Inside The Black Mist

Qu Gao sat on the cold and hard terrace floor, leaning against the terrace's lamp post. His camouflage suit blended him almost seamlessly with the surrounding vegetation, effectively preventing his body heat from leaking out. This way, even if the enemy had thermal imaging equipment, they wouldn't see him.

Qu Gao had carefully selected this sniper position. Snipers usually aimed for the most concealed spots. However, Qu Gao had his own sniper philosophy, such as this position in the light, which most people would instinctively ignore. Most people blindly believed that an ambusher would never expose themselves in plain sight. Qu Gao exploited this psychological blind spot, which was why he chose this location. This practice allowed him to complete many nearly impossible missions.

At this moment, Qu Gao held his customized sniper rifle, breathing steadily. He had been in this position for nearly two hours, and he showed no signs of impatience. Patience was a fundamental trait for every sniper, and Qu Gao excelled in this regard.

At the age of 49, he was considered old among Ascender individuals. When he awakened as a Hunter at the age of 18, he was full of youthful enthusiasm, believing he could conquer the world. It took him three years to accumulate enough progress to advance to a Level 2 Hunter. During the same period, some achieved Level 1, and others reached Level 3 in their third year.

Qu Gao finally realized that, while he was lucky to awaken, his innate talent was abysmal. It took him three years to progress from Hunter to Level 2 Hunter.

To become a Level 3 Sniper Master, he spent a whole twelve years. Yet, even now, he remained a Sniper Master. Although he had reached the maximum progress for his current level, every advancement beyond Level 3 required an "Ascender Medium."

Each level and tier of advancement required different Ascender Mediums, composed of multiple materials. To elevate his rank, Qu Gao began to compromise his principles, becoming ruthless and compromising his integrity. This rapid decline in reputation was unfortunate, but as a Level 3 Ascender, he didn't possess much reputation to begin with.

In any case, despite using any means necessary, Qu Gao was still missing two Ascender Mediums. One of them was the Star Substance Crystal, a strategic resource in almost every fortress. To obtain one, there were a few options:

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1. Join a Fortress system, serve, earn contribution points, and exchange them.
2. Be recognized by a Fortress system for outstanding contributions and receive rewards.
3. Purchase from the black market without any prerequisites, as long as you could meet the seller's price.

Regrettably, Qu Gao didn't meet any of these conditions. As a person who had lost all reputation, he couldn't gain recognition from any Fortress system. Moreover, he couldn't meet the sellers' demands in the black market. When he arrived in Eastern Bay Fortress City as a Prospector, he learned about the job offered by Qin Jie.

Normally, no one would accept this job against the Ascender members of the Night Walkers. They were the official Ascender group of the Qianghai Bay Fortress, and opposing them meant risking being banned from the fortress. However, for a person like Qu Gao, this didn't matter, as he had no intention of staying in the fortress.

The Eastern Bay Fortress City had more than thirty fortresses, even if he lost one, there were over twenty more to explore. However, the young man named Tianyang had yet to appear. Not exactly anxious, but Qu Gao wanted to end this as soon as possible. Lying on a soft bed was much better than sitting here. Just then, without any warning, a beam of light shot from the street outside the Qin Residence.

The beam penetrated the virtually defenseless perimeter wall, hitting a vehicle parked in the front courtyard of the main building. The vehicle's fuel tank exploded, creating a vibrant orange fireball. Fragments of the vehicle scattered violently, causing the windows of the main building to shatter in quick succession.

The sudden explosion made Qu Gao's heart skip a beat. The opponent had used this method to start the attack, far beyond his expectations.

What was even more surprising was the following attack. Energy beams struck the Qin Residence at a high frequency, aiming at the second floor of the main building. From the rate of fire from the energy beams, a certain type of Star Substance firearm came to Qu Gao's mind.

Assault rifle!

This was a rifle capable of full-auto fire with a high rate of fire, making it a useful tool against low-level Citizens. Using it to attack a building, especially a high-end residence like the main building with minimal defenses, was incredibly straightforward.

The exterior wall of the Qin Residence, covered in beautiful tiles, couldn't withstand the high-frequency fire. Within seconds, the energy beams broke through the exterior wall. The second floor of the main building was exposed to the threat of the energy beams. Qu Gao, situated on the terrace, could feel the main building shaking. He felt like he was sitting on a volcano.

Although Qu Gao knew that Qin Jie had prepared a decoy on the second floor to lure the intruder further into the mansion, he had positioned himself in a safer location. However, the focused assault by the intruder put the main building at risk of collapse. If Qin Jie got buried, Qu Gao wouldn't receive his payment.

Thinking of this, Qu Gao quickly crouched on the ground and extended his sniper rifle through the bushes. His electronic device easily spotted someone on the other side of the street behind the lamppost, propping up the assault rifle toward this direction.

However, due to the angle, Qu Gao couldn't see the person clearly, and even the rifle was only partially visible. But behind the lamppost, Qu Gao noticed a piece of clothing.

He smiled. Just a lamppost wouldn't defeat him.

To ensure success, he loaded an armor-piercing round into his sniper rifle. He adjusted his aim, locking onto the position of the person behind the lamppost, and fired.

In the dark night, a faint red line traced the bullet's trajectory. The armor-piercing round easily pierced the lamppost, silencing the assault rifle immediately.

Qu Gao breathed a sigh of relief, but just at that moment, he heard a loud, booming sound as an object tore through the air at high speed!