Chapter 317: The Start

Chapter 317: Chapter 317: The Start

The famous battlefield streamers, Mude and Bobiga, were reporting from the teleportation platform.

"Hello everyone, this is your streamer Mude, reporting live from the teleportation platform. So far, there are 5,111 players participating in the 3x3x3 mission instance, and that number hasn’t changed for over ten minutes. There’s only one minute left before entry into the instance. The main event is about to begin, so let’s wait and see!"

"Go, Twilight Guild!"

"Dawn Guild, kill ’em all!"

"Fuck, who are you talking to?!"

...

A dense barrage of comments flooded the live stream’s video feed.

Meanwhile, on the No. 1 VIP platform.

Baidi brought over a steaming hot meal, placed it on the table in front of Sedek, and spoke respectfully.

"Lord Sedek, your meal is here."

"Mm. Is everything arranged on Kaber’s end?"

"Rest assured, we’ve made thorough preparations. There’s no way we’ll lose!"

"Good."

Sedek nodded in satisfaction.

...

On the teleportation platform.

Long Ming waited patiently. Since the number of participants hadn’t reached ten thousand, they could only wait for the platform to activate automatically.

Just then, the mechanical pillars on the platform lit up.

In an instant, everyone was engulfed in a white light, unable to see a thing.

When Long Ming opened his eyes again,

he found himself inside a massive ship’s bay.

The walls and floor around him were forged from high-strength gray metal.

RUMBLE...

The entire bay was shaking continuously.

However, the players present paid no mind to this phenomenon.

CLACK! CLACK!

The sound of footsteps approached.

All the solo players on the scene quickly cleared a path.

Long Ming also hurried to the side.

At that moment, Kaber and his numerous subordinates met with Ask and his group. The two sides glared at each other with hostility.

"Everyone, look! The people from the Twilight Guild and the Dawn Guild have run into each other. The atmosphere is explosive right now!"

...

Streamer Mude aimed his camera at them, reporting excitedly.

Kaber’s face was grim as he spoke.

"Ask, I won’t be holding back this time. I’ll make your Dawn Guild pay the price. You’re going to withdraw from the mining area and issue a public apology!"

"Kaber, your people were the unreasonable ones first, okay? What does that have to do with us?! It’s not yet certain who’s going to be apologizing to whom!"

"Fine. Just you wait!"

"I’ll be waiting!"

Ask replied in a cold voice.

Just then, red warning lights flashed on the ship, and a piercing broadcast blared.

"The ship is approaching the outer atmosphere of planet XC-541. Drop pod bays are now open. All personnel, prepare for deployment immediately."

CLICK!

Ten metal doors slid open.

Kaber and the others headed toward different drop pod bays.

Long Ming chose a drop bay far away from them.

Soon, Long Ming arrived at the K10 drop pod bay.

Rows of cone-shaped drop pods, constructed of gray metal, came into view.

Since the instance wasn’t full this time, Long Ming easily found an empty drop pod and got inside.

These were single-person pods, so the interior was cramped. You could only stand, and there was a transparent observation window above.

After stepping in, Long Ming fastened his safety harness.

"All combat personnel, to your positions immediately!"

"Deployment sequence initiating. Countdown: 60s, 59s..."

...

Listening to the urgent broadcast, Long Ming felt a surge of excitement.

As the countdown finished,

CLICK!

Long Ming felt the entire drop pod jolt.

The pod detached from the ship. Through the observation window,

Long Ming saw an absolutely stunning scene.

Countless drop pods fell like raindrops toward a gray planet.

In the distance was the vast, boundless starry sky, with innumerable stars shining brilliantly.

This was the first time Long Ming had ever seen space with his own eyes. His heart churned like a stormy sea.

Soon, the drop pod entered the atmosphere.

SHUDDER...

The entire pod began to vibrate violently. Its surface turned red-hot as if it were about to burst into flames, and the internal temperature started to soar.

Long Ming immediately raised his wristband to check the mission.

The Last Evacuees.

Mission Objective: A final extraction point will be randomly generated in the Anska Mechanical City. Kill all non-squad members and reach the final extraction point to unlock it. If this condition is not met, the final extraction point will automatically unlock in 71 hours and 55 minutes!

...

Long Ming glanced over it. He had already learned about this 3x3x3 mission on the forums.

The final extraction point would be randomly generated at one of the extraction platforms in various areas of the city.

This extraction platform would remain locked until the conditions were met.

Long Ming now had two paths he could take. The first was to kill everyone. The second was to lie low until the last five minutes and then make a grab for the extraction platform.

’But neither path will be easy.’

Just then, drop pods began emerging from the atmosphere, appearing tens of thousands of meters up in the sky.

CRACK!

Suddenly, ten of the drop pods shattered instantly.

Kaber, Ask, and other players equipped with V3 Mechanical God gear had deliberately destroyed their own pods. Activating their mechanical thruster wings, they flew toward the enemy guild’s pods and opened fire.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

One by one, the drop pods were blown up.

Long Ming’s brow tightened, and he immediately looked through the observation window to see what was happening.

He saw players in Mechanical God armor attacking drop pods everywhere. Players were constantly being eliminated. It was a completely one-sided slaughter.

Long Ming’s heart sank. ’These two guilds really play dirty,’ he thought. ’They started fighting before they even landed.’

’If my pod gets blown up, I’ll be in big trouble.’

Fortunately, he was quite far from them. Kaber and the others were busy attacking the pods near them and hadn’t noticed him at all.

At that moment, streamer Bobiga aimed his camera at his observation window, reporting to everyone.

"Folks, the fight is on! They haven’t even landed yet, and it’s already incredibly intense. We can see drop pods getting blown up one after another."

"Awesome!"

"As expected of the experts!"

"This is so exciting!"

"Twilight Guild, crush ’em! I even bet my wife on you guys to win!"

"Bro, have you lost your mind? Betting that much?"

"None of your business!"

...

Countless comments continued to flood the screen.

The seconds ticked by.

Through the observation window, Long Ming saw a massive, ruined mechanical city.

This ruined city had been explored by players to the point of exhaustion. Aside from a few areas that still had some robots, most of it was safe. Of course, that also meant there was nothing left to loot.

Therefore, the only real profit to be gained from landing in this city came from other players.

As a result, many solo players would hunt each other.

BOOM—

Long Ming’s drop pod activated its retro-thrusters to decelerate, then landed in a northern town on the edge of the mechanical ruins.

CLICK-HISS!

The drop pod door opened automatically.

Long Ming took a deep breath and stepped out.

He raised his wristband and opened the map. A red marker for the extraction point appeared. It was located right in the central area of the Anska Mechanical City, smack in the middle.

Long Ming turned his head and scanned his surroundings. All around were collapsed metal buildings and a ground pockmarked with craters from explosions.