Ronnie straightened his bag, shook the sand out of his shoes, and set off at a snail's pace on the road. The rocks were left behind, and before his eyes, white desert hills resembling storm waves stuck in time. The tracks were blown away by the wind within minutes. Nature was returning the area to its original appearance. To the left stood dried-up barren trees surrounded by stones, a little further away bushes of white-red color, as if covered with frost. AI said it was the local equivalent of Earth's creosote shrubs. Small Iniktanth creatures crawled underfoot - representatives of the local fauna. If someone would take a closer look, this someone could see six eyes on its head, strange mole paws, and also a change in skin color, like a chameleon. You would get 1,000 CP for scanning new individuals. Not bad either.

The game has adapted to the players' exploration. In the morning, the developers added a "hotfix" to the "bestiary" section dividing monsters into conscious and unconscious - you can't even remember when the developers added something at such a speed. In addition, this function of the game provides information about not only the local flora, but also any types of local fauna: about boss monsters, bugs, birds, and so on, everything is described there, including behavior, what they eat, what environment they live in. Sometimes if you go to a new or old location, you can see something that looks like a hare or a deer or something, turn on the AI, ask for an analysis of the creature and start reading about it or listening to it, it is convenient for anyone. If you need to learn about monsters in a dungeon that someone has explored earlier, then a separate tab contains the winning battle tactics (based on the experience of the first winner; information is updated when new data appears) against the final boss, the weaknesses and strengths of ordinary monsters, traps, the approximate amount of experience for killing and complexity. In the end, it’s the best thing to kill time on the road, especially when you are traveling alone.

The wind has left this lifeless place, in which a minute passes like an hour. Traveling still has its drawbacks. You appear to be the first to find and see something new, and the realization of this cannot but thrill and delight the fibers of your soul, but walk through a boring desert or a stinking peat swamp for a couple of days, the admiration will go away and you will crave for a change, something that has no Earthly analogs. The developers promised a lot of amazing places, but neither Ronnie nor anyone else has yet met this. It is a pity that in the first update they did not introduce mounts, this would have made many tasks easier, most likely they want to focus on primitive realism in order to keep the players interested. The game does it perfectly. During peak hours, concurrent users reach 800,000.

Ronnie deviated a little from the original course, he wanted to find something else, something interesting. And so it happened, overcoming another sand dune, the size of a two-story house, he stopped and examined the area from its top, about five hundred yards away he spotted an oasis. Through the eyepiece of his binoculars, the sniper noticed three figures: two males, one female. After a twenty-sevenfold increase, it became clear that they were not together. The guys tied the girl to a palm tree, beat her, took away her things, and now shook out everything that was in the backpack.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

These two robbers, about twenty years old, dressed in a classic green military uniform, helmets on their heads, carrying a PPSH-41 with a 71-round drum magazine and very small backpacks on their backs, apparently in case everything goes wrong and they would die. It's immediately obvious - amateurs, Ronnie thought, if you want to take a PP from the Second World War, then you can't find a better PPP-43: stamped metal, double-row cartridge feed, only automatic mode, Kalashnikov also called this weapon the best.

Ronnie focused on what was happening and for several minutes lowered and raised the binoculars, looked, tried to weigh the pros and cons of his further decision. At this time, two players began to undress the girl, search for the uniform.

"AI."

"At your service."

"Show me their levels."

The guys turned out to be the fourteenth level, the girl, the sixth. What she forgot in such a dangerous place is incomprehensible to the mind. Maybe she was dragged here by force? If you won't ask, you won't know for sure. No one fired. A minute later it became clear why. One of the players took out a rope with a noose already tied and threw the other end over a palm branch and prepared the gallows. They decided to avoid punishment for murder.

Ronnie sighed and spat and crept a couple of hundred yards closer to close the distance. He lay down between two sandhills, took off his backpack and put the rifle on it and looked into the scope of the double sight, and waited another thirty seconds collecting his thoughts and after two deep breaths, he exhaled and held his breath, and took aim. The girl's head is about to be in the noose, if this happens, he will not have time to save her and certainly will not shoot the rope at this distance. It's time to decide.

Ronnie took off the safety and fired. A dull, sharp sound rang out all over the surrounding area. In less than a second, the bullet hit the first player in the chest, and while it was flying, Ronnie managed to open the barrel with a sliding shutter, close it, exhale and shoot a second time. A message appeared in the system:

You have inflicted two fatal wounds on players of a level below yourself. There is a reward of 458,000 CP for your head.

"AI."

"At your service."

"What is such a big reward for?"

"Because of the difference in levels and rating."

"But they would have hanged that girl."

"The player's life wasn’t in danger yet."

"I saved her, damn it!"

…

"AI!"

" At your service."

"Take the fine off me."

"I can't do that, murder is murder, with noble motives or not. For other inquiries, please contact customer support."

"But that's idiocy."

"Ronnie, you have made your decision when you fired at someone whose name isn’t highlighted red yet. Please accept the consequences."

"What about the right to self-defense?"

"This right is granted to the victim, but not to the third party."

"Fucking hell… That's what I get for trying to help someone."