Chapter 408: Each with Their Own Agenda
Chapter 408: Chapter 408: Each with Their Own Agenda
Long Ming also chose a corridor and headed inside.
A number of soldiers in Second Generation Mechanical Armor chose to follow Long Ming. It was always wise to stay in the shadow of a big tree.
Long Ming naturally noticed them, but he paid them no mind.
Just then, he saw Black Thorn Insects up ahead in the corridor, gnawing on the corpses of soldiers.
When they saw Long Ming, they opened their maws, let out a chittering screech, and swarmed toward him.
Long Ming charged forward to meet them, swinging his Light Saber and cutting down the insects as they rushed him.
"A custom third-gen Mechanical God is so damn badass!"
"If only we had one."
"Dream on. We’re lucky enough to just tag along behind him and reap some of the benefits."
.....
The soldiers following him murmured amongst themselves.
As Long Ming led the soldiers deeper inside, clearing a path...
BEEP BEEP!
Suddenly, a green distress signal appeared on all of their scanning devices.
The signal wasn’t very far from Long Ming’s group.
Long Ming was surprised. He hadn’t expected to hook such a big fish. Only individuals of a certain status could send a distress signal like this through the military system.
The soldiers behind Long Ming began to buzz with excitement.
"It’s a high-priority distress signal!"
"Imagine how many military merits that’s worth!"
.....
Hearing this, Long Ming immediately started moving toward the signal’s location.
The other soldiers scrambled to keep up.
The number of insects they encountered along the way increased, but Long Ming was like a god of slaughter, frantically cutting down any that pounced as he carved a path toward the signal’s source.
Soon, Long Ming had fought his way to the exterior of the cryo-storage unit in the reserve area.
A massive number of insects were gathered there.
BANG! BANG!
The sound of fierce explosions echoed from within the cryo-storage unit.
It was clear that the people inside were desperately holding their ground.
Long Ming aimed his Shoulder Cannon at the swarm of insects and fired.
BOOM!
A massive explosion swept through the area.
「Inside the cryo-storage unit.」
Hearing the powerful explosion outside, Gaza turned to Supervisor Dikaya and yelled with delight.
"Supervisor, reinforcements are here! Judging by the sound of that explosion, it has to be a Mechanical God!"
"Excellent! Tell them to fight their way in and help us!"
Dikaya shouted to Gaza, overjoyed.
Gaza quickly shouted at the top of his lungs.
"To our comrades providing rescue outside! Supervisor Dikaya is in here! Hurry in and save us!"
"It’s Supervisor Dikaya!"
"Whoa, that’s Rescue Mission Three!"
...
The soldiers following Long Ming exclaimed with delight.
But when Long Ming heard it was Supervisor Dikaya inside, his expression darkened. He immediately turned and started fighting his way toward the corridor to the right of the cryo-storage unit’s main door.
The soldiers following him were dumbfounded and shouted after him.
"Sir, you’re going the wrong way!"
"You’re supposed to be fighting your way in!"
.....
But Long Ming acted as if he couldn’t hear them, charging straight into the right-hand corridor and disappearing.
The remaining men were completely bewildered.
Just then, hideous Black Thorn Insects swarmed toward them.
They immediately raised their firearms and opened fire.
But without the Mechanical God to clear a path, they were no match for these insects and were quickly forced into a retreat.
「Inside the cryo-storage unit.」
Dikaya waited for a long time, but the reinforcements never broke through. Instead, the gunfire outside grew more and more sparse.
He roared at Gaza, a mixture of shock and rage in his voice.
"Gaza, where are the reinforcements? Where are my reinforcements?"
"I don’t know!"
Gaza was in a panic, completely clueless as to what was happening.
At that moment, swarms of insects charged at them again.
"Quick, hold them back!"
Supervisor Dikaya was filled with regret. ’I should have gotten a Mechanical God for protection back then!’
"Yes, sir!"
Gaza and the others could only brace themselves and charge forward.
...
「Meanwhile.」
Long Ming advanced down the corridor, swinging his Light Saber to slice a pouncing Black Thorn Insect in two.
’Saving Supervisor Dikaya would probably earn me a lot of military merits,’ he thought, ’but I can’t be bothered. I’d rather the bastard die sooner than later.’
Just then, Hilic’s voice suddenly echoed in Long Ming’s mind.
’You’re an absolute idiot. Passing up such a juicy prize when it’s right in front of you.’
’You don’t understand,’ Long Ming replied coolly.
’Infighting is infighting. What is there that I wouldn’t understand?’ Hilic mocked coldly.
’I’m a little curious. You normally never say a word to me. Why are you suddenly willing to talk?’
Long Ming wasn’t angry. Instead, he asked with great interest.
Hilic was silent for several seconds before finally speaking.
’This ship is loaded with a large number of Energy Crystals. I am very weak right now and need them.’
’You want me to steal Energy Crystals from the Military Department?’
Hearing Hilic’s words, Long Ming’s eyelid twitched.
’What? Scared?’ Hilic retorted, annoyed.
’It’s not about being scared. The main problem is how? My safe can’t hold much, and it’s not secure anyway.’
Long Ming replied to Hilic with a grim expression.
’Who said anything about putting them in a safe? You just need to take me to the area where the Energy Crystals are stored.’
’Fine, but I don’t know where that is.’
’I do,’ Hilic replied, his voice filled with excitement.
’Alright, tell me which way to go!’ Long Ming agreed grimly.
’Turn left up ahead!’
Hilic could clearly sense the Energy Crystals.
Long Ming followed Hilic’s directions.
「Storage Area.」
Many squads rushed in.
Instead of searching for survivors, they split up with a tacit understanding.
Each squad headed for an unoccupied area, eyeing the sealed metal crates along the way.
After confirming no one else was around, these soldiers began prying open the sealed metal crates to see what was inside.
"Level 3 Black Molybdenum Ore! We’re rich!"
"Quick, get it in the safe!"
"Captain, are we sure this is okay?"
"Are you a fucking idiot? We risk our lives fighting them day in and day out, and for what? A meager salary? A single piece of ore from here is worth more than our entire year’s pay."
"But I’m worried we’ll get caught."
"What’s there to be afraid of? This ship’s going down sooner or later. Once that happens, the dead can’t talk. Who’s gonna know? Besides, it’s so chaotic in here, who would notice what we took?"
"He’s right! Grab it, quick!"
...
This same scene was playing out in various areas.
「Storage Area A4.」
A burly, bearded man in Second Generation Heavy Exoskeleton Armor led a few of his subordinates to a pile of sealed metal crates.
"Hurry up and pry them open!"
Second Lieutenant Leto shouted at his men.
His subordinates stepped forward and pried open a crate. Emerald-green ore reflected in their wide eyes as they shouted with extreme excitement.
"We’ve hit the jackpot! It’s Level 4 Green Ying Ore!"
"Grab it!"
A look of ecstasy spread across Second Lieutenant Leto’s face.
"What are you doing?"
An angry roar suddenly cut through the air.
Second Lieutenant Leto and his men froze, whipping their heads around to look.
They saw a man in Second Generation Mechanical Armor, covered in insect blood, glaring at them furiously.
The man wore Mechanical Armor, and on its chest was the insignia of the Third Legion.