Infinity, The Arcade Age

In the early hours of the next day, the Hound Unit officially clashed with the Abu Abbas Legion—the rebel army that had emerged in this area.

Only, the massive, decisive battle Qin Ming had expected… never happened.

Because, well… the Abu Abbas Legion was kind of weak.

How weak, exactly? Put it this way—they couldn't even fully equip their troops with firearms. Some of them had to go into battle wielding curved swords. They really were just a ragtag civilian rebel group.

The moment the fighting began, their formation crumbled. Even the triple-headed missile platform they'd specially modified was quickly blown to bits. The only thing that put up a little resistance was the new-model bomber the main rebel forces had gifted them.

It was a massive heavy bomber with excellent firepower.

But "massive" was relative. Compared to other aircraft, sure, it was big. Compared to Qin Ming's Sky Fortress? It was like a sparrow next to an eagle—pitifully small.

And while being pursued by the Sky Fortress, their leader, Babu Abus, due to his poor piloting skills, managed to crash the bomber straight into the ground.

Before the fighting had even properly started, he'd already taken himself out of the game.

With the main rebel force absent from the area, mopping up these local rebels was easier than drinking water. It took almost no effort.

From the captured Babu Abus, Qin Ming also learned what the rebels had been up to recently.

They were raising funds!

Yes, that's right—raising money!

Don't think starting a rebellion is easy! It costs money—a lot of money!

After launching several uprisings in a row—and especially after being chased around nonstop by the Hound Unit—the rebels were running low on funds.

To fill this financial gap, they had launched a special operation.

The mission codename? Operation Golden Retrieval. To put it plainly: tomb-robbing. Specifically, robbing the pyramids of Egypt and looting the valuable burial goods inside to sell for cash.

After all, the dead don't spend money. Those burial artifacts were just sitting there gathering dust.

Might as well make some contributions to the noble cause of global liberation, right?

Upon learning that the rebels were chasing money, Qin Ming's eyes lit up, and he immediately decided he wanted in.

Of course, he wasn't planning to dig graves with the rebels—he wanted to steal the loot from them after they dug it up.

After all, storming into a pyramid with a huge army was impossible. It wasn't a tourist site where you could cram tens of thousands of people in at once.

So Qin Ming decided to assemble a small, elite strike force from the Hound Unit!

At his command, tens of thousands of troops were thrown into disarray.

Several hours later, after careful selection, a 20-man elite Hound squad had been formed.

Twenty soldiers stood in a line, each carrying a light machine gun. Their eyes were sharp, their builds tall and strong—each one more imposing than the last.

At the front of the formation stood Lieutenant Shuke, the battle-hardened officer, standing tall with a fierce gleam in his eyes.

As for Lieutenant Beta, he stood beside Qin Ming, enthusiastically introducing the squad.

"Boss! These twenty are the best elite soldiers in our unit—every one of them has vampire blood in their veins! Their combat ability is insane! And with my usefulness—and Shuke's uselessness—we'll definitely help you accomplish anything!"

Qin Ming's brow twitched slightly. Without a word, he swept his gaze over the soldiers in front of him.

Seeing them fully armed, towering in stature, and all wearing vicious scowls, he couldn't help but glance down at himself.

After two seconds of silence, Qin Ming suddenly turned to look at Lieutenant Beta.

"So… do you think, looking at our outfits and our vibe, we look like a proper, upright military unit?"

Beta didn't even hesitate. He immediately shook his head.

But when he noticed Qin Ming glaring at him, he quickly caught on and began nodding vigorously instead.

Seeing this, Qin Ming rolled his eyes and suddenly waved his hand in a grand gesture.

"Move out! Target: the Egyptian Pyramids!"

"Yes, sir!"

With a thunderous and unified shout, the elite Hound unit boarded their aircraft.

The hatch doors opened, and a dozen fighter jets along with two heavy transport planes soared into the sky, disappearing into the clouds with a deafening roar.

Thanks to the fuel reserves inside the heavy transport planes, the flight unit spent a full day traversing the skies and finally reached the Egyptian region.

And just as they approached the pyramids, a blaring alarm began to sound in their ears.

The rebel troops stationed near the pyramids, upon spotting what was clearly a regular army air unit closing in, sounded the alarm and immediately set up their machine guns, opening fire toward the sky in a frenzy.

In the midst of this hail of bullets, the fighter jets looped and swooped in the sky, retaliating with precise counterstrikes.

Some of them even performed low-altitude strafing runs, practically skimming the tops of the rebels' heads as they fired.

Meanwhile, inside the central heavy transport plane, Qin Ming, seeing that they had finally reached their destination, casually undid his safety straps and reached up to yank open the hatch.

Standing in the doorway, with fierce winds howling around him, he stared down at the enemy forces still firing from below—and then, without a word, pushed off with both feet and dove.

Free fall.

Kasamoto Eri followed right behind him, jumping out without hesitation.

And right after them came another figure—another battlefield warrior from a different world: Liona!

As the wind roared around her, before even hitting the ground, Kasamoto Eri flickered out of sight with a blink. The next instant, she had already reappeared in the midst of the enemy ranks.

Liona, on the other hand, exploded into a mist of blood with a loud bang, hurtling at high speed toward one of the rebels. As she got close, she reformed into her human shape and, with a sharp flick of her wrist, hurled a Moonlight Saw straight at her target!

A blade of cold light, gleaming like the pale moon—shhk!—the enemy was cleaved in two on the spot.

As a squad captain in the Wrath Mercenary Corps, Liona's combat ability and mission execution were nothing short of terrifying. She was a true, bona fide soldier.

And unlike the always careless and mischievous Kasamoto Eri, Liona was her complete opposite—cold, quiet, and uncompromising.

What surprised Qin Ming the most was just how well Liona shut down Kasamoto Eri.

Because Eri always liked to annoy people—she'd push your buttons, tease you, and if you seemed like you were easygoing, she'd get even more handsy and obnoxious.

But Liona? She didn't bother showing emotion. She only had two settings: not mad and mad.

There was no middle ground—only the upper limit and the bottom limit.

If she wasn't mad, she wouldn't bother with you. If she was mad, she'd just beat the crap out of you.

Kasamoto Eri, who had tried to mess with her several times lately, had taken quite a few beatings because of it...

The group quickly eliminated the guards stationed at the pyramid's entrance. Clad in his military uniform, Qin Ming strode confidently into the depths of the pyramid. As he entered, he raised his hand and waved forward.

Seeing this gesture, Shuke and Beta led the twenty elite Hound soldiers through the passage on either side of Qin Ming, charging into the tomb ahead to scout the path.

(End of Chapter)