The three largest buttons inside the elevator were labeled B1, B2, and B3, which would let a user access the entrances of any of the Underground's three basent floors.
Despite having so previous experience here, Alexandre only had limited knowledge of exactly what lay on each of these floors.
B1 was infamously known as the "Pleasure Palace" and was ho to all manner of sexual services. Despite the very dark nature of so of its services, the prices were considerably lower than what one could attain deeper into the Underground.
B2 was the "House of Dreams," where every drug imaginable could be obtained. Supposedly, there was room upon room upon room specially outfitted for various kinds of addicts to indulge themselves as they wished.
B3 borrowed a nickna from the United States itself and was known as the "Land of the Free." This was Alexandre's stop.
Alexandre got out of the elevator and found himself in a chamber that would have stunned anyone who hadn't been aware of exactly how vast the Underground truly was.
The Land of the Free was a concrete cavern at least 10,000 square ters in area and with a ceiling twenty ters in height. This chamber was ho to a bazaar where hundreds of people had set up displays, tables, and even small trailers and concrete buildings from which all manner of goods were sold, regardless of any kind of laws. As a result, most of the objects were likely simple junk intended to rip people off, but there were also surely a few pieces of quality rchandise here or there if one knew where to look.
"I wonder how they got all this down here," Alexandre muttered as he stepped out of the elevator. "Surely they didn't all bring it down the sa way I ca." There were, of course, many paths to the Underground from the surface, but Alexandre assud many of them weren't even available to people like him. "Perhaps that'll change once I beco a proper Hunter..."
But he'd worry about that in the future. For now, Alexandre needed to weave his way through the bazaar until he reached his destination in the area's thirty-eighth sectioned zone.
Though the length of the chamber was only about a hundred ters, the area was so densely packed with custors and hawkers alike that it was slow going—not to ntion that, while the unknown cartel had intense interest in preventing custors from making trouble, Alexandre knew he was likely to encounter so of the world's best pickpockets here. He had to remain alert at all tis if he wanted not to be a victim.
Finally, Alexandre saw a sign indicating that he'd entered Section 38. He looked around for a brief minute before finding a certain shop offering passport and ID services. It had the longest line in front of it compared to any similar nearby shop, showcasing its excellent reputation.
After about ten minutes, Alexandre reached the front of the line. "I'm here for my order," he said. "Alexandre Hautville."
The man behind the surprisingly rickety desk had wiry hair and very thick glasses. He peered down at his cracked tablet and said, "Hmm, copy of a biotric passport?"
Alexandre nodded.
The man gave a crooked smile. "That's a rare order these days! You're lucky to have co across . Most fake IDs are fine within the country, but they'll get you snatched up at the border! Mine are immaculate, of course. Anyway, that'll be twelve and a half. Fingerprint or cash?"
Alexandre clenched his teeth. $12,500... 'This had better be worth more than a year's salary,' he thought. Nonetheless, he pulled the cash out of his bag and set it on the table. Just gaining entrance to the Underground with his thumbprint was one thing, but he was certainly not going to link himself to this particular transaction with a scan!
The man took the money and retreated into the back of the shack that served as a shop. Only a few monts later, he returned with a passport, which he put on the table where the money had been.
The man said, "It's all immaculate, as I said—your prints, your information, and even the visa stamp from your visit to Canada."
Alexandre took the passport and double-checked it against his original passport. Everything was, as best as he could tell, absolutely perfect. "Incredible," he said. "Thank you very much."
The man replied in an uninterested voice, "At your service. Next!"
Alexandre shook his head in amazent as he stepped away from the shop. This wasn't at all the first ti he'd bought sothing in the Underground, but the sheer ease with which he could purchase anything illegal never ceased to amaze him.
With such an easy thod of access, of course, the police were well aware of the situation. But as much as the existence of the Underground was public knowledge, so was the fact that the police were as frequent custors as the upper-class citizenry. There was really nobody left to do anything but turn a blind eye.
After about ten more minutes of squeezing through the mass of shops and people, Alexandre now headed for his next stop, a small building made of expensive hardwood and without any indication of what goods or services might be found within.
Alexandre opened the door, stepped inside, and found a man wearing a crisp suit and sitting in a very comfortable-looking chair. Several lumpy black duffle bags lay at his feet.
The man said lightly, "Hello there. I wondered when you'd be back."
Alexandre replied, "I needed to sort out a few things. Right now, my concern is making sure this investnt will actually be useful to ."
The suited man bent down and rummaged for sothing in one of the duffle bags. Eventually, he removed a bulky tal band with what looked like a tablet attached to it, so that it could be worn on the wrist. The device bore a very strong resemblance to the famous Pip-Boy from the old Fallout series.
"It really wasn't easy to find," said the suited man. "Most functional counterfeit Pip-Boys are given directly by the big Hunter guilds to their most important mbers. What business does a novice like you have with sothing like this, hmmm?"
Alexandre picked up the device and examined it under the room's dim lighting. "That's my business," he said.
The suited man shrugged. "Most of the big guilds that make this kind of... investnt... try to camouflage the power statistics of their mbers. The Terra Corporation made this thing to let you snoop into those sorts of things no materr how much people try to keep them hidden! But I'd advise you to be very careful when using it in front of other Hunters. If soone realizes this is a counterfeit... IP law is still strong in this world if you have the right lawyers. Get found out, and you're going to prison for a long ti!"
Alexandre ignored these warnings. "Is there a particular way of using it? Compared to the real thing, I an."
The suited man shook his head. "No. In principle, it's exactly the sa as a real Pip-Boy. First, put it firmly on your arm, ideally against the skin. Then run the initialization program using additional equipnt. That'll inject you with the nanobots over the course of an hour. Then do the whole Aurora System license checking procedure."
He smirked and brushed a stray thread off his suit sleeve. "Unfortunately, you need more than just the Pip-Boy itself. The hardware needed to initialize the Pip-Boy, as well as the license to use Aurora properly, are so far beyond what you could possibly afford that you'll never convince to get it for you. This device is absolutely the limit to what you can afford."
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