Chapter 309: Withdrawal

"Still not leaving?"

Long Ming asked hoarsely.

"We're leaving, thank you."

Kafei and his companion immediately snapped out of it and bolted.

Long Ming watched them leave, shaking his head. Then he began to clean up the battlefield.

He had to bring all the backpacks and weapons the players had dropped back to the castle.

When Long Ming was about halfway through.

His wristband suddenly vibrated as a notification popped up.

Notification: All invaders in the Kavatry world have been eliminated. Congratulations to Civilization Explorer No. 841221 on completing the Boon Mission and successfully earning a chance at revival. A dedicated extraction platform is now open. It will remain active for 12 hours. Please extract as soon as possible.

Long Ming checked the extraction point and discovered it was located inside the castle.

He then continued to collect the players' backpacks and equipment.

「Several hours later.」

Long Ming returned to the castle's secret vault and began stuffing all the loot into the backpacks he had collected.

Next, he used some rope he found to tie all the backpacks together. He dragged his haul of loot out of the secret vault and made his way to the extraction point.

Soon, he arrived at the extraction platform inside the castle.

Long Ming piled the loot-filled backpacks high on the extraction platform, then strapped the entire bundle to his body.

BUZZ~

At that moment, a prompt popped up from his wristband.

"Proceed with extraction?"

"Extract!"

Long Ming chose to extract without hesitation.

The entire extraction platform immediately flashed with a dazzling white light.

Long Ming and the mountain of backpacks floated into the air, vanishing in a flash of white light.

「A few seconds later.」

As the white light slowly faded, Long Ming found himself in a small plaza. He was surrounded by metal towers stretching a hundred meters into the air, built so densely they resembled pigeon coops. Above, countless stars twinkled in the night sky.

'Where is this?'

Long Ming was dumbfounded.

Just then, he noticed people giving him strange looks.

Long Ming snapped back to reality and looked around. People were staring at him.

A man in jeans and a gray shirt exclaimed,

"Hey, man, where'd you make such a haul? Snagging all these backpacks for yourself? That's just greedy!"

Hearing this, Long Ming quickly raised his wristband and tapped the inventory icon.

SWISH!

All the backpacks he was carrying vanished without a trace.

Long Ming made a swift exit.

"Hey, wait up! Don't go!"

The man shouted after Long Ming.

Long Ming didn't stop. He darted into a deserted corner, quickly took off his mech-armor, and stored it away.

After doing all this, he returned to the street. He looked up at the unfamiliar buildings, feeling even more bewildered.

'Where on earth am I? This doesn't look like Mountain City Mountain, but it doesn't really look like Starry City, either.'

'But at least my inventory is accessible, so I must still be in Civilization Paradise.'

Still, Long Ming was at a loss for what to do next.

Just then, he noticed some pedestrians whose clothes and appearance looked very similar to the residents of Mountain City Mountain.

His anxiety eased slightly. 'At least I haven't been sent somewhere completely unknown.'

Long Ming tapped his wristband again and took his phone out of his secure storage. The battery was dead, so he pulled a universal charger from his inventory, gave the phone a bit of a charge, and turned it on.

BZZZ BZZZ~

Instantly, text messages started popping up one after another.

Xiaopang: Big Bro, you died so tragically!

Xiaopang: Big Bro, how could you just abandon me like that!

...

Xiaopang: Big Bro, today's the anniversary of your death. Are you doing okay over there?

...

Xiaopang: Big Bro, my life is miserable. They're all bullying me.

Xiaopang: Big Bro, I miss you so much.

...

Xiaopang: Boo hoo... Big Bro, that bastard manager gave me a hard time again today.

...

Long Ming looked at the hundreds of text messages and wearily rubbed his forehead.

'What's wrong with Xiaopang? I've only been gone a few days, and he's sent me hundreds of messages.'

He shook his head, scrolled to the last few messages, and confirmed that Xiaopang was working at an entertainment club called "Pink Romance."

Long Ming turned and headed out onto a bustling street, where all kinds of neon signs filled his vision.

'So bustling.'

Even Long Ming was a little surprised.

Just then, he saw a young man standing on the side of the road smoking, so he walked over and asked politely.

"Excuse me, sir. Is there an entertainment club called Pink Romance near here?"

"Yeah. Just head down this street, take a right, and you'll see it two blocks down."

The young man wearily raised his hand and pointed the way for Long Ming.

"Thanks."

Long Ming headed toward Pink Romance.

「A moment later.」

Long Ming arrived at a commercial street and found the Pink Romance entertainment club.

However, the club looked a bit small, with a storefront only about five or six meters wide.

Long Ming pushed open the glass door and walked inside. The first thing he saw was a blue-skinned, greasy-faced man yelling at Xiaopang. The man wore a white shirt, black trousers, and brown leather shoes.

"I told you to clean the bathroom in the private room! Are you deaf?! If you're going to do the job, then do it. If not, get the hell out! There are plenty of people who would kill for this job…"

Xiaopang just stood there and took the tongue-lashing, his head bowed.

Long Ming walked straight up behind the man and looked at Xiaopang with a smile.

When Xiaopang happened to glance up and see Long Ming, he froze, completely stunned. He quickly rubbed his eyes.

"What are you doing? Didn't you hear what I said?"

Seeing Xiaopang rubbing his eyes, the manager became even more furious.

At this moment, Xiaopang looked closely at Long Ming. After confirming he wasn't mistaken, a look of ecstatic joy appeared on his face, and he immediately cursed at the manager.

"Fuck you, you dumbass! Eat shit!"

"You! You dare to curse at me!"

The manager was so furious his face turned green.

"So what if I cursed you? I quit! You can keep that pathetic salary to buy yourself a coffin!"

Xiaopang shot back without holding back.

Just as the manager raised his hand to hit Xiaopang, Long Ming reached out from behind, grabbed his arm, and flung him aside.

"OOF!"

The manager crashed into the nearby wall and fell to the ground, groaning in pain.

"Let's go,"

Long Ming said to Xiaopang.

"Okay!"

Xiaopang ecstatically followed Long Ming out.

After the two of them left Pink Romance, Xiaopang said excitedly to Long Ming,

"Big Bro, I knew you wouldn't die that easily."

"Yeah, but I've only been gone a few days. How did you end up in such a miserable state? Shouldn't you still have some savings left?"

Long Ming asked, looking at Xiaopang in confusion.

"What do you mean, a few days? You've been dead for a year and a half. How could the little bit you left me last that long?"

Xiaopang said to Long Ming.

Hearing Xiaopang's words, Long Ming froze in place and asked in shock,

"What did you say? I've been dead for a year and a half?"

"Yeah."

Xiaopang replied with complete certainty.

Long Ming took a deep breath, suppressing his shock as he tried to recall what happened when he was unconscious.

'Although I don't remember much, it does feel like I was out for a very long time.'

"Big Bro, where have you been for over a year? Why didn't you come find us?"

Xiaopang asked, completely bewildered.

"Let's not talk about that for now. What's the situation with Mountain City Mountain? Why does this place feel so unfamiliar?"

Long Ming collected his thoughts and asked.

"Uh, Big Bro, you really don't know?"

"Know what?"

"Strictly speaking, there is no Mountain City Mountain anymore."