opened door. I saw my friend for the first time, but immediately realized that it was him. A fat guy like me. No sign of the pile of muscles.
But there is not a shadow of emotion in the eyes of his comrade. He muttered something incoherently. He screamed, breaking free from the tenacious clutches of the policemen. It looks like it’s a third generation weapon after all. Or he himself has gone crazy over the past 24 hours.
– Hello Young man! – exclaimed a short-haired man of about forty. – And I’m still waiting for you to appear. Special Agent Arteev. Information Security Service.
I started to run, but an electric discharge pierced my body. I was paralyzed. The agent clutched a pistol in his hand.
– Are you going far?
I pressed the red viper button and found myself in my home room. Maybe it’s for the best to live in the House? It’s safe here.
– Ilya, hello! – Svetka, how glad I am to see you!
It became dark for a moment, and then I found myself in a room with white walls. A cop was standing nearby. Arteev, it seems? I reached for the viper. The agent shook his head.
– It’s not worth it. You, boy, are tied to this room. Whether you run away or not, this thing,» he showed me a small remote control, «will bring you back here.» Give me the viper. You don’t need him.
He swiped his hand, and the red round viper button disappeared from my interface.
– Ilya Petrovich Sorokin, right?
– Yes.
– Fifteen years.
– I’m seventeen!
Can’t he tell a fifteen-year-old boy from a seventeen-year-old man?!
– Oh, sorry, the database hasn’t been updated. Now I see it. You look young! You live in House number two. And our police office is located in the neighboring House. But you probably won’t be returning home anytime soon.
– You used first-generation weapons against me! It was banned by trade unions of information workers five years ago.
– As I see, you know the laws well? – the cop laughed. -Are you a member of the trade union of information workers? I think if you only worked legally, you wouldn’t be standing here. And so…
He sang without hitting the notes:
Don’t hide your fins from me,
We are pirates, we are good people,
I am not a coward, not a villain, not an executioner.
There are no women – so a mermaid will do!
– How do you know this song?
– Many of the Information Security Service have a dark past. But I gave up all these things a long time ago. I’m now on the other side of the barricades, so to speak. But you, boy, have serious problems. Yesterday you decided to steal information from very serious people. So serious that now you can’t hide. Wherever you decide to hide, they will come out of the ground!
The cop waved his hand through the air, and a metal rod appeared in front of me. Then another one. And so on until I found myself locked behind bars.
– So serious that they can afford to use third-generation weapons? – I asked.
«That’s all fairy tales,» said the agent. – Development of such weapons is underway. But he’s not there yet. If it appeared, I would be the first to know. I have first level access.
– They shot Dimon yesterday!
– Oh, this guy who’s gone crazy. He was unlucky, what can you do?
He swiped his hand, and almost all of my inventory disappeared from my interface. Even Valkyrie wings! I spent three nights coding to buy these. Bastard!
«You won’t need this for the next forty years,» Agent Arteev smiled. – Although, I have one offer for you. I don’t think you can refuse. Work for the Government a little and I’ll put in a good word for you. Why are you looking at me like that? I, too, was once into piracy. It’s time to grow up! So, the crux of the matter is this. A black spot appeared in Technopolis. In the real world, an ordinary block. And in virtuality there is a black cloud, as if someone had cut out a piece. I’m offering you a deal. You love to spy. Go inside the mysterious anomalous zone. Find out what and how. Or you’ll go to jail for the rest of your days. Choose for yourself.
***
A perfectly smooth edge of a huge black cube. It’s as if someone decided to cut out a piece of extended reality. This is how they cut a cake in old films about that time, which grandfather Sanya told me about. I touched this substance with my hand. Nasty slime ran down my hand, as if someone had spilled ink. And then something grabbed me with a rough black hand and pulled me inside the cube.
And then – darkness.
Level 1. Meet Seisil
First there is darkness. Then a platform woven from light appeared. I could barely fit on the «island» that floated in the darkness. After a few seconds, it turned into a piece of land covered with green grass. The light hit my face, and I could not discern what was happening behind the island. A pleasant female voice rang out. She is twenty years old, no older.
– Who are you, traveler?
A note appeared before my eyes: «Choose a race»
Stop! Am I back to online gaming again?! He swore that no more. The games suck you in so much that you don’t notice how eight or ten hours have flown by. Especially since smells and tastes appeared in the virtual world. Many are stuck in game content. In the real world they have become vegetables, they are fed from tubes. Where is the exit button? An abbreviation appeared before my eyes. AWG. Oh yes! I’m here on the instructions of agent Arteev! And also for Dimon’s sake. The image of my only friend with empty, crazy eyes appeared before my eyes. You know, on social networks I have more than a thousand people added to my list of best friends. But of those to whom I could trust my life, there was no one except Dimka. This is what it is – the empty world of illusions of the virtual world!
A small lake appeared in front of me, in which I saw a guy with long ears.
«Elf. This ancient race has a natural predisposition to magic and their keen eye can make you the greatest archer in Seisil. Vulnerable in close combat. Resists poisons and diseases»
Now the bearded dwarf was reflected in the lake.
«Gnomes. They gravitate towards Darkness, their strength in dungeons increases many times over. Dwarves make excellent warriors. They have the ability to magic gold. They are stable in battle and cause the greatest damage compared to representatives of other races. Clumsy, takes a long time to recover strength»
Now I saw a ghost shimmering with fire in the lake.
«Elementals. They are capable of perfectly
