Evening Game

While both cities were filled with tall skyscrapers, Technologia’s capital, Hatasdei, had a slightly different design to those of the Central City. Hatasdei followed a more eastern design in terms of city design, taking inspiration from eastern centers like Tokyo and Seoul. The inclusion of technology also meant the ability to travel further distances quicker, thus the city, in general, was much larger than Adastra.

This made walking less viable. He had an electric scooter that he kept from back when he lived here, but the same couldn’t be said about Chione and Calista, who were now both in an entirely different world. They were beginners, and since they didn’t start here, they didn’t have the perks that came with this country like its starting vehicle and starting weapon.

The two sat on the top of a tank turret, looking out into their surroundings as the lightly armored vehicle sped through the city’s highways, weaving in between the mix of cars, trucks, and buses. Mason drove his light tank at a speed of fifty-five kilometers an hour, Ethan sitting behind him in the gunner seat. He couldn’t see much out of his limited viewpoint, but he didn’t want to join the girls sitting atop the turret either, so he didn’t complain as he rested his back onto his seat.

Mason drove them to a hotel, a modern one. He parked his tank in the lobby. They then entered and took the elevator up to the eleventh floor. Upon arriving in the corridors, Mason started giving out keys to all three of them.

“How do you get them?”

Calista asked curiously as she inspected the key. It was a black card key, similar to the ones found in real hotels.

“I co-owned the place.”

“Impressive. I never expected you to be so rich.”

Nor do I expect that you two will play together.

Ethan kept that sentence for himself.

“Won’t take long before ya got ya own money.”

Things like these were actually quite cheap, mainly because people preferred to exchange their in-game cash with real-life money, so there were few buyers. Mason then tried handing one to Ethan, but he rejected.

“I have my own place.”

“Ya sure?”

Ethan nodded.

“Fine then. Ya guys ending it for tonight?”

“Yep, I’m tired.”

Calista said as she stretched her hands. Chione glanced at Ethan. Ethan only nodded lightly and turned back, heading for the elevator. He pressed a button and went back to the ground floor.

Once back on the streets, Ethan called upon his own electric scooter. The game didn’t simulate wear and tear, unless for equipment that was used in combat, so his scooter looked the same as it was when it entered his inventory a while ago. The scooter didn’t have a seat, so he stood on it before moving on his way.

Ethan rode his scooter across the city, a map leading him toward an inn he booked in advance. He disliked the idea of living from Mason’s kindness, something he rarely saw in school, so he would rather lie about it and spend money to find a place to stay. Besides, he did book the place before Mason offered them the hotel room, so it shouldn’t count as a lie.

Ethan stopped in front of a small, two-story building. The building looked rather well kept, its pearl white exterior painting shining brilliantly. He made his way toward the small lobby that could probably only fit four or five people at once.

“Welcome to our hotel. How may we help you?”

Ethan brought out the receipt and showed it to the receptionist, who turned around and gave him a door key with his room number on it.

“We hope you enjoy your stay.”

The receptionist said with a bright smile. Ethan nodded and went up to the second floor. He walked through the corridor arriving in front of a wooden door with the room’s number carved into its center. He put his silver key into the keyhole and turned it open. The doorknob let out a light click and soft squeak as he pushed it open. Inside was a small room, roughly two by two meters in size, containing a small bed. He didn’t need comfort, of course.

He didn’t even need the toilet, which was shared among all other hotel residences, so for him, this was enough.

He pulled the curtain and blocked sunlight from coming in through the window located above the bed, causing the room to go dark. He set his body down on the patternless white bed sheet and closed his eyes.

It didn’t take him long before he returned to the real world. It was already quite late, the outside world dark. A faint moonlight crept in through the curtains, painting a thin, white line above his bed. He got up and checked his smartphone, finding his notifications to be once again empty. He turned around and took a look at his bedroom. Size-wise, it was much larger compared to the tiny hotel room his virtual body currently slept in, but he couldn’t shake a rather awkward feeling that the virtual bedroom, despite its minuscule size, had some charm.

It was weird, but he decided that thinking about it wouldn’t suddenly change his life for the better, so he decided to just head back into bed. He closed his eyes, the world once again fading into the dark.