nycdaug Chapter 33 Apocalypse Base
Chapter 33 Apocalypse Base
Li Chenglong and Han Xiaoling entered the Apocalypse Base and found it largely centered around the university town of Linhai City. It was a large area with a considerable population. However, the people they encountered were dressed somewhat haphazardly, and some appeared quite thin. Just as the two were discussing their next move, a man with slicked-back hair, wearing sunglasses and dressed reasonably well, approached them: "You two are new to the Apocalypse Base, aren't you? Would you like me to be your guide? For just one crimson crystal or 50 white crystals, I can take you to every corner of the outer perimeter of the Apocalypse Base. Whether it's finding food, lodging, people, or even jobs, I can help you."
"Cough, cough, cough," Han Xiaoling coughed angrily, "A crimson crystal? Do you know how valuable that is? How precious your information is?" Li Chenglong didn't say much, but tossed a small bag to the man and said, "There are 80 white crystals in here. Take us to a clean and safe place to stay, and then tell us all about this base. But if you dare to lie to us, you can think carefully about the consequences." The man snatched the bag, opened it, roughly counted the crystals, and immediately said with a fawning expression, "Okay, please follow me. I've been working at this base for a month now, you can trust my reputation."
Li Chenglong and Han Xiaoling followed the man, chatting as they walked. They learned that his name was Jiang Hui, and that he used to work as a car salesman in Linhai City. After the zombie outbreak, he and the others came to this place. Then, the higher-ups established the Apocalypse Base, but without work, they couldn't get any food. So, he used his skills to guide newcomers or help others find jobs, thus earning a living.
The three of them made their way through a maze of streets until they arrived at the entrance of a hotel. As soon as Jiang Hui entered, a young girl immediately approached him, bowing her head and saying, "Welcome! Are you here for lodging or a meal? Our place is very cheap and clean." At this moment, a woman in her forties came out from the kitchen and said, "Don't bother with him, Xiao Hui. Why are you here to freeload again? This isn't a charity." Jiang Hui slicked back his hair and said, "Sister Shen, how could I? Two guests said they were looking for a clean and safe place to stay, and I brought them here because I appreciate your kindness." The woman glanced at Li Chenglong and his companion behind Jiang Hui and immediately said, "Xiao Li, quickly attend to the guests." The young girl then immediately went to the two of them, saying, "Welcome! Please come this way," while wiping a nearby table.
Just as Li Chenglong and his group finished eating, the young girl immediately brought over the menu. Han Xiaoling opened it and slowly read aloud, "Hot and sour shredded potatoes: 2 white crystals; braised pork: 12 white crystals; stir-fried cabbage with vinegar: 3 white crystals... So expensive!" Jiang Hui immediately smiled and said, "Brother Li and this young lady, actually, this is already very cheap. I'm not just saying this because I know Sister Shen. Just take this shredded potato dish for example. In other places, it would cost at least 3 white crystals. If you ate this in the inner area, it would cost at least 10 white crystals." Han Xiaoling stuck out her tongue in surprise. Li Chenglong felt that using crystals as currency was not bad, and wondered if they could do the same after Dawn City was established.
Seeing the little girl staring at him expectantly with her small eyes, Li Chenglong glanced at the menu again: "Braised eggplant, braised pork, stir-fried pork with wood ear mushrooms, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, plus four servings of rice." The little girl looked only seven or eight years old and couldn't immediately calculate the total price. The middle-aged woman quickly came over and wrote down the order: "It'll be 52 white crystals in total, let's say 50. Since it's just my daughter and me at home, I'll be a little slow cooking by myself, so please wait a moment." Li Chenglong nodded: "It's alright, we're not in a hurry. My sister and I need to ask Jiang Hui about some things." The woman then went to the kitchen, and the little girl returned to the counter.
Jiang Hui sighed, "Sister Shen has worked so hard. You two might not know, but Sister Shen was once a well-known figure in Linhai City." Li Chenglong felt a sense of familiarity upon entering the house, but couldn't quite place her. Suddenly, he said, "Shen Menghua, from Linhai City, a PhD in Business Administration, chairman of Linhai Mengyang Technology Co., Ltd., isn't her husband Cao Yang?" Jiang Hui immediately said, "What, you know her?" Li Chenglong immediately stood up and rushed to the kitchen, saying, "Sister-in-law, I've come to see you." Tears streamed down his face as he spoke. This Shen Menghua was the wife of Han Yang, the successor to the fallen Xiaolong detachment captain and Li Chenglong's former deputy captain.
Shen Menghua was cooking when someone suddenly rushed in from outside, calling her "sister-in-law," which startled her so much that she almost dropped the wok. Li Chenglong put the wok aside and said, "I'm in the same squad as Cao Yang. My name is Li Chenglong." Normally, personal information in the Xiaolong Squad is top secret; even comrades don't know each other's real names. Yun Lan, Wu Gang, and Zheng Aiguo had all said they were used to their army names and would use this one from now on. However, during a mission, the Xiaolong Squad encountered danger. Han Yang was seriously injured and, believing he was going to die, told Li Chenglong his real name and showed him a treasured family photo, asking Li Chenglong to visit his family on his behalf. Fortunately, reinforcements arrived in time, and the Xiaolong Squad overcame the crisis. However, this also resulted in Cao Yang's injury and three months of recuperation. Li Chenglong was promoted to squad leader, and Han Yang became the deputy squad leader. Upon hearing that it was Cao Yang's comrade-in-arms, Shen Menghua immediately asked, "Is it your military region that's here? How is Cao Yang?" Li Chenglong didn't know what to say for a moment, but after thinking for a while, he said, "Comrade Han Yang has already gloriously sacrificed himself in the course of handling the zombie incident. Not long after, a worldwide zombie crisis broke out, and the report from above was deliberately interrupted before it was delivered to you."
With a "thud," the wok fell to the ground, and Shen Menghua's body went limp. Li Chenglong quickly caught her shoulder. A moment later, a sob came from the kitchen. The little girl, hearing her mother cry, immediately ran to the kitchen. Shen Menghua trembled as she said to the little girl, "Yuechan, your father sacrificed himself, sob sob..." Although the little girl hadn't seen her father many times, she also cried upon hearing of his death. At this moment, Han Xiaoling and Jiang Hui also came in to see what had happened. Seeing the mother and daughter crying together, they both looked at Li Chenglong. Li Chenglong was also deeply saddened. Han Yang was his elder brother and the one who had guided him into Xiaolong's squad. When he heard from Yun Lan that Captain Han Yang had sacrificed himself, he felt as if struck by lightning.
After a while, Shen Menghua finally calmed down a bit. Li Chenglong quickly helped her sit down on a chair in the hall and poured her a cup of hot water, placing it on the table. "Sister-in-law, don't worry. Although my brother is gone, we brothers are still here. We will take good care of you and your daughter. Once I'm done with my business here, I'll take you to our place." Seeing the mother and daughter crying, Han Xiaoling couldn't help but think of her own parents and tears streamed down her face as well. Jiang Hui, seeing that he had no chance to speak, went to the kitchen to start cooking. During this time, Li Chenglong told Shen Menghua about his experiences in the army and at his base. Shen Menghua looked at her daughter and said, "Captain Li, we are willing to go with you, not for anything else, but just to leave Old Cao with this heir."
As the group was still talking, several men entered. The leader, a man with a crooked mouth, kicked over the table near the door. "Chairman Shen, it's time to pay. Today's order should be 10 white crystals." Shen Menghua wiped away her tears and stood up angrily. "Didn't we just give you a week's worth of crystals yesterday? Why are you charging again, and 10 at that?" At this moment, Jiang Hui also came out of the kitchen. "Crooked mouth, don't think I don't know. You charge much more here than elsewhere. Isn't that enough for your own consumption? You're here to collect money again today." The crooked-mouthed man glanced at her and said, "Oh ho, isn't this Little Jiang? How come you're hooking up with Chairman Shen? Speaking up for him like this. Did she climb into your bed first, or did you... Ah!" Before the crooked-mouthed man could finish speaking, there was a muffled thud. Li Chenglong kicked the man, shattering his jawbone, and then kicked the leg that had just kicked the table, bending it into a V-shape. The others were about to step forward when they saw Li Chenglong's gloomy face, so they immediately picked up the man and ran away.
Han Xiaoling clenched her little fists and waved them around, shouting, "Good job, brother! You should have killed them all!" Li Chenglong helped Shen Menghua sit down and then pulled the little girl over, asking, "What's your name? How old are you?" The little girl looked at her mother before timidly saying, "Cao Yuechan, I'm eight years old." Li Chenglong nodded, then took out an apple and continued, "Do you want to protect your mother like I did today?" The girl nodded, "Yes, I want to protect my mother like you did, brother." Li Chenglong smiled slightly, "But you have to promise that you will use your strength for righteous things, okay?" The little girl nodded again, seemingly understanding. Li Chenglong handed the apple to Yuechan, "Eat this apple and protect your mother well." Cao Yuechan looked at Shen Menghua, then at Li Chenglong, picked up the apple, and began to eat. A moment later, an aura gradually emanated from the little girl. Then, several bolts of lightning shot out from her body. Shen Menghua, unaware of what had happened, hurriedly tried to hug her daughter, but Li Chenglong stopped her, saying, "Sister-in-law, Yuechan is becoming a superhuman; you shouldn't disturb her now."
Five minutes passed, then a sudden burst of lightning erupted, and Cao Yuechan's aura finally receded completely. Li Chenglong immediately activated the True Dragon Eye: Cao Yuechan, Level 2 Lightning-type Ability User, attributes: Constitution 25, Strength 22, Agility 23, Spirit 27. Lightning Aura Level 2, Lightning Shield Level 1. Li Chenglong nodded. As expected of a rare fruit, it was truly extraordinary, directly elevating an ordinary person to Level 2. Unfortunately, this was also his last fruit. Currently, the mutated apple tree hadn't even produced a single flower, let alone fruit. Although time flowed quickly in the storage ring's natural zone, it would probably take more than a month for it to bear fruit again.
Cao Yuechan slowly opened her eyes, and then a burst of electricity appeared from her fingertips. Shen Menghua didn't know whether to approach or not. Li Chenglong quickly said, "Yuechan, go and learn from your sister Xiaoling how to control and properly release your superpowers. Your mother, Jiang Hui, and I have some things to discuss." The little girl nodded and immediately went to learn from Han Xiaoling.
At this moment, Cao Hui was completely stunned by what he had just witnessed: "I was thinking you'd offended the Azure Dragon Society and should run away, but after seeing what you did, I realized it was completely unnecessary. You turned an ordinary person into a superhuman in just a few minutes. With that ability, you'd be more than qualified to be the deputy city lord of Tianqi City. Brother, could you turn me into a superhuman too? I'll definitely serve you faithfully and dedicate myself to you until my dying breath." Li Chenglong laughed and said, "It's not that simple. If it were that easy, I wouldn't have come here with just the two of us. I would have already created a superhuman army and taken over Tianqi City. That fruit was something I obtained by chance during my adventures outside; it's the only one I have." Jiang Hui could only nod helplessly after hearing this, and then said, "You two chat, I'll go cook for you."
As soon as Jiang Hui left, Shen Menghua knelt down before Li Chenglong: "Captain Li, I will repay your immense kindness to my family by serving you like a slave." Li Chenglong quickly helped her up: "Brother Cao Yang saved my life, and we're old comrades-in-arms, brothers who share the same meals. Sister-in-law, you can just call me Xiao Li from now on." Shen Menghua slowly sat up again: "You're a leader of a base now, calling you Xiao Li sounds awful, how about Xiao Long?" Li Chenglong smiled and nodded: "Call me whatever you want. By the way, sister-in-law, can you tell me about this base? To be honest, I came here to investigate Linhai City, but I heard there's a base here, so I came to take a look." Shen Menghua then began to explain.
Long before the full-scale zombie outbreak, Shen Menghua's company received an order to rush-produce tank parts. While they were working on the expedited manufacturing, the zombie virus broke out. Shen Menghua returned home to pick up her daughter and joined the convoy at the Apocalypse Base. Due to her status, she was granted a small place to work, allowing her to make a living through small business. However, with the change in leadership, the person who had once helped her lost power. Recently, she has been frequently bullied by local thugs.
While the two were talking, Jiang Hui had already cooked several dishes and brought them up. Li Chenglong also suggested that they eat first and then talk about the Apocalypse Base. On the other side, the two little girls, Yuechan and Xiaoling, were having a great time playing and only came to eat after Li Chenglong called them twice.