However, the praise from Wang Yin and the others immediately annoyed many of the hired guns present. They all shot hostile looks at Long Ming.

But his gear was just too impressive, so none of them dared to say a word.

Just then, Guardian Chapter saw Long Ming, and his eyes lit up. He couldn’t help but circle Long Ming once before taking a deep breath in his direction.

"Wow! What a wonderful scent!"

"Who forgot to leash their dog? Hurry up and get it."

Long Ming said coldly, his face expressionless.

Lu Xu and the others were stunned when they heard Long Ming. ’This guy’s got some nerve,’ they thought.

Qin Ye’s expression was priceless. He quickly jumped in to smooth things over.

"He’s just joking."

But Guardian Chapter wasn’t angry at all. Instead, he just smiled and stepped back.

Just then, Qin Ying spoke up softly.

"Everyone, it’s about time. We should hand out the invitations."

"Alright!"

Qin Ye and the others took out their invitations and handed them to their respective escort teams.

Of the 25 people present, five were the clients, and twenty were combat escorts. Eight of those escorts belonged to Qin Ye’s group.

"Now that everyone has an invitation, I’ll explain the team assignments."

Zhao Chen said with a serious expression.

Long Ming and the others all turned to look at Zhao Chen.

"First, Young Master Qin Ye and the other four clients will form a group. Our mission is to protect them, complete the safe objective, and light up the observatory."

"Understood."

"The remaining twenty of us will be split into four groups. I will lead Group One, with Red Ghost, Guardian Chapter, Xu Lie, and Yan Huai! Group Two..."

Zhao Chen quickly finished the assignments, giving everyone a red cloth to tie around their shoulder to distinguish friend from foe.

Long Ming glanced at his new teammates. Each was outfitted in high-quality gear and exuded a dangerous aura.

He had to admit, these clients had hired some very capable people.

Soon, it was eight o’clock.

Qin Ye said excitedly.

"Time’s up! Let’s go in!"

Long Ming and the others raised their invitations to activate them.

WHOOSH!

Everyone dissolved into a flash of white light, reappearing on teleportation platform Number 6.

Long Ming turned his head and saw streams of white light landing one after another.

He raised his wrist device to check the displayed information.

Civilization Opened: Overwatch Observatory Base.

Civilization Level: 1

Participants: 631/10,000.

...

Long Ming frowned as he looked at the number. ’So many people got in? And it’s still climbing.’

"Holy shit, why are there so many people?"

Wang Yin swore in frustration.

"This is unbelievable."

Qin Ye’s head was starting to ache. The more people who entered, the lower their chances of success.

"Alright, stop complaining! The longer this was delayed, the more invitations were created and the greater the difficulty becomes. That’s why we have to succeed this time."

Bai Xiu said calmly, pushing up the frame of his glasses.

"That’s right! Let’s waste ’em all!"

Lu Xu chimed in, agreeing.

At that moment, Qin Ying spoke to Qin Ye, her voice tinged with worry.

"Big Brother, there are more and more people. I’m getting scared."

"Don’t worry, I’ll protect you!"

Qin Ye said to Qin Ying, thumping his chest.

At this, the corner of Long Ming’s mouth twitched slightly as he scanned the other players nearby.

Although the current number of players was similar to a normal instance, every single player here was armed to the teeth. Very few were carrying old-fashioned weapons like single-shot rifles. Most held submachine guns or automatic rifles, and at the very least, automatic pistols. None of them looked like easy prey.

’Taking out a group like this won’t be easy.’

Just then, Zhao Chen sent Long Ming a party invitation.

Long Ming saw the prompt pop up on his wrist device and tapped ’Accept.’

A party interface immediately appeared on his wrist device, displaying the names of Zhao Chen and the others. Other than that, nothing changed.

About twenty minutes later, the number of people on the teleportation platform had reached 952, and it was still climbing.

Many players on site were losing their composure, cursing under their breath.

"Are they insane?"

"What the hell is today?"

"Why are so many people coming in here?"

...

Qin Ye was starting to get anxious, too.

"Damn it, are we about to break a thousand people?"

"Sigh. At this rate, we’re definitely going to break a thousand."

Bai Xiu replied with a sigh.

Hearing this, Long Ming turned to Qin Ye and asked.

"How many people were here last time you tried?"

"Just over five hundred,"

Qin Ye replied, his face dark.

"So the difficulty has doubled."

Even Long Ming felt this was getting tricky.

"Shit, so what’s our plan now?"

Wang Yin demanded, looking at the others in frustration.

"We’ll regroup once we’re in and play it by ear. How much longer do we have?"

Qin Ye was extremely agitated.

"Four minutes."

Qin Ying replied softly.

Qin Ye and the others waited patiently.

Soon, the final 30-second countdown began. By then, the number of participants had reached 1,121.

But in the final ten seconds...

WHOOSH!

Countless beams of white light descended from the sky.

Members of the All Stars Guild, the Star God Guild, and the Sin Abyss Guild, along with a final wave of unaligned players, all dropped in right at the last second.

The participant count instantly jumped to 3,211.

In that instant, the last glimmer of hope in many players’ hearts died. Curses erupted across the platform.

"Fuck!"

"Damn it!"

"How the hell are we supposed to play this?!"

...

The next second.

The mechanical obelisk at the center of the platform lit up, its surface patterns glowing with a dazzling light.

The brilliant white light enveloped everyone.

「A few seconds later.」

Long Ming opened his eyes to find himself in a dimly lit room.

He quickly scanned his surroundings but saw no one else.

Judging by the dust-covered modern furniture, he could tell this world’s level of civilization was quite high.

Long Ming raised his wrist device and opened the quest log.

Quest: The Mission

Objective: Travel to the central control room of the observatory base in the Crotte Mountains. Activate the central control system and transmit a signal to the designated deep-space coordinates.

Reward: 1,000 Unicoins, 2x2x2 Safe Upgrade Card.

Long Ming glanced at the quest, then closed the interface.

BANG! BANG!

Just then, the sound of gunfire came from outside.

Long Ming walked to the window and peered outside.

He saw rows of relatively short, concrete buildings.

Long Ming had a good idea of where he had spawned and quickly left the room.

Normally, Long Ming would have laid low in the room for a while. But he was a hired escort now. If he just camped here while his client got killed, it would be a complete joke.

He had to find Qin Ye and Qin Ying, and fast.

However, based on his experience with instances, even though they were separated, they shouldn’t have spawned too far from each other.

They should be in one of the nearby buildings.

Long Ming went to the back door and listened for a moment. Hearing nothing unusual, he gently opened it.

Gripping his Carbine, he leaned out the back door and scanned the area. After confirming there were no enemies, he stepped out cautiously to begin his search.

「A few minutes later.」

As Long Ming approached a corner, he heard a faint noise up ahead.

His eyes narrowed as he silently crept forward.

Not far off, Qin Ye was clutching a golden automatic pistol, his expression tense. He called out in a low voice,

"Qin Ying? Zhao Chen? Where are you guys?"

"Boss."

Long Ming’s voice suddenly sounded from right behind Qin Ye.

"Aah!"

Qin Ye jumped, startled. When he turned and saw it was Long Ming, he let out a sigh of relief before complaining irritably,

"Couldn’t you have just walked up normally? You scared me to death!"

"Wouldn’t have made a difference. If I were an enemy, you’d already be dead."

Long Ming replied, exasperated.

"Whatever. Good thing it was you. I thought I was about to get insta-killed right after spawning."

"You’ve been killed right after spawning before?"

Long Ming asked, slightly surprised.

"What’s so strange about that? If you get a bad spawn and land right on top of another guild, you’ll be dead in minutes."

Qin Ye said irritably, seeming to recall some bad memories.

"Mm."

Long Ming nodded slightly.

"Enough about that. Let’s go find the others and regroup."

Qin Ye then started to lead Long Ming away.

But Long Ming didn’t move an inch, showing no intention of leaving.