Chapter 1257: 404. Profiting by betraying friends
Somewhere in the Lisom Star System.
Dikaga Federation Space Navy Academy, Logistics Engineering Space Station.
This is a large space station floating above a resource planet, providing all civilian services including logistical supplies and ship maintenance and repair.
Years ago, in response to cosmic creatures roaming throughout the universe and various mysterious events, Mankind’s cosmic nations, including the Dikaga Federation, jointly established a neutral military institution called the United Cooperation Bureau.
The United Cooperation Bureau, abbreviated as the United Bureau, primarily consists of military personnel from various human cosmic nations.
The United Bureau has three regular departments, one of which is specifically responsible for interfacing with the space navies of various nations and stateless mercenaries.
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Any player who has registered a legal mercenary identity with the Command Execution Department can rest within the United Bureau member states’ space stations.
Players usually set their respawn point after death to a space station close to the mission location to facilitate “corpse running”—that is, to return to the mission location as quickly as possible.
The player team led by Cucumber Slice did the same.
They considered this space station their safe zone, both for convenient reputation farming from Split Bear Star Thieves and better handling of hostile cosmic creatures lurking in this star system.
Bitter Gourd Juice had previously slipped and fallen, accidentally igniting explosives that not only affected his teammates but also killed him instantly.
In one of the resting rooms of the space station, Bitter Gourd Juice appeared out of nowhere on the bed, wearing a white jumpsuit provided by the system.
He opened his eyes and sat up abruptly from the bed, his eyes flickering with complex emotions of excitement and self-reproach.
“Sorry, brothers…”
Bitter Gourd Juice raised his hand to cover his face, remained silent for a few seconds, then vigorously rubbed his cheeks.
He looked at the clothes he was wearing.
Upon a player’s death, all items on them would drop, leaving his battered Power Armor and all his equipment in the Underground Treasure Chamber.
In addition, 50% of his current level’s experience bar would be deducted by the system as a cost for respawning.
Fortunately, although there were losses in equipment and experience, the basic services provided by the game system remained unchanged.
Functions like the Friends feature and the Forum were operating normally.
Bitter Gourd Juice took a deep breath and silently commanded “Open Game Interface.”
A system interface that only he could see popped up before his eyes.
Bitter Gourd Juice skillfully opened the “Friends” list, forcing himself not to look at his squad members’ avatars.
He scrolled through the friends list, found a hidden friend’s avatar, clicked on it, and sent out a line of information.
“Big Shot Dragon, I have super important information to sell, it’s a chained mission line that triggers a major expansion.”
After sending the message, Bitter Gourd Juice nervously prayed for the other party to check the friend message soon.
The player he called Big Shot Dragon, formally named Golden Dragon in the Sky.
The name was quite flamboyant indeed.
In fact, Golden Dragon in the Sky could afford to be.
In the game, he was a Big Shot of a Great Guild, with over three hundred professional players gathering game currency and various materials for him.
Outside the game, Bitter Gourd Juice was not quite sure what Golden Dragon in the Sky’s situation was like, but he heard it was not simple.
Bitter Gourd Juice’s player squad, known for exploring game narratives and uncovering hidden gameplay, had gained quite a reputation on the game forums.
This led the squad members to meet Golden Dragon in the Sky, who was eager to obtain a hidden class.
Now, Golden Dragon in the Sky’s friends slot had become a convenient channel for Bitter Gourd Juice to betray his teammates for personal gain.
After an agonizing wait of several seconds, the “ding ding ding” notification sound indicating a new message arrived. noveldrama
Bitter Gourd Juice immediately clicked on the chat window to talk to Golden Dragon in the Sky.
Golden Dragon in the Sky, “Is the information reliable? Do you have screenshots and videos?”
Bitter Gourd Juice dragged out the mission interface, used the system’s built-in screenshot feature to take a picture and sent it over, adding a line:
“Absolutely true, Big Shot Dragon!”
A few seconds passed before Golden Dragon in the Sky sent a new message:
“Why can’t I contact your captain?”
Bitter Gourd Juice felt a pang of anxiety and hurriedly typed:
“Big Shot Dragon! The reward for this first phase of the mission is going to be discontinued! Whoever completes it first gets the discontinued title and reward! I estimate the discontinued rewards include the task for the hidden class! So…uh, so I delayed the progress of the captain and others. I had to die out of the instance alone to message you!”
Golden Dragon in the Sky, whether speculating the meaning behind Bitter Gourd Juice’s words or still trying to contact Cucumber Slice, did not reply for the moment.
Seeing there were no messages from the other party, Bitter Gourd Juice quickly increased his typing speed:
“A flat rate of 1 million credit points…”
Bitter Gourd Juice paused slightly and then changed “1 million” to “5 million.”
“A flat rate of 5 million credit points, I will immediately take you to the mission location to trigger this task! I blew up the captain and his team with a high-energy bomb bundle. They definitely won’t be able to complete the task now! I guarantee you will be the only one who can complete this task!”
After the message was sent,
Bitter Gourd Juice returned to the friends list and glanced at his squad members’ friend avatars.
The friends’ avatars of squad members who were in a mission showed “temporarily uncontactable,” indicating that they had not yet exited the instance.