Southville was one of Concord’s three districts, located in the southernmost part of the city. It was notable for being divided into two parts: one was overground, while the other remained hidden and was located underground. The hidden part of Southville could be accessed from certain places, such as the basent of Marcel’s bar.
The other two districts were the central district, known as Como, and the northern district, referred to as Norwich.
Speaking of Concord itself... This city was the capital of the country. Interestingly, it had the sa na as the country — Concord. The country and the capital had the sa na.
There was a lot to say about it. For example, one of the nicknas given to the capital by the most famous scientist of the last century was the City of Sin. Although in private etings, he ntioned another nickna — the Grave of Sin. But almost no one knew about this.
The na stuck, and even the townspeople called their holand that, and not without reason.
Of course, it is better not to find out about such things, but if you ask how Concord is described by beings from other parts of the world...
"Rat trap!"
"Cockroach breeding ground..."
"Cage."
"...Zoo."
In general, this is how many people described the city and the country as a whole, especially in the lands where Fortitude thrived or the ’Commonwealth of Bonds’ flourished...
But it was not customary to talk about this. In this city, so things were better left unknown...
For your own safety, of course.
"Hey, you there...! Move it!"
A pair of two-ter-tall guards clad in heavy dark blue armor stood in front of tall black gates.
’Dice Security’ — that was the logo on their armor.
Further away from the gates were thick walls covered with electrified barbed wire. As if that weren’t enough, a laser canopy stretched a couple of ters from the tops of the walls.
Surely there were those who had extraordinary jumping abilities. And surely, if they tried to cross the walls, they would be fried to a crisp.
"..." Mr. Nobody twisted the throttle and rolled the motorcycle forward.
The guards had just called out to the person in front of him. It was a man in dark glasses, in an expensive armored SUV.
Most likely, this man was rich and quite influential...
"Denied! Get out of here!" the guard exclaid irritably, throwing the man’s docunts through the window like a piece of trash.
"W-what?! You have no right, I’m...!"
"You wanna argue, freak?"
The guard picked up a long rifle and pointed it straight at the man. The weapon looked like a powerful railgun and constantly arced with blue electricity.
"...!"
Most likely, if he did sothing wrong or rashly hit the gas, his head would instantly be blown to smithereens.
"..." Deciding not to tempt fate, the man swallowed his humiliation and turned the car around.
A line of cars was already backing up among the cars driving back.
"Next!"
It was his turn. Hearing the command, he rolled his motorcycle forward, under dozens of sympathetic stares from the other side of the road.
Approaching the gate, one of the guards stood in front and stopped his motorcycle with his hand. Another ca up close.
"Transmit your data to the checkpoint." He pointed to another person sitting in front of several transparent monitors. "State your reason for leaving the city... And reveal your face."
These guys were pressing him hard, stripping away any sense of comfort.
"Sir... My details and the purpose of my trip are completely confidential and cannot be disclosed."
The guards clearly did not expect such a response. They exchanged glances, and the one closest to him reached for his weapon.
"What the f..."
"But..." He lowered his helt visor and smiled at the huge man. "Out of respect for you and the work you do, boys, I’ll make an exception. I hope you won’t turn in..."
"..." The two n blinked suspiciously.
The face behind the visor was that of rather friendly and decent-looking Norwich native.
But they didn’t let everyone through based on appearance alone...
"Hey, don’t be shy, co closer." He beckoned to the one holding his motorcycle.
"If you’re trying sothing..."
"Oh, no, no, I assure you, you’ll definitely like it! You might like it so much that donuts during the workday will now seem like a bland snack!"
Without waiting for a response, he took the chip that Marcel had given him out of his pocket and held it up to the bracelet on his left wrist.
"..." The n watched with skeptical expressions and growing irritation.
They had already encountered similar clowns, and most often it ended with disciplinary action. Or, to put it simply, a beating.
"Now, now... There, it’s ready! Look and tell what you see!"
A hologram of a miniature map erged from the bracelet, along with so lines of data.
"..."
"So what do you think this is?"
"Are you trying to fool us? It’s so kind of outpost in the wasteland, but what good is that?!"
The irritation on the guards’ faces beca more apparent, and one of them was already fiddling with the electric baton on his belt.
"Aha! I’m glad we’re on the sa page. Now pay close attention..."
He zood in on the miniature map so that the figures of living creatures beca visible. Then he zood in as far as possible and focused on the face of one of the creatures.
"Now... Tell , what do you see?" he said with a satisfied smile.
"..."
The huge n’s eyebrows shot up, and sothing began to dawn in their eyes.
"I’ll tell you what it is... It’s Dirty Baal."
Without waiting for their reaction, he moved on to the next creature.
"And this is Dirty Baal." He moved the map again. "...And this is Dirty Baal too!"
"..."
While their eyes were practically popping out, he moved dozens of tis across the map, searching the base for creatures the drones had detected.
"Here’s Dirty Baal, another Dirty Baal. More, more, and more... I don’t want to waste your ti, so I’ll say it right away. There are over a hundred Dirty Baals here! Almost like a real anthill."
"..." One of the guards unconsciously opened his mouth in amazent.
"I agree, it looks terrible... But you know what’s really cool here?"
He unzipped his motorcycle jacket and pointed to his rcenary patch.
"Black... Gold?"
"Yep. Now try putting the two together. A rcenary with cool guns... And a hundred Dirty Baals."
"Could it be..." The guards looked at each other, now certain of their understanding.
"That’s right..." He smiled and turned off the map. "I’m going to slaughter every single one."
"..."
"So, guys, are you going to let pass? Or would you rather eat donuts, knowing that these creatures are breeding right under your noses and spreading their filth all over the place?"
No answer was needed for such a rhetorical question. Everything was obvious.
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