then he disappeared. A moment later, he reappeared in the sky. Was that teleportation too?" Li Chenglong nodded: "No, that was space travel. That skill is too abnormal. He dodged both of my attacks with that move. He can actually travel through space at will. If the samurai zombie I encountered in the hospital had also used that move, I would have been dead for sure."

Jiang Hui said worriedly, "When I first heard the news of Yanjing's fall, I didn't believe it. After all, people from four or five bases rushed to Yanjing, and they were all gone in just one or two days. But after seeing the horror of these zombies with my own eyes today, I truly believe it now. Captain Li, with such powerful high-level zombies, and so many low-level zombies, zombie beasts, and terrifying mutated beasts, do we even have a tomorrow?" Li Chenglong thought seriously for a moment and replied, "Yes! Although the power of high-level zombies is terrifying, their numbers are relatively small. As long as we unite and proceed step by step, we won't have to worry about not having a tomorrow. But we can't let our guard down; we must be even more strict with ourselves and become stronger." Jiang Hui said with distress, "You ability users are so lucky; at least you can become stronger. The future of us ordinary people is bleak." Yun Qian smiled and said, "You don't need to be discouraged. Academician An Qingyuan's virus protection drug has made initial progress. And think about it, our base has more than 10,000 people, but how many are ability users? Only about 600. So there are still more than 9,000 people who aren't ability users. You don't need to be so disheartened."

Li Chenglong took out a samurai-style sword from his storage ring, drew it, and swung it around, the blade gleaming coldly. Yun Lan exclaimed in surprise, "Is this the longsword used by that samurai zombie? After such a fierce battle, the blade is still so sharp, without even a nick." Li Chenglong was also puzzled, "This sword is indeed extraordinary. To be honest, apart from my Dragon Emperor Sword, Yun Lan's Dragon and Phoenix Spear, and Li Xue's Azure Staff, I've never seen such a powerful weapon. I wonder what material it's made of." Yun Lan suddenly had a good idea, "Brother Long, how about we hold a martial arts tournament when we get back? We can use this sword as the first prize, and of course, we'll give different prizes to the top few. And judging by the time, your persimmons should be ripe by now." Zhao Rui clapped his hands and said, "Captain Yun's idea is excellent, but if you participate, we can only be second."

Li Chenglong was very satisfied with the suggestion: "That's a good idea. We'll go back and notify all the ability users, and even ordinary people, to have a competition in all walks of life. Combat ability users can compete in strength, support ability users can compete in support skills, and ordinary people can also compete, such as who can build a wall the best and fastest, who can drive an excavator or bulldozer the best, etc. We'll give a reward to whoever comes in first place. Of course, Yunlan and I won't participate, and neither will Li Xue." Zhao Rui laughed heartily: "I'm level five. Currently, besides the three of you and Battalion Commander Wu Gang's three people, I'm the highest. Who can stop me?"

Yun Lan said irritably, "With your level five, you're only slightly better at attributes. Your combat ability isn't even as good as those level fours. Don't end up not even making it into the top five. I visited your camp a few days ago; you should learn more about combat techniques from your battalion commander." Zhao Rui nodded, agreeing. Li Chenglong suddenly remembered a question he hadn't asked: "Zhao Rui, you said Lei Bao gave you a lot of crystals to reach level five, but according to my investigation of the residents, you haven't committed any heinous crimes like murder. Why did he trust you so much and give you so many crystals?"

Zhao Rui sighed, "Actually, it's not a big deal to tell you. My mother's name is Lei Qiujuan, and Lei Bao is my uncle. After we parted ways at the granary, I accidentally learned that Lei Bao had set up a base here, so I rushed over. Later, I discovered that my uncle had become someone I didn't recognize. Although he was very kind to me, he was very mean to others, and he was becoming increasingly terrifying. I felt that things couldn't go on like this, so I planned to leave the next day. But you guys came the next day, and you know what happened next. I definitely didn't mean to hide it from you; I just felt that it wouldn't be good for anyone if I told you." Li Chenglong patted Zhao Rui, "Your uncle is your uncle, and you are you. Today, only the four of us will know about this."

Jiang Hui smiled and said, "Since we've come this far, let's introduce ourselves. I'll start. I'm Jiang Hui, 32 years old, a car salesman. I have no wife or children, only a mother, but she died in the Linhai zombie riot." Zhao Rui continued, "I'm Zhao Rui, 26 years old, a construction worker. My parents were both high school teachers, but I don't know if they're still alive. They're probably gone, since we lived so close but there was no news of them. I went to look for them but couldn't find them." Yun Lan then said, "I'm 25 years old this year. You've both met my parents. My father was the regimental commander of the East China Sea base, and my mother was the director of the joint logistics department. My grandfather was also a soldier, but my grandparents have passed away." Li Chenglong said somewhat sadly at the end, "I'm 27 years old this year. My grandfather was a Vietnam War veteran who passed away a few years ago. My father was a border guard who sacrificed his life when my sister was less than two years old, and my mother passed away later as well. My sister Li Xue and I grew up with the help of my grandfather, the government, and some kind people."

Yunlan added, "You probably don't really know Captain Li. He joined the army at 17, and at 19 he entered our Special Forces' Xiaolong Squad. He was the youngest member of the squad. He received a first-class merit at 23, and two second-class merits. At 24, he became the captain of the Xiaolong Squad, the youngest captain of all. He retired at 27 due to injury." Yunlan then gave Li Chenglong a fierce look. Zhao Rui quickly said, "I know that. I heard it from Hao Dahai. Captain Li risked his life to protect Captain Yun, almost sacrificing himself, and later had to retire from the army." Jiang Hui shrank back, "Wow, the captain is so amazing! No wonder he cuts zombies like they're nothing."

Li Chenglong waved his hand: "Let's not talk about the past. It's almost four o'clock. Let's go out and explore a bit more, then find a place to rest. We'll try to finish exploring by tomorrow night and return to base before tomorrow evening." Their exploration task was simple: scout out the route, mark areas with many zombies, and circle important facilities or factories to avoid damaging them during the later attack. Yun Lan said as they walked, "With so many dormitories, there's definitely no problem accommodating people later. Not to mention our 10,000-plus people, even 100,000 could be housed. And there's so much open space; we can build a lot of things later." Li Chenglong was also very satisfied and expressed his determination to occupy this place as soon as possible.

The group explored until 4 PM, when it was already dark, before finally finding a dormitory building. They cleaned it thoroughly to check for zombies before settling in. Li Chenglong took out a rechargeable lamp for lighting, while Yun Lan took out a lot of food from her storage ring, some of which was still steaming. Zhao Rui also brought over a table and some chairs, and the group gathered around to eat. Jiang Hui looked at another dormitory building outside and asked, "Do you think there are any survivors here?" Zhao Rui laughed, "How could there be? The zombie crisis broke out on New Year's Day, and it's already mid-April. Four months! Even if they were alive, they would have starved to death long ago." Hearing the mention of starvation, Li Chenglong suddenly thought of Liang Li's group left in Linhai City. He had said back then that if they could hold out for a while, someone would definitely come to rescue them. He seemed to have forgotten about it.

Seeing Li Chenglong's dazed expression, Yunlan said sourly, "What, thinking about your Zhao Liying?" Li Chenglong replied irritably, "No way! Didn't I tell you there were still some people at the hotel? I even said someone would go to rescue them in a few days, but because of the level 6 zombie beast, the giant snake, we temporarily abandoned the attack on Linhai City. Besides, don't you know what kind of person I am?" Yunlan also remembered this: "Ah? I forgot too. Now we can only pray for them!"

Jiang Hui said, "Yeah, Captain Yun, I don't know if you know, but we made a ranking of the beauties in our base in private, and you're number one, Captain Yun." Yun Lan's curiosity was piqued: "Who are the top few?" Jiang Hui took out a small notebook from his bag, flipped through it for a while, and said, "First place: Yun Lan, second place: Yun Qian, third place: Chu Kexin, fourth place: Fan Xiaoya, fifth place: Li Xue, sixth place: Zhao Liying..." Jiang Hui read out 20 names, including people with superpowers, ordinary people, leaders, and ordinary citizens.

Li Chenglong laughed and said, "Your propaganda department has nothing better to do than come up with this kind of stuff." Jiang Hui said seriously, "We're planning to organize a performance troupe, just like the old military cultural troupes. They can perform in various battalions and also hold shows for ordinary people. This will boost morale and unite the people." Li Chenglong's eyes lit up: "That's great! Why didn't I think of that before? Okay, I agree. You can go around recruiting people with performance skills or experience, and even find some teachers to instruct them. I'll talk to them when I get back and give your propaganda department my full support." Jiang Hui beamed: "Then on behalf of our propaganda department, I thank Captain Li and Captain Yun in advance."

After dinner, Li Chenglong gave Zhao Rui another desk lamp, and the two of them went to rest in the next dormitory. Li Chenglong and Yun Lan then started planning their route again, deciding how to proceed the next day. They studied together for half an hour before going to rest on their respective beds in the dormitory.

The operation the next morning proceeded smoothly, except for an accidental encounter with a small horde of zombies. Around noon, as Li Chenglong was preparing to call it a day, he suddenly noticed several living people waving from the rooftop of a building across the street. There were men and women among them. Zhao Rui exclaimed in surprise, "This is bizarre! It's been over four months, and they're still alive? Did they eat iron?" Li Chenglong checked the distance; it wasn't far, just a bit more zombies. He and Zhao Rui led the way, while Jiang Hui followed behind Yun Lan.

The four of them arrived downstairs in a few minutes. Several ragged people opened the heavy security door and ushered them in, only to quickly close it again as soon as they entered. The group went up to the second floor, where Li Chenglong found over twenty people, men and women, mostly disheveled, clearly having been there for a long time. One middle-aged woman approached and asked in a slightly hoarse voice, "Are you from the government or the military? Could you help us?" Li Chenglong, also curious about them, gave Zhao Rui a look. Zhao Rui immediately understood, took off his backpack, and took out several bottles of drinking water and compressed biscuits, distributing them to them.

The twenty-odd people didn't seem to be in a hurry and finished their food relatively quickly. The middle-aged woman slowly walked to the front and said, "Thank you for the food." Li Chenglong asked, "Who are you? It's been more than four months since the zombie outbreak. Have you been surviving here for more than four months?" The woman shook her head. "We are from Linhai Agricultural University. I am Li Qingwan, and these are my students. We have two greenhouses here for cultivating new varieties of vegetable seeds. On the day of the incident, I was leading them in research in the greenhouses when the zombie outbreak suddenly occurred. We stayed in the greenhouses for a few days at first, but then we felt it was unsafe, so we came here. We've barely survived until now by eating the vegetables we picked in the greenhouses. In the past few days, the number of zombies in this area has suddenly increased, and we haven't been able to go out."

Li Chenglong nodded. He hadn't expected to encounter agricultural university students and teachers just as he was about to start cultivating the large plot of land west of Linhai City. He then asked, "Would you like to join us? If you do, we can provide you with food and safe shelter." Li Qingwan paused and asked, "Aren't you government officials?" Zhao Rui spoke up, "There's no government anymore. Just tell us if you're willing or not. If not, we're leaving." The middle-aged woman chatted with several people for a while, then came over and said, "We agree to join you, but we hope you can also keep your promises." Li Chenglong gave Jiang Hui and Zhao Rui his backpacks containing food, and then gave them half of what was in his own backpack. He then said, "There aren't any high-level zombies around here anymore. You just need to wait here for a few days. Our main force will arrive in four days at the latest. You'll be safe then."

After saying that, Li Chenglong didn't linger any longer and left with the other three. Yunlan asked as they walked, "Are we going to other places today, or are we going straight back?" Li Chenglong shook his head, "We've basically explored everything, we can go back now. Today is the 16th, and we'll officially occupy this Xing'an District early on the 20th." Then the group drove back to the Dawn Base.