Chapter 106: Chapter 106: A High-Stakes Gamble
Meanwhile, Jing Chuan watched Long Ming from the side, his brow deeply furrowed. ’When did the guild get someone this skilled? And a member of the Rat Group, no less.’
For some reason, Jing Chuan felt that Long Ming looked incredibly familiar, as if he had seen him somewhere before.
But he couldn’t quite place him at the moment, and he didn’t ask Luoxue about it either.
Soon, the Rat Group finished clearing the battlefield.
"Let’s go!"
Luoxue led her people straight out of the building.
Just then, they saw Zheng Shi leaving from the side with twenty people.
"Phew, they’re finally gone."
Tang Yue and the others all breathed a sigh of relief.
"Come on, to the underground mall."
Luoxue led the group toward the underground mall.
A few minutes later, they arrived at the entrance to the underground mall.
It had been converted from an underground shelter, so the entrance was very spacious, but the ramp leading down was also quite steep.
Luoxue took out her radio communicator and spoke into it.
"Zhihan, can you hear me?"
"Yes. Have you arrived?"
Zhihan asked quickly.
"We’re at the entrance to the underground mall. The rogue players have been dealt with."
"That’s great! We’re in the central area of the mall."
"Alright, we’re coming down to meet you now."
After speaking, Luoxue led Long Ming and the others inside.
The power was out, leaving the entire underground mall incredibly dark.
Jing Chuan and the others took out their flashlights to illuminate the way.
Shops lined the path as they went.
Long Ming glanced around. The shops had all been thoroughly searched, though he couldn’t tell by whom.
They walked for a while before spotting flashlight beams up ahead.
"Sister Luoxue!"
A joyful voice called out.
Long Ming looked up and saw Zhihan hurrying over with thirteen people.
Of the thirteen, five were combat personnel, and the other eight were members of the Rat Group.
"Are you all okay?"
Luoxue asked with concern.
"We’re fine, but we lost a lot of people while we were being hunted."
Zhihan’s mood sank as she spoke.
"It’s alright. Has this mall been searched?"
Luoxue asked, gesturing toward the ransacked shops around them.
"It wasn’t us. When we got down here, it looked like it had already been searched. It was probably the players who came in before us."
Zhihan explained to Luoxue.
"Alright, let’s leave this place and search somewhere else."
"No problem. By the way, Sister Luoxue, have you been able to contact Fu Fuqing and the others?"
"No. They might have been dropped into a different city."
"Oh."
"Let’s go."
Luoxue left with Zhihan and the others.
Soon, they reached a relatively prosperous street where the buildings were clearly more upscale than in other areas.
Luoxue spoke calmly.
"All combat personnel will clear any potential threats. The Rat Group will enter to search afterward."
"Yes!"
Tang Yue and the others replied excitedly.
They could finally start searching for supplies properly, without having to run for their lives or fight.
After giving the order, Luoxue’s forces began clearing the buildings one by one.
A short while later, Long Ming and the others spread out to begin their search.
...
「Several hours later.」
「Administration Building - Office.」
Long Ming stood before a desk, looking at a frost-covered picture frame that sat upon it.
He picked up the frame and wiped it with his hand, revealing a photograph.
The photo showed a family of three. The man, handsome and high-spirited, wore a black uniform. The woman was gentle and beautiful in a pink dress. The child in their arms beamed with an innocent smile.
Just as Long Ming was about to put the frame back, he paused. He then took the frame apart and saw an exquisite metal card hidden behind the photo.
He instinctively picked up the card and glanced at it.
BZZZT~
A message popped up on his wristband.
Shelter Identity Card
Grade: Red
A look of surprise crossed Long Ming’s face. He hadn’t expected to find a Red-grade item.
After all, he’d been searching for ages and hadn’t found anything of value.
Long Ming raised his wristband, scanned the card into his secure storage, and prepared to leave the office.
Just then, he saw a promotional poster on the floor. He bent down and picked it up.
His brow furrowed as he looked at it. The poster was more or less the same as the one posted at the mall’s entrance, but this one’s content was more detailed and included a simple map printed at the bottom.
Long Ming scanned the poster with his wristband to record the map, then tossed it aside and continued searching the other rooms.
...
「The next day.」
Long Ming and the others all gathered to report their total earnings.
An Qing quickly tallied the profits.
Luoxue, Jing Chuan, and Zhihan stood to the side, watching.
Before long, An Qing finished her calculations. She reported respectfully to the three of them.
"President, I’ve tallied all the earnings from the search."
"How much?"
Luoxue asked calmly.
"16.2 million 1-D Coins."
An Qing reported.
"Why so little? Are you sure you didn’t miscalculate?"
Jing Chuan was completely stunned.
All the members of the Rat Group present silently lowered their heads.
"There’s no mistake. I’ve double-checked the numbers. And nearly 5 million of that came from other players."
An Qing replied with absolute certainty.
At that moment, Cloud Fish and the others also began to speak up.
"President Luoxue, Vice President Jing Chuan, this instance is too difficult to scavenge. It’s freezing cold, for one, but the main problem is that most things are frozen solid and ruined. Plus, some of the storage rooms were already picked clean. We really did our best."
"Then what are we going to do? If we only made a little over ten million, we’re going to take a huge loss on this run."
Zhihan was also very anxious.
"Vice President Zhihan, please don’t worry yet. We still have more than a day left, right? We can keep searching," An Qing quickly tried to comfort her.
"The question is, how much more can we find if we keep searching? Another ten million? That’s useless! The entry fee alone cost us over thirty million, and that’s not even counting our other losses," Jing Chuan asked helplessly.
Hearing this, Luoxue grew even more silent.
The atmosphere became heavy, and no one knew what to say.
Just then, Long Ming suddenly spoke, breaking the silence.
"I have a suggestion, if you’re willing to hear it."
"What suggestion?"
Luoxue looked up at Long Ming.
Zhihan, however, sized up Long Ming with a puzzled expression. ’What could a member of the guild’s Rat Group possibly have to say?’
"I learned from a promotional poster that there’s a large shelter 70 kilometers west of the city. We could go there to search. Of course, it’s a huge gamble. Our time is limited, and if we go, we likely won’t have time to turn back. We might find something, or we might come back empty-handed. We could even run into danger on the way and end up losing everything."
Long Ming said calmly to Luoxue.
"Isn’t that too risky?"
...
Jing Chuan and the others all wore extremely grim expressions.
"Alright. Let’s take the gamble. We’re going to the shelter."
Luoxue said without a hint of hesitation.
"What?! Luoxue, aren’t you going to think about it a little more?"
Jing Chuan never imagined Luoxue would actually agree to Long Ming’s proposal.
Luoxue raised a hand, cutting Jing Chuan off. Her tone was firm as she said,
"All Rat Group members, go find usable vehicles."
"Yes!"
The members all turned and left.
Although the shelter was only 70 kilometers away, the snow was so thick that without usable transportation, they might not reach it even after five days of walking.
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