Chapter 23


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    A city is like a city, some places are just like home. And it has the same name... Maybe it is one world and reality, like people, has its own disembodied, which is where I walk? Unless the portals hanging here and there are a little disorienting - how many passages to other worlds are there? Or are they simulations after all? To tame the hounds before the real hunt?


    Hunt is much harsher than Delivery, you can''t turn off the warranty, and they don''t even have an app. Why be aware that you are a tool in someone''s tentacles if everything is so good and successful? You enter the gate, shoot another loser, take some of his power - where do the leftovers go?


    I was also given sugar to a stray dog that happened to stray into the pack - both rings and the gauntlet were fully charged when I passed through the portal. And I got a thousand points on my Delivery account, a "hard work bonus". It seems like a small thing, but the System, which is charging for every sneeze, has dropped as much as a thousand? So it''d gotten a lot of energy through the courier''s gear.


    Something went crazy for me. Maybe it''s the title''s fault, maybe it''s my fault - while I was waiting for the fun adventures, they came. But as soon as I thought about the meaning of what is happening immediately the degree of seriousness increased. Has our show brought in a new writer? Are the ratings dropping?


    Angels from Delivery, Demons from the Hunt, Creators from Skills... hmm, who''s missing? What do the guys in Development do? Build temples with pillars? What for? On the other hand, what makes me think I have to be an angel? I have already been summoned by demon worshippers at least once. They may have been pranksters but the System responded to the summons. That''s a pretty bold hint. And then the creator Oleg said that we are dangerous guys. And I can not argue! Besides, did you see me from the side? Angels do not have that many chins!


    I automatically followed the instructions that popped up in the app. I kept going, going somewhere, but why? Maybe I should get out of here? Shut everything down, bring the über-uns to a habitable place, and go home to my computer? What would a normal person do in my place? A year or so of C-rank quests, at the most, take some D. Trading past the cash register potions and reagents. Buy some useful skills from the Creators, and finally drink a potion of oblivion, not to remember the miracles and not even accidentally get into them again. Also a popular story, I''m not the only one who guessed that - "they lived happily ever after". How many such deniers of miracles are there in the world? Memorylessness guarantees safety; you don''t see the demon, the demon doesn''t eat your soul. But then, on the other hand, it eats someone else, and that''s wrong.


    Well, if the System exists, it means that it is needed for something. Everything has a right to exist.


    Except for Fortnite.


    Such trash must be destroyed.


    I looked around, the places looked suspiciously familiar. That''s what happens in dreams when everything seems right, but it''s not the way it should be. What was Grandpa saying about dreams? And how do his words relate to the unreal? What about quantum physics? What if I had lost consciousness after a week of streaming and was now lying there, delirious? And the whole adventure was just a dream?


    No, I''ve heard that''s what screenwriters get kicked for.


    I somehow managed to step to the side and see beyond the edge of the scenery. The real world, messy and held together by nails and duct tape, is not a fairy tale at all. To fascinate a miracle has to be real, shiny, and buzzing, and here it''s just working with weird people, plus all the things you knew about but just never saw before. It''s just "reality around the corner." Always knew there were magicians, superheroes, and other losers without a steady job around, after all. Now I''m one of them.


    I was just lucky enough to learn a little bit more about the world. There are different kinds of luck: a friend of mine from the gaming guild told me how he made money on bitcoins - he bought them for ten dollars and sold them for a profit. When they were worth fifteen hundred. He bought a car and renovated his apartment. And in 2017 he wanted to commit suicide.


    By the way, I haven''t seen him online in a long time...


    Slowly coming to my senses, I walked through the city, which was changing before my eyes. I got a little wet in the rain and stood in a back alley while a demonstration with black flags passed by. I upset some guy by saying I didn''t know where "that street with the house" was. What makes this guy think couriers know the city? I''m not even sure what planet I''m on!


    When the Internet started working, I tried to buy something for dinner. It took the terminal a long time to figure out how to pay, but Delivery was activated and finally passed. I checked on Junior - he was rushing around, wanting to complete a package of thirty deliveries for the day and collect a bonus. Judging by the reports, he is not cheating, but if I were him, I certainly would not admit it?


    Finally, after the third sausage in the dough, the world became colorful and pleasant to the touch. Now I can think about the future, for example...


    Beep.


    Congratulations on getting to a new level!


    A unique bonus is available to you - the night shift! All rewards x2, exciting quests, and bonus points are waiting for you!


    Thank you, dear Delivery, I don''t need to work at night. Besides, if you pay twice as much, the dangers will be five times as much as the daytime.


    Beep.


    The night shift bonus applies to all active packages!


    System, go to hell. For today it''s enough the Hunt for me.


    Beep.


    The refusal button turned gray and became inactive.


    The Labor Inspectorate is not working with you! Hmm, or is it work? Who should I ask about Sistema''s social security? Ah, so that''s why they introduced self-employment, now it all makes sense! The exploitation of the population by tentacles from other worlds!


    However, it was already clear that I was not going anywhere. First of all, I was on the trail, and I didn''t know how to get home. Secondly, the mood after the hunt had finally returned, and I had enough strength even for jokes. And of course, if something is offered to me so insistently, it must be impossible without it. If you call yourself a messenger, go where they tell you to go.


    An exclusive rescue mission is available! Help a friend and he will help you!


    I pulled a loser just once...


    Yes.


    Go to the other side of the street, try to walk so that the sun shines in your eyes.


    I pulled the hood of the cape down, shielding myself from the light, and moved toward the increased bonus. How did Delivery get by without phones? Although fairy tales say it quite straightforward - a ball from Baba-Yaga itself will lead where you say, just have time to run after it. It should work even better than the phone: all attention is on the object, you don''t notice the changing world around you, you don''t strain yourself, and you don''t embody the real world back.


    And instead of Alice or Siri from the courier bowser human voice prompt "do not sit on the stump, do not eat pie, the customer has already two times contacted by the plate with an apple!"


    Checking showed that I was already level twelve. I went to Hunt on my own, so why did the System Level go up? Or was I used in the meantime? Dumb - if they gave me a bonus, then I did something there. I guess the point was to save the hounds. Or was it to keep them from shooting the priest?


    I thought again about what I had seen today, and the mood crept down again. If Delivery comes into the world, it''s a chance. And if Hunt comes, there''s no chance, it''s too harsh. My mind still shuts down when I think about the warranty.


    So, where was I? Oh yeah - why is this continuation taking so long to come out? Did the author decide to change the plot again?


    I followed the System''s instructions while digging into my phone, not paying too much attention to my surroundings. I only noticed that it was getting dark too quickly.


    The novelties of the King''s Road did not please me in the least. The promotional tape was full of "Dark Killers" and "Bloody Magicians". Those fans of blackness! All they want terrible secrets and horrible rituals. And everyone knows from childhood that at the end of the first year any Hogwarts student could make a pineapple dance.


    To make a pineapple dance or make a skeleton walk what is the fundamental difference?


    Out of boredom I went to the general chat room of Delivery and for the sake of entertainment created a thread:


    Folks, who''s met Death? How''s the client, problematic?


    I attached a deposit of six hundred and a limit of two responses to the thread.


    What kind of death? Specify, there are many of them.


    I don''t recommend it, he''s a creepy bore. And the voice in your head resonates unpleasantly. Get headphones or a soundhole.


    There are ordered for a plan in the DnD-like setting, they are all "death" there, they dress up as a shadow in a balaclava with a scythe. Clients are so-so, they don''t give tips as a matter of principle. They can grab you and eat you, I advise enhanced physical protection.


    The prize is sent to the first three commenters - payment for their message and a hundred extra points, the third for a detailed answer another hundred points discounted. That''s how I learned a little more about the world at the cost of an hour''s work. And without all that necromancy.


    However, even seeing the expended limit, my colleagues continued to spend money on chitchat, and I tossed in encouragement. So another three hundred points went away, and some really useful things were said.


    Wait at the yellow bus stop.


    Is it just me, or is the System playing for time?


    I glanced at the little girl with the big red bows as she whizzed past on her scooter. The scanner showed that she imagined herself flying on a broomstick, with a ghostly cat sitting in front of her. Do students at magic academies moonlight as couriers? Hmm, or is it more correct to ask "do delivery couriers learn magic?" Why, when there are plenty of artifacts and potions?


    I had to wait an hour. During that time, the day changed to evening, night fell, the traffic thinned, and I sat and stared around through the scanner, marveling at how many people with imagination were around. I also checked myself - I was clean, I didn''t have anything. The yellow bus arrived almost at midnight and, according to the clue, I had until three o''clock to ride it. Wonderful, how could I go to the bathroom? Or does the warranty work here, too?The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    After sitting in a separate seat, I symbolically put on a mask as a sign of detachment from the world and turned on the music.


    Ah, Grandpa''s favorite. He keeps babbling about how singers used to be able to sing, but now they can''t even say "hello" properly without a sound engineer.


    An unfamiliar star is shining.


    I looked out the window - yes, there is such a thing.


    Again we are torn from home.


    For two weeks now.


    Again the cities between us.


    Of different settings.


    Airfield takeoff lights.


    I even turned my head but there was no match.


    The lines about fogs and rain, fortunately, did not match either. I just didn''t need the cold night rain at all.


    Here intricate plots await on the uncharted path.


    Um... could we not?


    I listened to the rest of the song, then played it again. It seemed to have a theme - or is it just me? Now, at night, after a hard and hectic day, any tune would be in place.


    You just have to learn to wait...


    Well, I know how to do that.


    You have to be calm and stubborn...


    Exactly my point!


    That sometimes from life to receive stingy telegrams of joy.


    Hmm, was Telegram already working at that time? Not a very old song, it turns out. It''s up-to-date.


    Bleep.


    Exit at the next stop.


    The clock showed three and a half in the morning. The question was, who should I save if I had already been walking for ten hours to the one I had to save? It''s been three hours in internal time, isn''t it? Anyone can do it three times in that time...


    "Hi... You got caught, too?"


    I followed the bus with my eyes and turned to Goggle-kid:


    "Did they recruit you for the rescue, too?"


    Hero shook his head tiredly: "No, I''m the one who has to be rescued."


    He was sitting on a park bench, not a soul around, except for some guy in a windbreaker standing outside a 24-hour kebab shop.


    "What do you mean?"


    "I got caught," he raked the messenger bag closer and nodded at the shawarma lover, "It''s a demon."


    Poke, poke... And just as I was getting ready to stomp away, I clarified: "What demon?"


    Pointed my phone almost immediately I realized which one - it was flickering in the scanner. This one was real, not some "foggy" one. What was standing there with its finger along the price tag was not human. It was more like a warp of space, filled with gray mist. But take away the scanner and a simple man in his thirties.


    "How did you end up here?"


    Judging by the story, Goggle-kid needed more than anyone else. He decided to find out for himself how to banish the strangers. A complicated chain of reasoning led him to the "uncreated demon". He said that the demon didn''t need any competitors, he would give him a tip on how to deal with the invasion.


    Well, nature did not give man intelligence, just a tremendous amount of heroism. I clarified: "So you ordered the delivery for him in your own name?"


    "Uhu."


    "And System paved the trail for you?"


    "Uhu."


    "And you''re such an idiot that you followed it?"


    "Uhu."


    Oh, this is not good. There was somehow too little life left in the Hero. He only nodding and agreeing.


    "How long have you been here? An hour, two hours?"


    "I''ve been here three, maybe four weeks."


    "You''re kidding, I saw you the day before yesterday."


    "You''re the one who talked to me the day before yesterday, and I haven''t seen you - much longer."


    The "guy in the windbreaker" finally got his kebab and walked away. Goggle-kid, with obvious exertion, got up and followed on trembling legs, throwing a curse as he went: "Don''t lag behind, or we''ll have to look for him".


    I threw the bag behind my back: "What will happen if I fall behind? Will it come back and bite?"


    "There''s nothing there. You are suspended in emptiness. Shadows and emptiness. There''s nothing there."


    Hero was staggering, and we walked fifty paces away from the demon, who was strolling quietly through the night city.


    "Ok, what about the day?"


    "There is no day. This is the Doomer, here morning will never come. If we stand back time stops. It has already stopped but there is movement beside him."


    Goggle-kid dragged tiredly and adamantly, he even stopped noticing me, and only turned around and remembered who I was. I had to poke him and ask him questions. It turned out that this particular demon lived in its own reality, wrapped up in it. It is not morning here, the streets are always empty, and there is someone in the houses, but it is impossible to shout to them. And it is impossible to contact anyone, because here all the time is spinning in circles a few minutes from dawn: for the inhabitants of the normal world, we are just a communication glitch, they do not have time to listen to us. We are now the same bastards who call at four in the morning and drop the call.


    And time only works here alongside the demon. And if I step back, I''ll hang in the void, sagging away only when the demon passes near me and its reality takes over me. Goggle-kid told it with weary indifference, quickening his stride to keep up with the figure ahead.


    What would happen to those who met a demon and moved on without the cloak of Delivery, it was eerie to imagine.


    Hero passed out again, pacing through the shire force, and I wondered how to save him. Judging from the fact that it''s possible to come here by bus, it''s not so bad. At the very least there are some connections to the main reality, and at the very least Delivery thinks it''s possible to get Hero out. Or is this her way of getting rid of me so she doesn''t have to pay bonuses? No, we''re a useful piece of merchandise, and I''m even a pumped-up one. Level twelve is not a joke!


    Communication did not work, or rather it worked strangely. On the same forum of couriers, messages were appearing and disappearing. The written messages were deleted, and even the likes went nowhere. I poked Hero who had fallen asleep in front of me, and he confirmed that it was impossible to communicate. The demon''s domain was seconds away, sometimes extending to a minute - when the "guy in the windbreaker" stopped at a stall or went into a convenience store. But apparently, these "anchor points" were also somehow supported by the demon''s power, or else he would have picked everything off the shelves in the eternally fleeting minutes.


    The Doomer, as the Hero assumed, was not an evil demon. He could even postpone the sickness - lengthen it forever. Or give you immortality, if you''re satisfied with an eternity of walking the empty streets in the company of a silent demon.


    Indeed, if he was ever interested in communicating, it is long gone. Now and always here is the moment when he wants to be silent. The harmless type, if you''re out there somewhere. Because he won''t open the domain for you, and people who happen to be here simply melt away and dissolve. It''s not a fact that he is as aware of the being as we are, so Goggles'' attempts to learn something about the otherworldly''s life were fruitless.


    What am I supposed to do?


    Trying to stay put was almost the worst experiment of my life. Goggle-kid first persuaded me to keep up, then he waved his hand and followed the demon, while I stood... I had enough sense to make the entrance point of the portal under the toe of my elevated foot, so when the world began to stop and fade, I just took a step. Then I took another step, and next to the hero, I could feel what it felt like. An edge hit me, but I didn''t feel like it anymore. What would become of me there, in the timelessness, I would not find out. How did Goggle-kid manage to escape?


    Shaking it off, I summed it up - we''re not in the world, we''re somewhere else. If the principle of unreal is the same, then around the Doomer there''s something like the interiors that are formed when you create a trail for a courier, whose whole function is to allow me to get from here to there. Everything is real, but not quite. Real, but not the way we''re used to it. Connected to our world, but not in every way. We''re like an NPC in an isometric game - the demon player goes into various nooks and crannies, giving light and life, but what''s beyond his sight? An eternity of immobility and unnecessarity.


    Asking to get us out of here is useless because no one will have time to react and create an order in Delivery at this second.


    But since I was sent here, it means I can somehow... oh, right.


    I pulled out my phone and opened the Skills tab. The dummy was active as usual. Now checking Junior''s coordinates... the map works. Now tap "create a route." Done. All that''s left is to find a way through the timelessness that surrounds the domain.


    "Goggles, were you trying to make a trail?"


    Hero gathered his thoughts for a minute, then nodded: "Yes, but all system resets and becomes inactive."


    It makes sense, they are in the minute that has-not yet come. The easiest and most reliable protection of your domain. But we are Delivery, we know how to go everywhere.


    I threw off my bag without stopping, rummaging through it and pulling out the wand I''d brought out today. Theoretically, this thing destroys other people'' disembodied. That is, the walls of the domain could be affected. The next two possibilities are that in order to save the domain, we might get hit, or we might get squeezed out. If the first option, we''re dead. I''ll keep my fingers crossed for the second one.


    "Well, the flashlight''s there, and I''ve got a trail," I checked again but the map showed a clear dotted line leading to Junior. "Are you ready to go?"


    "What?"


    "Are you ready to get out of here?"


    Hero rubbed his eyes then tiredly agreed: "Ready."


    From the look of him, all he was ready to do was lie down and die. The problem. Okay, wait... I quickly dug through the settings to find the bag''s "stats". Reduces weight... "yada yada... one-meter radius." I mean, you could also strap it to the outside. I don''t have the right setting, in which a sizeless bag is an automatic death by asphyxiation in ten minutes. Okay, I''m carrying my hundred and forty, his fifty won''t do much for me...


    "Sixty-three, actually."


    "Fatty."


    "Who''s to say."


    Finally, he came back to life. It seems that Hero just now believed that I was not a death glitch.


    "Give me your bag."


    This one I hung from the front, then without hesitation I sat down, picked up Hero under the knees, and lifted him up:


    "Squeeze to the bags!"


    "I''m trying!"


    "I can feel you trying! The weight is bouncing!"


    "I did!"


    "Wave goodbye to the host."


    Maybe I should have just dispelled the demon. Yeah, and where would we be if his world lost its main supporting power? And I don''t believe two couriers can handle This One.


    "Let''s go! Close your eyes just in case."


    With my left hand, I held Goggles and at the same time, I held the phone, with my right... I shook the wand once, twice. The third time, it finally worked, glowing an unpleasantly white, illuminating light. Like Gandalf''s staff in Moria.


    Poke-poke-step.


    It was hard.


    The timelessness came at once, the light helped, but it didn''t do all the work. Go yourself, courier, the way is paved, and you move your feet.


    Poke-poke.


    Semi-bent on my shoulder Goggles now weighed twenty kilograms but that weight was distributed around me in the most uncomfortable way. I was also able to get my hero to unclench something as it came out of the bag''s range, and that was extra, unbalancing weight.


    Poke-poke.


    There was only darkness and nothing else around. Outside the circle of light from the wand, only shadows could be seen. What''s sadder is that under that light, the shadows spread into a fog. And I had to put the mark, again and again, to step, and then to try the reality of the world with my foot.


    "Are we there yet?"


    Damn you!


    "Soon!"


    Poke-poke.


    Not so much difficult as tedious. I was sweating like a hailstorm, "walking by the gauges," and staring at my phone which showed my supposed location. But no matter what happened the Delivery still agreed that we were moving somewhere.


    "Stop!"


    Poke-poke, step.


    "Stop right there! We made it!"


    The pink light of the rising sun... is there anything more pleasing to the eyes? The bespectacled guy I''d just thrown to the ground muttered something indignantly but I didn''t listen. Just took off and dropped the hero''s bag on his head. Then I checked the incoming message:


    Congratulations! You have successfully completed the assignment!


    And of course:


    The special bonus has expired.


    No freebies.


    "We made it out."


    Goggles sat on the sidewalk, hugging his bag, staring at the edge of the rising sun like I was staring at a batch of fried potatoes. He looked at the car as it drove by with such a look that he would have had to marry it.


    "We got out. Hey, idiot, don''t go in those holes again. I''m a messenger, but I don''t go around demon domains! You don''t take care of yourselves, man!"


    I cursed softly because I had no energy left. The Delivery got its hero out of the mess with my hands - maybe even arranging with Hunt to provide me with a "flashlight," to begin with. But it wasn''t easy.


    Flopping down on the pavement beside me, I too looked at the rising sun: "Why did you go to the demon without magic gadgets?"


    "Have you seen how much they cost?"


    "I''ve seen and even bought something. What about you? Where are the artifacts, where is the protection, where is the pending rescue order?!"


    It wouldn''t have helped, it just wouldn''t have had time to be read...


    "Don''t talk back to me! Why did you go there in the first place?"


    "Why are you go there?"


    "That''s my job!"


    "I have the same too."


    We realized the stupidity of our swearing at the same time. It''s morning in the city, two couriers are sitting on the sidewalk yelling at each other.


    They gave me an order on you. Get you out, I mean. I''ve been there before. I''ve seen a lot of things in my time at Deliveries, but you fell right in line with the "how not to do it" manual!


    The hero who reviving in front of my eyes cautiously clarified: "How long have you been in the System?"


    After estimating, I stretched out: "It turns out that three days longer than you."


    Then, as a senior colleague, I gently put his sagging jaw back. Hero tried to get up, but he had no strength. After poking at his phone, he stared at the sun again:


    "Look, Marius, who are we, anyway?"


    And this one, too.


    I stood up with a groan, and tried to reach my back, which the bad man had hit several times while I was carrying him:


    "We are idiots risking our lives for a small price. And the most frustrating thing is that no one forces us to do it."


    Then I looked at the baton and held it out to him:


    "Here, you will smite the impure with the flames of punishment. Just buy the manual. In any case, think before you rush off somewhere."


    "Uh, thanks."


    He stuffed the wand in his bag, then got into a cab and waved goodbye. He ordered business class, the spender. And I''ll walk, anyway, the path led almost to the dormitory... There'' a demon walks about half an hour from here, but I''ve got something like that snoring in my room. And when you think about it, I''m a miracle, too.


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