dognovel Chapter 116 Old Friend
Chapter 116 Old Friend
Early the next morning, Li Chenglong and Yun Lan went to Alice's room on the eighth floor. After exchanging a few words with Alice, they took the elevator downstairs. A dozen troop carriers and off-road vehicles were already parked in the small square in front of the Dawn Building. Zheng Yong, Yun Qian, Ma Tiancheng, and others were waiting there. Besides them, many residents of Dawn City had spontaneously come to see them off and wish them a safe journey. Li Chenglong gave some instructions to Zheng Yong and the others, then addressed the neatly arranged Third Battalion and Special Forces in the square: "Everyone get in the vehicles, prepare to depart!" He then took the driver's seat of the front off-road vehicle, followed by Yun Lan, Chen Xiaoke, and Han Xiaoling. Li Chenglong contacted Hao Dahai in the back via the vehicle's walkie-talkie, and then slowly drove towards the east gate of Dawn City. The vehicles behind him started up one by one, forming a long line.
Yunlan, sitting in the passenger seat, looked at the map of Donghai Province: "Donghai Province has four major prefecture-level cities: the provincial capital Jinghai City, Linhai City and Linjiang City to the south, and Jihai City to the north. After yesterday's route planning and calculations, the total distance to Jinghai International Trade Port is 320km. Judging from the speed of our convoy, if everything goes smoothly, we should arrive at 4 pm today." Chen Xiaoke continued, "Luckily, we modified a lot of trucks before, and now they are all 30 to 40-seat troop carriers. Otherwise, it would take who knows how long it would take to send so many people to such a far place." Li Chenglong said, "Xiaoke, we recently cleaned up a bus company and brought back a lot of buses. You need to keep those buses safe; they will be useful in the future. Also, you need to inspect those dozen or so public buses. Once we have gasoline, we can set up a public bus system in Shuguang City to facilitate the commuting of the people."
Chen Xiaoke smiled and said, "Don't worry, Captain Li, we've kept those safe. We're just waiting to get the fuel back this time." Han Xiaoling leaned against Chen Xiaoke next to her, "Sister Xiaoke, you've reached level 4 too." Chen Xiaoke was a little discouraged when she heard about the level, "I was one of the earliest ability users. Sister Yunqian is already level 6, and I only recently reached level 4." Yun Lan comforted her, "The main problem is that you don't have any offensive skills. Although you've reached level 4, you only have various support skills. Plus, you haven't been on the battlefield much. Reaching level 4 is already quite good. And although your level isn't very high, your role is significant. Under Yunqian's and your management, your logistics department has hardly had any problems, especially your water purification team, which has provided a large amount of clean drinking water for the residents of Dawn City." Li Chenglong said while driving, "Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. Everyone has their own role, and we can't generalize."
The convoy headed east along the South Ring Road of Linhai City, passing through the abandoned former Dawn Base, and then turned north. Along the way, they encountered some scattered zombies, but Li Chenglong didn't stop. The ability users of the Third Battalion unleashed their long-range attack abilities, eliminating the zombies blocking their path from a great distance. Han Xiaoling and Chen Xiaoke were initially quite excited, chatting and laughing in the back seat, with Han Xiaoling occasionally releasing wind blades to kill zombies. But soon they got bored and fell asleep together. Yun Lan then took out a map and said, "We've been driving for five hours, and it's already 13 PM. Why don't we stop for a bit, let the soldiers have some food, and let them relax a bit?"
Li Chenglong nodded, contacted Hao Dahai via the vehicle's walkie-talkie, and then stopped the vehicle. After the convoy stopped, the soldiers got out of the vehicles and sat down in an orderly fashion to eat their rations. There wasn't enough time to cook a proper meal. Li Chenglong, Yun Lan, Hao Dahai, Yang Liu, and the others gathered together and planned their route in front of a map of Jinghai City. This time, only half of the Third Battalion had been mobilized, so only Hao Dahai came; Deputy Battalion Commander Zhao Rui and Political Commissar Zhu Qian hadn't come. Yun Lan said, "In another three to four hours, we should reach the port. I feel we can't just rush in. What if there are a lot of zombies or strange beasts inside? There might be some danger. Besides, it'll be late when we get to the port, and we can't do much today. Why don't we find a place close to the port to set up camp, send a reconnaissance team in to scout ahead, and then act together tomorrow morning?" The others nodded in agreement.
Forty minutes later, with a whistle, the soldiers, having finished their rest, quickly boarded the troop transport trucks, and the convoy began its journey again. At three o'clock in the afternoon, the convoy arrived at Qing'an Town, but Li Chenglong did not stop. Yun Qian, looking at the traces of their past life, sighed, "Although we only stayed in Qing'an Town for less than a month, it truly laid a solid foundation for our current situation. Many of the core forces in Dawn City were met and joined in Qing'an Town." Li Chenglong joked, "Once the world is peaceful and stable, let's build a house here, open a supermarket, and live a simple life together. You can also give me a few children." Yun Lan rolled her eyes at Li Chenglong, "No, I don't want to have that many. Two is the most I can have."
The two women sleeping in the back rubbed their sleepy eyes. Han Xiaoling asked, "Who's having a baby? Sister-in-law, are you pregnant?" Chen Xiaoke was also a little surprised: "You're pregnant so soon? Congratulations!" Yun Lan blushed: "No, no, I was just joking with Captain Li, hahaha." As they were still joking, a group of people suddenly rushed out from the intersection and blocked their way. Most of them were wearing ill-fitting clothes and carrying weapons such as fire axes and sticks; there were about thirty or forty of them. As soon as Li Chenglong parked the car, the group surrounded them. Before he could get out of the car, Hao Dahai had already led a company of soldiers up and all pointed their guns at the group.
Upon seeing so many people, the leader yelled at one of his henchmen, "You said there were only one or two cars, how come there are so many people! I'll beat you up!" But with guns pointed at them, they dared not make any moves. Hao Dahai stepped forward and sternly asked, "Who are you people, engaging in highway robbery? If you can move aside quickly, we can pretend nothing happened." Li Chenglong looked at the leader, feeling he looked familiar. Yun Lan closed her Phoenix Eye: "There are 37 people in total. Besides the able-bodied men, there are elderly people and children, but only three are ability users. The leader is a level four strength user, and his attributes are decent."
The leader, looking at the armed and uniformly dressed men before him, immediately said, "We really have no other choice. There's practically no food left in Qing'an Town, and we haven't found any good transportation. So many of us have no idea where to go, so we're forced to block the road and see if we can find anything." He was telling the truth. Although Li Chenglong and his men hadn't stayed in Qing'an Town for long, they had taken everything they could to scavenge when they moved to the Dawn Base. It was already quite an achievement that they had survived here until July.
Li Chenglong finally remembered who he was and got out of the car, saying, "Are you perhaps Lin Ruyi? The one I met at the gas station before?" The leading man, hearing someone speak, quickly looked over and, after recognizing him, said, "Aren't you the one who fought alongside me?" Li Chenglong gestured for Hao Dahai to put down his gun and stepped forward: "I asked you to join us in leaving before, but you said your mother was bedridden and needed care. Later, when I returned to Qing'an Town, I wanted to find you but couldn't. I never expected to see you again after so long." Lin Ruyi scratched his head: "After parting with you that night, considering my mother's safety, I drove her to a village. My mother and I lived there for over two months in hardship. Later, my mother fell seriously ill and passed away, so I returned to Qing'an Town. These are some villagers who followed me. When we arrived in Qing'an Town, we found that it had already been cleared out. There were very few zombies, but supplies were also extremely scarce. However, for safety's sake, we didn't leave and have lived there ever since."
Li Chenglong smiled and said, "You guys have really had a tough time. We're going on a mission, otherwise we would definitely have taken you with us. If you'd like to join us, we can give you a ride back." Lin Ruyi and the others had long wanted to leave, and upon hearing Li Chenglong's words, they quickly replied, "Okay, we'd like to join you." Li Chenglong nodded, "Hao Dahai, give them some food, and then we'll set off."
Hao Dahai spoke to someone nearby, who then led several people to a car at the back. They retrieved several large bags of various foods and clean drinking water, which they handed to Lin Ruyi and her group. Li Chenglong said, "This will be enough for you for two or three days. You can stay around here; we'll be back by noon the day after tomorrow at the latest." Lin Ruyi and the others accepted the food, thanking him profusely; some even knelt down in gratitude. Li Chenglong got into the car and led the convoy eastward. Looking at the impressive convoy, Lin Ruyi and the others resolved to follow Li Chenglong.
On the way, Li Chenglong briefly told Yunlan and the others what had happened. Yunlan said, "This person isn't a bad person at heart, and he's a level four strength-type ability user. It wouldn't be bad if we could join him. The two girls are studying the map of Jinghai City to see how long it will take to get there."