Red Ghost

"I see. I'll take the mission." Having heard that, Long Ming agreed without hesitation. He had been somewhat hesitant before, but learning that this was a step in the safe box expansion quest eliminated any doubt. He could take this opportunity to finish it together. "Brother, are you sure you're up for it? Don't leave me hanging." "I won't. Even though I haven't run the Observatory Base before, I just need to look up the relevant information later." "Fair enough. Then it's settled. Gather here tomorrow morning at seven-thirty, and we enter the instance at eight sharp!" Qin Ye promptly added Long Ming as a friend. "All right. I'll go get ready." Long Ming renamed his second friend list to Red Ghost, added Qin Ye, and turned to leave. Watching Long Ming's departing figure, Qin Ye also fell into thought. Qin Ying walked over to his side and asked, "Brother, what do you think of him?" "Mm. As long as his gear wasn't bought with real cash and his KDI wasn't farmed, we'll definitely get the mission done this time!" Just thinking about the Watchtower Observatory instance made Qin Ye feel like cursing. "Yeah," Qin Ying agreed with a slight nod. Meanwhile, Long Ming walked forward while pondering the escort mission. He suddenly noticed that the surrounding area was partitioned into sections cordoned off by various player factions, with many people shouting their pitches. "Recruiting top-tier escorts! Generous pay!" "Recruiting experts to form a team and clear the Watchtower Observatory Base!" Long Ming looked around and saw a huge number of people hiring escorts, but very few applicants. After all, not everyone was filthy rich enough to offer such staggering compensation. Reputation was another crucial factor. Escorting was not without risk. Employers worried about hiring enforcers who would backstab them, while hired hands feared their employer was a shill leading them into an instance to slaughter them like fat sheep. Because of that, credibility was essential—and credibility could not be built overnight. Judging by the number of applicants at Qin Ye's booth, his reputation seemed decent enough. Even so, that did not mean it was risk-free. Qin Ye had hired quite a few fighters, and those men had all been staring at Long Ming just now, many with greed gleaming in their eyes. For all he knew, someone might put a bullet in his back during the escort run. Long Ming did not dwell on it, however. Instead, he opened the mall and began preparing the supplies he would need for the mission. First, he searched for 40mm grenades. The search results refreshed quickly. Another player had listed three of them, priced at 50,000 Yiwei coins each. Long Ming bought all three directly, then tried searching for batteries in the mall. He needed to recharge both the Red Ghost mask and his powered mechanical boots. Swish! Batteries of various models immediately appeared. Naturally, not all batteries were suitable. Browsing from top to bottom, Long Ming soon found an energy storage device equipped with a universal charging circuit, which should be able to charge his equipment. However, the price was extraordinarily steep, tagged at a whopping 500,000 Yiwei coins. After a few seconds of hesitation, he bought it. Next, he spent another 100,000 to purchase three high-explosive grenades, one flashbang, and one smoke grenade. Finally, Long Ming searched for automatic pistols. Hundreds of models were listed in an instant. The most expensive among them was a DKS-01 Fang, priced at 200,000. This pistol came equipped with a suppressor, used 5.56mm bullets, and had a magazine capacity of twenty rounds. Although he already owned a P17 automatic pistol, its performance felt lackluster. It was fine for routine guild quests, but it seemed out of place alongside the rest of his gear. Thus, he bought the new handgun as well. After finishing his purchases, Long Ming opened his wristband and checked his account balance. Seeing the remaining 5,230,600 Yiwei coins made his heart ache a little. If not for the astronomical reward offered for this escort run, he never would have brought himself to spend so freely. "Phew..." Long Ming let out a soft breath, found an empty corner, and began recharging the Red Ghost mask and powered mechanical boots. Several hours later. Once his gear was fully charged, Long Ming logged off the game. Taking off his helmet, he got out of bed, walked over to sit at the computer desk, and prepared to boot up his PC to log onto the forums. Suddenly, Long Ming remembered something. If tomorrow's escort mission required an extended play session, a helmet would not hold up. With that in mind, he hurriedly grabbed his phone and sent a message to Xiao Qi. "Xiao Qi, do you have any free game pods tomorrow morning?" "Huh? Is it urgent?" Xiao Qi replied almost instantly. "Yeah," Long Ming texted back. Inside Xingyuan Star Café, Xiao Qi looked at Long Ming's message, finding herself in a bind. Where was she supposed to find a spare game pod for Long Ming on such short notice? Every single pod was booked. "Give me a second." Xiao Qi hurriedly sent him a reply, then rushed toward the stairs. On the way, she bumped right into Mila. "Xiao Qi, where are you running off to?" "Sister Mila, have you seen Sister Luo Xue?" "Her? She went upstairs." "Thanks!" Xiao Qi dashed up to the sixth floor without delay. Mila watched the flustered girl in bewilderment, but thought nothing of it. Soon, Xiao Qi reached the sixth floor and ran toward Room 666. At that moment, Luo Xue held up a keycard and swiped open the door to Room 666. "Sister Luo Xue!" Xiao Qi called out, out of breath. Luo Xue paused and turned to look at her. "Xiao Qi, what is it?" "It's like this—Long Ming suddenly needs to use a game pod, but all of ours are fully booked. Where am I supposed to find one on short notice?" "Is it urgent?" "Yes, he needs it tomorrow morning," Xiao Qi replied with a nod. "Then let him use this room." Hearing that, Luo Xue handed the keycard in her hand to Xiao Qi. Taking the keycard, Xiao Qi was taken by surprise. In her curiosity, she asked, "Sister Luo Xue, can I ask you something?" "What is it?" "What's your relationship with Long Ming?" "You want to know?" A gentle, warm smile appeared on Luo Xue's face. "Mm-hmm!" An intensely curious expression spread across Xiao Qi's face. Luo Xue tapped Xiao Qi on the forehead with a finger and said with a chuckle, "Such a gossip. I'm not telling you. Hurry along and get back to work." "Fine..." Xiao Qi replied, looking thoroughly disappointed. Back in the rental apartment, Long Ming waited patiently for Xiao Qi's message. If Xingyuan Star Café didn't have an available game pod, he would have to hurry to the Upper City to find one. Right then, a new message from Xiao Qi popped up. "You're in luck. Room 666 just happens to be vacant tomorrow." "Great. Hold it for me." After sending the reply, Long Ming breathed a slight sigh of relief, set his phone aside, and turned his attention to the forums. Pondering for a moment, he decided to look up information regarding Qin Ye. Even though the man was most likely legitimate, caution never hurt. Knowing more was always better. A single search yielded a massive pile of posts about Qin Ye. Long Ming browsed through them one by one, quickly gaining a clear picture of who Qin Ye was. Qin Ye was the young master of the Jiaye Group from the City of Sin. He had already made a name for himself in the past, was exceptionally lavish with his spending, and had a passable reputation. He had invested heavily in the Rotten Snake Guild within Civilization Paradise and was currently their primary financial backer. Once Long Ming confirmed there was no obvious problem with Qin Ye, he began searching for information on the Watchtower Observatory Base. Swish! Hundreds of thousands of posts instantly flooded his screen. Long Ming was somewhat overwhelmed by the sheer volume, but he patiently filtered for the highest-trending threads to read. More than two hours later. Long Ming massaged his temples in frustration. As expected, money was never that easy to earn. This Watchtower Observatory Base instance was practically a death trap, and its entry mechanism differed from conventional instances. Normal instances could be entered at any time as long as a player possessed an invitation scroll. The Watchtower Observatory Base instance, on the other hand, required not only an invitation letter but also opened only once every three days. The maximum participant cap was ten thousand players. As for the safe box quest Qin Ye had mentioned, every player who entered the instance received it upon arrival. The mission objective was to reach the central control room of the Observatory Base, activate the massive radio telescope inside, and transmit an encrypted message to designated space coordinates. The quest could be completed as a team. Once everyone arrived on the transmission platform, the system unlocked the team-formation option, with each team capped at five members. Consequently, each time the Observatory Base opened, at most five players could complete the quest. Under such rules, it would be a miracle if everyone didn't fight tooth and nail. Moreover, the instance's difficulty would only increase over time. Due to the limited supply of invitation letters, the current player count wouldn't be very high yet. The first group to clear the instance would have the easiest time finishing the quest, but as invitation scrolls proliferated and more people flooded in, the difficulty would inevitably skyrocket. That explained why Qin Ye was in such a hurry to complete this mission and why he was willing to spend so much money. After all, Long Ming wasn't the only expert he had hired. Having read this far, Long Ming closed the forum and leaned back against his chair, lost in thought.