Game: Civilization Paradise

Meanwhile.

Kolei piloted his Destroyer, sprinting wildly. In the distance, a massive nuclear power plant came into view. Its main structure soared a hundred meters high, a truly spectacular sight.

A look of excitement crossed his face, and he glanced back over his shoulder.

He had shaken off those foolish guards and mechanical dogs.

However, Kolei wasn’t arrogant enough to fly directly there. After all, a critical facility like this was likely equipped with anti-air defenses, and he had no desire to be turned into a target.

Kolei accelerated, running toward the power plant. He didn’t head for the main gate, instead choosing to approach quickly from the side.

Just then, however, a figure appeared, having already been waiting for him for some time.

Kolei was startled and took a closer look.

Before him stood a mechanical warrior embedded in a third-generation black Mechanical God, wielding a Metal Blade. Its eyes glowed red.

BZZT~

A notification popped up on his wristband.

"Guard Captain Kafuru!"

"Hmph, you think you can stop me?!"

Kolei raised his Metal Blade and charged.

Kafuru locked onto the charging Kolei. Its electronic eyes flashed with combat analyses and predictions as it stomped a foot on the ground and met the charge.

The two of them crossed paths in an instant.

CRACK!

A gash was instantly cut into the left side of Kolei’s abdomen, and blood began to flow.

"Damn it!"

Kolei couldn’t believe he had lost the exchange.

CLANG~

Just then, the sound of heavy footsteps approached.

Startled, Kolei whipped his head around to see mechanical warriors and guards surrounding him from all sides.

"Fuck it! No one is going to stop me!"

Kolei aimed his Shoulder Cannon and fired a shot.

But he didn’t aim the blast at Kafuru or the surrounding enemies. Instead, he fired at the nuclear power plant’s facilities.

BOOM~

A massive explosion swept through the area.

The entire nuclear power plant erupted like a disturbed hornet’s nest, blaring with piercing alarms.

Countless guards began rushing toward Kolei’s position.

Kolei took out a signal flare and fired it into the sky.

...

Outside the interstellar aerospace research base.

WHOOSH!

A signal flare shot into the sky and exploded.

"Kolei succeeded,"

Sang Rui said excitedly to Oritta.

"Let’s move!"

Oritta led the group, sneaking toward the interstellar aerospace research base.

But as soon as they got close to the base, a piercing alarm went off.

"Damn, we triggered the alarm!"

Oritta was also taken by surprise.

The guards at the main gate charged toward Oritta, Long Ming, and the others, firing furiously.

BANG! BANG!

Sang Rui and the others raised their firearms and returned fire.

Just then, Long Ming and Oritta aimed their Shoulder Cannons and fired.

BOOM~

The massive explosion sent the guards flying.

Long Ming, Oritta, and Sang Rui rushed forward, swinging their Metal Blades in close quarters to cut the guards down one by one.

"Go!"

After finishing off the guards, they charged straight for the main gate.

Upon entering the gate and arriving inside the interstellar aerospace research base, their view opened up dramatically.

Rows of spaceships came into view.

"It looks like these ships have crashed."

Xiaoqi and the others said in astonishment after getting a closer look.

"They were probably shot down."

Long Ming scanned the crashed ships. One of them wasn’t heavily damaged, its main structure largely intact. It had likely been shot down shortly after takeoff.

Just then, Oritta scanned the surroundings and spoke with some surprise.

"There are no enemies inside?"

"All the better. Let’s go check out that ship with the intact hull,"

Long Ming suggested to Oritta.

"Okay!"

Oritta nodded.

They walked toward the ship.

The ship was about three kilometers long, with a main structure resembling a swordfish. Its surface was covered in gray armor, but the craftsmanship was poor, leaving the welding seams clearly visible. Aside from that, there were no visible weapon systems.

Long Ming and the others arrived at the ship’s boarding entrance, where the metal door was severely warped.

Oritta and Long Ming glanced at each other, then simultaneously maximized their power output and kicked the metal door!

BAM~

The metal door was kicked open.

A cloud of gray smoke billowed out toward them.

Long Ming and Oritta quickly backed away as a large amount of charred bodily remains tumbled out.

"What the hell is this stuff?"

Sang Rui and the others were also stunned.

"These should be the remains of passengers who were trying to escape through the boarding entrance,"

Long Ming said after a glance.

"I can just imagine how desperate they were. Just like we were back then,"

Oritta said, his voice heavy.

Hearing this, Long Ming couldn’t help but glance at Oritta and his team.

Just then, Cloud Fish suddenly spoke up.

"Can we search through these remains?"

"You can, but what’s there to find?"

Oritta and the others were a bit puzzled.

"Thank you."

Cloud Fish, completely unfazed that she was dealing with bodily remains, immediately went forward, crouched down, and began to rummage.

Soon, she pulled a scorched red gemstone necklace from within the remains.

"Purple-grade!"

Cloud Fish exclaimed happily.

"Amazing. Everyone has their specialty, I see,"

Oritta couldn’t help but praise her.

"Let’s head inside. Finders keepers,"

Long Ming suggested to Oritta.

"No problem."

Oritta agreed to Long Ming’s suggestion and was about to lead his people inside.

But just then, they suddenly stopped.

"What’s wrong?"

Long Ming asked Oritta, confused.

"*Sigh*... Kolei has fallen,"

Oritta said after a moment of silence.

"I’m sorry,"

Long Ming replied in a low voice.

"It’s fine. Let’s go in!"

Oritta quickly composed himself and led the group into the wrecked ship.

They entered a twisted corridor.

The inside of the corridor was extremely dim. All the lighting fixtures were destroyed, and the metal walls and floor were scorched black, indicating a fierce fire had once blazed within.

Long Ming and his group proceeded cautiously and soon reached a fork.

Long Ming and Oritta exchanged a look and, with a silent understanding, split up with their respective teams.

Long Ming’s group went to the right.

Soon, they saw a series of narrow rooms.

Long Ming scanned the area with his Gale but found nothing unusual. He then said to Xiaoqi and the others,

"These rooms are clear. Go ahead and search them!"

"Alright!"

Hearing Long Ming’s words, Xiaoqi and the others rushed over, overjoyed.

Long Ming, meanwhile, continued forward to check for any danger, leaving the searching to Xiaoqi and his team.

「Ten minutes later.」

Long Ming led Xiaoqi and the others back out of the ship.

Everyone’s backpack was stuffed to the brim, and they were grinning from ear to ear as they spoke.

"Long Ming, we found a ton of blue and purple-grade stuff!"

"We’re rich this time."

"That’s good,"

Long Ming replied with a smile.

Just then, Oritta and his team came down as well.

"How was the haul?"

Long Ming asked with a smile.

"We found some things, but it wasn’t ideal. What about you?"

Oritta said frankly to Long Ming.

"Just so-so. Didn’t even get a single red,"

Long Ming replied, shaking his head.

Hearing this, Oritta turned his head and looked into the distance. A bucket-shaped, silver metal building and a bird-shaped building came into view.

"There are two buildings here. There should be something inside. Let’s take one each!"

"No problem."

"Mr. Long Ming, which one do you want?"

"How about this: your team was the one that risked going to the nuclear plant, and you lost a member. So, to be fair, you can choose first this time,"

Long Ming said to Oritta.

Oritta was quite surprised. He hadn’t expected Long Ming to let him choose first.

"That doesn’t seem right."

"Boss, let’s pick the maintenance and storage building on the left,"

Sang Rui couldn’t help but interject when he saw Oritta trying to decline.

According to the map markings, the bucket-shaped building on the left was the maintenance and storage building, while the bird-shaped one on the right was the terminal. But any fool could tell that the building on the left was sure to contain a large amount of ship equipment and parts, all of which were worth a fortune.

Hearing this, Long Ming smiled and said to Oritta,

"Your teammate said he wants the maintenance and storage building, so it’s yours."

"Thanks a lot."

Since Long Ming had put it that way, Oritta no longer declined.