70: A well-proportioned structure

In Xi City, five banquet tables were set up in the luxurious hall of the Xiyun Pavilion Hotel, each laden with a sumptuous spread of dishes.

High-level members from the newly reorganized Xiaoyao Squad and dozens of combat squad leaders were gathered here.

Sitting in the seat of honor at the head table, Li Xiao raised his glass of champagne and delivered the words he had been preparing for a long time.

"Brothers and sisters of the Xiaoyao Squad, today marks the first major victory since our squad's establishment. We have successfully taken control of all major resource zones within Xi City's borders, becoming the sole dominant squad in Xi City!"

As Li Xiao finished speaking, the crowd erupted into enthusiastic applause.

"Before this, whether you were part of the squads we cooperated with from the start, or those who made the wise decision to join Xiaoyao Squad for mutual development, or brothers and sisters from various places with high aspirations—regardless of any past grievances or conflicts arising from belonging to different camps, I hope everyone can put them behind us!"

As he spoke, he looked at Xuan Yu, Qin Luming, and the various squad leaders who had joined yesterday. "Because although we were brought into this war-torn world by the system's powerful abilities, everyone's common goal is to survive. How do we survive? By sticking together! Only by uniting without reservation can we defeat powerful external forces and hostility from our own kind!"

The word 'survival' clearly pierced everyone's hearts. At this moment, many who had felt lonely seemed to find a warm light here.

"Then for ourselves, for the Xiaoyao Squad, and for survival—cheers!"

"Cheers!"

Glasses clinked amidst cheers from every table. Li Xiao watched the crowd drinking merrily, feeling an unreal sense of trance.

Survival meant struggle, and struggle meant death. Li Xiao didn't know what the ultimate fate of the teammates present tonight would be, but at least at this moment, he had done his best.

After three rounds of drinks, Li Xiao slumped in his chair. The crowd had already dispersed, leaving him alone and drowsy.

Just then, footsteps echoed in the bright hall. It was Yun Ying, wearing starry sky camouflage pants and a white T-shirt, walking toward him.

"Big Brother Li? Can you still walk?"

"Hmm?"

Li Xiao looked at Yun Ying's exquisite face in a daze and asked confusedly, "Yun Ying, why haven't you gone back yet?"

"My brother asked me to come back and look after you. You're drunk, why don't you go back to your hotel room and rest?"

"Okay... alright..."

Yun Ying's soft hand gripped Li Xiao's arm, and the two of them wobbled into the elevator.

Perhaps due to the inertia of the elevator's movement, Li Xiao suddenly felt his stomach churn, and he couldn't stop himself from vomiting.

"Ah!"

A mixture of alcohol and food instantly sprayed onto Yun Ying's waist and pants.

But by then, he had lost most of his consciousness, and he wasn't even sure how he got back to the room.

After a while, he seemed to feel someone undressing him, and a warm sensation moving across his body.

But he was too tired and fell asleep amidst his dizziness.

After an unknown amount of time, Li Xiao vaguely heard the sound of water. He slowly opened his eyes, but immediately saw a scene that almost made his blood spray.

On the frosted glass wall of the bathroom on one side of the room, the silhouette of a curvaceous woman was projected.

Those slender arms, the exquisite waistline, the perky chest, and the perfect shape of her hips caused Li Xiao's blood to boil and his cheeks to flush.

"Holy crap! Who is that?"

Li Xiao nervously turned his back, but a man's instinct made him want to look back. That damned bathroom actually had no curtain...

Li Xiao was trying hard to recall what happened after drinking when he suddenly pulled back the covers and found himself wearing pajamas, with only a pair of shorts underneath.

"This..."

Li Xiao was at a loss when the bathroom door suddenly opened. He quickly closed his eyes and tried his best to maintain steady breathing.

Behind him, Yun Ying, wearing a bathrobe, saw that Li Xiao had turned over and immediately shrank back.

Then, after a rustling sound of dressing, the door clicked shut.

Li Xiao let out a long breath, quickly sat up in bed, and looked toward the door.

There was only a set of clothes that looked somewhat familiar to Li Xiao, and nothing else.

Li Xiao walked over and found some stains on the clothes. He suddenly remembered—wasn't this the outfit Yun Ying was wearing last night?

"Holy crap! Yun Ying! I'm dead. If Yun Dongliu finds out I saw his sister showering, won't he slaughter me?"

Li Xiao was so startled that his drunkenness vanished. When he first met Yun Dongliu, the man was risking his life to save his sister.

He still remembered the scene of Nie Hu's tragic death.

"Um... it's fine. I'll just say I was half-asleep and didn't know anything..." Li Xiao comforted himself.

The night passed without incident. In the morning, Li Xiao returned safely to the base. On the squad channel, Liu Nian posted an announcement regarding the capture of the Xi City urban area.

The entire squad would have three days to prepare, and three days later would be the day of the siege.

This was the operational order Li Xiao had issued at the celebration banquet last night. After detailed discussions, they believed the Xiaoyao Squad now had the capability to storm Xi City.

And indeed, they could no longer afford to delay. The global situation was ever-changing; for every day they fell behind, they would lose more initiative.

Li Xiao recalled all his troops. The battles to recover the southern part of Xi City had eliminated a total of over seven thousand people and over six hundred vehicles, accumulating 800,000 Health Points and 1.1 million Durability Points.

He planned to apply all 1.1 million Durability to the existing and soon-to-be-produced meng hu off-road vehicles to ensure breakthrough capability during the general assault on Xi City.

The Health Points were distributed among his 120-plus personnel. Because of their extremely high Health, Li Xiao's troops had incredible survivability, which allowed frontline units like those under Di Yun and Zhao Feipeng to be promoted to the rank of second lieutenant.

Their ability ratings also improved. Especially after training with Long Ming, Di Yun's rank had broken through G-rank, reaching a strength of about F-rank 3-stars.

In addition to a significant boost in marksmanship and tactical movements, this brought comprehensive improvements to his battlefield awareness, mission execution, and unit command capabilities.

Furthermore, after upgrading to second lieutenant, the system replaced his gear with a bulletproof suit made of Kevlar and special steel composite protection, providing strong resistance against light machine guns and explosive fragments, with a significant damage reduction effect.

Moreover, Li Xiao's continuous increases to his Health cap through multiple battles brought this First Platoon Leader's health to 250,000 points, making him a literal human boss on the battlefield!

Of course, Zhao Feipeng and Leng He were also on the verge of being promoted to second lieutenant. Their health had been raised to over 100,000 by Li Xiao. He believed that after one more major battle, they would achieve a qualitative leap.

On the morning two days later, Li Xiao finally saw the completion of the Level 9 Base.