si-mexico Chapter 210 Unexpected Visitor
Chapter 210 Unexpected Visitor
On the morning of July 15th, Li Chenglong exchanged 12 level 9 pink crystals for 4 crystal beam cannons, preparing to deliver them to the Rocket Force's temporary camp. Construction of the Rocket Force's base also began. Located next to the Dawn Force's air force base, it occupied a considerable area and, according to Li Chenglong's requirements, was to be a multi-functional base to meet future combat needs, ensuring that all necessary facilities were included.
Before Li Chenglong even arrived, Zhou Jihai, the regimental commander of the Rocket Force, had already led his soldiers to line up at the base to welcome him. Although the Rocket Force is a regimental-level organization, its personnel are certainly not as large as a regular combat regiment, only about 500 people. Currently, they only have some artillery and mortars of various models collected by General Sun Tianlong and Li Chenglong Yunlan. Li Chenglong said this morning that he would be sending four new artillery pieces, which made Zhou Jihai and the others very happy, and they gathered the soldiers together early.
After several days of recruitment and selection from two combat divisions, the Rocket Force's regimental structure is basically complete; all that remains is training. Li Chenglong won't give them all four cannons this time; he plans to give them two first, allowing them to quickly familiarize themselves with their operation according to the manual. Once they are proficient and can fire accurately, then they can discuss the rest.
At 7:30 a.m., Li Chenglong arrived at the temporary Rocket Force camp by bicycle and was immediately welcomed by the soldiers. Led by Zhou Jihai, he first toured the camp, observing the soldiers' living and training conditions, and then went to the warehouse at the back to see the artillery and mortars. Li Chenglong was quite satisfied with the overall setup: "You've already done a very good job in just a few days, but please don't be complacent; time is of the essence now."
As he spoke, he and dozens of soldiers arrived at a makeshift large dome, where he magically produced two crystal beam cannons. Each cannon weighed 10 tons and consisted of three parts: the front barrel, the rear barrel, and the control panel on the right side of the barrel. Although they were three parts, the barrel and the barrel were tightly connected, while the control panel was connected to the barrel by several thick cables.
Li Chenglong gave a brief introduction: "This cannon is called the Crystal Beam Cannon, or for simplicity, the Crystal Beam Cannon. The barrel is 2.5 meters long with a caliber of 145 millimeters. The height of the cannon is 2 meters, and the base area is 4 square meters, which houses the cannon and the control panel. The control panel consists of a crystal computer and some buttons, responsible for firing and maintenance of the beam cannon. The loading port is located at the rear of the cannon. Each loading requires one cyan crystal, and each cyan crystal can only be used for 3 shots before being depleted. Alternatively, blue crystals can be loaded, allowing for 15 shots."
After giving a brief explanation, Li Chenglong handed over the manuals that Lilith had already translated to Zhou Jihai, Liu Zhigang, and Lu Ming. He said earnestly, "Each of these cannons was hard-won, so I hope you will cherish them. Because they are quite powerful, if you need to test fire them later, you must go outside the city. Alright, you can begin your work now."
Dozens of soldiers were already impatient. As soon as Li Chenglong finished speaking, they quickly surrounded him, touching and examining everything. Zhou Jihai excitedly prepared to open the control panel, only to find it locked. He rushed out immediately. Li Chenglong, accompanied by Liu Zhigang, had already left the camp and saw the flustered Zhou Jihai running towards him. Upon asking, he learned that he hadn't given him the key. Li Chenglong smiled and pulled out two numbered keys, giving them to the two men: "The key is quite valuable. Without it, the cannon can't be used. Keep it safe. I only have one spare."
Li Chenglong got on his bicycle, waved to them, and left. The two men got the keys and happily went inside. The soldiers, who were already impatient, followed their officer toward the location of the crystal beam cannon.
Li Chenglong was riding his bicycle along the right side of the non-motorized vehicle lane when he suddenly felt a slight heat in his abdomen. Then he seemed to sense something approaching from above. He stopped and looked up, only to see two people rushing down from the sky – it was El and Triss. Just then, his crystal phone rang. He answered, and Zhao Liying reported that the air defense sensors in Dawn City had detected a powerful energy rapidly approaching from the sky, asking if he should raise an alarm. Li Chenglong reassured Zhao Liying, telling her not to panic, that friends had arrived.
A moment later, two beams of light slowly descended to the ground. El and Triss carefully folded their wings, concealing the horns on their heads. They were now indistinguishable from the residents of Dawn City, except for their clothing, which appeared rather strange to others. Li Chenglong said happily, "What brings you two here? Did your teacher send you?"
Triss smiled and said, "After you left last time, we were curious and studied Earth in Grandma's library. We were so attracted to Earth that we kept pestering Grandma to let us come here. Grandma had no choice but to agree and gave us more than a month on Earth. However, it took us 15 days to get here by spaceship. With the return trip, we can only stay here for a maximum of six or seven days."
Li Chenglong smiled and said, "Alright, you two are my most honored guests. I need to get back to the Dawn Building now, come with me." The three of them chatted and laughed as they walked quickly toward the Dawn Building.
Yunlan was in the city lord's office discussing some detailed plans for Dawn City with Wang Jie when she saw Li Chenglong walk in with two teenagers. Wang Jie asked curiously, "City Lord Li, who are these two?" Li Chenglong smiled and said, "These two are my friends, and also the grandchildren of my teacher. The girl is named Triss, and the boy is named El. They are twin siblings."
Seeing that there were no outsiders around, the siblings revealed their true forms: wings appeared on their backs, and small antlers sprouted on their heads. Yunlan walked over with a smile and said, "These two must be the friends Li Chenglong met on Hailan Star. My name is Yunlan, and I'm his wife. This is Wang Jie, my assistant." After greeting the two, the siblings said, "Brother Li, could you please take me to your computer room? I have some things that my grandmother gave me to give you."
Li Chenglong didn't concern himself with that matter for the moment. He said, "Wait a minute. I heard from Erica that people on your planet Hailan have longer lifespans. Let me ask how old you are first, otherwise it's quite hard to accept you calling me 'brother'." Triss chuckled, "My brother and I are 12 years old this year according to your Earth year, and 15 years old according to our Hailan year. However, we generally use the interstellar standard year, which is 1.5 years on Earth. So, we divide 12 by 1.5, which is 8 years old."
Li Chenglong was relieved. No matter how you calculate it, he was older than them, and that was enough. However, he immediately had a question: "Wait a minute, no matter how you calculate it, you are all not very old. So how can you have such a high level and such strength?"
Tris replied, "That's because before we grew up, my grandma and dad froze us for 200 years to help us grow. During that time, they used various medicines to nurture us and injected a lot of energy into our bodies. So, even though we are young, we have actually been developing for over two hundred years."
Li Chenglong was immediately speechless: "Then you must be over 200 years old?" The two shook their heads: "This is quite common on our planet Hailan. Almost all the powerful people on our planet have received this kind of training. We usually start calculating age from the end of the training, so you don't need to worry about it."
Hearing this, Li Chenglong felt relieved and immediately said, "Alright then, Yunlan and I will take you to the central computer room now." After saying that, Li Chenglong first gave Wang Jie some instructions before walking out with Yunlan and the others.