Eve constantly scanned for possible threats, and right now everyone was turning up dangerous.

I advise walking steadily towards the location indicated by the quest, acting as though you are on official business, Eve sent. Answer no one unless they are important or an official working for the Undercity. Street smarts, as we’ve gone over.

Taking a deep breath, which hopefully no one noticed as his face was completely behind his helmet, Alan began walking with purpose towards the city gate. One of Eve’s initial lessons had been on posture, and how to carry himself. Additionally, Eve had taught him different simple methods to avoid confrontation in case someone approached him, such as simply holding out his arm, bent at the elbow, to stop people that tried to get too close. Of course, these were lessons from Earth, but the general principle should still apply. Most of the “spotters” that Eve had pointed out seemed to ignore him, either assuming he wasn’t worth the trouble or he wasn’t among the list of targets they were looking for. Bounty hunting was, after all, a remarkably lucrative job in the Game.

The guards standing at the city gates had simple, uncolored metal power armor with an emblem of a single metal cube, which Alan assumed to be a platinum mark. They generally carried a laser rifle on their back, a laser sword in a holster to their side and an assortment of what looked to be grenades.

As Alan was about to enter the city, a guard turned to look at him.

“Halt. Please state your business in this city and reveal your identity.”

Quick, hand over a gold mark, but make sure to not reveal any other marks. Deflect.

Alan slid his hand to a compartment that held the remaining gold marks Alan had, and then quickly flicked one into the guard’s outstretched hand stopping him.

“I’m here to perform a simple business transaction, and would like to keep my identity to myself,” Alan said with more confidence than he felt.

The guard quickly glanced down to see what Alan had tossed him, and, upon seeing gold, quickly shoved the mark into a pocket compartment of his own.

“Of course, sir, please have a pleasant visit.”

Alan, having learned it was better to keep his mouth shut, simply nodded, and continued on his way. Neither he nor Eve noticed a watcher, hidden in the shadows.

Chapter 15

Alan looked at the buildings he passed as he made his way to the location indicated by the quest. Most were shops, with guards stationed outside. Interestingly, the majority of stores had messages saying that they didn’t allow walk-ins, and required some sort of identifying symbol or authorization to enter. There were probably some black market stores he could get into with the coin he’d gotten from the shady merchant back on Earth.

Rather than specific emblems, most players seemed to wear specific colors, probably representing gangs of some sort. The most common colors were a dark purple and a tarnished gold, almost bronze. Some article of clothing or weapon would be painted in one of these colors, but never both. Alan was worried he was sticking out too much, as he had no such identification, until he noticed a few other similarly unmarked players.