Game: Civilization Paradise

"The civilized worlds we enter are all real, but we don’t enter with our own bodies. We use mechanical bodies provided by Civilization Paradise, which is why we can come back to life after dying."

Oritta explained to Long Ming and the others.

"Oh? Can I try it out?"

Long Ming asked with great interest.

"Of course. No problem."

Oritta handed the interference stone to Long Ming.

Long Ming took it, retracted the armor covering his arm, and placed the interference stone against his skin.

BZZT~

His arm instantly transformed into metal.

Long Ming’s expression shifted as he stared at his arm. A moment later, he handed the interference stone back to Oritta.

"Thanks."

"You’re welcome."

Oritta reached out and took it.

"Oritta, can I ask you something?"

Long Ming asked politely.

It was rare to meet someone so friendly, so he decided to take the opportunity to ask a few questions.

"Of course. As long as it’s not a sensitive topic, I’ll tell you anything I know."

Oritta replied without hesitation.

"How much do you know about Civilization Paradise?"

Long Ming looked at Oritta curiously.

"I don’t know that much about it. I just know these civilization dungeons are our only hope. By joining the Star Alliance, we’ve temporarily avoided annihilation, but let’s be honest—we’re just cannon fodder. We don’t have any ships to explore the outside, so these dungeons are our only way to gather resources quickly."

Oritta explained to Long Ming and his team.

"Thanks for explaining."

Long Ming nodded.

’Looks like we’re all in the same boat.’

"You’re welcome. But we have a problem now. I can’t believe we ended up in an unexplored Level 3 civilization world."

Oritta said, sounding troubled.

"This Level 3 world is unusually strong. I don’t think we can clear it on our own."

Long Ming’s expression grew grim as he watched the reconnaissance drones circling in the distant sky.

"This is a thousand-person dungeon. Normally, you’d have 1,000 people working together to clear it. But there are only two groups of us—ten people and four Third Generation Mechanical Gods in total. How are we supposed to win? It’ll be hard to even grab some loot and get out now."

Oritta also felt the situation was incredibly tricky.

"So what do we do?"

Sang Rui and the others asked, their faces etched with worry.

"Let’s think. We’ll rest for now."

Oritta didn’t have any good ideas either.

Long Ming walked to the side, sat down against a wall, and brought up a map of the city on his wrist device.

Meanwhile, Sang Rui and the others quietly took out some food to restore their Physical Strength.

The seconds ticked by.

Just as the group was wondering what to do next...

Long Ming suddenly spoke up.

"Oritta, I have an idea!"

SWISH!

Oritta and the others all turned to look at Long Ming.

"You have a plan?"

"Yeah. Everyone, come here."

Long Ming said to Oritta and his team.

Oritta and his team all gathered around.

Long Ming then shared the map with everyone present and said,

"We’re in the northern sector of Kamoto, the Mechanical City."

"Right."

The others nodded.

"Look at the western sector. There’s a massive nuclear power plant here. If I’m not mistaken, that plant is probably the main power source for this entire Mechanical City."

Long Ming said, pointing at the map.

"You mean we should take out the nuclear plant? To weaken the mechanical enemies?"

Sang Rui asked, looking at Long Ming.

"No. A place that important is bound to be heavily fortified. Forget about whether we could even succeed—even if we did, we’d be surrounded by reinforcements before we knew it."

"Then what’s your plan?"

"I’m talking about a diversion. We’ll pretend to attack the plant to draw the enemy’s forces there. Then, we hit a different target, grab what we can, and pull out."

Long Ming laid out his plan.

"That’s a great idea. But the target we choose should be as far from the power plant as possible."

Oritta’s eyes lit up.

"Do you have a target in mind?"

Long Ming asked, looking at Oritta.

Oritta’s expression shifted as he studied the map. Then, he pointed to the aerospace research base in the northeastern part of the Mechanical City.

"Here. I bet this place is loaded. The stuff inside must be valuable."

"Works for me."

Long Ming nodded.

"Alright, let’s figure out how to pull off this diversion. The most critical part of the plan is that someone has to risk attacking the nuclear power plant and fire a signal flare!"

Oritta said to the group.

"Right."

’I agree.’ Long Ming was torn over who to send. ’Ideally, it would be one of Oritta’s people, but I doubt they’d agree to that.’

But before he could say anything, Oritta spoke up.

"Kolei will handle the attack on the power plant. Aside from you, your team’s combat strength is too low. They’re not up to the task and would probably get killed before they even got there."

"Okay."

Long Ming was surprised to hear this.

’He’s actually willing to let one of his own men, a pilot of a Destroyer, take such a risk.’ However, Long Ming didn’t refuse the offer. After all, the combat effectiveness of Xiaoqi and the others truly was pathetic.

"Since it’s settled, let’s move out!"

Oritta said without a trace of hesitation.

"I’m heading out then."

With that, Kolei dashed off.

Before long, the sound of gunfire and explosions erupted in the distance. Kolei had clearly been spotted.

But Kolei was piloting a Third Generation Mechanical God and moving alone, so he broke through their lines with ease.

His movements drew away all the nearby enemies.

"Let’s go!"

Seeing that the time was right, Oritta led Long Ming and the others away from the opposite side of the bridge.

They sprinted through the narrow streets.

「Over an hour later.」

Under the cover of the interference stone, Long Ming and the others crept up to the perimeter of the aerospace research base.

They hid behind a ruined building, peering at the distant aerospace research base.

The entire base was enclosed by a high wall topped with an electric fence.

In the distance, the silhouette of a massive spaceship was visible.

"Whoa, a spaceship!"

...

Johnny and the others exclaimed excitedly.

Long Ming gazed at the spaceship and asked Oritta curiously.

"Oritta, has anyone ever taken a spaceship out of a dungeon?"

Long Ming asked, filled with curiosity.

"Uh, I’ve never heard of that happening. Normally, you just bring back the schematics and build the ship on the outside."

"Oh, so it can’t be taken out."

"It’s not completely impossible. Theoretically, if you can carry it, you can take it."

Oritta said to Long Ming with a laugh.

"You’re kidding. How could anyone possibly move it?"

"It’s possible. If you have enough people, you can disassemble the ship into parts and carry them out. But nobody usually does that. The normal approach is to dismantle a few of the more critical components, like the ship’s power core or its FTL drive. You rebuild the hull yourself on the outside."

"I get it."

Long Ming nodded.

...