"Haha, thank you, thank you." He gave an exaggerated laugh and bowed.
"Give those monsters hell!"
Who would have thought, but as the massive black gates closed again, everyone there was watching him leave.
The purpose of his mission had spread, and now everyone felt it was their duty to applaud.
"I won't let you down!" he shouted cheerfully, raising his fist in a victorious gesture.
It was unclear whether they were reacting sincerely or just trying to go with the flow, but his antics lifted the spirits of many. At least the eyes of two guards were genuinely shining with happiness, and maybe now they'd let a few more poor souls through the gates.
Soon, the gates closed, and the smile slowly slipped from his face.
"It would be great if it rained..."
After the last conversation, he felt very dirty and desperately wanted to wash those feelings off his body.
"According to the forecast, the next rainy season will hit Concord in a week," Paymax replied.
"Hmm... What about the sandstorm?"
"According to initial forecasts, you'll have a chance to catch it while carrying out your contract."
"...Then I'll settle for sand baths."
"With your permission, I'll log this leisure preference under your profile, right next to the entry for bloody ba..."
*Vrooom!* He twisted the throttle and the bike's engine roared, carrying him away from Concord City.
...
Almost two years... That's how long he had been living in this place.
Earlier, he had doubted the actions of his Peak — Dream. Because of the place this creature had chosen for his rebirth, he had to face terrifying dangers. And as if that weren't enough, after leaving the Pit, he found himself in Concord.
Despite these two years, he had the feeling that he had only seen the tip of the iceberg of this place's horrors, but... Now some of Dream's actions no longer seemed so strange.
After all, it was in this place, in this environment, in this city... he felt perfectly at home.
"..." He had already driven far enough and stopped his motorcycle on one of the hills.
He took off his helmet and breathed in the air of "temporary freedom" for a couple of minutes.
The sun began to take on the contours of a sunset, which meant one thing: night was approaching.
"..." He looked back and gazed directly at the outline of the distant city.
Concord... From afar, this place literally glowed with life. Modern skyscrapers, futuristic towers, fast transport, luxurious life, and beautiful faces. Perhaps looking at this view, many visitors imagined and fantasized about just that.
Even at a distance of twenty to thirty kilometers, the neon signs and advertising projections on the skyscrapers caught his eye.
He spent most of the day in Southville, which was radically different from the rest of the city, both in terms of its structure and the mood of its inhabitants. One could say that he missed the futuristic look of the city... But that wasn't entirely true.
"Ha... How far to the destination?"
"12 kilometers. There will be a suitable vantage point in eight kilometers."
"Let's go."
The dirt road was already beginning to show glimpses of sand.
As they approached their destination, these changes became even more noticeable.
During a stop, he changed into a new outfit and swapped out his motorcycle gear.
He wrapped his head and face in a long gray scarf — a keffiyeh. To protect his eyes from the sand, he also put on windproof goggles that resembled old pilot goggles.
The functionality left something to be desired, but he valued the style aspect more.
He put on loose, wide pants and a tunic. The look was completed by a sand-colored desert cloak.
He looked more like a tourist than a mercenary heading into a death zone... But as always, the devil was in the details.
"..." The motorcycle stopped on one of the sandy hills.
It should be noted that this area was not a full-fledged desert, and a significant part of the surface was still soil or sandstone.
"Distance to target, Paymax?"
"My sensors detect the object's position Four kilometers, three hundred and twenty-three meters away from us."
"I see…"
Night had almost fully descended upon the wastelands.
The wind kept stirring up sand, blurring the view, but the outline of the Scavengers' base could no longer be concealed.
He wasn't a shopaholic, nor did he care much for fashion, but gearing up for a mission had always held a special place in his heart. Slipping into the desert outfit lifted his mood just a little.
"Looks like it's your time, Martha..." he whispered with a smile.
He took a long rifle case off the motorcycle and grabbed something else as well.
That something was... a music player. But he wasn't going to use it yet.
"Amazing..." He opened the case and saw the rifle laid out in pieces.
Within five minutes, the weapon was fully assembled and ready.
Fully assembled, Martha stretched nearly two meters in length. It was completely black, and the only thing that stood out was the rectangular digital sight on the side of the rifle.
"Paymax," he called, lying down.
"One secondAccessing control systems… Linking to targeting protocols…Beep! Ready."
The rifle's sight lit up blue, indicating that it was fully activated.
He pressed his eye to the scope and, switching from night vision to thermal mode, began to observe.
His position was concealed and almost impossible to detect. Besides, he hadn't yet entered the scavengers' territory and hadn't even met anyone on his way... But anything could happen, and he remained on guard.
One of the distinctive qualities of the Dirty Baals was that they didn't need sleep. No one knew how it worked, but rumor had it they simply never slept. At all.
"..." And now, increasing the magnification of his scope, he witnessed the full spectrum of their activity.
Those who had managed to take a break were roasting something over a fire. Strangely enough, the dish on the spit resembled human flesh.
However, most of the creatures continued to work. Huge machines, as if assembled from scrap metal, lumbered across the ground.
Other creatures walked around with something like metal detectors, while still others tapped the ground and pressed their long ears against the sand.
Why were they doing this here?
Their purpose was unknown, but for the most part, this was what they were doing.
The base was equipped with massive processing stations and huge containers that looked like giant cans from a distance. Judging by the thermal imaging data, the containers were filled with some kind of combustible substance like oil... Or maybe it was something else. In any case, some of the creatures were working there.
And yet, no one would have noticed it right away, but this base had a hidden underground section. Even with the best equipment, it was very difficult to detect anything through the ground... But it looked like something truly terrible was happening there.
But that didn't surprise him. The reputation of these creatures did not always come out of nowhere.
What really surprised him was...
"Haah..." He sighed and moved away from the scope. "It looks like every one of them is carrying a weapon. Without exception."
"Confirmed."
An almost uninhabited wasteland where there was not a single living soul besides them. Despite all this, they constantly kept their weapons with them at all times.
It was strange, very strange indeed.
"No matter how many times I look at it, this plan is truly suicidal... One against a hundred? Maybe it would be fun at first, but then they'd just tear me to pieces.
"Under the current plan, the probability of that outcome is 88%."
"12 percent for me? Honestly, I'm shocked that you're betting so much."
"You're not entirely correct. 88% that you'll be torn to pieces, and 10% that you'll simply be shot at the very beginning. Your overall survival probability stands at 2%."
"... Great."
No matter how you look at it, it was impossible to cope with the current forces, which meant...
"..." He raised his head and looked at the night sky.
You'd never see a sky like this in the city.
The sky was literally dotted with stars. Hundreds of them. Thousands.
It seemed as if they had all gathered just to look at him...
And he knew where that feeling came from.
"Haah..." He sighed heavily and looked at his own chest, then back at the stars. "Now the stars recognize you as one of their own... They will be able to show you the way, and you will be able to use their light..." He remembered those words again.
Every time he did this, incredible sensations washed over him. It was indescribable.
As if he were touching something truly majestic — something far too pure for a dark man like him.
"Stars..." he addressed them quietly.
Anticipating this, he forced himself to steady his emotions and began to act.
He was going to use his trump card — the ability he had earned during the trial in the Pit!