The scene returned to Wind Mark Gun Shop. While the tall Level-45 Elite male zombie continued to hammer against the alloy door with the ax, a group of players in the streets near the shop was in the midst of a battle!

“Huh?!” exclaimed a handsome-looking Sniper player in his 20s with a gun-and-bullet guild badge pinned to his chest.

“Did you guys also receive it?” asked a Scout player beside the Sniper. He had a scar on the right side of his yellowish face and sharp eyes.

At the same time, he quickly pulled his submachine gun’s trigger, firing a series of shots, turning the last Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group player, who was trying to escape, into a flash of white light.

“Yes! I received a protection mission,” said Skynet. “We need to head to the Wind Mark Gun Shop within one minute to protect an NPC called Old John. We then have to safely escort him out of Silvermoon City. Depending on the performance, at the end of the mission, Merit Points will be rewarded! Boss Dan Hen, should we take this mission?”

Skynet raised his sniper rifle and fired an armor-piercing bullet to hit the head of a zombie atop a nearby building, making it lose its balance temporarily before it fell from the building.

“No, give it up!” said Dan Hen, shaking his head as he quickly popped another magazine into his gun. “It’ll be too hard to escort an NPC out of the city in the current situation. The entire city has lost its power supply. Fallen hovercrafts have blocked all the routes. To get out of the city from this area will require at least half an hour. If we encounter a situation, we’ll need even more time! Moreover, the Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group and the zombies should be our main concern right now. All these side missions—we can’t afford to take them!”

“No, captain! Hold on a sec,” said the Fire Manipulator of the team, Ion Flame, with a frown as he pondered the matter. “This ‘Wind Mark Gun Shop’ sounds a bit familiar. I feel like I’ve heard it somewhere before!”

“Familiar…” Skynet’s eyes brightened. “That’s right! I remember now! Isn’t the Wind Mark Gun Shop Brother Feng’s shop? Sis Rose told us that Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group targeted him and sent someone to mess up his store. In the end, they were taken care of by the NPC Lieutenant you guys met at the Town of Exile. The incident was widely reposted on the regional forum for two days!”

Dan Hen’s initial act of turning around, preparing to leave, came to a halt. He hesitated. “Brother Feng? He really helped us a lot during the Silver Leaf Island mission. Otherwise, the Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group might have completed the Biohazard virus mission, and we’d be in a much tougher position! We haven’t been of much help in terms of the issue of the Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group issuing a bounty on him. And he hasn’t been around Silvermoon City these past few days… We haven’t been able to repay his favor since.”

After a brief moment of silence, Dan Hen continued, “How about this…? Skynet, Heavy Armor, both of you head over to the Wind Mark Gun Shop first and protect that NPC. Don’t partake in the battle with the Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group for now. We’ll decide whether to meet up with you guys later, depending on the situation!”

“All right!” said Ultimate Heavy Armor, the Heavy Armor Warrior holding a black alloy shield.

Skynet, whose eyes were now shining, nodded.

Immediately after that, the two grabbed their gear and rushed toward the location of the Wind Mark Gun SHop!

But it wasn’t just the people from the Veterans Tribe who had received the mission. In another location, Watermelon Skin’s six-man team—who had just taken out a Level-40 Elite zombie—also received the mission popup message!

“Take it,” said the team leader, My World, after a moment’s hesitation, “since we are planning to leave the city. Worst-case scenario, we fail the NPC escort mission and lose some Merit Points!”

******

If Feng Luo were there, he certainly would have been surprised. For the system to publish a protect-and-escort mission when Old John’s life was in danger? Just what was his true identity?

However, Feng Luo, deep in the ancient ruins where outside communications had been cut, had no inkling of the crisis unfolding at his Wind Mark Gun Shop.

At the moment, Feng Luo’s expression was one of surprise! The Nightless City team that had moved to the other route had just killed a Level-45 Mutant Cockroach Commander. Theoretically, they were only one step away from their final objective when they encountered a completely unexpected monster!

“A Beetle?”

It was a fist-sized body with a black shell that refracted the light and six limbs. A huge swarm of Level-30 Beetles that only appeared in large numbers charged at the group.

Apart from being black and slightly smaller, these Beetles looked just like 24K!

What the heck is going on? thought Feng Luo. Could it be that these ancient ruins are associated with 24K?

It was worth noting that the underground ruins were located only around 10 miles away from the Lu Conglomerate’s constructed city: the NC-5504 ruin. The two were connected above ground—and underground—by the ruins. However, the NC-5504 ruins were already being used by Lu Conglomerate as the site of a city. In addition, after 24K had joined with Feng Luo, there had been new Beetles. It was impossible to find any new clues. Perhaps Feng Luo could discover something in these underground ruins!

Moreover, for a not-so-difficult exploration to drop Legendary equipment shards… thought Feng Luo. Perhaps this is also an indication of more things to come…

Feng Luo may have seemed distracted, but he wasn’t just going through the motions.

Bang! Bang!

Shot after shot, hit after hit, the Eye of the Thunder—equipped with C-grade deflagration armor-piercing rounds—hit the black swarm of Beetles on the ground. The splashing liquid ammunition turned entire groups of the Beetles into fiery balls of flame.

The Beetles that seemed so similar to 24K were only around Level 30, which was a lot lower than the other three swarm-type monsters. In addition, there were no Elite grades among them. They were all Normal-grade monsters!

The problem was that there were just too many of them! The ones in front of Feng Luo’s group numbered more than 1,000. As they charged, they were like black waves moving toward them. As they drew nearer, the Beetles made squeaking noises, and the scene was definitely enough to make a person with trypophobia go pale!

It was a good thing their party had two Fire Manipulators. Fire Manipulators were the best at dealing with these sorts of low-level, low-HP, swarm-type monsters!

“Fire Wall!”

“Sea of Fire!”

The two Fire Manipulators cast their signature skills into the tunnel.

The next moment, flames filled the space, and all the Beetles had damage indicator numbers appearing above them! Naturally, everyone’s logs were filled with the constant flow of experience gained. But apart from Mu Zi, these numbers were meaningless.

Moreover, although the Fire Manipulators were able to seal off most of the Beetles from advancing, some of the ones that crawled along the ceiling or walls still needed to be taken care of manually! As such, everyone joined in the battle against the Beetle army!

Feng Luo hesitated as he continued to shoot.

“24K!”

With a flash of white, 24K appeared on Feng Luo’s shoulder!

Feng Luo was at the rear of the group, and since everyone was busy dealing with the black Beetles, no one noticed that he had summoned 24K!