Game: Civilization Paradise

A few moments later.

Long Ming arrived at the entrance to the maintenance room where he had found the map.

The door was shut tight.

Long Ming reached out and pushed the door open, only to see Xiaoqi aiming a pistol at him.

"It’s me."

Long Ming quickly called out.

"Long Ming, you’re finally here! What’s the situation?"

"Did we win?"

...

Seeing it was Long Ming, Xiaoqi and the others breathed a collective sigh of relief and hurriedly asked about the situation.

"We lost. The enemy pushed through. Qian Wei and his team are falling back to defend the observatory base."

Long Ming replied helplessly.

’I thought I could just grab the loot and leave without any trouble.’

’But now the situation has taken a nosedive.’

"So what do we do now?"

Xiaoqi and the others all looked to Long Ming.

Long Ming’s expression shifted as he considered his next move.

He had two choices: first, give up on the treasure hunt and retreat, or second, go for the treasure.

’If I choose to retreat, the longer I wait, the higher the chance of this place being discovered. And there’s no guarantee I’ll be able to get back up here so easily next time. If I risk digging for it... while the situation is bad, it’s not that bad. It’s still possible. Whether it’s the Star God Guild or the All Stars Guild, their goal is the safe box mission. They’ll definitely be fighting over the main hall and the control room. As long as I stay away from there, I should be fine.’

At this thought, Long Ming’s gaze hardened. He decided to take the gamble and dig up the treasure.

He then said to Xiaoqi and the others,

"Follow me."

"Okay."

Xiaoqi and the rest didn’t ask any more questions and quickly followed.

Long Ming led them through a winding series of turns, deeper and deeper into the observatory base, soon arriving at a dead-end corridor.

The walls, ceiling, and floor of the entire corridor were cast from smooth metal.

"Long Ming, it’s a dead end."

Xiaoqi turned to look at Long Ming.

Long Ming raised his wristband to check the map and said,

"This is the place. Look for a mechanism."

"Right!"

Xiaoqi and the others began to feel around the walls, tapping them with their hands.

TAP TAP~

...

「Northeast of the Observatory Base-City.」

A small observation outpost was nestled in a rolling mountain range.

Down in the outpost’s basement,

Luoxue, Fu Fuqing, and two others watched as their subordinates excitedly packed up the weapons and ammunition they had scavenged.

"Looks like the intel was right. There really is a small armory hidden here. If we clean this place out, we’ll make a pretty penny."

Fu Fuqing said to Luoxue, in high spirits.

"Yes. With these weapons to resupply us, we won’t be so ill-equipped the next time we run a dungeon."

Luoxue nodded slightly.

Just then, the sound of hurried footsteps approached.

Luoxue turned to see Shen Hu rush in.

"Guild Leader, you need to come see! Something seems to have happened over at the observatory base-city."

"Let’s go."

The moment she heard, Luoxue dashed outside.

Fu Fuqing and the others immediately followed.

It wasn’t long before they reached the outside of the observation post. They looked toward the distant observatory base and saw flashes of light and heard the faint sounds of explosions.

"What’s going on? Who’s attacking Qian Wei and his group?"

Jing Chuan was also confused.

"Weren’t the Star God Guild and Sin Abyss Guild not supposed to be here this time? I thought it was just a bunch of unaffiliated players. Are those lone players really that strong?"

Jiang Heng was just as baffled.

"Unaffiliated players don’t have that kind of power. If I’m not mistaken, many of those who came in aren’t actually lone players."

Luoxue replied coolly.

"You’re saying they’re disguised as lone players? That’s unlikely. Even if they were, you’d be able to recognize one or two of them. But we didn’t see any familiar faces on the teleportation platform."

Jing Chuan was extremely puzzled by this.

"If I’m not mistaken, it must be the Star God Guild. They always wear black robes and hoods, so you can never see what they look like. All they had to do was take off their signature outfits and keep their mouths shut. Who would be able to recognize them?"

Luoxue had figured out the gist of the situation.

"That makes sense. But what do we do now? We haven’t finished looting this place."

Fu Fuqing asked, looking at Luoxue.

"We’ll put this on hold for now. Go support Qian Wei."

Luoxue said after a moment of thought.

"Alright."

Fu Fuqing and the others exchanged glances. After weighing the pros and cons, they agreed.

After all, if something happened to Qian Wei, it would be difficult for them to answer to the All Stars Guild.

...

「Inside the observatory base.」

Johnny was holding Long Ming up, allowing him to repeatedly tap the metal ceiling above.

"Anything?"

Xiaoqi and the others asked expectantly.

"Nothing. You can put me down."

Long Ming said with a sigh.

Johnny then lowered Long Ming to the ground.

"Long Ming, are you sure this is the right place? We’ve searched all over, and there’s nothing out of the ordinary."

Xiaoqi asked hesitantly.

"It can’t be wrong. The mark is right here. Search again!"

Long Ming told them with absolute certainty.

"Okay!"

So Xiaoqi’s group began another careful search.

Long Ming also turned to the metal wall at the end of the corridor, tapping it repeatedly and listening carefully to the sound.

THUMP THUMP~

When he knocked on the center of the wall, his expression suddenly shifted.

Long Ming knocked a few more times, then said to Xiaoqi and the others,

"Come over here. The sound when I knock on this spot... it seems a little different."

"Let me see."

Xiaoqi walked over, knocked on the wall, and listened carefully to the sound.

"Well?"

Long Ming asked, looking at Xiaoqi.

"It doesn’t sound any different from the other spots."

Xiaoqi couldn’t hear it either.

"Yeah, the sound seems normal,"

Cloud Fish and Johnny added.

"Let me try."

This time, Tang Yue volunteered.

"Go ahead."

Xiaoqi immediately stepped aside.

Tang Yue pressed her ear to the wall, knocked with her hand, and listened intently.

THUMP THUMP~

Long Ming and the others watched in silence, afraid of disturbing Tang Yue.

Tang Yue hesitated for a long time before finally speaking.

"There is a slight difference in the sound. There are two possibilities. One, there’s a mechanism here. Two, there was a flaw in the casting process when this wall was made."

"So what should we do?"

Long Ming asked.

"I’ll give it a try."

Tang Yue reached out and pressed on the wall, but nothing happened.

She pressed again with more force, but still to no effect.

Then, Tang Yue suddenly raised her right hand, balled it into a fist, and slammed it against the wall!

KLAK!

A hidden, seamless panel instantly popped out from the metal wall.

"It worked!"

Johnny and the others were overjoyed.

Long Ming also breathed a sigh of relief. He’d finally found it.

Just then, Xiaoqi stepped forward to take a look and said,

"Looks like this needs a key. And from the looks of the keyhole, it’s a complicated one!"

"You’ve got to be kidding. Where are we supposed to get a key?"

The hearts of Johnny and Cloud Fish sank to rock bottom.

Long Ming’s brow furrowed. ’If I’m not mistaken, the key for this lock must be in one of the rooms in this base. I don’t have time to go looking for it now. And even if I could find it, there might be monsters inside that room.’