Striking It Rich

Mila's expression shifted rapidly before she turned and shouted to Xiao Qi. "Xiao Qi!" "Sister Mila!" Xiao Qi answered tensely. "Take the Rat Squad and pull out first! I'll have Cao Jie and his team cover you," Mila told her. "What about you guys?" "Don't worry about us. We'll hold them off for a bit and then withdraw. Just make sure you get the Rat Legion out!" "Understood!" Xiao Qi nodded firmly. "Go!" Mila waved Xiao Qi and the others forward. Cao Jie and his men immediately escorted Xiao Qi as they broke out along the right flank. Meanwhile, atop the roof of a dilapidated residential building, Baier peered through a pair of binoculars, monitoring Mila's movements. The moment he saw the Rat Legion begin their breakout, he hurried to report to Felonka. "Sir, their Rat Legion is trying to escape." "They want to run? In their dreams! Baier, I'm leaving things here to you. I'm taking the men to wipe them out!" "Huh? But sir, they have so many people. How am I supposed to fight them?" "Who told you to go head-to-head with them? Just keep your men posted and take a few potshots every now and then to pin them down here. Once I finish off their Rat Legion, we can extract!" "Understood." "Don't screw this up, or you'll answer to me when we get back!" After barking the warning at Baier, Felonka turned and led thirty subordinates away. On the other side of the city, Long Ming cautiously led Johnny and the others toward the evacuation point. Along the way, the mist gradually thinned, considerably improving their visibility. "Brother, are we on the right path?" "What makes you ask?" "Why has it been so quiet the whole way?" Johnny swallowed hard, asking nervously. "I don't know. Let's reach the evacuation point first!" Long Ming's expression grew increasingly grim. He raised his wristband to check the map; they were less than a kilometer from the evacuation point now. Under normal circumstances, if the main force had also retreated this way, they should have heard at least some commotion. "Right," Johnny and the others nodded in quick succession. Shortly after, Long Ming and his companions reached an abandoned construction site. "The evacuation point!" Seeing the evacuation point situated at the center of the unfinished site, Johnny and the others surged forward in excitement. "Hold on!" Long Ming frowned, raising an arm to block Johnny. "What's wrong?" "Haven't you noticed the combat squad stationed here is gone?" "Wait, where are Jiang Ying and the rest?" Johnny and the others suddenly realized what was missing. Normally, they should have been guarding this spot. "No idea!" Long Ming warily surveyed their surroundings, though he didn't spot anything suspicious. "Brother, it looks completely empty around here?" Johnny and his men said, scratching their heads. "Come on, let's take a look!" Once Long Ming confirmed there was no ambush, he led Johnny and the others forward with cautious steps. They soon reached the evacuation platform, where they spotted seven dropped backpacks—plainly discarded by players. Long Ming glanced at the platform and found that the indicator light on the mechanical platform was dark, clearly showing it had already been used. Johnny and the others hurried over to inspect the abandoned backpacks, their faces darkening as they reported to Long Ming. "The backpacks have been cleaned out. There's nothing left inside." "Other players must have killed them. This evacuation point is burnt." Long Ming felt a dull headache coming on. He hadn't expected the rug to be pulled out from under them at such a critical moment. "What do we do now?" Johnny and the others looked at Long Ming, at a total loss. "We switch to another evacuation point, but the closest one is seven kilometers out. There's no guarantee whether someone's used that one either, but we don't have a choice—we'll have to take our chances." Long Ming checked the nearby evacuation points on his wristband. "All right, we'll follow your lead," Johnny and the others agreed one after another. "Let's move!" Long Ming wasted no time and immediately led them toward the nearest extraction point. More than half an hour later, the fog had mostly dispersed, and sunlight spilled across the silent ruins of the city. Long Ming and the others ran across an elevated highway toward their destination. *Bang! Bang!* Faint gunfire drifted over from the distance. Wu Qing looked over, spotted Xiao Qi and her group, and instantly began waving and shouting in excitement. "It's Sister Qi and the others! We're over here!" Long Ming's face changed on the spot. He lunged forward, clamped a hand over Wu Qing's mouth, and hissed a warning. "Keep quiet!" "What's going on?" Johnny and the others looked at Long Ming in confusion. "Haven't you realized something's wrong? The people behind Xiao Qi aren't ours—they're hunting them!" Long Ming warned them with a heavy frown. "What? Why is Sister Qi being hunted?" "Where are Captain Mila and the others?" Johnny and the rest took a closer look, completely stunned. Long Ming's brow furrowed deeper as he turned to Johnny's group. "I don't know. Did any of you bring a gun?" "How could we have brought guns? Ammo and firearms are way too expensive! If you drop your gear even once or burn through too many rounds, you'd still lose money even if you extracted with purple loot!" "Exactly! Nobody carries them unless they're trying to pick up girls or show off." "Understood. You guys take a detour toward the evacuation point. I'll go help them." "We're coming with you!" Johnny and the others answered without hesitation. "All right, follow me!" Long Ming didn't bother with pleasantries, immediately leading them in a fast sprint ahead. He intended to get ahead of Xiao Qi's team and set up an ambush. On the distant street below, Felonka and his subordinates were in relentless pursuit of the Rat Legion. "Damn, boss, these bastards sure can run!" a burly, bald man with a scar-battered face cursed to Felonka. "Of course rats can run. But what good does it do? Can they outrun bullets?" Felonka sneered at Tangke. He raised his AK rifle, aimed at the fleeing scavengers ahead, and pulled the trigger in a wild burst. "Aaargh!" With a chorus of screams, a combat squad member and a scavenger collapsed, their bodies dissolving into motes of light as their backpacks spilled onto the asphalt. "Boss is the best!" Tangke and the others grew wildly excited, unleashing a furious barrage at Xiao Qi's fleeing group. In an instant, three more combatants and two scavengers were cut down. As Tangke and his men sprinted past, they scooped up the dropped backpacks and weapons. Rifling through the loot on the run, they shouted in glee. "Holy crap, so much food and medicine!" "A purple microscope! We're rich!" "Haha, this feels amazing!" "Looting ruins really can't compare to robbing people!" Seeing his team members being gunned down one after another, Cao Jie turned furiously to Xiao Qi. "Bastards! Run! We'll hold them off!" "All right, be careful!" With no other options, Xiao Qi could only nod. "Don't worry, I'm plenty tough!" Cao Jie immediately led his squad to scatter behind abandoned cars, returning heavy fire at Felonka's group. *Bang! Bang!* Three of the pursuers took hits and went down. "Damn it, looking to die, are you?" Felonka raised his AK and fired in a furious sweep. A dense hail of bullets peppered the scrap vehicles, sending sparks flying in every direction. Cao Jie and his men were pinned down, unable to raise their heads. "Brother Cao! Their firepower is way too heavy!" Qiao Shan shouted in panic. "Damn it!" Cao Jie took a gamble and broke cover, rolling behind a metal dumpster nearby. He brought up his rifle and fired a shot directly at Felonka. *Bang!* A bullet caught Felonka squarely in the left shoulder. "Argh!" Grimacing in pain, Felonka ducked behind cover. He quickly inspected his shoulder; the bullet was embedded in the bulletproof vest. Luckily, the vest had stopped it, or he would have been in serious trouble. "Sir, did you get hit?" Tangke asked with concern. "Get lost!" Felonka cursed in fury. He pulled the pin on a high-explosive grenade, silently counted down a few seconds, and hurled it toward Cao Jie. Cao Jie's face drained of color the instant he saw it, and he scrambled to sprint away. *Boom!* Tragically, the shrapnel caught him mid-stride. He collapsed to the ground and dissolved into shimmering motes of starlight. "Brother Cao!" Seeing him fall, Qiao Shan and the others lost their heads, opening fire on Felonka and his men with reckless abandon. Felonka didn't bother hiding anymore either, returning fire with overwhelming force. The two sides traded bullets head-on in the open street. *Bang! Bang!* All five of Qiao Shan's men collapsed under the hail of fire, while two of Felonka's gunmen were killed in the crossfire. Tangke and the survivors rushed forward to snatch up Qiao Shan's weapons and gear, grinning ear to ear. "Not bad, high durability across the board! That recoups some of our losses!" "Hurry up! Grab the gear and keep chasing!" Felonka could barely contain his greed; he was ravenous to swallow this Rat Legion whole. "On it!" Tangke and the others swiftly gathered the spoils and charged forward after Felonka.