’With Qian Wei gathering so many people to go in, he’s got the Observatory in the bag for tomorrow.’
’If I go into the dungeon with them, the people from All Stars Guild definitely won’t attack me.’
’Then I can just trail behind the All Stars Guild, get to the Observatory base without a hitch, and dig up the treasure from the map?’
’Otherwise, if I wait too long, someone else will probably discover it.’
At this thought, Long Ming immediately dialed Xiaopang’s number.
BZZT BZZT~
The call connected quickly.
"What is it? Didn’t we agree we were off the clock? I just laid down."
Xiaopang replied, exasperated.
"Can you get your hands on some invitation scrolls for the Watchtower Observatory dungeon?"
Long Ming didn’t waste any time and got straight to the point.
"The Marketplace doesn’t sell Observatory invitations. You can only buy them from merchant groups. But the price is steep—around 500,000 Dimension Coins a piece."
Xiaopang replied after a moment of surprise.
"Buy five for me. I’ll log on later and transfer you the money."
Long Ming planned to bring a few people with him, just in case.
"Bro, have you lost your mind? The only reason those Observatory invitations are so expensive is because the major guilds drove up the price. The value for money is absolutely terrible."
"Cut the crap and get it done."
Long Ming couldn’t be bothered to explain.
"Alright!"
"Make it fast. I need them delivered today, if possible."
"Don’t you worry. I won’t hold up your dungeon run."
Xiaopang guaranteed confidently.
"Okay."
Long Ming then hung up.
He opened his messenger and sent Xiaoqi a message.
"You there?"
"I’m here. Is there something you need, Mr. Long Ming?"
"Are you free tomorrow? I’d like to hire you, Cloud Fish, and Johnny to help me with a dungeon."
"Huh? You want to hire us? We only know how to loot, we can’t fight."
"Just looting."
"Is it a long instance or a short one? Will we need game pods?"
Xiaoqi replied right away.
"Yes."
"Okay, so that’s a three-day commitment. I’ll do it for free, not including the cost of the game pod. As for Cloud Fish and Johnny, you’ll have to pay them. They aren’t in a great financial spot, you know."
"How about this? I’ll give you 5,000 Mountain Coins, and you can handle the arrangements."
"Deal!"
"Okay, and help me reserve five game pods," Long Ming added.
"Sure, I’ll book them for you now."
Xiaoqi replied readily.
"Thanks."
Long Ming got up and walked to his bedside. He picked up the helmet, put it on, and logged into the game.
WHOOSH!
Long Ming reappeared in the City of Stars. He opened his friends list and transferred the remainder of his funds—over three million Dimension Coins—to Xiaopang.
[System: Friend added successfully!]
"Mr. Long Ming? Did you need something?"
Tang Yue replied, pleasantly surprised.
"Are you free tomorrow? I’d like to hire you to join me for a large-scale dungeon."
Long Ming extended the invitation to Tang Yue.
Although Xiaoqi and her group could also pick locks, Tang Yue’s skills were superior. To be on the safe side, Long Ming decided to invite her along.
"Of course. My fee is 500 Mountain Coins per day."
Tang Yue readily agreed.
"No problem. I’ll give you 1,000 Mountain Coins."
"Huh? Isn’t that a bit too much?"
"Not at all. See you at the internet cafe at 7:30 tomorrow morning!"
"Okay, I’ll be there on time."
"Good."
Having settled everything, Long Ming logged off.
...
「The next morning.」
Long Ming arrived at the entrance of the Star Wish Cafe.
Just then, Xiaoqi walked over with Cloud Fish and Johnny, greeting him with a wide smile.
"Long Ming, good morning!"
"Hey, you’re here."
"Let’s head inside."
"Hold on, we’re still waiting for one more person," Long Ming told Xiaoqi.
"Who else did you invite?"
Xiaoqi was very curious.
Just then, Tang Yue came running up, panting, and said apologetically.
"Sorry, I’m late."
"Not at all, you’re still early," Long Ming said to a nervous-looking Tang Yue.
Xiaoqi glanced at Tang Yue, then shot Long Ming a teasingly reproachful look.
"Long Ming, and you said you had nothing to do with An Qing? You’ve already poached one of her people."
"It’s not like that. We need a lockpicker for this dungeon run, so I asked Tang Yue to help out," Long Ming explained awkwardly.
"Fine. Tang Yue’s skills are pretty good, I’ll give you that," Xiaoqi said, glancing at Tang Yue.
When Tang Yue saw Xiaoqi looking at her, she flinched and ducked slightly behind Long Ming. After all, the relationship between their two groups was terrible.
"Alright, let’s get to our stations," Long Ming said to Xiaoqi.
"Okay, let’s go!"
Xiaoqi led Long Ming and the others to the stairs.
They quickly reached the sixth floor.
"Our private rooms are 662 through 666. Long Ming, you can take room 666," Xiaoqi told Long Ming.
"Sounds good."
Long Ming then headed for room 666.
...
「A short while later, Long Ming appeared in Starry City.」
He finished equipping his gear, then raised his wrist device and sent his coordinates to Xiaoqi and the others.
Soon, Xiaoqi and the rest of the group had all gathered.
"Now that everyone’s here, these are the invitations."
Long Ming took five invitations out of his inventory and handed one to each of them.
Xiaoqi and the others stared at the invitations in their hands, then looked at Long Ming in astonishment.
"The Watchtower Observatory? You’re going to run this dungeon?"
"Is there a problem?" Long Ming asked with a smile.
"No, it’s just... I’m a little confused. If you wanted to run this instance, why not go with your guild? Why spend so much of your own money?"
Xiaoqi just couldn’t wrap her head around it.
"There’s a difference between running an instance with the guild and running one on my own. You don’t need to ask why. You’ll understand in due time."
Long Ming didn’t offer any further explanation.
"Alright then," Xiaoqi said, seeing as Long Ming wasn’t going to elaborate.
Long Ming checked the time on his wrist device and waited quietly.
The time soon reached eight in the morning.
"Go!"
Long Ming raised the invitation in his hand to activate it.
Seeing this, Xiaoqi and the others raised their own invitations and activated them as well.
WHOOSH~
They vanished in flashes of white light, reappearing moments later on Teleportation Platform #7.
Long Ming raised his wrist device to check the displayed information.
Civilization Unlocked: Watchtower Observatory Base.
Civilization Level: 1
Participants: 2,631 / 10,000.
...
Long Ming’s eye twitched as he looked at the numbers. It was an even more absurd figure than last time, and it was still climbing.
Nevertheless, he calmly invited Xiaoqi and the others to his party.
"Whoa, there are so many people," Tang Yue exclaimed in shock.
It was her first time seeing so many people in a single instance.
Just then, Cloud Fish said in astonishment.
"Long Ming, Sister Qi, look! Isn’t that Lord Qian Wei and President Luoxue?"
Long Ming and Xiaoqi looked over.
In the distance, they saw Qian Wei and Luoxue meeting up.
"Luoxue, what brings you here?" Qian Wei asked with a broad, polite smile.
"I’m just riding your coattails to take a look. You brought so many people this time, it seems the other two major guilds have probably decided to sit this one out."
Luoxue scanned the area. She didn’t see anyone from the Sin Abyss Guild or the Star God Guild, only crowds of unaffiliated players.