After finally realizing that the nightclub was a success, the group spent a month off. Everyone started to do their own thing this month.
The employees did the nightclub management, but they wouldn’t check any of the profit made, as it would probably make it difficult for them to laundry the money.
Alex and Alicia went on vacation in Miami and the Caribbean Sea. They also went on a luxurious cruise, which Alicia loved so much. All of it was done in the first week; they also went to Europe, Japan, and other countries to enjoy their free time. Alicia had officially resigned from her job to better enjoy her life.
As for Michael and Jenifer, they finally had their wedding. It was done in a church, and the afterparty was in the nightclub. They had their honeymoon in New York, and it was a very luxurious one. Alex was the wedding best man, and everything went smoothly.
As for Comoron and Emily, they were even closer than before after living together. They became really good friends. Emily continued to work as a DJ some days of the week, while Comoron studied more science to create his own spells. He tried to teach Emily some magic, but as she had never felt magical power before, she wouldn’t understand the magic yet. Emily and her mother also earned enough money to start their process to gain their green cards. She also learned English, so she wouldn’t rely on translation spells anymore. When Comoron started to get used to his life in the US, he bought a Cybertruck and a computer to play on, even though Emily usually plays on the computer herself, not giving Comoron a chance. She knew that he wouldn’t stop her.
As for Harper, he worked on his own for the time being. He bought some jewels from Earth and sold them in the kingdom. He also sold the gold in the slums instead of on Earth, earning the money from the Reich. He also learned their language, and he finally started to understand what was happening in that place. The world has been in a tripartite cold war for almost 50 years since the Reich won the Great War. The three main world powers were the Rising Sun Empire on the Azura continent, the Germanium Reich on the Euron continent, and the Unified Republics of Asmeria. That cold was at least three times worse than the Earth’s. The technology progressed much more than Earth, but as they finally achieved almost infinite energy with nuclear fusion, the computers stopped in time because of a lack of efficiency and energy usage. As they had infinite power, they didn’t need to create superconductors, extremely efficient materials, or nanotechnology. As for the medical area, they are also far better than Earth. The genetically modified crops made it possible to raise food in polluted areas, and the animals were genetically modified to provide 100% meat efficiency, turning into some kind of worm, surely something gross.
Harper also learned that the Rising Sun Empire is a corporativist state where people are permanently stuck in the social hierarchy. The tensions were extremely high because, on the other hand, the United Republic grants universal rights to all of its citizens, and even one person being mistreated could ignite a war between the two countries. For the sake of humanity, people from each country are legally prohibited from entering the other. The Unified Republics and the Empire of the Rising Sun are declared enemies because, after the war, the Unified Republics lost core territories to that place. As for the Germanium Reich, they don’t have mortal enemies. The Unified Republics surely disliked them, but they wouldn’t easily enter war as they did with the RSE (Rising Sun Empire). Their only problem were the Rus people. They were a communist state before the war started, but after the war, the Germanium Reich took the main part of their country, and the people flew to the ice parts. Various states appeared in the ice lands, and warlords took the places for themselves. Every warlord wants to unify their country again, but their ideologies are diverse. There are warlords that want to turn the Rus into a republic and negotiate the territories with the Germaniums; there are others that want the total extermination of the Germanium race, even if it means the destruction of the world. There are others who allied themselves with the Reich, and even some religious fanatics.
As they already knew that they live on a planet, not some kind of continent like in the Kingdom, they called their world Diretorium. As they were in their cold war, the Reich was the first one to put the man on the moon, but only months later, the Unified Republics also put their own man there. The RSE didn’t send their man to the moon yet, though they already have tons of satellites in low orbit. As for the military, the strongest by far was the Reich, then the RSE, followed by the Unified Republics. For economic power, the Unified Republics were the stronghold of 75% of the world GDP. They are the most likely candidate to win the Cold War if the world doesn’t cease to exist by then. The RSE and the Reich have military economies, but the RSE are at least twice the economy of the Reich, because unlike them, the RSE are governed by companies, not some corrupt and racist politicians who kill their own brains.
Harper learned all of that in the slums, where people aren’t even properly educated. He had much more to dig into about the Diretorium’s history.
One thing he learned made him really excited about his group’s future. There are personal spaceships for sale. Even though they exist, they are extremely expensive. One of them would cost at least 2 billion dollars if they were to convert. They couldn’t make that money that money selling gold; they would have to do work.
Another problem with the personal spaceship was that the only place that sells them to civilians is the United States. The Reich nationalized them all; the RSE only sold them to nobles and CEOs; and other countries didn’t even have the technology to develop them. Harper understood that the only way to put his hands in one of them would be by buying it in the URA (Unified Republics of Asmeria) or hijacking one of them from some military warlord in the Third World, which is what they call all the countries that aren’t superpowers or their subjects.
There’s also the personal fighter option. It is a small spacecraft that doesn’t have high autonomy to fly in space and has a constant need for fuel. The two options would certainly help them a lot, but unfortunately, they don’t have the money for either of them.
Even though Harper had learned some good information about the Diretorium, there’s still some places where people don’t have any information, like the Rus Ice Lands, the minor states on the Azura continent, South Asmeria, and the Sahr continent. Even though there are some civilized areas, most of these places aren’t fully controlled by national states. He even heard that there are anarcho-capitalist places where there aren’t any restrictions like gun control, research, or drugs. Unfortunately, the technology there isn’t as advanced as the super powers.
Harper spent his whole month learning that. With this in hand, they could carry out their operations. They wouldn’t stop after setting up a nightclub, would they?
Harper, after collecting all the information and summarizing it, finally called Alex.
“Hello Alex, how’re you doing, my friend?”
“I’m fine. But I can’t say the same for you, can I? You’ve probably spent the whole month working. Man, you have to take care of yourself.”
“Jenifer also says that often to me, you aren’t the first. Well, you are right, though; I’ve indeed spent the month working and collecting information.”
“Then I guess it can’t be helped. Spill out the information you got, my friend.”
“I’ve collected information regarding that cyberpunk world. They are called Diretorium, and the things are worse than we expected.
As Harper said it, he explained the whole set of information he discovered about that place. Alex listened to every word attentively. The whole space thing surely catches his attention, but he was also interested in the uncivilized areas and their potential to serve as bases to do shady business.
“Then, I guess that our vacation is over.”
Alex said. He was cold in his tone, but inside he was surely excited, as Alicia, who was by his side, could tell.
“Yes, probably. Firstly, we have to get out of the slums. I already bought a map showing the escape route that people there usually go through to escape. Only 10% of them succeed and escape to a country that is very similar to ours; their name is the United Republics of Asmeria. But unlike normal folk, we have magic at our side as well as our spatial storage, and if things go wrong, we can just open a portal and teleport to wherever we want whenever we decide.”
Harper said it. The plan was quite simple, but it surely wouldn’t be easy.
“Alright. I’ll call the boys. In one week, we will start our mission.”
Alex said. After that, they ended their call.
1 week later...
Alex and everyone were in the nightclub. It was 10 a.m., and the employees had yet to come.
“Alright, we are going to do that. Any questions?”
Alex said it after explaining everything to the group.
“I have one. Can I go with you boys?”
Emily asked
“No. This mission is too dangerous for you. Stay here and focus on getting magic control. Comoron prepared a whole book for you, so after we finish it, at least you will be able to feel the power within you.”
Alex said.
“But-
“No means no! You know that, so we do. We can’t lose you because of some miscalculation or error we may make in the path; if we fuck things out there, we will be fine, but you probably won’t.”
Alex said. Even though Emily wanted to do it, everybody knew that this mission was extremely hard.
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“Alright.”
Emily finally agreed. She could at least continue her studies in music theory and even develop some new technology using the earth's efficient computation.
“Any other questions?”
Alex asked, and after a few seconds of silence, he said
“Then, here we go.”
Alex opened a portal to the slums. That place was a disaster, but now everyone who saw them waved their hands. They became popular after donating food here.
According to the map, they should follow the river and pass through the slums. They would eventually leave the slums and enter the dumping ground. There is some surveillance there, but not as tough as the one Alex and Harper went through when they entered the slums for the first time.
The only issue was that they would have to hide in the water—the same water where all the sewage was thrown. There was the risk of contracting a disease or something similar; it was actually the second most common cause of death in the escaping tentative, only behind being killed directly by governmental agents.
It was utterly disgusting, but they had no choice. Alex and his squad then entered the polluted waters. They used some standard swimming equipment from Earth and an infinite oxygen tank that Alex and Comoron developed using power stones. The most common killing method for escapees was waiting for their oxygen supply to run out and then cowardly shooting them from afar. Without needing to emerge, they would be safer. Now was the time.
Alex made his final confirmation. Everyone was okay. Everyone had their gear working, their respirators were okay, and the infinite oxygen supply was also operational. After some time checking the river, they noted that they would also need defense against sharp scrap dumped there and contaminants. Harper bought a custom invisible plastic that is flexible, soft, and extremely resistant to cuts. After using a fire magic laser to cut that and a special glue they bought to connect the parts, each one of them had their new gear completely working.
“Alright. Now I think that we won’t have problems. But even though we need to be cautious, instead of using normal lanterns, use your magic power like a radar.”
Alex said. Comoron, after studying the concepts of radar and sonar, came up with something similar to magic. Although it was similar, he couldn't insert that into a power crystal, so a person had to cast it constantly instead of automatically receiving the data.
“Roger!”
Everyone shouted.
“And keep that in mind; if anything happens, don’t hesitate to summon a portal and teleport to the demonic forest!”
Alex said it. He was very serious here, so there’s no room for error.
After everyone agreed with their eyes, Alex finally jumped into the river. They thought it was shallow because of all the trash floating, but this river was actually very deep. At least all the trash was either floating or completely submerged.
After Alex’s jump, the other three followed him. They could note that this place was extremely polluted, and visibility wasn’t superior to 1 foot. The magical radar helped them a lot, and because this place probably didn't have the have the technology to detect this kind of energy, they were safe.
After diving in the river for 20 minutes, Alex could catch some mines and devices that turned the lives of whoever was trying to escape into hell. Thanks to his magical radar, they missed all of these.
After some 30 minutes of diving, Alex tried to use his magic as a propulsor. It worked fine, and it made their lives much easier. After diving at least 20 miles per hour, they finally started to reach a cleaner area of the river. Here, the visibility was at least 5 feet, and there wasn't as much trash as before. Harper even found a fish here, which meant that the place could at least sustain life.
Michael started to think about it after some time. This was the water that the people in the slums consumed, so it is likely that they are likely to be ill and die without any medical intervention.
It made him angry, but in this turbulent water, no one would see him or care for his anger, so he calmed himself. He was sick of this place and this country. No wonder that there are even people willing to end the world by destroying this place.
As the water became cleaner, they had finally reached the natural area, if that could be called nature. The place was full of military uniforms, destroyed tanks, artillery, empty magazines dropped in the ground, and burned places. Nature had consumed it all, but the silhouette could still be seen. That war was a hell of a war, for sure.
As they saw that it was safer now, they emerged from the river and started to walk again. Their plastic gear was full of some kind of cloudy, fatty oil. The feeling of that oil wasn’t something they wanted to feel, so Alex cast some water-pressurized spells to take that off. Even with highly pressurized water, they couldn’t get rid of that oil, so Alex tried a different approach. He took some salt from his spatial storage and separated the sodium from the chloride. After that, he stored the chlorine again and dropped the sodium in some pure water. It liberated hydrogen, and the water became a mixture of water and caustic soda. That soda would function as a saponification agent. His idea worked pretty well, and their gear was cleaned in no time.
They spent 3 hours diving in that place, so it would be a nice break now. After cleaning their gear, it was stored again in Alex’s spatial storage. After that, Alex picked some food, and they rested for about an hour before continuing.
They could finally breathe some air, but after breathing that place’s air, they surely weren’t as excited as before. It smells like shit. Well, they could talk a little and laugh at some things.
Comoron was the most shocked by this place. He never truly left the slums, so he didn’t understand exactly what modern trash problems looked like. After fleeing from the slums for the first time, he finally understood what it meant to progress. It was a disgusting experience he wouldn’t forget soon. Next time he met nature, he would enjoy it a little more.
After an hour of resting, they finally continued their mission. Today, they would at least make it until the port city of Arischburg.
When they arrive in Arischburg, they will finally rest. Unlike the city they were in before, that place was a port city, and because of the interaction with foreigners, there wasn’t the issue of drones trying to kill you for not being Germanium.
There are boats that often appear to bring people who are trying to flee to their respective countries in exchange for money. Of course, there are also people who scam them, pretending to offer that service, but instead bring them to become slaves.
With magic, Alex could easily overthrow the driver and take the boat for himself, so it wasn’t an issue. The only problem was that, after doing so, they would be criminals. In this world, self-defense doesn’t mean anything outside of the URA.
They started to walk in the opposite direction of the river. That river would lead them to the northern parts of the Reich, which they wanted to avoid. Instead, walking west would lead them to the port city, which they now wanted.
Alex thought that they could use magic to enhance their speed, and it worked. They were running at incredible speeds of 50 mph. Alex and Comoron made a spell to increase ATP generation in their bodies so they wouldn’t feel tired soon.
After 20 minutes of running, Harper broke the silence.
“Alex, if we succeed here, where will we go?”
“I don’t know, Harper. We can pick a boat that will lead us to the Unified Republics, or we will get to the RSE; we can even get to some third-world place.”
Alex said.
“I think that inside the port city, we should buy information about the identities of those in the boats. We can make it worth it if we flee to the right place.”
Michael said. He was still angry with this country, and he doesn’t want to give money to these corrupt people, but it can’t be helped in their situation.
“I guess that you are right. Well, we will do something about it when we arrive. First, let’s focus on arriving there.”
Alex said.
“Ok.”
Michael answered. He understood what Alex wanted to say; he was right.
“Sorry for interrupting you guys, but I really want to say I don’t like this place.”
Comoron said. He never met something similar in his world, so it was no surprise that he was horrified by this place.
“Hahaha, only you to remember us that this place is a hellish shit, Comoron.”
Alex laughed. Comoron didn’t understand at first, but it meant to lighten the mood here. Well, it worked just fine.
After talking a little more, the mood was light, and they continued their way for the whole three hours. Alex started to feel the atmosphere becoming more like the coast, and as they crossed the mountain in front of them, they could finally see the ocean.
It was dirty and full of trash, but the bluish color couldn’t be hidden. They had finally reached the sea, and now they had to follow the coastline until they finally reached the city. Seeing the sun's position, they could tell what was north and south. To avoid the risk of running all that way and reaching the coastline without knowing if the city was in the south or the north, they ran south on purpose, so when they reached the coastline, they would surely have to run north.
It worked! After 40 minutes of running, they finally reached Arischburg. That place was somehow better than the previous city. I guess that they made this city feel more open to people because of the international market that made this place one of its bases.
They knew that this place wasn’t like the Reich, and even though they didn’t care much, they already knew that the Reich was a disgusting dictatorship. Everyone knew. But even though there are still some people who support them outside their disgusting empire.
As they entered the city, hiding from the main checkpoints, they mixed in the streets. They walked for more than 30 minutes before finally reaching the port. Unlike in the empty areas, where they could run as fast as they wanted, they couldn’t do it in the city. Well, there they were. They could see a lot of people who were walking, shopping, making deals, etc. That place wasn’t an international market for nothing. As Alex and his group mixed into the people, they started to search for information.
Michael was looking in the south part of the bay when he saw a homeless man. That man surely looked like everyone else, but Michael knew something in him felt different. He wasn’t homeless at all; his skin was in good condition, his hair wasn’t all messed out, and his clothes, even though torn, were new. Michael knew something was off, so he approached that man.
“Hey man, can you help me a little bit?”
Michael said. He used translation magic, so it should work.
“I don’t think I can, sorry, sir.”
The man said.
“Stop with nonsense. I already know you aren’t homeless.”
Michael said it in a serious tone.
“Hmm. And I also know you aren’t a merchant or someone visiting. You are trying to flee, aren’t you?”
“How did you know?”
“Like you, I am an observer. I can see that you are nervous and sweaty; you probably had a good run, didn’t you?”
“You are right. Now that we both know about each other, let’s straight into business.”
“I’m all ears.”
The man said, He wasn’t evil, Michael thought. He proposed the following deal:
“I offer you 20 thousand marks in gold. All you have to do is tell me which ship I should pick.”
Michael said.
“Hmm. So, you easily trust me, uh? What makes you think that I won’t just point you in the wrong direction and turn you into a slave?”
The man said.
“Hahahaha, good joke. You already know that I ran all the way here, right? No weak man could do it. But it isn’t enough, right? How can you explain my gold, then? I couldn’t acquire that much without having to face challenges, could I? Just think about it; I know where to find someone I can trust.”
Michael said.
“Good answer. I like you; we have a deal.”
The man said this, opening his hands. Michael understood what it meant, and then he put two royal gold coins and five gold coins in that man's hands.
The man didn’t understand the coin's content, but he knew that it was pure gold, so he wasn’t lying about the gold. That man was happy about his easy money, so it wouldn’t hurt to tell that refugee about the best ship to pick; it wasn’t like he was directly interfering with anyone’s business.
“Can you see that white boat with blue and red lines? They are from the unified republics, so you can try to negotiate with the driver. If it doesn’t work, all those six boats down there are also from the unified republics. You can at least buy your entrance in one of them.”
The man said.
“I appreciate the information.”
Michael said, and then he left.
He used his coat of arms to ping his squad. Everyone got to the location where they would reunite in case anyone found good information.
“Guys, I bought some really good information for 250 grams of gold. It was surely expensive, but it was worth it. I know at least 20 ships from the Unified Republics that often accept refuges there.”
Michael said.
“Then, I guess that our next course of action will be trying to convince one of those to help us, uh?”
Alex said.
“I think so.”
Harper agreed.
As soon as they both agreed on what to do, they would finally leave this filthy country.