Chapter 365: Seeing a Ghost

Chapter 365: Chapter 365: Seeing a Ghost

He wasn’t too disappointed, though. After all, even the scattered parts here were quite valuable.

Long Ming patiently began to search for scattered parts.

SBC-03 Hub Unit....

Long Ming carefully sorted through the scrap, picking out and stowing away some of the more critical components from the Third Generation Mechanical God. These parts would be useful for himself, and they would also sell for a good price.

As he searched the deepest part of the area, his eyes fell upon a maintenance rack up ahead. On it sat a pair of exquisite black mechanical wings, gleaming with a Black Gold luster.

Long Ming’s eyes lit up, and he instantly raised his wristband to scan them.

CWW-04 Vector High-Speed Mechanical Wings.

Durability: 100/100

Long Ming was overjoyed when he saw the information. He never expected to find such high-grade mechanical wings here.

He immediately raised his wristband, scanning them into his safe.

In high spirits, Long Ming headed for the passage up ahead.

Once inside the passage, he proceeded cautiously, searching as he went. The path constantly split into forks.

The fortress’s interior was incredibly complex, like a maze.

Just then, a strange sound echoed from the corner ahead.

Long Ming stopped in his tracks and looked over. Out of the darkness ahead crawled two Type II Alien Hunters. They were three meters long and lizard-like, with sharp claws, vicious teeth, and a sharp, conical spike on their tails.

They let out furious hisses at Long Ming and charged with incredible speed.

Without hesitation, Long Ming raised his Blood Blade and met their charge, moving like a phantom.

SLICE!

The three figures flashed past one another.

In an instant, the heads of the two Type II Alien Hunters were severed from their bodies.

Long Ming shot a sideways glance at the corpses before continuing on his way.

Soon, his search led him to a medical room.

Long Ming pushed open the half-closed door and was met with a scene of disarray: toppled medical instruments, overturned cabinets, and tipped-over treatment pods.

He stepped forward and began rummaging through the medical cabinets. His eyes fell upon all sorts of medicine bottles.

Without a second thought, Long Ming stuffed all the medicine into his safe. The drugs didn’t take up much space, but they were extremely valuable.

However, as Long Ming pulled open a tightly shut medical cabinet...

A gray Facehugger—its body wrapped in a beige membrane, its abdomen swollen, and sporting eight limbs—suddenly shot out and pounced at Long Ming.

Long Ming’s reflexes fired. He shot out his left hand, snatching the pouncing Facehugger out of the air.

The Facehugger struggled relentlessly in his grasp.

With a sudden squeeze...

CRUNCH!

Disgusting slime splattered everywhere.

Tossing the mangled corpse aside, Long Ming’s expression turned grim. ’This fortress isn’t as safe as it looks.’

He readjusted his mindset and cautiously continued his search.

「...」

「A little over two hours later.」

After killing many scattered, low-level Aliens, Long Ming’s search brought him before a massive metal door.

He cautiously stepped inside, and his view opened up dramatically.

Long Ming found himself in a massive hangar filled with large docking bays. A second-floor platform jutted out, ringing the surrounding walls.

As he walked further in, his amazement grew. Before him, standing in one of the bays, was a seventeen-meter-tall Mecha. It was covered in gray metal armor, a distorted symbol branded on its chest, and a pair of mechanical jet wings embedded in its back. In its hand, it held a long, gray metal spear.

A look of surprise crossed Long Ming’s face.

He recognized this type of massive weapon. It was a Mecha.

Compared to Mechanical Gods, Mechas were larger and more powerful, but they lacked the same degree of agility.

Mechanical Gods could easily perform all sorts of difficult maneuvers. Plus, being smaller targets, they were harder to hit.

However, large Mechas boasted immense destructive power and high defense.

So, it wasn’t a matter of one being definitively stronger than the other; each had its own merits.

Greatly intrigued, Long Ming walked toward the Mecha.

CLANK. CLANK.

Just then, a heavy sound echoed from behind him.

Hearing the noise, Long Ming immediately whipped his head around.

On the second-floor platform behind him, a Mechanical God emerged from a passageway. It was the Fourth Generation Mechanical God, the Hell-Shattering Envoy. Standing 4.5 meters tall, it was covered in heavy black armor, with a four-pointed halo embedded in its chest and a Heavy Particle Beam Cannon mounted on its left shoulder. Two pairs of mechanical wings were embedded in its back, and it wielded a gray Giant Hammer.

Following it were two four-meter-tall Fourth Generation Mechanical Gods—Storm Envoys. They were covered in cyan armor, each with a four-pointed halo in its chest, a Particle Beam Cannon on its shoulder, and a Particle Light Blade in hand. Two pairs of cyan mechanical wings were embedded in their backs. They were accompanied by two three-meter-tall, Advanced Custom Third Generation Mechanical Gods.

’Three Fourth Generation Mechanical Gods and two advanced custom Third Generation ones?’

Long Ming was stunned to see the five of them.

"Well now, a huge hangar. Wait, what’s that down there? Looks pretty unique. Almost like a mini-boss!"

Woperi, piloting his Storm Envoy, instantly locked onto Long Ming and spoke with surprise.

"Who cares what kind of boss it is? Just kill it!"

Colonel Hopka, controlling the Hell-Shattering Envoy, aimed its Heavy Particle Beam Cannon and locked onto Long Ming.

Long Ming instinctively felt a sense of extreme danger.

WHOOSH!

A gray beam shot directly toward Long Ming.

Long Ming instantly dodged, leaping away.

BOOM!

The gray heavy particle beam struck the ground, and a terrifying explosion erupted, instantly blasting Long Ming off his feet. He crashed hard onto the ground.

Long Ming was stunned by the force of the blast.

’I can’t believe their Shoulder Cannon is this powerful,’ he thought. ’It must be at least ten times stronger than the Gale’s.’

Long Ming scrambled to his feet and dashed for the passage behind the large Mecha.

Just then, the two Advanced Custom Third Generation Mechanical Gods aimed their Shoulder Cannons and unleashed a furious barrage at Long Ming.

Long Ming ran for his life.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Beams of light struck the ground behind him, exploding one after another.

Woperi and Fakadon simultaneously controlled their Storm Envoys, raising their Shoulder Cannons to aim at Long Ming.

But by then, Long Ming had already dashed into the passage.

"Damn, that monster is fast. Colonel, should we give chase?"

"Chase it for what? It’s just some trash monster. Soku, our advance scout, died around here. Our mission is to recover those items. If we screw this up, there’ll be no explaining it to the General. We’ll all be done for!"

Colonel Hopka said to Woperi and the others.

"Yes, sir."

Woperi quickly nodded in agreement.

"We’re heading down to search!"

Colonel Hopka ordered in a grim voice.

"Yes, sir!"

Woperi and the others responded in unison.

They then piloted their Mechanical Gods down from the platform.

「...」

「Inside the passage.」

After bolting into the passage, Long Ming sprinted madly onward, constantly glancing over his shoulder.

He looked like he had just seen a ghost.

He never expected to run into other players in this world—and for every single one of them to be so monstrously powerful.

’But on second thought, it makes sense,’ Long Ming mused.

He had logged into Starry City from the Haiyun. The Mother Pillar on the Haiyun was like a small local network, so it was perfectly normal not to run into anyone at the transfer platform.

’That group must have entered from another region.’

With that thought, Long Ming desperately accelerated, and he soon spotted the exit of the passage.