Game: Civilization Paradise

Chapter 103: Chapter 103: Ambush

Time ticked by.

Long Ming had been searching for a long time without finding a single soul. Just as he was starting to feel helpless, he suddenly noticed a few footprints in the snow ahead.

The footprints led to the residential buildings on either side of the street.

Long Ming immediately grew wary. He raised a hand and said in a low voice,

"Halt!"

Cloud Fish and Tang Yue stopped in their tracks, looking at Long Ming in confusion.

Just then, on the rooftops of the buildings to their left and right, two players holding rifles crept along the ledges.

Long Ming then saw a bit of snow fall from the roof ledge on his side. He immediately pulled Cloud Fish and Tang Yue back.

Seeing that Long Ming’s group wasn’t falling for the trap and was instead retreating cautiously, the two players hiding behind a dumpster and a corner up ahead sprang out, submachine guns in hand, and opened fire wildly.

BANG BANG—

Hearing the gunshots, Long Ming grabbed Cloud Fish and Tang Yue, tackling them to the ground behind an abandoned vehicle.

CLANG! CLANG!

A hail of bullets pelted the car, sending sparks flying everywhere.

Tang Yue and Cloud Fish’s faces went pale as they cowered in terror.

Long Ming gripped his automatic pistol, but just as he was about to peek out, another hail of bullets rained down.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

The intense suppressing fire kept Long Ming from even lifting his head.

With a grim expression, he prepared to holster his pistol and switch to his automatic rifle.

But just then, he heard a commotion from the rooftops on both sides. His face fell. Forgetting about swapping weapons, he immediately raised his automatic pistol toward the rooftops.

BANG! BANG!

Just then, another volley of shots rang out.

"Aargh!"

Instantly, a figure plummeted from the roof.

Immediately after, another burst of gunfire erupted, and the player hiding behind the dumpster was taken out.

This sudden turn of events left Long Ming stunned.

Just then, Luoxue and Jing Chuan cautiously approached, leading a group of more than a dozen people.

They looked toward the vehicle Long Ming was hiding behind, and one of them called out in a cold voice.

"Come out!"

"President Luoxue, don’t shoot! It’s us!"

Hearing the voice, Cloud Fish and Tang Yue came out from behind the car, overjoyed.

When Luoxue saw Cloud Fish and Tang Yue, her expression softened, and she lowered her rifle.

Then, Long Ming also emerged from behind the car.

Luoxue was taken aback for a moment upon seeing Long Ming, and her eyes flickered slightly.

Long Ming looked at Luoxue and gave an awkward smile.

Luoxue gave him a meaningful look before saying calmly,

"Rejoin the squad."

"Yes, ma’am."

Long Ming and the other two then merged with Luoxue’s group.

A few members of the Rat Group then stripped the five downed players with practiced ease. They returned and handed over the scavenged weapons and ammunition to Luoxue and Jing Chuan.

"Let’s move out!"

Seeing that the area was clear, Luoxue led them away to continue searching elsewhere.

Long Ming followed at the rear of the squad, observing their current group.

Including him, the squad now had 19 members: two clients, five combatants, and the remaining twelve were all from the Rat Group.

They were a little short on combatants, but it should still be enough to protect the clients.

Long Ming realized he wouldn’t have to take point or stand watch—all he had to do was loot. His frayed nerves instantly relaxed.

He’d been fighting too hard lately, and the constant tension was starting to wear on him.

So he planned to take this opportunity to slack off and relax a little.

In fact, this was the proper way to run with a guild.

More time passed.

Luoxue led the group to a dense commercial street lined on both sides with boutique shops.

"Luoxue, there should be some good loot here. Should we search it?"

Jing Chuan said to Luoxue, gazing at the commercial street before them.

Luoxue was just about to answer Jing Chuan.

KSHHH—

The wireless communicator clipped to her tactical belt suddenly crackled with a burst of garbled noise.

"Hello? Hello? Fu Fuqing, Luoxue, Jing Chuan, can any of you hear me?"

"Zhihan, this is Luoxue!"

Luoxue immediately raised the communicator to reply.

"Sister Luoxue, thank goodness! I finally reached you."

Zhihan’s anxious voice came through the wireless communicator.

"Zhihan, calm down. Did you run into trouble?"

"I was leading a squad when we ran into a large group of unaffiliated players. They’re surrounding us."

"Don’t panic. What’s your position?"

Luoxue pressed immediately.

"I’m in an underground mall at coordinates 1512, 4251, 0041. The mall was converted from an air-raid shelter."

Zhihan quickly replied to Luoxue.

"Hold your position. We’ll get there as fast as we can."

Luoxue instructed Zhihan.

"Okay!"

Zhihan replied, her voice taut with tension.

Luoxue cut the communication and immediately waved a hand to Jing Chuan and the others.

"Let’s go!"

"Yes, ma’am!"

Jing Chuan and the others followed Luoxue, sprinting toward the coordinates.

...

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

「Kara Square.」

The punk with dyed-yellow hair and an acne-covered face was leading about fifty people, blocking the entrance to the underground mall.

The underground mall had been converted from an air-raid shelter. Above it was a wide-open plaza with an excellent field of view, dotted only with a few benches and planters.

"Boss, they escaped into the underground mall. But don’t worry, we’ve blocked both entrances. Should we charge right in?"

A shrewd-looking man with wide, round eyes, wearing a padded cotton jacket, said to Zheng Shi.

"Charge in? My ass."

"Huh? Aren’t we going in to finish them off?"

"What if their reinforcements show up while we’re in the middle of the fight?"

"So what’s the plan?"

"We’ll lie in wait. Leave twenty men to guard this place. He Mo, you and the others come with me. We’re going to ambush their reinforcements. It’s our turn to be the hunters."

An excited grin spread across Zheng Shi’s face.

"You got it, Boss!"

He Mo and the others replied with excitement.

...

Meanwhile, Luoxue was leading Long Ming and her squad quickly through the streets.

"Faster! Everyone, pick up the pace! Keep moving!"

Jing Chuan urged everyone to move faster.

Soon, the group reached the outskirts of Kara Square.

Their view suddenly opened up.

"Great! It’s just up ahead!"

Jing Chuan shouted excitedly.

"Halt!"

Just then, Luoxue abruptly raised a hand, signaling for everyone to stop.

"What’s wrong?"

Jing Chuan and the others stopped, looking at Luoxue in confusion. The underground mall was right in front of them.

"Don’t you feel that something’s off? It’s too quiet. Not a single gunshot from inside or out. Plus, the area ahead is wide open with no cover, and it’s surrounded by tall buildings. We’d be sitting ducks if we went out there."

Luoxue’s instincts were screaming danger.

Hearing Luoxue’s words, the reality of the situation dawned on Jing Chuan.

But at that very moment, a hail of gunfire erupted from behind them.

"Aargh!"

Two combatants and two members of the Rat Group were shot and fell to the ground.

Zheng Shi had appeared, leading his men to flank them from the rear.

"Dammit, it’s an ambush! Run forward!"

Jing Chuan’s face paled as he led the others in a forward dash.

But as they did, more enemies popped up from behind the buildings and planters ahead, unleashing a hail of bullets on them.

BANG BANG—

In an instant, two more combatants went down.