Chapter 306: Poor

Long Ming turned and went to the armory. He loaded trip-activated spherical grenades, SCW Explosive Bullets, and other weapons into a burlap sack, then shouldered the sack and left.

He headed to various locations on the main streets leading to the castle, as well as some large, distinctive buildings.

In these areas, Long Ming began planting trip-activated traps along key routes, at building entrances, in corridor corners, and inside safes.

This would effectively reduce the number of enemies.

He wasn't stupid enough to wait inside the castle for enemies to come to him, only to get ganged up on.

Soon, Long Ming had finished setting up his traps in various zones throughout the city.

He then returned to the castle and planted bombs under the bridge at the entrance and at various key points within the fortress.

When all the preparations were complete,

Long Ming lifted his wristband to check the time. There were still over three hours left.

He then turned and returned to the castle's great hall to wait for the world to open.

Time ticked by, second by second.

Long Ming sat sideways on the throne, resting his chin on one hand, waiting quietly with his eyes closed.

VMM~

Suddenly, Long Ming's wristband began to vibrate.

"Alert: The world of Kavatry is now officially open."

...

Long Ming's eyes snapped open. He glanced down at his wristband, then slowly stood up and murmured cheerfully.

"It's finally starting. I wonder how much fun it'll be to run into the people from the three cities?"

'Still, taking them out while I look like this doesn't feel quite right.'

'This is probably just a normal dungeon, so dying won't really matter to them. But it would be awkward if they recognized me. If only the head of this Red Demon armor could change its appearance...'

Just then, a notification popped up in Long Ming's vision.

"Initiate biological mimicry?"

Long Ming was rather surprised. He immediately tried to will the head to transform.

Instantly, the Red Demon's head morphed into the appearance of a Red Ghost.

He then issued another command, and his body was also subtly adjusted.

"Perfect!"

A smile appeared on Long Ming's face, and he headed outside.

He needed to get to the castle ramparts to scout the incoming players from a distance.

...

「A short while later.」

Long Ming reached the castle ramparts.

But before he could even begin scouting, Long Ming heard intense gunfire coming from various parts of the city.

He glanced at his wristband and saw that the player count had dropped from 1000/1000 to 972/1000. Twenty-eight people had died right after landing, and the death toll was still rising.

Although there were monsters entrenched in the royal city, Long Ming had driven most of them near the castle. Therefore, it was highly unlikely that monsters had caused these players' deaths.

'Barring any surprises, this bunch must be fighting amongst themselves.'

Seeing this, Long Ming's mood improved even more.

'I'd love for these guys to have as much infighting as possible. It'll take a lot of pressure off me.'

Long Ming then activated the optical auxiliary system of his Red Demon mecha-armor and looked toward a distant street rocked by explosions.

He saw a person wearing second-generation exoskeleton armor, holding a miniature Light Beam Rifle, and gleefully shooting at other players.

PEW PEW~

"AHH!"

One by one, tall, slender players with bluish skin, holding ordinary firearms, were shot down.

'Who are these people?'

Long Ming was stunned. 'These incoming players are human, sure, but their skin and appearance... they don't look like they're from the three cities.'

'I've never seen players like this before.'

Long Ming's brow furrowed. He felt something was off, so he decided to go investigate in person.

If the people entering the dungeon were from the three cities, Long Ming wouldn't be worried at all. After all, he knew them inside and out.

But if unknown people entered, it would be easy for complications to arise.

This mission was a matter of life and death for him; Long Ming wasn't stupid enough to be careless.

...

At this time, the many players who had entered the city spread out to search the buildings.

A short man with a thin, parted mustache and beady eyes led a few companions as they snuck into what looked like a high-end shop.

The shop's counters were all toppled over and in disarray.

They eagerly went forward to search, but after rummaging for a long time, they only found a pile of empty boxes.

"What's going on?"

"Why is there nothing here?!"

"Fuck, let's try another place."

...

Meanwhile, inside a commercial bank far away,

A large man in mechanical armor, wielding a heavy Gatling gun, rushed in with a group of his men.

"Search the place!"

"Yes, sir!"

His men swarmed forward to loot.

But after rummaging for ages, they only found a few bulky, heavy white objects, such as an already-opened safe.

"Weird, nothing here either!"

"Could it have been looted already?!"

"Bullshit! The invitation scroll for this world is new. No one has explored it yet!"

"Boss Seion, the problem is we haven't found anything."

"To the vault!"

Seion said, annoyed.

The group hurried to the vault and saw its metal doors slightly ajar.

Without a second thought, Seion led his men forward and pulled the vault doors open.

CLICK!

A faint snapping sound was heard.

Seion and his men froze.

KABOOM~

A massive explosion erupted, instantly engulfing them all.

On the main road of a bleak street,

A player was driving a large truck, carrying a few companions, and charging straight for the central castle.

"Bite, is it really okay to charge straight for the central castle like this?"

"What's there to be afraid of? It's just a normal dungeon. Besides, we haven't seen any monsters along the way. Let's just get to the castle first and figure it out from there."

"I'm just worried about being ambushed by other players."

"Are you stupid? The whole point of risking a direct charge to the central castle is to avoid those idiots!"

"Makes sense!"

...

Bite floored it, the large truck speeding along.

However, as they passed through a main intersection, their tires suddenly rolled over a piece of torn canvas.

BOOM!

The entire truck exploded, sending bodies arcing through the air to land on the ground around it.

"What's going on?"

Just then, a male scavenger from the Rat Group, wearing a black combat suit and carrying an oversized backpack, peeked his head out of a building window, staring at the exploded truck in astonishment.

"Kafei, what is it?"

A petite woman with blue skin and a small, round face asked, confused.

Kafei turned to Nova behind him and said.

"A big truck just exploded at the intersection up ahead."

"Did someone land near here?"

At that moment, an older, dark-skinned man with a mature and steady demeanor walked over with two companions.

"I don't know. I didn't see anyone,"

Kafei said to Captain Zato.

"In any case, be careful. Let's go search the next area. There doesn't seem to be anything in this zone,"

Zato replied, his brow furrowed.

"Captain, don't you feel like something's off? This dungeon is so poor. Usually, in a new dungeon, you can easily find some blue-quality items. We've barely seen any blues so far. If this keeps up, we might end up taking a loss on this run."

Kafei said to Zato with some hesitation.

"I know."

Captain Zato led his companions away.