Chapter 36: Maze.

As panic began to get a hold of him, Dante did his best to consider the situation from different angles. It couldn’t possibly be that bad, could it? There had to be something that prevented it from turning into the disaster he was imagining.

One thing stood out in his mind after he considered most factors.

’Don’t tell me you erased her NIM signals as well…’

[… It would have exposed your location.]

Hearing that response, Dante wanted to bash his head against a wall. Turns out things were as bad as he had imagined.

“… We need to move.”

Throwing his half-eaten sandwich into a trash bin, he grabbed Liliana’s hand and hurriedly walked away. The girl didn’t complain, having caught on to the urgency in his voice, and waited a few seconds before asking the obvious.

“Did something happen?”

“Yes,” Dante answered. “You!”

The world had decided to give him one more reason for why he should have stayed away from her, as if that wasn’t exactly what he wanted to do all along.

“If I’m right, the people monitoring you must have sent someone to look for you by now.” Shaking his head, he quickly corrected himself. “No, they must have mobilized an army or something. Pray that they’re still thinking it’s just a glitch.”

After a series of twists, turns, ups, and downs, he checked his map and confirmed that they had distanced themselves from most of the major roads. The place they reached was so deep in the concrete jungle that one could barely see the sky above.

Currently, they were the ironically named White Hill, another one of Neo-Vatra’s poorer districts. The entire place was much more of a maze compared to Hollowgrid. It’s said that without a proper guide, wandering into its alleys would be suicide. Some even say it’s the second worst place to live in right after The Pit.

The alleys of White Hill were so filthy that Factory Town looked pristine in contrast. Trash bags piled in every corner. Potholes filled with liquid the source of which was unknown, crushed cans and plastic bottles everywhere, and feces. Rats wandered the paths as if they owned the place, and graffiti stained every wall, leaving not a spot unpainted. No matter where one looked, one of those things waited to meet their eyes.

In a way, it was a standard street in the outskirts. Dante wasn’t bothered by what it had to offer, having seen it all and more in the time he spent living in Hollowgrid, but the delicate young flower by his side was utterly horrified.

“Keep it together.” He said. “Faint now and I’m leaving you here.”

Liliana’s pale face lost more of its color.

“Please don’t!”

“Then get going!”

Dante had visited the district more than once already. He might not know his way around like the locals did, but at the very least he learned enough to be able to read the signs they left behind to help them navigate the complicated routes.

“This way.”

Pulling the girl along, he headed into an alley the entrance of which was pointed at by a dark green arrow. Green meant it leads deeper into the labyrinth.

White Hill’s layout was so complicated that mapping it was an impossible task. As a consequence, the map plastered on the corner of Dante’s OAM showed a blank gray expanse with not a single road.

At the center of that space was a blue dot and a green one. Though they appeared static at first, the yellow line extending from them provided a rough sketch of the routes they had crossed thus far, which allowed Dante to avoid running in circles.

One thing to be thankful for was that, be it day or night, the alleyways of White Hill were empty most of the time. One could still pass the occasional hobo every few corners or spot someone spying from the windows above, but the paths themselves remained empty save for the roaches and rats.

That’s right. The paths themselves were empty most of the time, but that’s only because the residents of this district had specific spots they used for their gatherings. Those spots had once been parks or playgrounds for children. Nowadays, they were nothing more than slightly wider intersections that act as nodes in the web of narrow alleyways, and after wandering through it for a while, Dante found himself crossing one of those nodes.

The instant they stepped into that space, dozens of eyes landed on them, instantly drenching the pair in cold sweat. Dante kept running with his gaze straight ahead, and to stop Liliana from making the mistake of looking to the sides, he yanked her forward so she would focus on maintaining her balance.

The seconds they took to pass the open square were filled with palpable tension that didn’t recede even as they entered another alley. Whatever it was that watched them pass, it didn’t react at all. Or at least that’s how things appeared for a while. Not wanting to confirm if anyone was following them, Dante didn’t dare to look back or slow down.

After a while, Dante made the decision to start following red arrows instead of the green ones. Those pointed to alleyways that lead away from the center of the district and toward the exits. On the other side of the center, one would find black arrows instead of the red ones. Those usually point toward specific locations with entrances to tunnels that stretch beyond the city wall.

Since they had nothing to smuggle in or out of Neo-Vatra, there was no reason for them to wander that far.

~[ ]~

Silence was rare in a crowded megacity such as Neo-Vatra, but for a district such as White Hill, it became more prevalent as the night progressed. People either left for the livelier parts of the city or retreated deeper into the concrete maze in search of something to entertain them.

That left the main roads on the periphery strangely desolate, and the train stations were no different. The convenience stores near those stations remained open, however. The corporation owning them refused to go back on their open for 24/7 policy even when barely anyone visited the store at that hour.

For a clerk working the night shift at such a place, the silent atmosphere induced nothing but the desire for a peaceful sleep. Left with nothing to do, the young man busied himself with a six hour long video about the lore of some obscure twenty year old video game.

A melodious chime alerted him to the front door opening, but when he turned to look, he saw that no one was there. Feeling a sudden chill, he closed the screen floating on his OAM and leaned over the counter to check if anyone had sneaked in.

He was expecting some kids trying to shoplift without his notice -anyone else would’ve pointed a gun at his head and walked out. Instead of that, what met him was what he thought was a football until it floated up and turned its glowing red lens in his direction.

As he backed away, several more of the floating spheres slowly approached the counter and focused on him. For a moment there he thought that was the end for him. Just then he heard the door chime again and this time it was a person who entered.

A woman dressed in a sharp black suit approached the counter. She was a little tall for a woman. Her glossy black hair was pulled back into a long ponytail, and the upper half of her face was covered by the visor of an intricately designed headgear.

Studying him for a moment, she held up her hand and summoned a hologram depicting the portrait of a young girl. Her red lips moved as she asked a question.

“Did you see her before?”

Scared out of his mind, the young clerk remained petrified for a very long second. His eyes fell on the hologram once more, and after staring at it for some time, a look of surprise painted his face.

“Ah! It’s her! She came here a few minutes ago!”

Even with the visor covering her face, the change in her expression was easy to notice.

“Was she alone?”

“Yes? Ah! No, she was with some guy! He made her pay for his stuff!”

“What did he look like?”

“He… he had red hair as well! He wasn’t very old, too. Probably eighteen? His clothes looked cheap compared to hers.”

“Anything else?”

“Well… he bought some sandwiches and… a phone?”

“… I see.”

The tension continued to rise as the strange woman stood there in silence. After an entire minute, she finally made a move, turning around to face the door.

“I apologize for the disturbance.”

Seconds later, the door chimed again and silence returned to the convenience store. Left on his own once more, the young clerk remained frozen for a long while.

“I… I’m definitely quitting tonight…”

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