The arrival of the Alliance's tax official signaled that Xiao Fan's situation here would soon be exposed to the survivors of Yunzhou.
Thanks to effective confidentiality measures and the remote location chosen, Xiao Fan's base had remained undiscovered until now.
Xiao Fan's communications officers' main task each day was to monitor Yunzhou's broadcasts, gradually mapping out the region's general distribution of forces.
The Alliance consisted mainly of seven large survivor bases united together.
The largest of these was the North Wind Army, originating from Yunzhou's northernmost county.
This force had somehow managed to acquire a significant cache of weapons soon after the apocalypse began.
These were not mere police-issue equipment, but authentic military-grade weaponry.
They had firearms and ammunition galore, even tanks.
With this arsenal at their disposal, the North Wind Army swiftly expanded, absorbing vast numbers of survivors. To this day, the North Wind Army alone boasted over fifty thousand survivors under its command.
The leader of the North Wind Army, and the current chairman of the Alliance, was named Song Beifeng - an enigmatic figure whom many suspected had deep ties to the forces north of the Shenlong River.
North of the Shenlong River lay the foreign Boliya Country.
In the past, traveling abroad was no big deal, but now, anyone with foreign connections was regarded as a formidable figure.
At the very least, they had the means to travel overseas, something most survivors could only dream of.
Besides the North Wind Army, the Alliance comprised six other major forces, each numbering over ten thousand members.
Reportedly, the Alliance's total population had already surpassed one hundred and fifty thousand!
Survivors not part of the Alliance were required to pay taxes, after which the Alliance would list them as protected subjects.
For instance, the nearby General Ridge Base had been taxed by the Alliance.
Today was the day the tax official would arrive, and if Xiao Fan's base was discovered, it would likely face taxation as well.
Xiao Fan pondered, feeling that something was missing here.
Ah, yes!
They lacked a name!
Most of the survivor forces here had names, like the North Wind Army, War God Army, Women's Army, Ferry Army, and Rock Army within the Alliance.
Smaller forces also had names, such as the nearby General Ridge Base and the Peach Garden Base near Sishui.
Xiao Fan surveyed his vast city and decided to bestow it with a name as well.
He brought along the engineer Ai Yin and approached the southern gate, pointing to the massive stone lintel above. "Can we inscribe characters here?"
"Of course, Commander. Such a task is simple for engineers. How many characters would you like inscribed?"
"Three large characters, visible from afar. Inscribe 'City of Dawn.' Can you do that?"
"No problem. I'll call in two more engineers, and we can have it done within half an hour."
The inscription required writing the characters first, which Xiao Fan did himself.
Annie had advised him that the system could assist with these characters.
So Xiao Fan sat in a suspended platform, descending from the city walls with a brush as large as a mop, and wrote the three characters "City of Dawn."
His brushwork flowed like dragons and serpents, iron-forged and silver-hooked.
From a distance, the three characters exuded an imposing aura.
Then Ai Yin and the two other engineers swiftly chiseled the characters into the stone and painted them in a vivid red.
"We should also make a flag. It's the apocalypse now, with gloomy clouds constantly overhead, depriving humanity of hope. Our emergence should bring a dawn of light to this dark world."
Following Xiao Fan's suggestion, a flag was soon prepared.
Amidst the gloomy clouds, a ray of dawn seemed to pierce through like a celestial sword, bringing hope to the world.
Thus, the names "City of Dawn" and "Army of Dawn" were established by Xiao Fan.
The massive flag was hoisted above the four gates of the City of Dawn, immediately instilling a sense of vitality into the colossal city.
As soon as Xiao Fan finalized the name and flag of the Army of Dawn, a change manifested across all his soldiers.
On the sleeves of every Red Alert unit, an emblem depicting a ray of dawn appeared, henceforth serving as the Army of Dawn's distinctive insignia.
The soldiers wore it.
The tanks bore it.
Even the protective cloth draped over the war dogs displayed it.
Xiao Fan himself sported the emblem on his military uniform as well.
Once everything was prepared, Xu Qiang's scouts reported that the Alliance's tax official had approached within five kilometers, just a turn away from catching sight of the City of Dawn.
"They're finally here."
Xiao Fan smiled. "Tell everyone to withdraw into the city and seal the gates. Don't let these people in. We'll make them wait for a while, to dampen the Alliance's arrogance before dealing with them."
The order was relayed, and all soldiers and machinery swiftly retreated into the city as the gates closed one by one.
With all the gates sealed, the City of Dawn became virtually impenetrable.
The towering fifteen-meter walls, smooth and steep, were virtually unscalable. The massive gates blocked all hopes of entry.
Outsiders could only see the stern soldiers in the watchtowers, glaring at them through bulletproof glass.
And of course, they were unaware of the machine gun nests, each heavy machine gun trained on them as well.
Just as the four gates of the City of Dawn sealed shut, a convoy appeared at the bend leading to the city.
The convoy consisted of five vehicles.
One was a Land Rover SUV, accompanied by four heavy trucks.
Inside the Land Rover sat four people.
A driver, a secretary-like individual carrying documents.
And two men in the backseat, distinguished from ordinary survivors by their appearance.
One was a slightly overweight middle-aged man - a rarity in the apocalypse, nearly two months in, indicating an exceptionally comfortable life.
The other was a sharp-eyed youth with a hawkish nose, giving off a predatory aura whenever he scrutinized someone, exuding an unmistakable sense of danger.
At present, the middle-aged man was grumbling inside the vehicle.
"Damn it, how much farther do we have to go? Those bastards at General Ridge Base better not be screwing with me, claiming there are survivors here wearing military uniforms. What survivors would be wearing military gear out in the middle of nowhere? They made me drive tens of kilometers for nothing. If we don't find any survivors soon, I'm going to skin them alive when I get back!"
The hawk-nosed man, however, remained focused on the ground.
"There are plenty of vehicle tracks here."
The driver nodded in agreement. "Yes, there are tire marks all over. If the people at General Ridge Base weren't lying, we should be getting close."
"Hmph! That's good, then. As long as there are survivors, it'll be easy. Everyone stay alert and be ready to give them a stern warning the moment we see them. That'll make collecting taxes much smoother later on. Nowadays, survivors are all stubborn as hell and... Huh?"
The vehicle halted midway up the slope, its occupants gaping in astonishment at the sight before them.
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
e school belle recognized by the whole school, a genius girl from the kendo club. She also has a hidden identity, the youngest legendary demon hunter. Chen Shuo just transmigrated and found himself turned into a weak, helpless little vampire. He was caught by Su Xiyen and taken home at the very beginning. Since then, Chen Shuo's life creed only had two items. "First, classmate Su Xiyen is always right." "Second, if classmate Su Xiyen is wrong, please refer back to item one." Many years later, Chen Shuo, who had turned back into a human, led a pair of twins to appear in front of all the vampires to share the secret of how he turned back into a human. "It's simple, I tricked a female demon hunter into becoming my wife!"
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
