East of the Observatory Base · Rek Town.

Players were being taken captive one by one, tied up with ropes, and had black hoods pulled over their heads.

"The Star God... you pack of lunatics."

"Who does this kind of stuff in a game?!"

"I’ll f—"

...

The captive players cursed furiously.

At that moment, a young woman in a black robe gazed at the players before her and spoke softly. She had long, grayish-white hair, with a few loose strands hanging over her forehead and partially hiding her purple eyes. Her skin was snow-white, and she wore a black armband with a shooting star insignia.

"May the Star God bless you."

As soon as she finished speaking.

BANG! BANG!

A series of gunshots rang out, and a row of captive players were executed, falling to the ground.

Just then, a tall, slender man in a black robe with sharp, prominent cheekbones and a face full of scars spoke in a low voice.

"Lady Farina, we’ve dealt with almost everyone."

"Lair, who’s leading the team from the All Stars Guild?"

Farina’s rosy lips moved slightly.

"It should be Qian Luobing and Qian Wei. The people with them are all their trusted confidants, and they have about a third more people than we do."

"The key to victory has never been numbers. It’s faith and strategy."

"You are right, Lady Farina."

Lair replied respectfully, his head lowered.

"What about the Sin Abyss Guild?"

"The Sin Abyss Guild’s team is being led by Padoka."

"Have our people get ready. Once we reach the observatory, we’ll wipe them all out. We will be the sole victors of this dungeon."

Though Farina’s words were soft, they were filled with confidence and power.

"Yes."

Lair and the others immediately sprang into action.

...

「Agatu Town.」

SLAM!

Xu Lie slammed the engine hood shut and said excitedly.

"It’s done!"

"Let me try it."

Zhao Chen nimbly climbed into the driver’s cab and quickly started the vehicle.

VRRROOOMMM!

With the roar of the noisy engine, the truck successfully started.

"The truck’s good to go. Dino, you and Cheng Tong go get the motorcycles."

Zhao Chen instructed them.

Without a word, Dino and Cheng Tong turned and left.

"Time to get in!"

Zhao Chen turned his head and shouted to Qin Ye and the others.

"I’m taking the front passenger seat."

Qin Ye said as he started to climb into the passenger seat. He definitely didn’t want to ride in the back.

"No!"

Long Ming stopped Qin Ye right away.

A dark look on his face, Qin Ye turned to Long Ming and asked.

"What do you mean, ’no’?"

"The passenger seat is the most dangerous. The person riding shotgun is usually the first to die."

Long Ming explained coolly.

"That’s right!"

Guardian Chapter and the others nodded in agreement.

Hearing this, Qin Ye climbed back down, speechless.

"Well, nothing for it then, my gold masters. Looks like I’ll have to take the passenger seat."

Xu Lie climbed into the passenger seat with a smile.

Just then, Long Ming spoke to Guardian Chapter and the others.

"You guys get up first."

Without a word, Guardian Chapter and the others climbed into the open-top truck bed.

Two long metal benches had been welded to either side of the truck bed.

Guardian Chapter and the others sat down on them.

Long Ming turned his head to Qin Ye and the other gold masters and said.

"Get in."

With looks of resignation, Qin Ye and the others climbed in.

Finally, Long Ming and his men climbed in as well, positioning themselves to protect Qin Ye and the others in the middle.

"Zhao Chen, we’re good to go."

Qin Ye yelled to Zhao Chen at the top of his lungs.

"Got it!"

Zhao Chen stomped on the gas, and the truck shot forward.

The cool wind blew past Long Ming. As he watched the town’s buildings fly by, he felt quite pleasant.

Just then, Dino and Cheng Tong cut in from a side road on their motorcycles.

They revved their throttles in unison, speeding up to ride about a hundred meters ahead of the truck and clear the way.

「A short while later.」

They drove out of the town and proceeded along the winding mountain road.

Long Ming gazed into the distance. Rolling peaks came into view, with the winding road snaking through the mountains and stretching to the horizon. The scenery was beautiful.

Watching the scene, Long Ming raised his wristband and opened the map.

Most of his map was still blacked out.

But that wasn’t a big problem, as he had seen a detailed map of this dungeon on the forums before.

Therefore, he could fill it in simply by drawing a rough map on his wristband from memory.

Long Ming finished the map quickly. He looked at their current position, his gaze flickering slightly.

’Judging by the route, the journey to the Observatory Base is bound to be dangerous. First, there are only four main roads to the Observatory Base, which means players from all the towns are very likely to run into each other. A bloodbath is unavoidable. Second, to enter the outer city of the Observatory Base, you have to cross a hundred-meter-wide river. There’s a large, steel-structured bridge over it. That bridge is the second checkpoint on the way to the base.’

Just then, Long Ming sensed an odd stare and looked up.

He saw Guardian Chapter looking at him out of the corner of his eye, a neurotic smile on his face.

The other hired mercenaries were also eyeing each other warily.

It was obvious that no one trusted anyone else.

The atmosphere in the truck bed was extremely tense.

...

「Over an hour later.」

The truck drove on toward the Observatory Base city. It was hard to say whether Long Ming’s group was just lucky or if they had been delayed for so long while clearing out the town.

They didn’t run into a single enemy along the way.

"What kind of crappy road is this? All these turns are making my head spin,"

Qin Ye complained to Bai Xiu and the others.

"Just hang in there. This game is great in every way, except one—it’s too damn realistic."

Bai Xiu and the others’ backs were also aching from the ride.

At that moment, Dino and Cheng Tong were riding their motorcycles ahead of the truck, one on the left and one on the right, scouting the path.

Their expressions were tense, and they were extremely cautious.

It wasn’t their first time running this dungeon. The closer they got to the Observatory Base, the more dangerous it became.

Suddenly, Dino and Cheng Tong saw a faint glint of light on the road ahead.

Their expressions changed drastically.

The next second, before Cheng Tong could even react, his head was sliced clean off by a thin metal wire.

Dino, in contrast, reacted much faster. He yanked his handlebars, pulling the front of his bike up.

KRAK!

The thin metal wire cut into the front of the motorcycle.

Dino was thrown straight off his bike.

"Ambush!"

Seeing this, Zhao Chen slammed on the brakes.

SCREEECH!

The entire truck screeched to a halt.

"Oof."

The immense inertia threw Qin Ye and the others forward. They tumbled onto the truck bed, crying out in pain.

Long Ming and his men were also sent sprawling, but they immediately scrambled back up.

RUMBLE RUMBLE~

Massive boulders were pushed down from the mountainside to their right.

Immediately after, players began to pop up, firing at Long Ming’s group with single-shot rifles and old-fashioned pistols.

BANG! BANG!

"Agh! I’m hit!"

Lu Xu wailed, clutching his butt with one hand while immediately pulling out a bottle of Insect-Healing Potion and drinking it.

Just then, Yan Huai quickly deployed a folding shield, tossing one end to the mercenary next to him.

The man caught it instantly, and the two of them pulled the folding shield open.

CLINK! CLINK!

Bullets ricocheted off its surface.