Chapter 37: Chapter 37: Withdrawal
At that moment, Niram was desperately ramming the main gate.
RUMBLE~
The entire base trembled slightly. Countless small insects were startled awake, scurrying and scattering everywhere.
Long Ming was speechless. ’I’ve already gotten away, but that guy still won’t give up. He’s making such a racket.’
’If he runs into a swarm of startled insectoids, he’s a goner!’
The most important thing now was to get out of here, and fast.
Just then, he saw a Baka Rifle lying on the ground next to a corpse up ahead.
Long Ming cursed under his breath.
"He’s completely insane!"
As he ran past the body, he reached down, snatched the rifle, and slung it over his shoulder.
In fact, Long Ming knew exactly how many abandoned Baka Rifles were scattered along the escape route.
Logic told Long Ming he shouldn’t pick it up, but he couldn’t just let it go. He was frustrated, especially since he’d already dropped the ones he’d picked up earlier.
So he decided to take a gamble. After all, the timid starve while the bold feast. Since he had to evacuate anyway, he might as well make a clean sweep of it.
...
A short while later, with five Baka Rifles slung over his body, Long Ming burst out of the central base’s main gate, shaken but unharmed.
He glanced around, and after confirming there was no danger, he immediately retreated.
Over an hour later, Long Ming was walking along a desolate, winding mountain road, panting. From time to time, he would lift his wristband to check his direction and make sure he wasn’t lost.
The nearest extraction point from the military base was over thirty kilometers away.
Therefore, Long Ming needed to cross the mountain in front of him.
He soon reached the summit, where a cool breeze washed over him.
Long Ming couldn’t help but pause. He turned to look at the magnificent Ant City and the silent garrison base in the distance, a wistful expression on his face.
’After I leave this time, I wonder if I’ll ever have the chance to come back to this world again.’
"Hooo..."
Long Ming let out a deep breath and continued on his way.
「Five hours later.」
Long Ming finally arrived at the extraction point.
He looked at the extraction platform before him and broke into a wide smile.
Without a hint of hesitation, he stepped onto the platform.
BZZZT~
His wristband vibrated, and a prompt popped up.
"Evacuate?"
Long Ming unhesitatingly tapped "Evacuate."
HUMMM~
The mechanical platform activated instantly, and Long Ming began to float upwards, bit by bit.
When Long Ming came to his senses, he found himself in Starry City.
The entire city was incredibly lively, teeming with players everywhere.
"Whoa, look at that pro!"
"Awesome! Look at all the gear he’s got on him."
"That mask especially is so cool!"
"Tch, what’s so great about it? You can tell at a glance that’s just a pay-to-win player."
...
At that moment, voices of discussion drifted over from the side.
Long Ming turned his head and saw many players gathered around, watching him with envy.
After all, most players right now didn’t even have a single decent weapon.
Long Ming ignored them. He raised his wristband, moved the gear slung over his body into his inventory, and then walked toward the mechanical pillar at the center, opening the marketplace as he approached.
He quickly checked the current prices for weapons.
That reseller, Brother Tao, was right about one thing: time is money. For every minute wasted, the market price drops.
The market price for a standard rifle had already dropped from 500,000 Uni-coins to 350,000, and there were significant fluctuations based on durability.
Long Ming was a little surprised to see the price. He hadn’t expected them to still be worth so much.
From his understanding of the market, the initial weapon prices were exorbitant and unreasonable. This was because some whales didn’t treat money like it was real; if someone was selling, they would buy.
Now that so much time had passed and weapons were being produced in large quantities, the fact they could still sell for 350,000 meant demand was still huge.
After all, based on Long Ming’s experience, the final price for a common weapon should be under 100,000, and it definitely shouldn’t exceed the value of a purple-rarity item.
Next, he checked the prices for medicine.
He found that medicine prices were holding strong. A bottle of Strong Healing Potion, with an effect similar to an Insecta-Heal Potion, was still priced at 60,000 Uni-coins.
Long Ming quickly took stock of all his earnings from this instance.
Geko Automatic Pistol x1, Kagba Tactical Dagger x1, Tactical Dagger · Red Fang, BSK-01 Grenade Carbine · Wolf Fang, Red Ghost Mask, GT-01 Tactical Gloves · Silent Hunter, PSL-01 Powered Mechanical Boots, Multi-Function Tactical Belt, Gray Combat Uniform x1, Infantry Body Armor x1, Infantry Tactical Backpack x1, 5.56mm Magazine (30 rounds) x5, 5.56mm Bullets (60 rounds), Insecta-Heal Potion x15, Baka Rifle x6, Deceased Series · DK-01 Lighter (Purple), Fanny’s Diary (Purple), Baolan Watch (Purple), Platinum Medal of Honor (Purple), Exquisite Keycard (Purple), Jade-Blue Ring (Purple), Old Moon Chain (Red), Unopened Gene Box x1, Military Combat Manual (White).
As for everything else, it had been thrown away.
Without any hesitation, Long Ming listed 5 Baka Rifles and 10 bottles of Insecta-Heal Potion for sale, setting the prices relatively low.
As for the remaining purple items, Long Ming directly opened the marketplace’s buyback interface.
Deceased Series · DK-01 Lighter: 150,000 Uni-coins
Fanny’s Diary: 200,000 Uni-coins
Baolan Watch: 100,000 Uni-coins
Platinum Medal of Honor: 120,000 Uni-coins
Exquisite Keycard: 100,000 Uni-coins
Jade-Blue Ring: 100,000 Uni-coins
Old Moon Chain (Red): 2,000,000 Uni-coins.
Seeing the price of the red item, Long Ming thought for a moment. He decided to keep the Deceased Series · DK-01 Lighter and the Old Moon Chain, then sold back all the others.
A notification promptly popped up on his wristband.
"Notification: You have received 620,000 Uni-coins."
Long Ming glanced at the lighter and tossed it into his backpack. It was something he could carry with him and would be useful in future instances.
As for the Old Moon Chain, he listed it directly on the marketplace with a price tag of 2,500,000.
Long Ming wanted to see if any whales would buy it.
After finishing all this, he then looked at the Unopened Gene Box. He raised his wristband and tried searching the marketplace to see if anyone else was selling one.
He found that there were no Unopened Gene Boxes for sale, but there were other specific Genetic Potions.
SITW-01 Lizard Genetic Potion (Inferior), priced at 2,000,000 Uni-coins.
SLWC-01 Bestialization Genetic Potion (Inferior), priced at 5,000,000 Uni-coins.
...
Long Ming scanned the list, and his heart skipped a beat. He truly hadn’t expected Genetic Potions to be so valuable. The most expensive one, the Bestialization Genetic Potion, was selling for 5,000,000 Uni-coins.
Unfortunately, there were no Unopened Gene Boxes listed, so he had no specific price to reference.
But that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. After all, unopened "blind boxes" were often the most expensive.
Long Ming mulled it over for a few seconds and decided to test the waters. He boldly listed the Unopened Gene Box for a staggering 15,000,000 Uni-coins.
But just a few minutes after he listed it, a notification popped up on his wristband.
"Notification: You have received a temporary chat request from Player · Old Ghost. Accept?"
