Dragon Transformation in the Apocalypse

Chapter 177 The Battle of Xingtai (Part 1)

At 4 a.m. on March 5, Li Chenglong had the soldiers woken up to prepare for their departure. The logistics team had already started boiling water and cooking, and the soldiers would be ready to set off after their meal. Soon after, the special forces members arrived at Li Chenglong's side.

Upon arrival, they saluted, and Li Chenglong returned the salute, saying, "You all hurry up and eat something; we'll set off at five." Han Xiaoling took out some food from her storage space and distributed it to the other special forces members. Then she leaned over and said, "Chen Xiaoke just called me and said that my sister-in-law gave birth to a big, healthy boy. Is that true, brother? Do I have a little nephew?"

Li Chenglong had forgotten about this. He could call Yunlan and Li Xue, and those with crystal phones could also make calls. However, the communication of crystal phones was relayed through Dawn City. In addition, since this was a fight against alien species, there was no need to worry about leaks. But in the future, we should still be careful. During wartime, except for the Dawn Army's military communication equipment, all other communication must remain silent.

Currently, in the central computer room of Dawn City, there are three mainframes responsible for communications: one for the Dawn Army, one for the Dawn City government, and one for civilian use. This is for ease of management and information security considerations. In addition, there are several computers managing different Crystal Networks, such as military, government, and civilian networks. Now, some people in Dawn City have even started using Dawn mobile phones to create their own media, sharing their lives and work on the Crystal Network.

As for General Sun Tianlong and Xu Qingming's crystal phones, they were able to use them because the main control computer granted them access and issued them temporary Dawn City identity cards. These cards could only be used for communication and did not make them official residents of Dawn City. After the upgrade of Dawn City, Li Chenglong used 20 cyan crystals to upgrade the central computer room, significantly improving its processing power and speed. Currently, the crystal network's coverage has reached a radius of 800km, covering several surrounding bases.

Li Chenglong took out his crystal phone, opened the photo album, and handed it to Han Xiaoling. Han Xiaoling took it and walked over to the special forces members. Immediately, gasps of amazement erupted from the crowd. Han Xiaoling exclaimed in delight, "The little guy is so cute! I want to hold him!" Zhao Liying added, "The baby has completely inherited the excellent looks of Captain Li and Captain Yun; he'll definitely grow up to be a handsome young man." Yang Liu noticed Yun Lan next to the child and remarked, "Captain Yun looks quite well; that's perfect."

After they finished reading, Li Chenglong put away his phone: "I didn't want to tell everyone, I wanted everyone to focus on preparing for the upcoming battle, but now that you all know, please keep it a secret." Yang Liu smiled and said, "We wanted to keep it a secret, but it seems we can't, so everyone probably already knows."

It turns out that Yang Liu learned from her call with Li Xue that reporters from Shuguang City Radio and Television Station had been staking out the hospital since last night. In addition, some privately-run newspapers and online media approved by the Shuguang City government had also been following the story since early morning. Although it's not even 5 a.m. yet, the newspapers are probably almost ready to print.

Li Chenglong couldn't help but marvel at the speed at which information spread. Soon after, Zheng Yong also contacted him. He said on the phone, "First of all, congratulations to you and Yunlan on the birth of your child. I went to the hospital to see him; the baby is fair-skinned and clean, and a natural Awakener—truly remarkable. Also, I want to share this good news with the entire army, the Dawn City government, and all the people. This good news will inspire everyone's enthusiasm for fighting the zombies, and at the same time, it will boost the morale of the soldiers as the great battle approaches." Li Chenglong thought for a moment and then agreed.

Soon, the main officers of both regiments arrived. As soon as Zhao Rui arrived, he said loudly, "Division Commander, why didn't you tell us about such a big thing? We just discussed it and we're leading the troops out to battle soon. You go home and check on things." Hao Dahai also said, "Yes, this is a big deal. Although we suffered some casualties yesterday, it was relatively easy overall. We have several level 7 zombies. I don't believe the zombies can put up much resistance."

Li Chenglong immediately refused: "No, Yunlan has given birth safely, and there's nothing I can do if I go back now. But I estimate that today's battle will definitely not be easy. Don't underestimate us just because you're level 7. A moment of carelessness could cause huge losses. Everyone has learned the lesson that pride comes before a fall, right?"

Hao Dahai nodded, realizing he'd been a bit too arrogant lately and knew he couldn't let that happen again. Li Chenglong invited the others to sit down on the ground, and while eating, they meticulously reviewed the battle plan using the map. Just then, the Black Gold City troops contacted them, saying they had set off and were expected to arrive at the decisive battle position at 8 PM. Li Chenglong downed his warm water in one gulp, then retrieved 800 Flame Fruits from his psionic space, giving each of his two regiments 400 to use in the battle.

Twenty minutes later, the Dawn Army had regrouped. At Li Chenglong's command, they marched towards Xingtai City. After a series of battles, the main force of Black Gold City had driven the zombie horde toward Xingtai City. As soon as Li Chenglong arrived, they could launch a pincer attack.

The reason Li Chenglong said today's battle would be difficult was because he had vaguely sensed a large energy fluctuation in the distance. This energy fluctuation was almost tangible, surging outwards from Xingtai City. When the Dawn Army advanced, the 3rd Regiment was at the forefront, with Li Chenglong and the special forces in the middle, and the 4th Regiment behind them.

During the march, several smaller bases joined the fray. Hearing that Li Chenglong was going to cooperate with Black Gold City in a major battle, they all joined him. It wasn't that they were particularly benevolent, but such a large-scale battle, with both Dawn City and Black Gold City involved, meant they were sure to get a share of the spoils. For their own benefit, following the big boss was definitely the right thing to do. After absorbing many people along the way, Li Chenglong's force had reached 5000 men, although the combat strength of the troops from the other bases, apart from the Dawn Army, was quite limited.

At 8:00 AM, Li Chenglong led his troops to the designated position. Meanwhile, the fighting had already begun half an hour earlier. Upon learning of Li Chenglong's arrival, Shangguan Feng, commander of the 15th Army in Black Gold City, immediately contacted him, requesting that Li Chenglong attack from the right flank of the zombie horde to relieve some of their pressure. Li Chenglong, of course, did not refuse and immediately ordered everyone except those from the Joint Logistics Support Department to join the battle, determined to fight the zombie horde to the bitter end.

There were very few places to use guns in this kind of combat, and as for artillery shells, there were none left, only some crystal grenades. But in order not to harm friendly forces, they were not used indiscriminately. Li Chenglong stood on the roof of a truck, his left eye already activated with the True Dragon Eye, carefully observing the battle situation. If any problems arose, Yang Liu would immediately contact the two combat regiments or the troops of Black Gold City.

Hao Dahai wielded the Type 20 assault rifle with bayonets with impressive skill, each thrust killing a level 3 zombie or beast. The Type 20 assault rifle also had the advantage of slowly absorbing the energy of a superhuman wielder, increasing its power. The bayonet, on the other hand, was a small psionic weapon; the higher the superhuman's level, the greater the bayonet's power. Zhao Rui was equally formidable. He transformed into a giant over 3 meters tall, his machete absorbing his energy and growing larger. Each swing cleaved a level 5 zombie in two.

As a level 7 strength-type ability user, Zhu Qian didn't have a bound weapon like Zhao Rui. If his body became gigantic, he wouldn't even have a suitable weapon. So he didn't grow gigantic; instead, he channeled his energy into his superalloy battle sword and slashed left and right among the zombie horde. Before long, a large number of mutants of various levels fell around him.

The battle in the Third Regiment was fierce, and the Fourth Regiment was not to be outdone. Zhao Gang, Yang Hu, and Li Nian each led a group of soldiers and charged into the zombie horde to begin the fight. In the past, Li Chenglong would never have been willing to let his soldiers fight like this. After all, training a qualified soldier requires a lot of resources, and every life is the most precious thing, and should never be lost casually.

However, the situation changed drastically in March, putting Li Chenglong under immense pressure. If he continued to avoid battle out of fear of sacrifice, he would surely face utter ruin.

After an hour of fighting, at least ten thousand mutant corpses had fallen on Li Chenglong's side. Taking advantage of the zombies' retreat towards the center of Xingtai City, Li Chenglong ordered his soldiers to rest for a while. At the same time, contact came from Black Gold City that one of their divisions had retreated and a second division was preparing to engage in battle. This was the advantage of having more men; they could be used interchangeably to keep their troops at peak combat strength. Li Chenglong's forces were smaller, so they could only seize those spare moments to rest.

Twenty minutes later, Li Chenglong led his troops westward. Hearing the explosions in the distance caused by the release of various supernatural abilities, Li Chenglong knew that the final battle was not far away. They chased the zombie horde to the southern part of Xiangdu District. As far as Li Chenglong could see, there were countless zombies and zombie beasts, at least 20 of them.

At this moment, the Black Gold City drone swarm rushed over, dropping various explosive charges and bombs on the zombie horde. However, many high-level zombies activated their abilities to deflect the drones and the dropped explosives. Therefore, although a considerable amount of explosives were dropped, very few reached the ground and successfully detonated, causing little damage to the zombies and zombie beasts. Even the drones were shot down one by one, and the entire swarm was wiped out in less than a minute.

Before the zombies could retaliate, Li Chenglong called Hao Dahai over and said, "I'll give your group all the crystal grenades and crystal bombs from my psionic space. I don't need to say anything else, right?" Hao Dahai saluted solemnly and said, "Yes, mission accomplished." After saying that, Hao Dahai and his group carried away more than a dozen boxes of crystal grenades and crystal bombs.

Meanwhile, Shangguan Feng, commander of the 15th Army, who had received contact from Li Chenglong, ordered the 2nd Division to concentrate all its heavy firepower to bombard the zombie horde on a large scale before launching a general offensive. A minute later, massive explosions erupted from different directions around the zombie horde, blasting countless zombies and zombie beasts into pieces. Hao Dahai and Zhao Gang drew their super-alloy battle swords and shouted in unison, "Dawn Army warriors, this is a battle to the death! Follow me!" They then charged forward first.

Li Chenglong said to the special forces soldiers beside him, "Let's go, we'll go too." Everyone saluted Li Chenglong, took out their weapons, and prepared to charge. Several buglers sounded the charge, and Li Chenglong drew his Dragon Emperor Sword as he charged, entering the horde of zombies in less than ten seconds.

The zombie horde was indeed somewhat chaotic at the beginning of the bombing, but it soon regrouped and began charging towards the humans. After the battle, many low-level zombies were almost all dead. Although there were only a maximum of over 100,000 zombies here, their combat power was much higher.

Li Chenglong wielded the Dragon Emperor Sword, each strike unleashing a sword light two to three meters long. Wherever the sword light touched, zombies, zombie beasts, or even zombie birds poised to pounce and tear apart were reduced to ashes and scattered by the wind, leaving only glittering crystals falling to the ground. To prevent accidental injury, he had also used spatial teleportation beforehand to reach a position close to the center.

Li Chenglong was focused on the battle when he suddenly sensed a powerful energy surge in the distance. Instinctively, he swung his sword to defend himself. Immediately, a massive energy wave shot towards him. Wherever the energy wave passed, zombies and zombie beasts were reduced to ashes, but these monstrous creatures showed no sign of diminishing the energy wave's power, heading straight for Li Chenglong, who wielded the Dragon Emperor Sword. Although Li Chenglong swung his sword to block, he was still knocked back dozens of meters by the energy wave, which carved a deep trench in the ground, its bottom invisible.

He looked closely and saw a German merman in armor standing in the distance—the very same one he had seen at the Langley base. Back then, he had just leveled up and entered a berserk state, barely managing to repel it. Now, its energy seemed even greater than before.

The merman spoke in broken Chinese: "Human, you're quite impressive. At only level 9, you're already so powerful. In all my centuries of battles, I've never seen anything like it—no, I've never even heard of it. If you surrender to our King Dane, I'll recommend you as a captain, managing several hundred warriors. After Earth is conquered by our great King Dane, we'll even give you a piece of land to govern. We can even send you a large number of female Dane people. How about that? Pretty good, right?"