Leaks. An existence that has been the bane of humanity for fifty years now, but it has also been a great source of wealth, treasure, and entertainnt—even more so now than before.
And right now, Adam was sowhat close to one of them, standing on top of a tall wall, almost fifteen stories high.
Perhaps it would have been better to call it a periter fence, as the wall actually looped on itself; it was too wide that even Adam, who was on top of it, couldn’t see the entire thing.
He gazed down, his hair barely flowing with the wind from how heavy it was. The inside of the walls was a lot of trees, and several paths leading in different directions, like a maze.
"Ha..." Adam sighed at the sight, his eyes moving toward a part of the forest where the leaves were moving violently. He squinted, focusing on the creature that was pushing the trees apart.
Yes, monsters. From the Leak, hidden sowhere in the forest.
Since the discovery of the "invisible" do during Hunting Mode Leaks that only the survivors could see, the public guilds were now also buying long-term temporary rights for the area surrounding the said Leak.
The entire thing had beco even more of a business now, where guilds build a wall around the Leak and turn it into a so-called dungeon. This ca about around fifteen years ago, as the number of Heroes has more than quadrupled, and the demand was seen for it.
It was... ridiculous.
"They find more and more ways to hurt themselves."
You could change that, you know?
Adam blinked, sighing as the thought ca into his mind.
"Wh—"
He was about to say sothing else when his phone rang. He pressed his ear, answering the call.
"I’ll... be right there," Adam said, nodding before he calmly slid a mask to cover the lower part of his face. He breathed out, letting the air leak out from the sides, causing the stands of hair dangling in front of his face to dance. The mask lightly lit up depending on how hard he breathed—it was similar to the mask he once wore as a scavenger... because it was.
It was what the scavengers were using now, even equipped with its own oxygen so that they wouldn’t have to remove their masks during their searches and inhale the ashes of the dead.
It was... fancy.
Adam was about to leap down the wall when he realized sothing.
"Selene..."
"What do you an... ’we’?"
***
Adam arrived in front of the gate, where multiple groups of people were gathered and either preparing to go inside or leaving. There were also stalls there, and the entire paved road had almost beco a free market, in a way.
"I can carry your bags! I have three months of experience as a porter!"
"I have a pago shield! I can be a tank and have put all my points in Strength!"
Most of the stalls, however, weren’t really selling items at all—but... people. Well, services. Veteran Creeps who wanted to join hunting groups, so that they could earn equipnt, or at least money to leave their families before they die in the monthly Ga.
If the notion that the world was just like a video ga before, it had completely turned into one now, especially since people had completely settled into specific roles.
It... felt incredibly weird for Adam—and not only him, but for almost everyone else on the planet. When the Administrators introduced humanity to the Survival Mode Leaks, they also said that they were doing that to accelerate humanity’s growth... it had been thirty years since then.
...Most of the people Adam knew were dead.
He pulled out his phone, opening the gallery and looking at one of the five photos there. It was the photo the RLRD took during his first week there, and now only four of them were alive.
"Hm..." A hint of a smile crept on his face, sighing as he swiped his thumb to the right, panning to a photo of him and Mira together. The smile on his face faded, and he quickly turned off the screen.
Fortunately for Adam, whatever was beginning to grow in his mind was interrupted by the sound of a familiar voice. The sound being... a deafening scream.
"That’s him. Uncle. Uncle!"
Adam turned to the person calling him, and so did almost everyone there, because of how loud it was.
Adam waved at Selene, and to say she looked exactly like Leona would be an understatent—it was as if the father didn’t try at all. The only difference between them was that Selene dressed as flashy as the woman she was nad after.
Adam then turned his focus to the four people behind her, and they all looked to be around the sa age. One other woman, and the rest were n.
Selene was about to approach Adam when one of the people with her stopped her.
"That’s... your uncle?" the woman whispered. "Is he... a scavenger? And he looks short."
"What?" Selene glanced back, raising an eyebrow at the woman. "No! I told you. My uncle’s a famous person—he’s just wearing a mask to hide his identity."
"What did you say his na was, again?"
"A—"
"Nathan." Before Selene could say his na, Adam appeared behind her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "It’s nice to et you all. I’m... just here to watch and assist if sothing goes wrong."
"O-oh..." the woman blinked, not expecting Adam’s deep voice at all due to his... small stature. "Nice... to et you."
"You look kind of familiar." One of the n stepped forward. "Where... do we know you from?"
"Oh. I’m no one." Adam waved them off. "Is it everyone’s first ti exploring a Leak?"
"Yes!" the woman and one of the n answered.
"This is my second ti. My first one was three months ago when I was still a creep." The one who seed the oldest in the group raised his hand and smiled at Adam, his blue eyes sparkling in the light.
The last one didn’t answer at all, only nodding his head before crossing his arms.
"And who’s the leader for this hunt?" Adam asked, and everyone turned to look at Selene.
Adam stepped to the side, gesturing to her to go ahead. Selene seed confused, however, as her eyes darted back and forth from Adam and her group. But after a mont, she nodded and let out a deep breath.
"Okay. Let’s... register," she whispered, adjusting the sword dangling on her waist before moving forward. Adam looked at the sword—and if he was right, he and Leona bought that from an auction... for a very hefty price tag.
In fact, even the armor Selene was wearing over and under her frilly dress was probably worth more than an entire car. Adam knew that... because he was the one who gifted all of it for her.
The results of the Ga always relied heavily on luck for the Creeps, as their fates would’ve already been decided depending on who the Heroes were on their team... but being heavily equipped helped in making sure one doesn’t actually waste that luck.
Adam looked at the equipnt of the other mbers, and while they obviously weren’t as equipped as Selene, it should be enough for them to survive this particular Leak with minimal injuries, if any.
And so, Adam did as he told—he stayed on the back and watched as the children handled everything.
"H-hello! I’d like to register our group for this dungeon!" Selene stood in front of the Leak Manager, who only glanced at her and the group.
"Six people," the manager lazily said. "You can either pay now, or we take a higher cut for everything you’ll loot."
"We’d like to pay now!" Selene pulled out a black card and casually gave it to the manager.
"Okay. Will you be using any recording devices?"
"Yes!" Selene pulled another object from her bag, a sphere. She pressed it, and the sphere opened up and hovered in the air. "We’ll be using this to stream live!"
"Okay, that’s additional."
"Yes. I understand."
The others stood behind Selene as she continued to talk with the manager, and Adam stood further back and just minded his own business—or at least, that was what he planned to do.
Being in the back, there was one thing that didn’t escape him.
The woman and the tall man, who was the most experienced out of the group, subtly glanced at each other as soon as Selene pulled out her credit card. That wasn’t the first ti they exchanged glances, too.
They have been eyeing the sword dangling on Selene’s waist since earlier.
Adam could really only sigh at this, but he didn’t really do anything—the only thing he did was step forward, moving closer to the tall man.
"I hope you don’t do anything stupid," he whispered. "We’ll both be in trouble with her mother if you do."
"...Huh?"
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