Game: Civilization Paradise

They looked up, finding the view particularly spectacular.

"Stay close, and don’t wander off. Most importantly, don’t use any lighting devices. You might trigger the defensive weapons on the vertical ladder. Even though most of them have lost power, some have backup power."

Xiao Qiu and the others, still worried, reminded everyone again.

"Understood."

Everyone replied cheerfully.

Xiao Qiu then led his group up the stairs, following behind the players from the All Stars Guild.

...

「Thirty minutes earlier, upstream from the southern bridge outside the Observatory Base City.」

One by one, players from the Star God Guild slipped silently into the river, diving underwater and sneaking toward the bridge.

At the same time, inside the base city, several masked Star God Guild players were also sneaking toward the outer city wall.

Behind the stacked iron crates at the northern bridge.

Eight players from the All Stars Guild, in four pairs, were hunkered down behind the iron crates, guarding the bridgehead.

"Wu Dong, it looks like Lord Qian Wei and the others have started climbing the vertical ladder."

"Yeah. Stay sharp. We can’t let anything go wrong."

"How could anything go wrong? A little over six thousand players entered this instance, and we account for four thousand of them. Plus, we’ve already taken out so many unaffiliated players. Who’s left to cause trouble?"

"That may be true, but we still can’t be careless."

Wu Dong warned Zhang He vigilantly.

"Alright. Hmm, what’s that strange smell?"

Zhang He sniffed the air, sensing something was off.

"Wait, why is my head so dizzy?!"

Hearing Zhang He’s words, Wu Dong was about to say something when he suddenly felt his own head spin. The world swam before his eyes.

On the city wall, two All Stars Guild guards looked down and were shocked to see Wu Dong and the others all asleep.

"What’s going on? Why are they all asleep?"

"Something’s not right. It looks like they passed out."

"Quick, fire a warning shot."

...

Just as the two were about to fire, a hand suddenly clamped over their mouths from behind, followed by a dagger plunging into the back of their necks.

At that moment, a group of "water ghosts" rushed forward and finished off the unconscious Wu Dong and his men!

「A few minutes later.」

All the guards Qian Wei had stationed at the four bridges had been silently eliminated.

Of course, this was only possible because the hiding positions of all the guards had been leaked.

Fakam then led his people into the city, splitting them into four teams that quickly moved along pre-planned routes to their designated areas.

When they arrived at their designated positions below.

Players from the Star God Guild, their faces covered with black cloths, deftly opened the wooden crates they had carried in. From inside, they took out mortars and quickly began assembling them.

Soon, rows of mortars were set up!

"Faster!"

The team leaders urged them on anxiously.

"Yes, sir!"

The Star God Guild players quickly aimed the assembled mortars at the four vertical ladders and adjusted the firing parameters.

...

「On the northern vertical ladder.」

Long Ming and his group followed the All Stars Guild players, climbing steadily upward.

The journey had been exceptionally smooth so far; they were already nearly halfway up.

Xiaoqi and the others were also chatting excitedly in low voices.

"The night view from this observatory is so beautiful!"

"Yeah, it feels like we’re just here for a night hike."

.....

Seeing Xiaoqi and the others chatting so happily, Long Ming turned to look back at the base city behind them.

Although the entire city was without power, its silhouette was still visible under the brilliant starlight, a magnificent sight.

WHOOSH~

A gentle breeze blew past.

Long Ming felt the cool wind, finding it very pleasant.

’This instance quest is unusually easy,’ he thought. ’It’s like we’re on vacation.’

Just then, the streamer Sun Zhou walked past Long Ming, a look of excitement on his face, livestreaming in a low voice.

"Brothers and sisters, I’ve gotten permission from the All Stars Guild to stream, and I’m on the vertical ladder now! As you can see on camera, all the players here are from the All Stars Guild and its affiliates! There’s basically no suspense left in this battle for the observatory."

...

In the stream chat, comments popped up one after another.

"So boring!"

"Yeah, I’m falling asleep watching this."

"What’s so fun about watching a complete stomp?"

....

「Inside the city. The artillery position.」

Fakam stood with his hands behind his back, his eyes fixed on the mountain peak ahead.

Just then, Farina, standing behind him, spoke respectfully to Fakam.

"Sir, everything is ready!"

"Excellent. Let them see the might of our Star God Guild."

Fakam nodded and gave the order.

"Understood!"

Farina immediately picked up her walkie-talkie and issued a grim command.

"Flares! Fire!"

"Yes, sir!"

Her subordinates replied in unison.

FWOOSH~

Outside the four vertical ladders, flares shot up into the sky above them, instantly illuminating the pitch-black night.

Then, Fakam waved his hand at all the mortar crews.

"Send them to meet their maker!"

BANG! BANG! BANG!

One after another, shells were fired.

...

At that moment, the players climbing up saw the flares rising and exclaimed excitedly.

"Whoa, so pretty!"

"Wait a minute, which idiot set those off?"

...

At that moment, the expressions of Qian Wei and Qian Lan, who were climbing up, changed drastically. They immediately roared.

"Get down!"

...

Long Ming and his group were also stunned when the dark night was suddenly lit up.

At that moment, Tang Yue asked in confusion.

"Mr. Long Ming, weren’t we told not to use flares?"

"Get down!"

Long Ming’s first instinct was to reach out and push Tang Yue and the others to the ground.

In an instant, the monitoring cameras and sensor devices that were still functional locked onto the numerous players on the mountain.

One after another, the Gray Crow CIWS towers rapidly swiveled their barrels.

RAT-A-TAT-TAT!

A fiery serpent erupted from the barrel, and a terrifying rain of bullets swept across the area.

"AHHH!"

Hordes of players were gunned down before they could even react.

"Stay down and don’t move! Wait for the flares to burn out!"

Xiao Qiu and the others screamed at the top of their lungs.

WHIZZZ~

Suddenly, a strange whistling sound filled the air.

Immediately after, a dense barrage of shells rained down from the sky!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Explosions erupted in a chain reaction all the way down the vertical ladder.

In an instant, swathes of players who had hit the deck were struck and blown to smithereens!

"AHHH!"

Some players caught in the blast fell to the ground, wailing in agony.

Xiaoqi and the others were completely dumbfounded.

Long Ming immediately scrambled to his feet and yelled at Xiaoqi and the others.

"Quick, get up and follow me! Don’t stay on the main path."

"Okay!"

Xiaoqi and the others scrambled up.

Long Ming led Xiaoqi’s group and charged toward a side path on the stairs. As they neared it, they came face-to-face with a Gray Crow CIWS tower.

Without caring if the CIWS tower was active or not, he pulled out a high-explosive grenade and threw it.

BOOM!

The entire CIWS tower was blown up.

’It’s obvious we’ve been ambushed; everyone has become a target. But those mortars must be calibrated to fire on the most crowded areas, so we can’t stay on the main path. The only choice is to risk hiding on the side paths.’

...

「Below the southern vertical ladder.」

Gefens raised his weapon and shouted a grim order to all his subordinates.

"For the great Star God, kill them all!"