Game: Civilization Paradise

Chapter 94: Chapter 94: Escape

Inside the corridor.

Long Ming pulled Qin Ying along, sprinting.

Qin Ying glanced back. Seeing Padoka and the others closing in, she asked in a panic.

"Mr. Red Ghost, what do we do? Where are we running? It’s daytime, so the base’s external defenses are active."

"I know."

Long Ming’s mind raced, calmly recalling the entire base map and analyzing every possible escape route.

None of them were viable. Steeling himself, he yanked Qin Ying to the right.

Soon, they reached a staircase.

Long Ming pulled Qin Ying up the stairs. They quickly reached the top, where an open doorway greeted them.

The two rushed out, and their field of view instantly widened.

A massive radio telescope dominated their view.

But Long Ming was in no mood to admire it. He pulled Qin Ying and ran toward the edge.

They quickly reached the edge of the observatory roof. From here, cables as thick as bowls stretched out to the various surrounding mountain peaks.

Just then, Padoka, Farina, and the others burst out in pursuit.

Seeing them, Qin Ying shouted in terror.

"Mr. Red Ghost, they’ve caught up!"

"Hold on to me from the front!"

Long Ming yelled to Qin Ying.

Qin Ying didn’t quite understand, but she immediately wrapped her arms around Long Ming’s waist.

Long Ming then ripped a nylon rope from his backpack. He folded it over several times, hooked it over a cable, and leaped, sliding down rapidly.

"Oh my god! He can do that?"

Irafu watched the scene unfold, her face a mask of disbelief.

Farina, too, looked completely stunned.

They thought they had him cornered, but he had just slid down.

"Hmph. Naive to think you can escape that easily!"

Padoka raised his hand and waved at Bide.

"Understood!"

Bide and his subordinates rushed to the cable.

He unbuckled a tactical belt laden with high-explosive grenades, strapped it to the cable, and then pulled the pin!

Everyone scattered!

"Let’s see you get out of this one alive!"

Padoka said excitedly.

Qin Ying looked up and saw this, shouting in terror.

"Mr. Red Ghost, they’re going to blow up the cable!"

Long Ming’s heart sank when he heard this.

BOOM—

A massive explosion erupted, instantly severing the cable.

"AHHH!"

Qin Ying let out a terrified cry.

Halfway down the line, Long Ming decisively let go of the nylon rope. The two of them began to plummet.

SPLASH—

Long Ming held Qin Ying with both arms, shielding her as they plunged into the rushing river.

Just then, Qian Luobing arrived on the observatory deck with her own people. She watched the spot where Long Ming and Qin Ying had vanished, her gaze growing even colder.

Adika and the others looked livid. This was a massive, humiliating failure.

It was bad enough that someone had snatched the mission reward from them, but for the culprits to escape right under their noses was unforgivable.

...

Meanwhile, Long Ming dragged Qin Ying to the surface of the raging river and struggled toward the bank.

"HUFF... HUFF..."

Long Ming panted heavily.

The effects of the combat stimulant were wearing off, and a profound exhaustion washed over him.

Qin Ying glanced around. Seeing they had escaped the observatory, she looked down at her wristband, which now displayed "Mission Complete." Overjoyed, she exclaimed.

"I’m not dreaming, am I? The mission is a success, and we escaped!"

"Yeah."

Long Ming glanced at his own wristband. His mission wasn’t marked as complete, and he felt a pang of frustration.

’Just as I thought,’ Long Ming mused. ’If you don’t party up before entering the instance, you can’t share the mission completion. I wonder if Young Master Qin and the others managed to finish it.’

He quickly composed himself, though. His job was to be the escort, so it was only natural for Qin Ying to get the completion. Besides, under those circumstances, he couldn’t have performed the final action himself anyway.

"Mr. Red Ghost, you’re so amazing."

Qin Ying’s gaze toward Long Ming was filled with adoration.

"Let’s go. We need to find transportation quickly and head to an extraction point."

Long Ming raised his wristband to look at the map. The nearest extraction point was over a hundred kilometers away, but to be safe, they couldn’t go to the closest one.

"Mm-hmm!"

Qin Ying nodded hastily.

...

A short while later, Long Ming found an abandoned motorcycle. With Qin Ying on the back, he sped toward an extraction point.

Qin Ying waved her hands gleefully and started chatting with Long Ming.

"Mr. Red Ghost, where are you from? How are you so strong?"

"No comment."

"Well, do you want to team up with us!"

"No. I’m only protecting you because I accepted an escort mission."

Long Ming replied coolly.

"Mr. Red Ghost, you’re so cold when you talk, but it’s so cool..."

Qin Ying wasn’t angry at all and chattered on.

The corner of Long Ming’s mouth twitched, but he silently repeated a mantra in his head: ’The customer is always right.’

...

「Several hours later.」

Long Ming drove Qin Ying to the vicinity of an extraction point.

He pulled out his M24 sniper rifle and scanned the area through the scope. The extraction platform was untouched, and there was no sign of an ambush.

"Let’s go!"

Long Ming led Qin Ying off the bike, and they hurried onto the extraction platform.

"Initiate extraction?"

The wristband suddenly vibrated as a prompt popped up.

Without hesitation, Long Ming tapped "Confirm."

VMMMM—

The mechanical platform activated instantly, and Long Ming and Qin Ying began to float upwards.

By the time they came to their senses, they were already in Starry City.

"Alright, we’re out,"

Long Ming said to Qin Ying.

"Yeah, we finally made it!"

Qin Ying nodded happily.

"Sis!"

At that moment, Qin Ye shouted from a distance.

"Big Bro, I’m over here!"

Qin Ying happily waved her hand at Qin Ye.

Qin Ye immediately ran over, asking with concern.

"Sis, are you alright?"

"I’m fine, Big Bro! I completed the mission!"

Qin Ying said excitedly to Qin Ye.

Hearing this, Qin Ye’s expression was a sight to behold. He didn’t know whether to be happy or sad, and could only say awkwardly,

"That’s... great."

Long Ming looked at Qin Ye’s awkward expression and deliberately said in a probing tone,

"Young Master Qin, you may have died, but aren’t you happy the mission was a success?"

"Happy my ass! I died, got kicked out, and my mission screen said it was a failure."

Qin Ye replied, extremely irritated.

"Oh. Then let’s settle the payment!"

Hearing this, Long Ming confirmed his suspicion: team members who died wouldn’t get credit for the mission. Having clarified the completion conditions, he held out his hand to Qin Ye.

Seeing this, Qin Ying said to Qin Ye,

"Big Bro, quickly settle the payment with Mr. Red Ghost."

Qin Ye took a deep breath, suppressing his anger. He looked at Long Ming and said,

"Your escort wasn’t perfect—this young master still died, after all. But my sister completed the mission, so I’ll count it as a success! We agreed on a base pay of 20 million Wei Coins. But this young master isn’t a stingy person. I’ll pay you 33 million. 30 million for the job, and an extra 3 million as a bonus for your kills."

"Mm."

Long Ming was pleasantly surprised. He had expected to receive only the base pay, so getting 33 million Wei Coins was a welcome bonus.