Read Beyond Death (Perimeter Defense Book #2) Online
Authors: Michael Atamanov
Beyond Death (Perimeter Defense Book #2) (45 page)
On the table in front of me was a mug of my favorite kind of unfiltered beer. The foam had long since faded, but I hadn't even taken a sip of the amber drink. Depression, apathy, despondency... In my head, I was trying to work out the word that best captured my state. By the end of the six-month contract I no longer had any doubt that I was in the real, fantastic world of the future, that I had a wonderful daughter, great friends and advisors, as well as status and recognition in society, I was making grandiose plans for the future. How could I have been so deceived?
I pushed away the still untasted beverage and gathered my strength and thoughts. It was already time to get back to the real world. I took a look around, already with my head screwed on better. On the table there was a thick stack of unpaid bills that I had dug out of the post box. The highest bill for the apartment had a threatening stamp on it: "If unpaid by the 20th of May, will be subject to legal action." Based on the fact that it was already July out the window, all these deadlines had long passed. At least I had the money to solve this issue. By the way, I should put the bank card away in my desk drawer so I don't accidentally lose it...
I placed the card with other valuable things and documents, and tried to close the drawer, but for some reason it wouldn't move. Of course, it's off the roller again, some part of the drawer has fallen off and is stopping the thing from moving. It was something that happened from time to time. I took the drawer all the way out and stuck my arm in to get the obstruction out. It was a transparent plastic box, inside of which was a brightly colored ball, overflowing with reflected light. And the strangest thing was that I understood perfectly that what I was holding in my hand was crystalloquasimetal-cis-isomer valiarimic acid, or in English narcotic crystals
I was probably the first person in history to give a big belly laugh after finding a dose of drugs that could get you the death penalty in their apartment. I started laughing, and just couldn't stop. A game? Well, well! Of course you made a pretty set for my awakening. Too bad I didn't think to check if that virtual reality capsule was even plugged in.
All that was left to do to make sure was to take a trip to the medical clinic. An hour later I left jumping for joy with an X-ray in hand showing a fracture to the collar bone beginning to heal. Everything came together. When I found a few empty bottles of cognac and vodka under the couch as well as a used needle, it only served to add to the totality of the picture. My body wasn't in a virtual reality capsule for half a year. Georgiy was playing me "in reality." He had sucked down vodka, taken drugs and partied it up in nightclubs.
I decided to voice my grievances to my former employer and set off for Mr. G. I.'s house, as I had luckily remembered the way perfectly. Imagine my surprise when, instead of the luxurious villa with a large, well-groomed park around it, I found a ruined, long, long abandoned building, filled with trash and old rotten leaves. The trail had gone cold. The hateful messages I sent to Space_General123 in the game we had once met in were also to no avail.
The only thing left was to wait and hope that my talents as a fleet commander would really be needed by Crown Prince Georg royl Inoky ton Mesfelle and his ghoulish Truth Seeker. I figured it would take at most ten days. That was as much time as I supposed my employer could spend in the game without my help.
However, a week passed, then two, and then three... I turned out to not be needed at all. No, I didn't forget about Perimeter Defense, but reality gradually put the fantasy world I'd left behind further and further from the front of my mind.
* * *
A call to my cell phone from an unknown number rang out at the very moment I was undergoing the next planned procedures in the medical clinic. That... bad man Mr. G. I. had been taking not just crystals, but heroin, and even three months after using, I still had to go to the medical center three times a week to get an injection of glucose with vitamin mix to cleanse the liver and blood, and fight the effect of drug withdrawals.
"Yes?" I said, pressing the accept button on the cell phone with my free hand.
"Ruslan, I have a serious proposition for you."
So much time had passed, but I would have recognized that voice from among a million others. Miya! So maybe I was needed after all.
"You're right,"
the Truth Seeker's voice rang out in my head.
"Mr. G.I. will be waiting for you in the same place in forty minutes."
My feelings were mixed. On the one hand, I desperately wanted to dive head first into the fantasy world of
Perimeter Defense
. On the other, my last experience had come at too high a price. The money I got in the first contract had barely been enough to pay all the fees and fines that Georgiy had left behind for me. My friends had turned away from me, I had fought with close relatives, and that's to say nothing about the hard drug torment and alcohol binges.
"After what you did to me last time, I don't even know what arguments could possibly make me go back into
Perimeter Defense
and give my body back to you to keep ruining!"
She kept silent for a few seconds, then said:
"The Alien
Queen
at the head of a three-thousand strong fleet has captured Hnelle. Your capital, Unatari is cut off from the Empire and we are preparing for a hopeless battle. The local soldiers have no chance of winning. The people’s only hope is that Crown Prince Georg will personally return to lead the fleet.
I kept silent for a few seconds, digesting the worrying information.
"This time, the contract is on my terms," I declared decisively.
"I agree," Miya said, for some reason not even asking her master's opinion on the matter.
"Alright, I'll be there in ten minutes," I ripped the needle from my vein and headed for the exit of the operation room.
End of Book Two
Thank you for reading
Beyond Death!
If you like what you've read, check out other LitRPG novels published by
The Way of the Shaman Books 1 and 2
by Vasily Mahanenko
Start the Game (Galactogon Book #1)
by Vasily Mahanenko
Phantom Server Books 1, 2 and 3
by Andrei Livadny
Perimeter Defense Books 1 and 2
by Michael Atamanov
by Alexey Osadchuk
The Lag (The Game Master Book #1)
by A. Bobl and A. Levitsky
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