Chapter 364: Fortress

Chapter 364: Chapter 364: Fortress

The good news was that the space station was clear of monsters. The bad news was that after searching for a long time, he hadn’t found anything valuable. This space station was absurdly poor.

So far, the most valuable thing he’d found was a single purple-grade item.

Long Ming was extremely frustrated. A Level 4 invitation could be sold on the marketplace for a sky-high price, yet he had actually lost out on this expedition.

He was beginning to suspect the space station had already been looted.

Just as Long Ming was growing agitated, his gaze inadvertently swept over a nearby observation deck.

Outside the observation deck, a colossal silhouette floated in the starry void.

Long Ming paused for a moment, then immediately floated toward the deck.

He soon reached the observation deck and looked out into space. A massive, cube-shaped mechanical fortress came into view.

HISS!

Long Ming sucked in a sharp breath, and his eyes immediately lit up.

’This space station has nothing worth taking, but that mechanical fortress is bound to have some good stuff inside.’

’A Level 4 civilization, as expected. They even have fortresses.’

’It’s a shame I can’t move such a huge fortress. I’d be rich if I could take it back.’

Even though it was just a fortress built by a Level 4 civilization, if he could take it back and modify it, it would be considered a pillar-class weapon within the Star Alliance.

With this in mind, Long Ming began to wonder how he could get to that fortress.

The space station was so close to the fortress; there should have been regular traffic between them. That meant there had to be a way to get there from here.

Thinking of this, Long Ming immediately set off to search the other areas of the space station.

...

「Over an hour later.」

Long Ming successfully found a small spaceport on the station.

Docked here were several small, fat, fish-shaped ships, each five meters long.

A delighted look appeared on Long Ming’s face. He hurried over to one of the small ships, grabbed the hatch, and pulled hard.

WHOOSH~

The hatch slid open.

Long Ming slipped inside. The interior was surprisingly spacious.

He floated over to the control console, where a dark screen and a dense array of buttons met his eyes.

Looking at the complex console, Long Ming was left speechless.

He suddenly remembered that he didn’t actually know how to pilot a ship. ’Looks like I really need to find some time to study up on this later. Otherwise, I’ll be totally stuck during future dungeon runs.’

But there was no time for that now. Long Ming wasn’t ready to give up, so he went forward and tried fumbling with the controls to see if he could start the ship.

Unfortunately, after tinkering for a long time, he couldn’t get it to start.

For a moment, Long Ming felt helpless. He looked up at the distant fortress, a deep sense of frustration welling up inside him.

He had considered switching to his Mechanical God and flying over, but the problem was that changing equipment required a mechanical arm, and there were no such platforms nearby.

Of course, even if there was a mechanical arm, Long Ming wouldn’t dare fly his Mechanical God directly over there.

Some of the indicator lights on the fortress’s surface were still on, which meant it still had power.

’The defensive weapons on its surface might still be active. If they identify me as an enemy, I’ll be screwed.’

The best method was still to pilot one of the small ships from here.

A ship from this station surely wouldn’t be identified as hostile.

Long Ming’s expression shifted constantly. Finally, he steeled himself, decided to take a gamble, and slipped out of the ship.

He floated to the rear of the ship, placed his hands on its back end, and activated his power assist to try and push it forward.

The small ship was immediately set in motion.

Long Ming decisively increased his Power, shoving the ship in the direction of the fortress. If nothing went wrong, the principle of inertia would ensure the ship flew in a straight line toward it.

After pushing it, he immediately activated his Red Demon armor, planted his feet on the ground, and with a sudden burst of Power, sprinted and leaped toward the departing vessel.

The moment he caught up to the small ship, he decisively reached out, grabbed a protruding metal wing on its top, and successfully landed on it.

Long Ming quickly scrambled along the hull and climbed back inside the small ship.

At that moment, a notification appeared in his vision.

"Notification: You have entered a vacuum."

...

Long Ming glanced at the notification, then kept his eyes fixed on the distant mechanical fortress, his nerves stretched to the limit.

If he had misjudged and the fortress took a shot at him, he might actually die.

There was nowhere around here to change into his Mechanical God’s equipment.

The seconds ticked by.

The small ship drew closer and closer to the fortress. Long Ming could now clearly see the thick gray armor on its surface, as well as damaged launch bays and dark cannon barrels.

THUD~

The small ship soon collided with the fortress’s surface.

Long Ming decisively leaped out of the small ship and landed on the fortress’s exterior.

"Success!"

A look of joy spread across Long Ming’s face.

But before he could celebrate, a nearby sensor instantly turned red.

The fortress’s defense system had detected Long Ming.

KACHUNK!

The armored surface nearby split open, and an interceptor cannon instantly extended.

Other intact cannons and weapons in the vicinity swiveled to aim at him.

"Fuck!"

Long Ming’s face darkened. He scrambled frantically toward a damaged breach in the hull.

BOOM! BOOM!

Fierce firepower rained down on Long Ming.

He immediately took a hit to his back that hurt like hell. Gritting his teeth, he accelerated toward the breach.

Luckily, many of the fortress’s weapons were damaged and didn’t activate. It was also difficult for the defensive weapons to target enemies on the hull’s surface; otherwise, Long Ming would have taken far more damage.

Long Ming endured the attacks and soon reached the breach. Just as he was about to dive through...

The entire fortress suddenly shuddered.

Startled, Long Ming quickly dove inside and immediately began to fall.

THUD~

Long Ming landed on a cold metal floor.

The fortress’s gravity generator was still operational, so there was gravity inside.

Long Ming scrambled up, looking a bit disheveled, and glanced around.

He found himself in a small, damaged storage room. Due to the breach, everything that had been stored here was lost.

Long Ming walked toward the door.

When he stepped out, he found himself in a wide corridor with the overhead lights still on.

The corridor was lined with rooms on both sides.

Long Ming walked forward and pushed open a partially ajar door. He glanced at what was stored inside, and his whole body stiffened. An excited expression appeared on his face as he rushed in.

This was a small weapons depot, filled with rows of weapon racks.

Although most of the weapons had been taken, some were still left.

Long Ming picked up a very strangely shaped gun from a rack.

The gun was 1.2 meters long and porcelain-white. Its body was long and slender, with a triangular base on the grip.

VMMMM~

A notification immediately popped up from his wristband.

QC-04 Blast Energy Gun

Durability: 100/100

Long Ming glanced at it, put it away, and continued searching.

He then spotted a number of red metal spheres on a shelf. Each sphere had a slightly concave red button on it.

Long Ming scanned one with his wristband.

Red Blast Bomb

Like a bandit, Long Ming pocketed all thirty Red Blast Bombs and continued his search.

Just then, he saw a skeleton on the floor.

Long Ming crouched down to search it and immediately found a mechanical watch.

VMMMM~

Astronaut Mechanical Watch.

Grade: Red.

A brilliant smile lit up Long Ming’s face when he saw the notification. He had found a red-grade item just by rummaging around.

’This fortress is loaded!’

Long Ming looked around, and seeing nothing else of value, he left the room.

He walked to the next room, pushed the door open, and was greeted by the sight of a large weapon rack holding a few remaining heavy long-range missiles, each fifteen meters long.

Long Ming took one look and gave up on them. The missiles were good, but they were too big for him to carry.

He continued onward, searching room by room.

「Over an hour later.」

Long Ming finished looting the area.

He had found ten purple-grade items.

In high spirits, Long Ming followed the corridor. After a few twists and turns, he entered a maintenance area.

The area was filled with maintenance platforms. Mechanical arms extended down from the ceiling, and spare parts were scattered everywhere.

Long Ming’s face lit up. He immediately scanned his surroundings, looking for weapons like a Mechanical God.

A Level 4 civilization had a chance of producing a Level 4 Mechanical God.

But unfortunately, Long Ming didn’t see one.