Chapter 314: Safety Box

Chapter 314: Chapter 314: Safety Box

"Who’s got the nerve to shake down Xiaoqi and her crew? Isn’t this whole area Mountain City Mountain’s turf?"

Long Ming replied, somewhat puzzled.

"They’re from another civilization that joined the Star Alliance before us. They live right next door and bully us just because they got here first."

Xiaopang, on the other hand, seemed to have a clear grasp of the complicated situation.

After hearing this, Long Ming raised his wristband and transferred one hundred thousand Star Coins to Xiaopang.

BUZZ—

When Xiaopang saw the notification pop up on his wristband, his face lit up with joy.

"Boss, you’re the best!"

"Use this for now. If it’s not enough, just ask me for more."

"Okay."

"And I have a job for you."

"Name it, Boss."

"Go find out which guild those guys belong to and when they run their group instances."

Long Ming said calmly.

"No problem! Leave it to me!"

Xiaopang left with a wide grin.

Meanwhile, in the back of the main hall, Cloud Fish and the others were looking at Xiaoqi, completely baffled.

"Sister Qi, why did you give them the money? They’re just thugs! Things were already tough for us, and now they’re even tougher."

"Yeah, and why didn’t you tell Long Ming?"

...

"I gave them the money precisely because I don’t want Long Ming to clash with them. Our situation is different now. Besides, those guys aren’t just common thugs; they have powerful backers. You all saw it—even the guards were on their side."

Xiaoqi explained to Cloud Fish and the others.

"Then what are we supposed to do?"

"We’ll earn the money back slowly. Just don’t mention this to Long Ming again."

"Okay."

Cloud Fish and the others nodded.

Xiaoqi sighed, then turned and walked toward the bar.

Soon, she was beside Long Ming, saying with a cheerful smile,

"Long Ming, how is it?"

"It’s good. Is there anything you need help with?"

"Nothing at all. The Star Cafe hasn’t been busy lately, so Cloud Fish and the others can handle everything. You should just focus on getting some rest."

"Alright, I’m heading back to my room then. Call me if anything comes up."

Long Ming said with a nod.

"Okay!"

Xiaoqi replied readily.

Long Ming then turned and headed for the stairs.

In truth, Long Ming had noticed their predicament, but he didn’t give Xiaoqi and the others money directly.

He was mainly worried they would be too proud to accept it. So, Long Ming planned to wait for the right opportunity to help them make a big score.

「A few minutes later.」

Long Ming returned to his room, sat down at his desk, and raised his wristband to open the civilization forums.

After a few seconds of thought, he began searching for information about the safes.

Long Ming was curious about how many times these safes could be expanded and what their maximum size was.

’In the past, I’d never have been able to find this kind of information, but it’s easy to get now that I’ve joined the Star Alliance.’

Long Ming quickly found the relevant data and began to read.

Half an hour later, Long Ming had a clear understanding of the safes.

Just as he’d thought, in addition to the 2x2x2 quest, there were also quests for 3x3x3, 4x4x4, and 5x5x5 safes.

Someone in the Star Alliance had already discovered the 5x5x5 quest, but no one had completed it yet. It was unclear if a 6x6x6 quest even existed.

The dimensions of the safes were also clearly listed. A 3x3x3 safe could hold a standard car, a 4x4x4 could hold a small aircraft, and as for the 5x5x5, some speculated it could even hold a small starship.

Long Ming was very tempted by these figures. ’To be honest, this safe is incredibly useful, especially for combat and looting.’

For a moment, Long Ming’s gaze was fixed on the 3x3x3 quest.

He immediately looked up the details to see what the quest involved and how difficult it was to complete.

Time trickled by.

Long Ming soon finished reading the relevant information.

He rubbed his temples, a headache forming. ’Of course. The safe quest is a hot ticket for every civilization.’

The 3x3x3 safe quest itself wasn’t difficult; in fact, it was quite simple.

The instance had been farmed into the ground by members of the Star Alliance.

The real difficulty was the other players.

Generally, the only ones who completed this quest were high-ranking military officers, financial tycoons, or members of major guilds.

Smaller guilds and solo players had almost no chance of completing it.

Long Ming’s expression shifted. He opened the store and tried searching for an invitation scroll for the 3x3x3 quest.

SWOOSH—

Hundreds of thousands of invitation scrolls popped up.

Each was priced at 1,000 Star Coins—not a cheap price.

After a moment’s hesitation, Long Ming bought one.

’The chances of success are slim, but I have to try. This safe quest is too important.’

Long Ming then picked up his phone and sent a message to Xiaoqi.

"Xiaoqi, I’m going into Starry City to use an invitation scroll. Don’t let anyone disturb me."

"Okay!"

Xiaoqi replied almost instantly.

Long Ming got up, went to the door, and locked it from the inside.

He turned, walked over to the game pod, opened the hatch, and lay down inside. Then, he activated the machine.

When Long Ming opened his eyes again, he found himself in the massive Starry City, surrounded by a dense, surging crowd.

"Top-tier escorts, fair prices!"

"Kamite instance! Anyone wanna team up?"

...

Shouts echoed from all directions, making the entire Starry City incredibly lively.

’I feel a little dazed. I haven’t seen this many people since we rallied the troops to fight the Blood Breath Beasts.’

He found a less crowded spot to equip his Red Demon mecha armor. He then altered his appearance to that of Red Ghost and changed his character info on his wristband to match.

Once that was done, Long Ming quietly waited for the event to begin.

The 3x3x3 quest was set to begin at 10 AM, so he still had a little time to wait.

Soon, it was 10 AM. Long Ming took out the invitation scroll and activated it.

WHOOSH!

Long Ming vanished in a flash of white light, reappearing moments later on a massive teleportation platform.

Streaks of white light began to descend, each one revealing a player as it landed.

Long Ming raised his wristband to check the info.

Instance World: Forgotten Mechanical Ruins.

Civilization Level: 3

Participants: 1,427/10,000.

...

Long Ming felt his nerves tighten as he watched the number of participants steadily climb.

Suddenly, a massive flood of white light descended.

The participant count instantly shot up to 5,427/10,000.

Long Ming was stunned and whipped his head around to look.

He saw elite players materializing, all clad in second-generation exoskeletons and mecha armor, wielding powerful weapons.

He could even spot several players wearing full V3 Mechanical God sets.

"Damn!"

"Aren’t those the Tier 4 Twilight Guild and Dawn Guild?"

"What are those two powerhouse guilds doing here?"

...

The many solo players in the crowd murmured in shock.

Long Ming’s brow furrowed. ’A Tier 4 guild means they were a Tier 4 civilization when they joined the Star Alliance, or that they’ve reached that level since joining.’

Just then, a mech flew above the crowd, its voice booming. It was a Frenzy model from the Mechanical God series, standing over three meters tall and covered entirely in black metal armor. A triangular halo was embedded in its chest, a missile launcher was mounted on its right shoulder, and a pair of flexible, mechanical jet wings extended from its back. It wielded a large-caliber, burst-fire machine gun, with a Metal Blade sheathed at its waist.

"I am Captain Kaber of the Twilight Guild. We have some unsettled business with the Dawn Guild, and we’re about to have a wagered duel. Anyone who doesn’t want to get caught in the crossfire and risk dropping their gear should leave now, while you still can!"

Hearing Kaber’s words, many of the solo players started to grumble in resignation.

"Sigh..."

"Are you leaving?"

"Nah, I’m staying. I’m going to try my luck. If things get too hairy, I’ll just bail."

"Same here."

...

Still, a number of more cautious solo players and members of smaller guilds chose to withdraw from the instance.

As a result, the number of participants on the platform not only stopped increasing but actually dropped by a hundred or two.