Chapter 111: Armory
He had seen a few frozen corpses in the city before.
Just then, Long Ming reached the end of the hall. He was met with a special room. The other rooms were fitted with ordinary iron doors, but this one had a composite metal door.
Long Ming reached out and tried the handle to see if it would open.
But unfortunately, it wouldn’t budge.
Long Ming immediately took out the red card and swiped it on the electronic lock.
CLICK~
The door clicked open.
Long Ming was a little surprised. ’This red card’s clearance level is pretty high.’
He carefully pushed the door open, gripping his submachine gun as he cautiously crept inside.
When Long Ming entered the room, he froze, completely stunned.
The entire room was padded. In the left corner was a single bed and a desk, and on the right was a small, private bathroom.
Judging by the layout, the room looked a lot like a confinement cell.
Long Ming walked to the desk, where he saw a picture frame.
The photo in the frame was of a family of three, but the heads of the couple had been gouged out, leaving only a little boy with a beaming smile.
Looking at the boy in the photo, Long Ming felt a sense of familiarity, yet he was certain he had never seen him before.
Then he suddenly noticed a mole under the boy’s eye, like a teardrop.
"So it was him."
Long Ming muttered to himself.
But Long Ming didn’t dwell on it. Instead, he started searching the desk.
He ended up finding a brilliant, ice-blue gemstone necklace and a diary in one of the drawers.
Long Ming scanned them with his wristband.
Ailo’s Necklace
Grade: Red
Ailo’s Diary
Grade: Red
"Two Reds?"
Long Ming was shocked. He hadn’t expected his luck to be this good.
He suppressed his joy and opened the diary.
Era Year 1462, January 13th
Father is so busy. He has no time to spend with me at all.
I wish so much he could play with me, but I understand that Father is the City Lord. He has many things to do, and I can’t bother him.
February 14th
I was so happy today! Father got off work early to see me, but he brought Grandpa Cadiduo with him. I don’t like Grandpa Cadiduo. The way he looks at me is so scary.
February 15th.
Father and Mother started fighting. I don’t understand why they were arguing, or why it was so fierce. When I pushed open their door, they saw me and started crying.
March 1st.
Father told me I was sick and needed an injection. He told me I had to be brave.
Even though I was scared, I promised Father I would. So, Grandpa Cadiduo gave me a shot.
The shot hurt a lot, but I didn’t cry.
Era Year 1463, March 2nd.
I’m so cold.
...
So cold
...
Reading this, Long Ming froze for a moment, then began flipping through the rest of the pages.
But the following pages only contained the same two words: "So cold."
As he reached the last few pages, he saw a line written in what looked like a furious scrawl.
"I’m not a monster."
Long Ming kept flipping. When he reached the very last page, he saw something written there.
Era Year 1472, April 1st.
We can finally leave this place and bathe in the sunlight.
...
Long Ming stared at the diary’s abrupt ending, his brow furrowed in concentration.
He couldn’t understand it at all. ’What does that last sentence mean?’
’Could it be that the reason there’s no one in this shelter is that everyone already left?’
Long Ming felt that something wasn’t right, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.
Long Ming let out a breath and turned to leave.
When he returned to the stairwell, he saw Luoxue and Jing Chuan waiting for him.
"What took you so long?"
Jing Chuan asked Long Ming, confused.
"Sorry, got a little held up while searching."
"Bro, we’re here to scout, not to loot. You’re not still acting like a rat, are you?"
"Uh, I guess I forgot for a second."
Long Ming replied, a bit embarrassed.
"Let’s go."
Luoxue didn’t say much else, simply leading the two of them further down.
「Half an hour later.」
Long Ming and the others had searched down to the eleventh basement level, where they came to a large, sealed door.
Jing Chuan went forward to try the door, and to his surprise, it actually pushed open.
The three of them walked in and were instantly stunned by the sight before them: row after row of weapon racks filled their vision.
The racks were lined with rifles.
"Whoa, we hit the jackpot!"
Jing Chuan shouted excitedly.
Luoxue scanned the room and said directly,
"Search the area. Grab as many weapons as you can carry. Fully arm yourselves."
"Alright!"
Long Ming and Jing Chuan charged forward without hesitation.
They ran straight past the rifle racks near the entrance, heading deeper inside.
’Theoretically, the weapons deeper inside should be better.’
But they hadn’t run far before they saw empty racks on both sides, their contents presumably having been used already.
"Damn, so many weapons here. If we’d found this place when the game first started, we’d have been loaded!"
Jing Chuan couldn’t help but complain.
"Weapons aren’t exactly cheap now, either."
Long Ming replied, continuing to run deeper while his eyes scanned the racks.
Just then, he saw a rack holding an RPG, but Long Ming immediately dismissed the idea. ’That thing is too heavy, and you only get one shot.’
Long Ming continued his search deeper inside. Soon, on a table further in, he saw a weapon case with a seal on it.
’This case obviously contains a higher-grade weapon.’
He immediately rushed over and opened the case.
A sleek, black, cool-looking automatic rifle equipped with an infrared scope came into view.
Without a second thought, Long Ming picked it up. The matte finish felt great in his hands.
A notification immediately popped up on his wristband.
DK-01 Automatic Rifle · Black Shadow
Durability: 100/100
Equipped: Holographic Sight
Loaded: 30/30 (5.56mm Armor-Piercing Rounds)
Long Ming was shocked when he saw the information. The gun was loaded with armor-piercing rounds.
Then he noticed an exquisite box sitting next to it and immediately opened it.
An intricate, spiral tri-edge bayonet came into view.
"Beautiful."
Long Ming immediately reached out and took the tri-edge bayonet.
BZZT!
A notification instantly popped up on his wristband.
Tri-Edge Bayonet · Death’s Fang
Durability: 100/100
After glancing at the notification, he removed it from its sheath and gave it a few swings and thrusts. It felt exceptionally good in his hand, and a smile crept onto his face.
Next, Long Ming turned his attention to the wooden crates nearby.
He immediately rushed over and used the tri-edge bayonet to pry open a crate, revealing a case full of high-explosive grenades.
Long Ming sucked in a sharp breath. He immediately started grabbing the high-explosive grenades and hooking them onto his tactical belt.
After he was done, Long Ming’s gaze fell on another sealed weapons case nearby, and he ran over to it.
Just then, Luoxue walked over and asked,
"Are you done grabbing your things?"
"Almost, just a second."
Long Ming pried open the case in front of him, revealing box after box of armor-piercing rounds.
He gasped, then immediately dumped everything out of his backpack—not even bothering to keep the carbine rifle he’d brought in. He began frantically grabbing boxes of ammunition and stuffing them into his pack.
Luoxue watched this, her expression faltering for a brief moment.
After emptying the case of armor-piercing rounds, Long Ming immediately dashed to the nearby grenade crate, grabbed several more high-explosive grenades, and stuffed them into his pack until it was completely full.
Luoxue was momentarily speechless, but she didn’t say anything.
Just then, Jing Chuan walked over.
"I’m ready."
"Okay. Jing Chuan, go tell the Rat Team to come down and grab some weapons. They’re valuable, after all."
"Okay."
Jing Chuan immediately turned and left.
Luoxue turned her head to Long Ming and said,
"You’re coming with me to explore the twelfth basement level."
"Alright!"
Long Ming replied cheerfully.
As he did, he didn’t forget to snag two empty magazines and load them with armor-piercing rounds.
"Let’s move."
Showing no lingering interest in the weapons here, Luoxue led Long Ming away.
......