Cold Feet

Qin Ye halted in his tracks as well and looked back at Long Ming in confusion. "Why aren't you moving?" "Do you know where the others are?" "No." "Then we wait for them to find us. Inside," Long Ming told Qin Ye coldly. While Long Ming was confident in his own strength, that did not mean he could guarantee this guy's safety. When he had silently circled behind Qin Ye just now, it had been something of a test—and the result went without saying. "We can't do that. It's too dangerous out there—we have to find Qin Ying right away," Qin Ye said to Long Ming, an anxious edge to his voice. "Won't Zhao Chen and his men look for her? If I drag you around looking for her and you end up dead, what then?" "Well... sigh, fine. Have it your way." Though Qin Ye felt thoroughly frustrated, he listened to Long Ming. Still, he was genuinely surprised. Normally, whether it was his own subordinates or hired muscle, everyone fawned over him and rarely defied his wishes. Yet this guy had opposed him right from the start. An expert truly acted like an expert. Long Ming then led Qin Ye into an adjacent roadside building. The air inside was stale, and thick dust covered every surface. Long Ming saw disgust register on Qin Ye's face, but fortunately the young master was not so delicate as to complain aloud. "Upstairs." Without waiting for Qin Ye's response, Long Ming headed up the stairs toward the second floor. "Wait for me!" Qin Ye scrambled after him. Before long, Long Ming had brought Qin Ye into a second-floor room overlooking the street. Bang! Bang! Gunfire rang out intermittently from outside. Long Ming moved to the window, cautiously observing the scene outside. Qin Ye studied Long Ming with intrigued interest. Feeling that this man was quite different from the people he usually hired, he asked curiously, "Brother, where are you from? You don't sound like you're from the City of Sin." Long Ming did not answer Qin Ye, choosing instead to listen quietly to the gunfire. Feeling a bit slighted, Qin Ye asked again, "Why aren't you answering me?" "I'm a bodyguard, not a babysitter. Keep quiet and stay put." Long Ming did not give Qin Ye any special deference just because he was the paying employer. Having been brushed off, Qin Ye could only stand there in sullen silence. Half an hour later, Qin Ye sat on the floor, yawning. He had thought enemies would sneak over so he could see Long Ming in action. Instead, nothing happened for ages, and the nearby gunfire quickly subsided. "How much longer do we have to hide here?" Qin Ye asked out of boredom. "Not long." "How so?" "The shooting in the area has died down. Wei Zhang and the others probably cleared them out. It won't be long before they make their way here," Long Ming explained thoughtfully. "Really?" Hearing Long Ming's words, Qin Ye remained half-skeptical. Right then, Qin Ying and the others made their way toward the building under the protection of Zhao Chen and his squad. Long Ming spotted them at a glance, immediately stepped toward the window, and gave a wave with his left hand. Wei Zhang and the others noticed right away and instinctively raised their weapons, but upon recognizing Long Ming, they held their fire. Shortly after, everyone gathered safely together. "All right, everyone's here! Let's discuss our battle plan," Qin Ye said excitedly to the group. Just then, Bai Xiu spoke up with some hesitation. "Everyone, should we consider finding an evacuation point and abandoning this instance? There are over three thousand participants this time, and I saw clearly on the way in—members of all three major guilds have entered." Qin Ye and the others froze upon hearing Bai Xiu's words. Wang Yin also got cold feet and chimed in, "I think Bai Xiu is right. Setting aside the other two, we can't afford to cross the Sin Abyss Guild alone." "Fuck! Why are we so damn unlucky!" Qin Ye fumed, thoroughly irritated. "Sigh..." Bai Xiu and the others wore expressions of utter helplessness. At that moment, Long Ming spoke up coldly, "Are you sure you want to give up? Think carefully. There are three thousand people this time, but next time could be five thousand, and the time after that might be ten thousand. You'll have even less of a chance then! Besides, the Observatory Base instance only opens once every three days, and only five people can complete the mission per run. Don't think you can just wait until the big three guilds finish before doing yours—you could wait until the end of time and your turn would never come." "Then what do we do? We can't run, and we can't beat them in a fight either!" Qin Ye and the others felt suffocatingly frustrated upon hearing Long Ming's words! "You're the employers. You call the shots. But even if you quit, you still have to pay us!" Long Ming told Qin Ye and the rest without expression. Instantly, all the hired escorts turned their eyes toward the five young masters. They didn't care whether they retreated or not; just as Long Ming said, they still had to be paid! Bai Xiu and the others found themselves in an even tighter spot and looked toward Qin Ye. Backed into a corner, Qin Ye stomped his foot and gritted his teeth. "Fuck it! Since the money's spent anyway, who cares if we can take them or not—let's smash them!" "Fair point! Let's give it all we've got!" Bai Xiu and the others threw caution to the wind as well. "Fine. Since that's settled, let's start discussing our battle strategy," Long Ming replied coolly. "All right. We've currently landed in Agatu Town, located 310 kilometers north of the Observatory Base. And based on our current intel, this town has already been scavenged," Bai Xiu said as he raised his wristband and pulled up a map for Long Ming and the others. The layout of the Watchtower Observatory Base instance was actually quite straightforward. The Observatory Base sat at the center of an unbroken mountain range, and radiating outward within a 500-kilometer radius were more than a hundred small towns. All players spawned within these towns. "Damn it, what rotten luck," Lu Xu shrugged helplessly. "Since it's a town already looted by players, there probably aren't any decent vehicles left," Zhao Chen said, his expression taut. "Even if there aren't any, we have to find vehicles. We're 310 kilometers from the Observatory Base. If we travel on foot, everything will be over before we even get close!" Long Ming reminded them in a cold voice. "Then what should we do?" Qin Ye was stumped as well. "We must first slaughter every player in this town. That will cut down on rivals competing with us for transport and prevent anyone from taking potshots at our backs," a man wearing a black combat suit and a spider-patterned mask suggested coldly, his brows sharp and dark eyes glittering with chill. Long Ming glanced over; the speaker was Wang Yin's hired expert, who seemed to go by Dino. The other hired fighters broke into excited grins and voiced their agreement one after another. "Great idea!" "Wipe out those pieces of trash first!" Bai Xiu and the others turned their gazes to Qin Ye. Although all five of them were the paying employers, Qin Ye was the group's ringleader. "Fine. Leave one squad to protect us, and the rest will clear out the players and then search for vehicles," Qin Ye agreed decisively. At Qin Ye's words, Wei Zhang and the others dispersed in excitement. Long Ming did not linger either, turning on his heel and heading out.