Dragon Transformation in the Apocalypse

Chapter 46 Distributing Psionic Fruits

Yang Liu first contacted the base personnel via walkie-talkie, and then the group headed home. They arrived back at the Dawn Base at 2 PM; by then, most people were either at work or at school, so there were relatively few people around. Zhao Liying was very excited to see the towering city walls and the soldiers diligently standing guard on both sides. The base now had four entrances/exits, one each in the east, west, south, and north. Wang Bing drove slowly through the base, as instructed by Li Chenglong, to prevent traffic accidents. Zhao Liying looked around curiously through the car window, happily saying, "If I hadn't come in from outside and had stayed here all along, I wouldn't have realized it was the apocalypse. It's almost as if nothing ever happened here; everything is orderly, and it even seems to have electricity."

Yang Liu said with some pride, "I can't speak for other places, but ours is definitely the best among these two bases within hundreds of kilometers. Especially in terms of treating ordinary people." Wang Bing drove directly to the office building. Yun Lan, Li Xue, and Zheng Yong were already waiting downstairs. Seeing Li Chenglong's car arrive, Li Xue quickly ran over and opened the car door, "Brother, is everything alright?" Li Chenglong affectionately patted Li Xue's hair, "With your older brother here, how could things not go smoothly, hahaha." Then Zheng Yong also came over and said, "You look a bit tired. Go home and rest this afternoon. We'll talk about anything else in the meeting tonight." Li Chenglong nodded, "I am a bit tired. We also made a new friend this time. Come on, get out of the car."

Seeing so many people, Zhao Liying felt a little embarrassed and got out of the car. Yun Lan frowned, then walked over and took Li Chenglong's arm: "She looks like that actress from the TV series." Before Li Chenglong could speak, Zhao Liying smiled: "My name is Zhao Liying. This must be Commander Yun Lan. I've heard Captain Yang Liu mention you these past few days, and you're just as I thought—a real beauty." Li Chenglong whispered a few words to Yun Lan, who smiled and said: "Now that you've joined our special operations company, we're truly brothers and sisters sharing the same food. Yang Liu, prepare a clean single dormitory for her, in the female soldiers' quarters of our company." Then Yun Lan went over and shook Zhao Liying's hand: "If you have any difficulties in the future, just come to me. After all, I'm a woman, so it's easier to talk to me. Besides, I love watching your TV dramas, hehe." Zhao Liying smiled and replied: "Okay, thank you for your help, Captain Yun."

Li Chenglong looked at the scene with a bit of a strange expression, but didn't think much of it. He said to Zheng Yong, "I am indeed a bit tired, and it's inconvenient for many people to go to work now. We'll meet on the third floor of this building at 7 pm tonight. All middle-level and above personnel without special missions should attend. I'll explain the situation in Linhai City." Zheng Yong replied, "That's great, that's perfect. I'll send someone to inform them right away." Then everyone dispersed. Yang Liu left with Zhao Liying, Wang Bing returned to his post, and Chen Xiaoke went to the logistics department to find Yun Qian.

Seeing everyone else had left, Yunlan pulled Li Chenglong back to their courtyard house. As soon as they entered, Yunlan asked, "What's with that woman? She's an Awakened One, and an A-level fox spirit at that?" Li Chenglong laughed, "What fox spirit? She's clearly a nine-tailed fox, but only level two." Yunlan rolled her eyes, "They're not the same thing. Don't think I didn't notice. She sometimes peeks at you. You two didn't do anything, did you?" Li Chenglong picked Yunlan up and sat her on the sofa, "What are you talking about? We're telepathically connected. If we really did something, wouldn't you have noticed? Besides, I wouldn't have done anything." He then kissed Yunlan's fair cheek. "Ugh, so annoying!" Yunlan wiped her face and then asked, "By the way, what did you gain from your trip to Linhai City?"

Li Chenglong slowly recounted the events of the past two days to Yunlan. Yunlan frowned slightly, "I didn't expect there to be so many zombies in Linhai City now. Even the schools have level 6 zombies. It seems our operations will be difficult." Li Chenglong nodded, "That's true. Take that level 6 giant snake I encountered, for example. No matter how many people we injured, it wouldn't matter, except for us." Yunlan pondered for a moment, then curiously asked, "Let me see that persimmon you mentioned." Li Chenglong then took out a bright red persimmon from his storage ring. Yunlan held it out with both hands, excitedly saying, "It's so big! It's four or five times the size of a regular persimmon." Li Chenglong smiled and said, "Give one to each of the four of them, and one to each of us. We can give the rest to others first. What do you think?" Yunlan nodded in agreement.

After spending some more time together, Yunlan told Li Chenglong to rest, and then went to handle various affairs at the Dawn Base. Currently, the training of the Special Agent Company had been handed over to Yang Liu, who was too busy and could only spend a maximum of two hours a day there. Li Chenglong lay in bed for a while, but felt restless, so he went to the office building. Arriving at the door of the Dawn Base city lord's office, Li Chenglong saw Yunlan, Yun Qian, and Zheng Yong sitting around a small conference table discussing something through the window. He knocked and went in. Seeing Li Chenglong, they all stood up. Yunlan said, "Didn't I tell you to rest? Why are you here already?" Li Chenglong smiled and replied, "I really couldn't sleep, so I came to see if there was anything I could do. By the way, what are you talking about?"

Wu Gang walked over and said, "According to the investigators' report and the communications we received, a base has recently been established in Jinghai City, calling itself the Long'an Base. They are recruiting heavily, and it's said that the leader's strength has reached level 6." Li Chenglong frowned, "We've only been gone for less than a month, and a base has already been established. Have you found out anything about them?" Zheng Yong said seriously, "We've sent two investigation teams with superhumans involved. We should have news soon." Li Chenglong nodded, "Alright, we'll make a decision after we have some information."

After the others left, Li Chenglong and Yun Lan kept Yun Qian behind. Li Chenglong said he wanted to see the current points table because he still had 28 Spirit Energy Persimmons, and he wanted to distribute them during the meeting that evening to motivate everyone. Yun Qian nodded, saying she would definitely get it done before dinner, and then went to do the statistics.

Dinner was eaten in the courtyard again. Because Li Chenglong was back today, Shen Menghua specially got off work early, went to the cafeteria to get a lot of food, had it delivered to their home, and even cooked three dishes herself. During dinner, Li Chenglong took out five spirit persimmons from his storage ring and gave one to each of Li Xue, Shen Menghua, Yun Qian, and the others, even the two little girls received one. Only Chen Xiaoke didn't get one because she had already received one. Cao Yuechan looked at the red persimmon, which was about the size of her head, and was very surprised: "Such a big persimmon, how big must the tree be to bear this fruit?" Chen Xiaoke drooled: "This fruit is so delicious. I ate one this morning, and I'm still savoring it. Moreover, I feel like my energy has increased after eating it."

Yun Qian was a little surprised: "Captain Li, didn't you say we'd distribute them tonight? You've already given them out." Li Chenglong nodded: "Besides these, there are 28 more. I didn't include these when I told you this afternoon. By the way, how's your points tally going?" Yun Qian took out her notebook: "I've listed the people with the highest scores so far. Do you want to take a look?" Li Chenglong took the notebook and saw that Yun Lan had the highest score, followed by himself, and Wu Gang and Zheng Aiguo were third and fourth. He looked all the way up to the 50th place, and they were all people he knew: "The remaining 28 spirit persimmons will be distributed like this. Those in the top 50 who didn't get any will each receive 10 jin of mutated beast meat, those between 50 and 100 will receive 5 jin, and those between 100 and 200 will receive 2 jin. There's not much meat right now, so this is the only way to distribute it." Shen Menghua also said: "The mutated pigs you had raised have already given birth to piglets. In a few months, we'll have a more sufficient supply of meat. And now we not only have mutated pigs, but also mutated chickens and mutated cattle."

Chen Xiaoke added with a smile, "Besides mutated beasts, we also raise ordinary poultry and livestock, though the numbers are still relatively small at the beginning." Li Chenglong nodded in satisfaction, "Now, with Yun Qian, Sister Shen, and others inside, and Zheng Yong, Wu Gang, and Zheng Aiguo outside, plus my capable wife Lan'er, our base will definitely get better and better." Yun Lan pinched Li Chenglong's waist hard, "Don't be arrogant, okay?" Everyone burst into laughter. Han Xiaoling finished her persimmons in no time, wiped her hands, and then leaned down in front of Li Chenglong and whispered, "Brother, I heard you actually brought Zhao Liying back this time. I really like her. Can you ask her to sign an autograph for me?" Li Chenglong also whispered back, "She has already joined the Special Service Company, and you are also a member of the Special Service Company. Go and talk to her during training tomorrow." Han Xiaoling nodded happily and sat back down.

On the other side, Li Xue and Yun Lan were chatting and laughing, seemingly engrossed in their conversation. Li Xue noticed Han Xiaoling whispering to Li Chenglong and curiously asked what they were talking about. Han Xiaoling sheepishly recounted what they had just discussed. Shen Menghua, busy in the logistics department, was unaware of the conversation. She quickly asked, "Is it Zhao Liying, the actress from the TV series?" Yun Lan snorted, "Of course, she's a stunning beauty." Chen Xiaoke chimed in, "In terms of looks, no one can compare to our Yun Lan, but Brother Li was so handsome back then." She then vividly recounted how Li Chenglong had killed Zhou Chuan and Zhang Shan, and annihilated the level 6 giant snake zombie beast in Linhai City. Everyone who heard this was utterly shocked.

Shen Menghua said, "Captain Li, you can't change your mind." Li Chenglong then hugged Yunlan tightly and said, "How could I? My other half will always only be Yunlan." After saying that, he kissed Yunlan's cheek in front of everyone. Yunlan blushed and pushed Li Chenglong away. Li Chenglong was already leaning forward and not sitting properly, and Yunlan's push was a bit too strong, causing Li Chenglong to fall over. Laughter rang out again in the courtyard.

At 7 PM, 62 key middle-level managers from the Dawn Base gathered in the conference room. Upon Li Chenglong's entrance, the room erupted in enthusiastic applause. Yun Lan then delivered a work report on recent events and outlined future plans, which received unanimous approval from everyone present. Yun Qian followed with a report on the livelihood of the people in Dawn City: "As of 4 PM today, Dawn City has a total of 9650 people. Our current supplies are relatively normal and can last until July. Moreover, thanks to the efforts of the various resource search teams, this period will be extended. Next month, in April, we will be able to plant crops in the better-quality land in the north." Everyone present was overjoyed upon hearing this news.

After the representatives from various departments finished speaking, Li Chenglong stepped forward and, using the projector to show the Linhai City base, described everything he had recorded, explaining the reasons for delaying the attack on Linhai. The battalion and deputy battalion commanders of the Dawn Army, while somewhat regretful, also agreed that attacking in the short term would indeed result in heavy losses. Zheng Yong and Ma Tiancheng, along with other managers from various departments of Dawn City, also believed that rest and recuperation were the best course of action for the time being.

After everyone agreed to postpone the attack on Linhai City, Li Chenglong had seven trays brought out, each covered with a red cloth. Wu Gang asked with a smile, "Captain Li, what are these? Why are you being so mysterious?" Li Chenglong smiled and lifted the red cloths from the trays one by one, revealing four large, bright red persimmons on each tray, which looked delicious. Zheng Aiguo excitedly exclaimed, "These are persimmons! How come they're so big?" Li Chenglong then explained the effects of the spiritual energy persimmons to everyone present, causing a stir. He then said, "There are only 28 left this time. We will distribute them according to points. Don't be discouraged if you don't get any; the top 200 points will all receive a reward. The spiritual energy persimmons ripen every 20 days, and each time there are at least 30 or more fruits. Next time, we will prioritize those who haven't tried them yet."

Then Yun Qian went on stage to read out the list of those who received the psionic persimmons. Zheng Yong, Wu Gang, Zheng Aiguo, and others all received them. After the meeting, Li Chenglong secretly ushered Zheng Yong into his office, and Yun Lan also came in. Zheng Yong was still holding the psionic persimmon he had just received. Before Li Chenglong could speak, Zheng Yong said, "It's a bit of a waste for an ordinary person like me to eat this persimmon. I'll give it to you ability users. If you eat it, you can better eliminate zombies and rebuild our home." He then tried to return the persimmon to Li Chenglong. Li Chenglong clapped his hands and laughed, "Brother Zheng Yong, you are truly a person who thinks of everyone from the bottom of your heart. I heard from Yun Lan that because you are not an ability user, you only ask for a small share of supplies, and sometimes you even donate supplies to children at schools. You are the first person to do this in the apocalypse."

Zheng Yong sighed, "I'm just doing my best to build our base well. Besides, last time I asked you to use the green crystal to try becoming a superhuman, you didn't agree." Li Chenglong shook his head, "There are many examples of people failing to evolve using crystals, and I really don't want you to try. If I lose such a good brother like you, not only me, but everyone will be sad." Yun Lan also smiled and said, "Brother Zheng, if there's a 100% chance to become a superhuman, would you be willing to try?" Zheng Yong immediately jumped up, "Really? Don't even mention 100%, I'd be willing to try even if it's only 50%."

Li Chenglong took out an apple: "Brother Zheng, this is a Spirit Apple. Eating it will turn you into a superhuman. You should have seen that girl Cao Yuechan; she used this. And Wang Bing, the reason he was able to reach level four so quickly was also because of this." Zheng Yong looked at the apple in Li Chenglong's hand: "Is it really that magical?" Li Chenglong continued, "But please keep it a secret. First, this fruit grows very slowly; only this one has ripened in over a month. Second, to be selfish, I only want to give this to the person I trust most." Zheng Yong nodded: "Words are no substitute for actions. If I do anything to harm you or Yunlan in the future, you can deal with me as you see fit." Li Chenglong smiled and handed the Spirit Apple to Zheng Yong. The next day, news that Zheng Yong, the deputy city lord of Dawn City, had become a level two dual superhuman of the metal and power types using a cyan crystal spread to every corner of the Dawn Base.