Game: Civilization Paradise

Star Wish Cafe, 4th Floor.

HISS~

With a decompressing hiss, the game pod’s lid opened.

Long Ming climbed out of the pod and let out a soft sigh, feeling mentally exhausted.

Still, it was within a tolerable range.

Long Ming put on his shoes and left the private room.

The hallway on the fourth floor was buzzing with activity. Everyone was discussing their earnings from the recent dungeon run.

"The guild made a killing this time. I just did some quick math—we should get a bonus of at least 5,000 Mountain Coins from this operation."

"Not bad! Does this mean you’re treating us later?"

"Oh, come on. You didn’t make out so bad yourself."

...

Long Ming glanced around, then prepared to leave the cafe and head home to rest.

"Long Ming!"

A voice called out from behind him.

Hearing the shout, Long Ming stopped and turned to look.

He saw Xiaoqi, Cloud Fish, and a few others running over.

Long Ming asked, a little confused.

"Xiaoqi, what’s up?"

"Where are you headed?"

"Home, to get some rest!"

"Don’t run off just yet. President Luoxue sent me to buy breakfast. She’s treating everyone."

"I’m not very hungry. You guys go ahead."

"Come on, don’t be like that. I know we had nutrient injections, but we haven’t had real food in days. Just grab some breakfast before you go."

Xiaoqi did his best to convince Long Ming to stay.

"Alright, fine."

Since Xiaoqi put it that way, Long Ming didn’t refuse. After all, he’d have to eat when he got home anyway.

"Okay, we’ll go get the food. You can wait for us on the first floor."

Seeing that Long Ming had agreed, Xiaoqi was delighted and hurried off.

Long Ming went downstairs and waited on the first floor of the cafe.

He got a little bored after a while and wandered into the main lobby of the Star Wish Cafe on the first floor.

The lobby was as bustling as ever, with a crowd gathered around the projection stage.

Since the new Observatory had just opened today, there wasn’t any exciting live content yet, so everyone was watching recorded footage.

"Whoa!"

Suddenly, excited gasps rippled through the crowd.

Long Ming looked up at the projection.

「Inside the streets of the Observatory Base City.」

A man with an arrogant expression, wearing a black combat suit with his brown hair spiked up and an All Stars Guild armband, was flanking a large group of Star God Guild players. He quickly closed the distance, then, from behind a two-story building, raised a multiple grenade launcher and fired relentlessly at them.

SWOOSH~

Grenades flew out one after another, tracing parabolas through the air.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Massive explosions erupted.

"Aaargh!"

Player after player from the Star God Guild was sent flying.

"Blind fire? Who is that guy?"

Impressed by the man’s skill, Long Ming asked a guy standing next to him.

"You don’t even know him? That’s Blake, one of Vice President Qiansha’s most capable subordinates. He’s an incredibly fierce fighter."

the man explained excitedly.

Long Ming nodded at this and turned his gaze back to the screen.

Just then, the scene cut.

A handsome, well-built man in a gray combat suit, a slight smile on his lips, was sprinting across the rooftops at high speed.

When he reached his designated position, he immediately set up his AWM heavy sniper rifle and aimed at a distant target.

BANG—

As the shell casing ejected, two members of the Sin Abyss Guild were pierced through.

He then fired a continuous series of sniper shots, wiping out an entire squad in the blink of an eye.

As Long Ming watched, a look of astonishment crossed his face. ’Isn’t that my roommate, Bai Chuan? I can’t believe he actually joined the All Stars Guild.’

The scene on the screen changed again.

「Inside the Observatory Hall.」

Members of the All Stars Guild, armed with guns, were indiscriminately attacking players from the Star God Guild, the Sin Abyss Guild, and the independent players who had gotten mixed in.

BANG! BANG!

The dense fire kept their opponents pinned down, unable to even lift their heads.

Player after player was killed.

"Modick, is this all you’ve got?"

Qiansha said with contempt, his eyes fixed on a concrete pillar.

From behind the pillar, a burly man with a fierce face and a full beard, wearing heavy body armor, shot back a taunt.

"Qiansha, don’t get cocky! You’re just relying on your numbers and better weapons. What other skills do you have? If you’ve got the guts, fight me one-on-one!"

Modick’s eyes were bloodshot as he cursed, struggling to suppress his rage.

Hearing Modick’s words, a chilling smile spread across Qiansha’s face, but he didn’t bother to retort.

Modick’s brow furrowed. ’That brute Qiansha didn’t even respond.’

Just as he was puzzling over this...

SWISH!

Qiansha suddenly appeared in front of the concrete pillar, raised his right hand, which was clad in a mechanical gauntlet, and smashed his fist straight through it!

Modick’s expression changed drastically. Before he could even react, the fist hit him.

His entire body was sent flying backward.

Qiansha then rushed forward with incredible speed, grabbed Modick’s head with his bare hand, and lifted him up.

"You..."

Modick couldn’t even get the word out.

Qiansha, still gripping Modick’s head, slammed it violently into a metal pillar in front of them.

SPLAT!

Modick’s head instantly burst open, killing him on the spot. The surface of the metal pillar was even dented.

Long Ming was stunned watching this. ’Is that guy really that strong?’

"Beautiful!"

...

The crowd watching this shouted with excitement.

With Modick’s death, the players from the Sin Abyss Guild immediately retreated.

Seeing this, the members of the Star God Guild also gave up the fight and turned to flee the hall.

Without any suspense, Qiansha had crushed all his enemies with absolute superiority.

Qiansha then led Captain Alang and his men directly into the central control room.

Then, Captain Alang took out a tear gas grenade and tossed it directly into a ventilation opening overhead.

HISS~

The pungent gas filled the entire ventilation duct.

Even so, Captain Alang remained cautious. With a wave of his hand, several players moved under the vent, linked their hands to form a human ladder, and boosted a subordinate up.

"All clear."

The subordinate checked inside the ventilation duct, then reported back to Captain Alang.

"Sir, please proceed!"

Captain Alang said to Qiansha.

Qiansha strode commandingly to the control console and began to operate it.

The recorded footage froze on this scene.

In the end, Qiansha had successfully claimed the achievement for being the first to complete the safe mission on Mountain City Mountain, and he had also collected the weapons and equipment dropped in the hall.

CLAP! CLAP!

The players watching the projection burst into excited applause.

"Lord Qiansha is amazing!"

"That was so satisfying to watch!"

"The All Stars Guild is incredible! They really gave us some satisfying payback."

...

Watching the frozen image, Long Ming’s head started to ache even more.

’I still haven’t done my Observatory mission. This doesn’t leave any room for the rest of us!’

"Long Ming, there you are."

Just then, a charming voice came from behind him.

Long Ming turned in confusion and saw An Qing walking over with Tang Yue, carrying meat buns and soy milk.

"Miss An Qing? Were you looking for me for some reason?"

"Of course I was, to bring you breakfast. Here, try this meat bun, it’s delicious. I got it from the An family’s breakfast shop. The pork they use in their buns comes from pigs fed on specially cultivated feed. The quality of the meat is beyond compare."

An Qing took a meat bun and pushed it directly into Long Ming’s hand, recommending it enthusiastically.