Just then, Jiang Heng suddenly spoke.
"Luoxue, look! I think someone’s coming down."
"Everyone, take cover."
Luoxue raised a hand and gave the cold command.
Everyone quickly hid themselves.
Soon, three disheveled figures came running down from the vertical lift.
Luoxue and her team immediately appeared, surrounding the figures who had just come down.
Qian Lan and the others were startled and instinctively raised their weapons, but she froze when she saw that the leader was Luoxue.
"It’s you."
"Everyone, lower your weapons."
Luoxue immediately ordered everyone to lower their weapons.
Jing Chuan and the others put their weapons away.
"What are you all doing here?"
Qian Lan asked immediately.
"We saw the fighting over here and came to help as fast as we could, but we were too far away. By the time we arrived, it was already daylight. By the way, where are Qian Wei and the others?"
Luoxue asked Qian Lan directly.
"Qian Wei is dead. We lost the fight! The three of us hid on the mountainside to evade their search parties, then snuck down here under the cover of darkness."
"How many of them are left?"
"Over a hundred. But whatever you do, don’t go up there. That bunch from the Star God Guild completed their mission, and they looted everyone’s weapons. Going up there now is just suicide."
Qian Lan tried to persuade Luoxue.
"So what?"
Luoxue replied coldly.
"Suit yourself. There are only three of us left. We’re not sticking around for this!"
Seeing that Luoxue wouldn’t listen to reason, Qian Lan said irritably.
"Fine."
Luoxue showed no intention of stopping them.
Qian Lan was so angry she could grind her teeth, and she left with her people.
Just then, Fu Fuqing looked at Luoxue with a solemn expression and said,
"Luoxue, Qian Lan has a point. Even if we go up there and win, our losses will be heavy. It’s not worth it!"
"Who said I was going up?"
"Then what do you mean?"
"We’ll set up an ambush right here, below the northern vertical lift. The Star God Guild will have to retreat, and they’ll surely use one of the four main lifts. That means we have a one-in-four chance of intercepting them and catching them off guard."
Luoxue explained to the group.
"That’s a great idea! If it’s an ambush, we have a fighting chance."
Fu Fuqing and the others replied joyfully.
"Everyone, spread out and take cover!"
Luoxue raised her hand with a wave.
Hearing this, everyone dispersed and hid.
...
Time passed slowly.
「The third day. 2:00 AM.」
Luoxue and her group were hiding beneath the northern vertical lift. Jing Chuan, peering through his binoculars, spoke with a frown.
"Luoxue, what’s the plan? It’s already two in the morning. If those guys from the Star God Guild don’t come down soon, we won’t have time to get out ourselves."
’With the time we have left, even if we catch them, it’ll be mutual destruction.’ Luoxue’s expression flickered.
So she waved her hand and gave the order.
"Withdraw."
"Yes, ma’am!"
Shen Hu and the others got to their feet and retreated with Luoxue.
...
「3:00 AM.」
「Outside the observatory base.」
Gefens and his men reported to Fakam, their faces grim.
"Sir, we didn’t find anyone suspicious. We’ve searched every possible area."
"Useless! A bunch of useless trash!"
Fakam roared in fury.
"Lord Fakam, please calm your anger. Is it possible they already escaped after they succeeded?"
Farina tried to placate him.
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"
Fakam said with a ferocious expression, suppressing the rage in his heart.
"Then what do we do now? It’ll be dawn soon. If we don’t retreat, we probably won’t be able to get out. We’ll all die here, and our weapons and gear will drop. Even though we can pick them up the next time we come in, I don’t need to tell you how many ’rats’ there are in this game, do I?"
Farina reminded Fakam.
"Dammit!"
After hearing Farina’s words, Fakam’s expression grew even more twisted.
...
「In the underground backup central control room.」
Long Ming glanced at the time on his wristband. It was already 4:00 AM. He stood up and waved to Xiaoqi and the others.
"Let’s go!"
"Okay!"
Xiaoqi and the others immediately followed Long Ming out.
Soon, they reached the exit passage.
Long Ming pressed his ear to the exit, listening carefully for any sounds outside. After confirming there was no movement, he reached out and pressed a switch on the wall.
CLICK!
The secret passage immediately opened!
Long Ming was the first to slip out. He raised his Night Shadow firearm, and after confirming no one was around, he called softly back into the passage to Xiaoqi and the others.
"Come on out!"
Xiaoqi and the others quickly climbed out, then closed the secret passage behind them.
"Let’s move!"
Long Ming then led Xiaoqi and the group away.
They made their way toward the north exit. The entire base was silent, with not a single person in sight.
"Wow, there’s really no one here!"
Cloud Fish said happily.
"Long Ming is just too smart."
Johnny added with praise.
"It was nothing."
Long Ming replied in a good mood.
Just then, at an intersection leading to the north exit, Xiaoqi saw many backpacks scattered on the ground.
She spotted a large-capacity tactical backpack and wanted to pick it up to store the files, saving her the trouble of carrying them by hand.
So, she casually opened it to take a look and then exclaimed in pleasant surprise.
"Whoa, a ’Big Red’!"
"No way!"
Cloud Fish and the others were also stunned, replying with delight.
"Haha, let’s grab some more for Long Ming while we’re at it."
Xiaoqi then put the purple files she was holding into the backpack, picked it up, and slung it over her shoulder.
"Okay."
Cloud Fish and the others agreed.
"Just pick up what you can along the way. We still need to hurry and leave."
Long Ming reminded them, in an excellent mood.
"Okay."
Xiaoqi and the others replied as they continued to loot.
Before long, they saw the north exit of the observatory base.
"The exit!"
Tang Yue shouted happily.
"Let’s get out of here, quick."
Xiaoqi and the others were also eager to leave.
"Yeah."
Long Ming led Xiaoqi and the group, picking up their pace as they walked over.
Soon they walked out of the base. It was pitch-black and eerily quiet outside, with nothing out of the ordinary in sight.
But just then, Long Ming suddenly stopped in his tracks.
"What’s wrong, Long Ming?"
Xiaoqi and the others looked at Long Ming in confusion.
Long Ming turned his head to ask Xiaoqi.
"Xiaoqi, you picked up a ’Big Red’ just now, right?"
"Yeah, is there a problem?"
Xiaoqi nodded, completely puzzled.
"Something’s wrong. They didn’t leave! Run back, now!"
’If those guys had really left, why would they leave a ’Big Red’ behind?’ It suddenly hit Long Ming.
Although Xiaoqi and the others didn’t understand, they still followed Long Ming and dashed back into the base.
Just then, from behind the cover near the north exit, players from the Star God Guild raised their guns and opened fire on Long Ming’s group.
BANG! BANG!
Bullets slammed into the north exit.
The squad leader immediately picked up his radio and said,
"Found them! They’re at the north exit, running back inside!"
"Roger."
A response immediately came through the radio.
At that moment, Long Ming and his group were running for their lives back into the base.
"We’re screwed! These guys never left! They stayed behind to ambush us!"
Cloud Fish and the others said, dumbfounded.