Game: Civilization Paradise

Chapter 177: Chapter 177: Choice

「A few minutes later.」

Long Ming finally recovered. He struggled to his feet, shook his head, and looked toward Moruka’s corpse.

He found that Moruka had been blown to pieces.

’The power of that spinning grenade is no joke. If I weren’t wearing this mechanical exoskeleton, I’d probably be the one lying here in pieces.’

"Whew~"

Long Ming let out a long sigh of relief. He then walked over to a weapon rack, picked up an SAC-01 automatic rifle, and grabbed another spinning grenade while he was at it.

With that done, he headed toward the small mountain of piled-up ore.

He soon reached the ore mountain and saw the small monster lying motionless on top, looking as if it were dead.

Long Ming didn’t let his guard down, though. ’I’ve already learned that lesson the hard way.’

He decisively raised the new automatic rifle, ready to test its power.

RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!

A dense hail of bullets tore into the monster, sending flesh and blood flying.

Long Ming quickly emptied the rifle’s magazine.

Long Ming stared at the automatic rifle in his hands, amazed.

’This rifle may be ugly and have a lot of kick, but its power is the real deal.’

’It’s just a shame it’s so awkward for me to handle.’

But Long Ming didn’t dwell on it. He pulled out a spinning grenade and tossed it onto the small monster’s corpse.

BOOM!

A massive explosion blew the monster’s body to smithereens.

’Good.’

Long Ming nodded in satisfaction. ’If it’s still not dead after all that, I give up.’

With all threats neutralized, Long Ming turned and began to thoroughly search the depot.

「Over an hour later.」

Long Ming had searched the entire depot, inside and out.

But he hadn’t found anything of significant value.

Although eighty percent of the supplies in the depot had been taken, the remaining quantity was still substantial. There were nearly five hundred automatic rifles alone, to say nothing of the ammunition and spinning grenades.

On top of that, there was all the production equipment in the manufacturing room.

’All in all, this is a pretty good haul.’

Now, however, Long Ming had a problem. There was too much here; he couldn’t possibly move it all by himself.

’This place is well-hidden, so it’s unlikely to be found anytime soon. But eventually, someone is bound to stumble upon it.’

’And when they do, "finders keepers" won’t mean a thing.’

’But hiring people to move it all feels... unrealistic.’

’After all, I don’t have anyone I can trust. My only option would be to spend a fortune hiring help from the market.’

’And there’s no telling if they’d be obedient, or if they’d get greedy and turn on me.’

As these thoughts crossed his mind, Long Ming decided to leave and find Luoxue.

He would have her bring a team to clear the place out.

’Luoxue is a fair person, both in character and in business. I’m sure I’ll get my share of the reward.’

’This stuff isn’t of much use to me personally, so this is a perfect chance to liquidate it.’

Long Ming walked back to the weapon rack. Looking at the SAC-01 automatic rifles, he felt conflicted again.

’Honestly, I really can’t get used to this rifle, but damn, it’s powerful.’

In the end, Long Ming compromised. He stowed his Carbine and Black Shadow in his backpack, swapping them for two SAC-01 automatic rifles, which he slung on either side of his pack. He then grabbed a handful of spinning grenades and stuffed them inside as well.

After doing this, Long Ming grabbed a few more spinning grenades to carry on his person. As he was trying to figure out where to attach them...

...Long Ming suddenly noticed that when the grenades got close to his waist, they attached themselves automatically.

"Magnetic?"

Long Ming said, pleasantly surprised.

He tested it a few times and found that they were indeed magnetic, and the connection was very secure.

’No wonder there aren’t any attachment rings. They don’t need them.’

Long Ming decisively grabbed several more, attaching them around his waist to form a makeshift belt.

Once he was fully geared up, Long Ming turned and left the depot.

「A moment later.」

Long Ming climbed up the cliff face using his nylon rope.

He scanned his surroundings to confirm there was no danger, then untied the rope and stowed it away.

With that done, Long Ming tried to power down the Night Ghost mechanical exoskeleton.

’This gear is great, but it’s a real energy hog. I started with thirty percent power, and now I’m down to twenty-five.’

As Long Ming fiddled with the controls, he suddenly discovered the suit had three modes.

Unpowered Mode: Shuts down the power source, providing only basic defense and support.

Low-Power Mode: Provides partial power assistance, with some functions restricted.

Performance Mode: The exoskeleton provides full-power assistance, comprehensively augmenting the user.

Long Ming immediately selected Unpowered Mode and instantly felt the weight of the suit settle on him.

’This mechanical exoskeleton is heavy. If my Power hadn’t increased so much, I’m not sure I could handle it.’

Long Ming stretched a bit, then turned and headed back the way he came.

...

「The next morning.」

Long Ming emerged from the forest.

He found the off-road motorcycle he had hidden, mounted it, and rode off.

「Seven hours later.」

Long Ming sped down the highway on his motorcycle, heading for the ruins Luoxue had marked.

Along the way, he saw numerous other explorers’ vehicles.

The people in those vehicles all did a double-take when they saw Long Ming, letting out cries of amazement.

"Holy shit! You guys, look at that dude on the motorcycle up ahead!"

"Am I seeing things? What is that awesome gear he’s wearing?"

"Looks like mechanical armor, but you rarely see a full set like that."

"I’m so jealous!"

...

Just then, a black SUV sped up to catch Long Ming. The window rolled down, revealing a man in sunglasses and a plaid shirt, looking very pleased with himself. He called out excitedly.

"Hey, bro! That gear looks totally badass! Where’d you get it?"

"Found it nearby."

After his cold reply, Long Ming twisted the throttle and sped away.

"Holy shit, found it nearby? We’re gonna be rich!"

The man immediately slammed on the brakes, pulled over to the side of the road, and jumped out with his companions to start searching.

Long Ming glanced in his rearview mirror at their antics and couldn’t help but shake his head.

.....

---------------------------------------

「Kashayin Town Ruins.」

In the center of a cluster of single-story buildings, monstrous creatures attacked Luoxue and her team. They were Blood Breath Dogs, with heads like wolves, bodies covered in raised red bumps, and razor-sharp claws and teeth.

Luoxue and her team raised their guns and opened fire.

BANG! BANG!

The bullets riddled the Blood Breath Dogs’ bodies with small holes, but it took forever to bring even one down. The weapons were terribly ineffective.

Just then, a Blood Breath Dog broke through the hail of bullets, pounced on a soldier, and sank its fangs into his neck.

"AHH!"

A pained scream ripped through the air.

Seeing this, Luoxue shot forward, kicking the Blood Breath Dog off the soldier before raising her gun and executing it.

Unfortunately, it was too late. The soldier whose neck had been bitten was already dead.

"This isn’t working! Our guns are too weak!"

Fu Fuqing shouted to Luoxue, his face grim.

The guns they themselves were using had been brought from the Otherworld. Their power was decent—barely enough to take down these Blood Breath Dogs—but their soldiers’ weapons weren’t up to the task.

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