Player Reload
Chapter 252 - 231 Hengda

Chapter 252: Chapter 231 Hengda

Which one should I upgrade? The space in the Automated Three-Dimensional Warehouse is large enough and it’s not filled yet, so there’s no rush.

The Electronic Pet Egg is just Grey Rain’s temporary shelter, it’s enough to have Grey Rain hop into it for each mission, so there’s no need for upgrades there either.

The Nuclear Energy Lighter and the integrative consultation glasses could be considered,

the former is a visibly attack-type equipment and upgrading it would definitely replenish the fuel.

The latter is an important tool for gathering intelligence.

After much thought, Li Cheng didn’t rush to make a decision but went to a shoddy street to see if there were any new items on the shelves.

————

"Don’t miss out as you pass by, Stomach Ancestor Restaurant has new dishes: [Steamed Hunter Crab], [Chili Fried Face-Hugging Worm], and [Minotaur Beef Sashimi]. Get a membership card for a ten percent discount."

"Feeling insecure about your blade being too short? Discouraged because your weapon isn’t durable? Visit Wild Hunt Weapon Store, buy guns, big guns, extra-large and super-durable machine guns!"

"I was abandoned by my parents, betrayed by my spouse, disdained by my children, laid off in middle age, and in the depths of despair, I became a player. How do I turn my life around? Come spend at Tony’s Hair Salon and listen as I slowly tell you."

The grubby street is still that same grubby street, a mishmash of differently styled buildings, and shops along the street play all kinds of bizarre flow advertisements.

Li Cheng walked down the street, browsing the latest auction house item list on his tablet.

The first hundred pages were okay, containing items and Skill Scrolls that were indeed valuable, with several excellent items.

Towards the last few dozen pages, there were various bizarre items that had not sold all year, piling up in the auction house.

There were things like one-time use, lifetime hair removal [Worry-Free Leg Hair Removal Ointment];

A [Solar-powered flashlight] that can only be switched on under sunlight;

[Summoning Technique·Dark Snail Shell] that summons a venomous snail that continuously pursues enemies at a constant, unchanging speed;

There was even a bottle of [Mad Doctor’s Party Frenzy Potion] with effects that for a period of time, turn the user’s spoken words to sound like electronic music, pee to soda, farts to sparkler fireworks, and excrement into edible chocolate.

With such inexplicable Magic Potion, the seller still had the thick skin to ask for 1000 Game Coins, claiming that in extreme conditions, this potion could serve as an emergency food supply.

Who knows where they get the confidence.

"Didn’t see anything suitable, should I just store the Electric Shock Device for now? As for attack-type items, I could buy one or two from the auction house for the time being to fill the gaps."

Li Cheng was pondering when he saw congestion ahead on the road, a crowd gathered in front of a home appliance store, peering through the glass window at the television screen. Among them were two acquaintances.

One was from the [Whale Song] guild, Stack Soldier, and the other was Andre from the [Templar Knights].

"Yo, what a coincidence you two. What are you watching?"

Li Cheng waved to greet them; Stack Soldier looked somewhat surprised, and Andre, remembering Li Cheng’s performance in the last Regular Task, tried to hide his wariness and vigilance.

"War."

Stack Soldier nodded towards the television screen, "The Gen-Sys Biological Technology Company and Prometheus Laboratory, both guilds share the [Hidden Room·Curved Light Tower], currently under siege by killing field test subjects."

On the television screen, real-time combat footage was being broadcast.

Among a range of mountains stood a two-thousand-meter-tall metal spire, narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, with a complex structure resembling a Tesla coil embedded at its peak.

Below the tower, was a large complex of buildings including smart factories, nuclear power plants, power transformation stations, cooling towers, office buildings, and laboratories etc.

"GS Corporation and Prometheus Laboratory, two guilds that had clashed in earlier years, engaging in extremely fierce business competition around the world, frequently resorting to the assassination of each other’s senior personnel and their families.

Now they seem to be so close as to wear the same trousers, sharing the same Hidden Room.

It is unclear whether they discovered the Hidden Room first and decided it was beyond either of their capabilities to monopolize, thus opting for joint development,

or if it was because they could coexist peacefully that they decided to develop the Hidden Room together."

The Stack Soldier casually said, "The specific abilities of the Curved Light Tower remain unknown; it’s widely suspected on the forums that this building could continuously supply cutting-edge tech products,

helping GS Corporation maintain a leading position in the field of biotechnology, and aiding Prometheus with mechanical engineering."

As the Stack Soldier spoke, the image of the besieging forces appeared on the broadcast.

It was a shadow that obscured the sun, and in the darkness, countless Evil Spirits, Shadow Mastiffs, and Dead Souls surged towards the Curved Light Tower like a flood.

"These Evil Spirits are actually a single creature, the Divine Calamity Shadow. As an indigenous species of the killing field, its strength equates to a Lv40 Transcendent, or several Lv38 Transcendents."

Andre’s tone carried a hint of schadenfreude, "It’s currently believed that the Shadow has no self-awareness, acting purely on instinct and feeding on any form of energy, actively seeking out nuclear power stations, power plants.

The Shadow cannot be killed, only temporarily driven away by strong light, explosions, or divine blessings.

In the past, the Special Affairs Bureau had been besieged by the Shadow multiple times due to their possession of the [Hidden Room·Star Corridor], which provided endless energy. Each repulsion came at a high cost.

This time, it’s GS Corporation and Prometheus’ turn."

Andre’s guild, the Templar Knights, composed of religious fanatics, naturally held no affection for GS Corporation which they saw as desecrating God by researching biotechnology and creating new species. They were more than happy to see them struggle.

The other onlookers were also showing faces that indicated they were enjoying the show, rooting for the Shadow.

On the television screen, alloy walls began to rise around the high tower, and various defensive weapons like Rocket Fortresses, Anti-Air Guns, Light Prism Towers, and Magnetic Explosion Coils unsheathed their fire,

obliterating millions of Shadow incarnations five kilometers away from the Curved Light Tower.

The Shadow could not be killed and would regenerate immediately upon destruction, while the Curved Light Tower’s defensive fire seemed limitless. Both sides were caught in a tense tug-of-war.

The ordinary employees of the two companies who lived within the Curved Light Tower scrambled out of their office buildings and into underground shelters.

Meanwhile, the Transcendents of the guild, along with the Biochemical Tyrants produced by GS Corporation, stood guard at their battle posts, using long spears and short cannons to annihilate those that broke through the defense lines.

The whole war quickly slipped into a war of attrition, and according to past practices, as long as the large guilds paid a certain price, they could always repel the unintelligent Shadows.

Li Cheng watched the magnificent war scenes on the television, with a hint of appreciation in his eyes, recognizing once again the value and allure of the Hidden Room.

This thing probably worth much more than the Liangyi Blade, on par with the Hengda Group’s 2.4 trillion in total liabilities. He suggested that Boss Xu should learn from that Tony at the hair salon and become a player to see if he could turn the tides.

The question was, Cervantes also had a key in his possession; how confident was the Special Affairs Bureau to let him hold onto that key and participate in a deathmatch task?

————

At the same time, in the underground prison of the Special Affairs Bureau in the real world, Cervantes lay unconscious in his chair, foaming at the mouth with eyes rolled back white.

His head was filled with data cables, all connected to a supercomputer, which was directly scanning his brain for memories.

"...In this deathmatch task, Cervantes lost the [Wave Flipping Cloud] Skill, but nothing was missing from his Backpack.

Outside the interrogation room, Zhao Zijing took a deep breath and said solemnly: "Cervantes himself doesn’t know what he has lost.

In other words, before the Special Affairs Bureau captured Cervantes, he was bound by a thought restriction, imposed by a Transcendent far stronger than him, making him ’Forget’ that he had placed an extremely important item on his person.

This person can only be the president of the Wild Laughter Troupe, [Sacco]."