Jake stood there, looking up at the sky. “Who are you, and what do you want?”

“I don't see any point in hanging around in the city anymore; there's no good fights here.” Jake put his hood up and left for the city limits. The journey was relatively calm; only one group of enforcers was spotted patrolling the streets. What Jake found strange was that from the city center to the city limits, he didn't see a single car or anything mechanical working. Jake even stopped to look at one of the cars. He got in and turned the key, but nothing happened. Opening the car's bonnet, to his surprise, he found only a large chunk of metal. Jake came up with the idea that if all the car engines were turned into chunks of metal, then he would collect them like Pokémon, storing them in his storage ring for later use. There wasn't a lot, but it was enough to help him with his plans. Jake planned to use the token to make a settlement in the Strzelecki Ranges and, if possible, find some like-minded individuals to assist in its creation. Once it was set up, Jake would be able to work on his grand plan to rebuild his shuttle into something grandiose. After that, Jake would probably venture out into the galaxy, maybe even become some kind of mercenary, like he was thinking back in the tutorial. But all of this would be dependent on who and what was up in space. And, of course, he would have to find Erica someday, but she should be fine; she did say she was going to the Wandering Imperium, right? Jake was about to leave the city when he turned to walk down the street that led out of the dome when he saw the large queue of people waiting there. Jake ducked into the back of the line, and the person in front of him turned to look.

“Hi, how are you? What are we all queuing for, may I ask?”

“You don't know. They found a safe settlement not far from the city. It has water, food, and even electricity. But they said that they're only going to let one hundred people go there, and the people that go have to sign some kind of contract. I just hope I meet the requirements, as my family has already gone there, and I would really like to rejoin my wife and daughter.”

There was a lot that sounded odd to Jake, but he didn't mention it to the man. As Jake looked at the start of the line, he noticed something off, only young people and females were being taken aside. But not all the females, just the young and bountiful ones. Jake decided to do a little recon on what was going on, so he put his hood back up and stepped into the shadows, vanishing out of direct view. The man who was just talking to Jake stood there, his mouth agape in shock, as Jake disappeared from his sight.

Jake was now at the front of the queue, hiding in the shadow of an adjacent building's entranceway. The group of enforcers at the front were looking over the crowd. One of them walked over to a teenage couple, a young girl and a boy. Jake heard a snicker from one of the female enforcers as she walked over to the person who was picking who got to go or not. She whispered something to the man, and then the man looked at the two teens with a look of pity before saying, “You two follow the lady here.” The man pointed at the hooded woman before continuing his job with the enthusiasm of a sloth. “I hate this fucking job,” the man grumbled before yelling at the next group. The next group consisted of two old men and one old woman in her late 60s. The group was possibly office workers before the universal system came, and as Jake used Identify on them, he noted that two of their levels were 0, and the oldest one of the three had a level of 10. Two of them didn't even do the tutorial, and the other one must have hidden somewhere safe or something. The enforcer looked at the group and yelled for the next group to move forward, but then one of the old men from the group snapped at the enforcers.

“Do you know who I am? A young kid like you thinks he can tell me I was the prime minister of this country, and you are some no-named pup.”

BANG!

The old man stood there, an old-style muzzle-loading pistol in his hand, smoke lingering. “I created this just for a time like this, where a pup like you would get in my way. This is the culmination of all my hard work, you stupid pu–” The old man's rant was cut short by a knife slicing across his wrinkled neck. “Fuck you, you old fool. Now you three fuck off,” the enforcer, now known as pup to Jake, said. Jake was watching the show when the hooded lady walked past.

“It's her. Why does it have to be that bitch, and what does she want with some teen kids?” Jake thought.

Jake followed the three into the building.

“Are we going to the new settlement?” “Yes, you did hear that you will be required to sign a contract, right?” “Yes, we will sign. It's just, what is the contract for exactly?” The boy said. “Oh, it's nothing to be worried about. It's just a simple contract that states that you will follow the rules and work on the settlement.” “If that's all it is, I will sign.” “That's good because we are going to sign the contracts together now, then we'll go up to a waiting room until all the others have been picked.”

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

The three walked over to a table with some papers on it. The young man picked up the pen and without reading, signed his name on the paper.

“What are you waiting for? Sign it so we can go to the settlement already.” “I don't know. I've never signed anything before, and I remember being told to read something first before I sign it.” “That's that old person mentality you've got coming through again. Just sign it; it will be alright, trust me.” The young girl signed the paper and said, “Fine, are you happy now? I signed it. Let's go.”

The lady in the hood picked up the two pieces of paper with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

“Let's go upstairs to the private room I had prepared.”

The three went up two levels and down a corridor until they reached room 669, but the 9 had become unstuck and was now upside-down. As soon as they entered the room, the two excited teens went pale as they looked at all the leather and chains hanging from hooks on the roof, walls, and floor. There were even bloodstains on the bed. The lady pulled out the two pieces of paper and mumbled something under her breath. The two contracts glowed bright red, then vanished. The next words that were spoken were from the lady. “Now, slaves, it's time you do your jobs and no more stupid questions.”

Jake was still down in the entrance hall where the two signed the contract. Jake had one of the contracts in his hands. “Those poor kids, if they signed this contract, their life is over. There are only two ways to get out of that bitch's grasp: one is to die, and the other is to have someone else take on the contract. The contract is binding a bit of their souls to that crazy bitch. If she dies, her slaves will too, unless they are taken up by another individual. But the only problem is that the competition outside had drawn Jake's attention for too long, and he couldn't use his perception to find them. But that would also be an issue, as it could alert everyone to his presence in the building. Jake might be higher in levels and stats, but just like back when he was fighting the bugs, he could be overwhelmed by sheer numbers, and these were humans, not bugs. A human could find other ways to deal with him, and Jake couldn't think of a counter to every possibility. So stealth is the key to surviving for now. Jake moved up the stairs to the first floor. The building looked to be an old apartment or office complex. Jake walked past one of the rooms on the first floor, and as he did, he heard moaning from a man. Jake quickly passed that door and moved on to the next door, opening the rooms that seemed safe to open. Most of them were full of people happily waiting for their turn to go to the settlement. Jake tried to tell them that it was a lie, but that only caused a commotion, so Jake ducked out of the room and hid down the hallway a bit. As he hid, an old, chubby Mediterranean-looking man wearing only white underpants and socks shuffled out of the room Jake thought of as the moaning room.

“What the fuck are you all carrying on about?” The room went quiet until one lady in her 30s said with a bit of distress. “Where is my son? You said you were going to take him to a place where he could have fun. But you have come back dressed like that.” The lady said, breaking down into a sobbing cry by the end. The man looked down at his clothing, then at the lady, and said with a straight face, “Oh, my clothes. Well, I was just sleeping, and I normally sleep like this. Your son is on a different floor in a room playing some computer games. Don't think I'm some kind of man like that; I actually take offense at your allegations towards my character.” One of the other people in the room spoke. “Why are you questioning this good man? He even took pity on your son and let him play a computer. Do you know how rare that is? My son only played a computer once before this weird system became a thing.” The old man left the room once the others started taking his side. As he closed the door, his face turned into that of a sadistic man. Jake saw this and quickly jumped out of the shadows, wrapping his hand over the man's mouth and plunging his dagger into the base of the man's neck, severing his spine but leaving him alive, as his death would most likely kill all those in that room as well. Jake dragged the fat man into a different room before covering his mouth with a cloth and closing the door on his way out. The man's eyes were staring at Jake with a stunned look the whole time as he closed the door.

Jake thought about seeing if he could help the people again, but just as he was about to walk down the hallway, he heard the sounds of footsteps coming up the stairs. So Jake kept climbing up the stairs. He got to the second floor when he heard a voice talking downstairs.

“Man, I was an idiot to think it would be any different after the universal system came. To think we once were fighting this government, but now what are we doing? Just because we were in the same tutorial as these fuckers and got captured by them right at the beginning, we are now their slaves. What kind of shit is that?”

“Look, just do what we have to do to survive. We can't save them; just let it be.”

“Let it be? You saw the age of those two teens. That bitch is going to do the same thing to them as what she did with the last ones she took. We had to put that poor girl out of her misery after what she went through. And that bitch isn't the only one who likes to do that shit. Just look at how many people we have sorted through in the last few days. Fuck this, I'm going up to the roof for a break from this.”

“She will kill you if you are not there. Remember what she said last time.”

“Fuck her; she can come kill me then. I'm going to the roof; tell her that.”

While the two people were talking, Jake had gone past the second floor and had made it to the roof. The building only seemed to have three floors. Jake pushed the door open and hid beside the door, waiting for the enforcer.