Dragon Transformation in the Apocalypse

Chapter 280 Private Visit on Weibo

Shangguan Jingyun and her group stayed in Shuguang City for three days, during which time they signed more than a dozen trade contracts, mainly military orders and super crystal generators—items closely related to the base's development. Early on the morning of December 3rd, Shangguan Jingyun and her group left by car. Li Chenglong personally escorted them to the city gates and then dispatched a troop to escort them for 100 kilometers.

During the match, Shangguan Jingyun, as a level 10 S-class killer whale spirit awakener, sparred with Yunlan. However, since it was just a friendly spar, neither of them used any killing moves, so the battle lasted for quite a while. In the end, Yunlan won relatively easily.

Li Chenglong personally gifted her a batch of energy rifles and energy pistols, along with a case of energy lightsabers. In return, Shangguan Jingyun stated that she would fully support Li Chenglong's entry into the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese People's Congress and into the upper echelons of China at the next meeting.

Thanks to the friendships Li Chenglong has cultivated with the leaders of various bases over the years, he now has close ties with at least eight or nine large bases, of which five have formed strategic alliances: Qianyun Base, Feiyun Base, Qingshui Base, Hohhot Base, and Heijincheng.

After seeing Shangguan Jingyun and the others off, Li Chenglong returned to the central computer room and called Zhao Liying over. He said with a smile, "I want to put on some makeup and pretend that no one recognizes me when I go to Shuguang City. You used to be an actor, so you have experience with makeup. Can you give me some ideas?"

After learning of Li Chenglong's idea, Zhao Liying said, "This isn't difficult, but I need to prepare." She immediately called Chu Kexin and Liu Qingqing, inviting them over. The three women huddled together, discussed the matter for a while, and then began applying makeup to Li Chenglong.

Half an hour later, Zhao Liying brought over a large mirror and said to Li Chenglong, "Captain Li, what do you think?" Li Chenglong looked and saw that his short hair had been replaced with a somewhat edgy wig, his fair skin had turned wheat-colored, and a long scar had appeared on his face. He smiled and said, "Not bad, not bad, I almost didn't recognize myself."

Chu Kexin brought over a large pair of non-prescription glasses and put them on Li Chenglong: "This way it won't be easy to spot. Captain Li, you also need to change your clothes, make them a little more worn." Li Chenglong nodded and went to the lounge behind the central computer office to change into a very ordinary set of clothes.

After he came out, he said to everyone, "Alright, I'm going on an incognito visit. Don't tell anyone. I just want to see the real Dawn City." After saying that, Li Chenglong's whole body flashed with red light, and he used spatial teleportation to arrive at a place a few hundred meters away from the Dawn Building.

Li Chenglong thought for a moment and decided that his first stop should be the commercial street. To make shopping more convenient for residents, Shuguang City had set up several commercial streets in the most convenient areas, offering a wide variety of businesses. He decided to visit the smaller shops, as they were less resilient and it would be easier to understand the situation at the bottom of the hierarchy.

Without hesitation, Li Chenglong chose a breakfast stall and went inside. It was already close to 9 o'clock, almost past the peak time for selling breakfast, and there weren't many customers left in the stall. Seeing Li Chenglong come in, the proprietress immediately said, "What would you like to eat? We have multigrain porridge, millet porridge, rice porridge, vegetarian buns, meat buns, wontons, tofu pudding, and meat-filled pancakes, etc."

As she spoke, the proprietress pointed to the huge menu hanging on the wall, showing Li Chenglong the prices of various breakfast items. Li Chenglong discovered that although the breakfast shop was small, it had everything one needed, selling more than a dozen kinds of breakfast items, and some of them were even divided into two categories. For example, there were exotic beast meat buns and regular meat buns, and there were also premium Dawn Rice Porridge, Dawn Rice Porridge, and regular rice porridge.

Li Chenglong nodded and said, "I'd like a bowl of premium Dawn Rice Porridge and two exotic beast meat buns." A minute later, a young girl brought over the porridge and buns and placed them on Li Chenglong's table. Since there weren't many customers left, the proprietress and her husband sat down to rest, and Li Chenglong took the opportunity to chat with them.

He took a bite of the steamed bun and thought it tasted pretty good. He casually asked, "Boss, how's business at the shop?" The boss smiled and said, "Business is alright. Don't let the small size of my shop fool you. This morning alone, I sold more than 400 steamed buns. They're mainly bought by people going to work in the industrial park and the Shuguang Building. Business is pretty good, but it's a bit tiring. You have to get up early to make breakfast. We earn our money from this morning's sales."

Li Chenglong continued to ask, "Have you encountered any problems in your daily work?" The proprietress said, "No major problems. The management of Dawn City is quite good and humane. However, there are currently two issues. One is that the cost is still too high. All our materials are brought in from the Logistics Department or the Light Industrial Zone. To be honest, the price is not low, but it is understandable. After all, this is the apocalypse, and resources are very precious."

The boss continued, "The second thing is that I feel the taxes are a bit high. It would be great if they could be reduced by 5%. It's alright now, after all, the cost of living in Dawn City is not high, the price of commercial electricity is also very low, the heating fee in winter is only a few red crystals, household electricity is also very cheap, and children's schooling is free."

Li Chenglong chatted with them for a long time, and finally asked, "How do you feel about the Dawn City government's work now?" The boss thought for a moment and said, "To be honest, I feel it's very good, especially Lord Li and his people. I can feel that they really want to do things for the people. My family only came to Dawn City in August. Before that, we were in a small base. The leader of that base was a villain who only knew how to exploit the people. If it weren't for the Dawn Army coming, we would never have had a chance to get ahead."

Li Chenglong kept the two men's words in mind, planning to study the tax issue when he returned, and also to see if he could further reduce the cost of living and production for residents.

His second stop today was a nursing home, which mainly accepts elderly people who have no children. It's completely free, providing free accommodation, food, and medical care, with dedicated staff to take care of the residents. Li Chenglong didn't stay long, but he chatted with some of the elderly residents and received positive feedback, which made him very happy.

Li Chenglong returned home that evening. He had visited more than a dozen places that day, and although he had seen many encouraging things, he had also discovered quite a few problems. In his study, he wrote down and organized these problems one by one, intending to bring them up at the next conference for the participants to discuss and resolve.

Stepping out of the study, Yunlan was playing with Li Yunhao in her arms. Li Chenglong walked over, kissed Yunlan, and then kissed the little guy's cheek, saying with a smile, "Our son is growing up fast. He's starting to try walking now. I reckon in a few more months, walking fast won't be a problem."

Yunlan smiled and said, "Yes, I heard from Song Yixin that Haohao is indeed developing faster than other children. He can speak fluently now." She picked up the child, took out a photograph, and pointed to each person in the picture, asking, "Who is this?" Li Yunhao said in his baby voice, "This is Daddy, this is Mommy, this is Grandpa, this is Grandma..."

Li Yunhao is not even 9 months old yet, but he can already speak very clearly and recognize people, which is very gratifying. After playing with their child for a while, the couple asked Yunlan to take the child to bed first, while he went to the study to read some of the books that Teacher Lena had given him and learn about some alien cultures.