Evening Game

Ethan examined the brown crate left over by their victim.

“Low protection and agility, but with a high camouflage rating.”

An assault build. Assault builds were those who played the game by prioritizing their stealth. They wore clothing that could hide them from the surrounding scenery, perfect for ambushes and surprise attacks. Most of them would combine the build with an agility build, allowing themselves to quickly reposition after the first shot. This one, however, had it combined with a strength build.

Ethan checked the weapon and let out a sigh of relief. He used a high-level, bolt-action sniper rifle, one powerful enough to kill Chione with one shot. Camouflage rating helped the wearer blend into the surrounding. It was impressive how Chione’s eyes could spot him, even if it took her two shots to get it.

“The first hit didn’t kill him, but he panicked and stood up.”

“I see.”

The high camouflage rating should’ve protected him had he not moved so abruptly. He only needed to move back and maybe to the side, to hide back under the grass. Standing exposed his body unnecessarily, allowing Chione to easily bring him down. The reduced mobility from the weapon’s weight didn’t help either.

Chione looked around the surroundings. From this position, the entire village was clearly visible. Three roads ran vertically from their position to the main road, the leftmost one separated by a small river with two bridges connecting it to the rest of Hokisa. A watermill attached to a house spun slowly as water passed through it. Chione tugged at Ethan’s sleeve, who had just stood up from collecting all the loot. He had better armor compared to Chione, so he would carry all their loot, especially since this time they actually found some high-level equipment. Chione then pointed toward the watermill.

“Let’s go there.”

“Alright.”

Both of them returned their weapons to their holsters, Chione storing her sniper in her inventory. The two walked back down to Hokisa, heading for past the old, forgotten buildings and passed a bridge. Chione stopped momentarily to look down at the clear, tranquil waters flowing below them, some fishes swimming happily in the waters.

There was something charming about them, about this empty, abandoned village. Something that neither of them could exactly tell what. It just gave them a calm, peaceful feeling. It felt inherently peaceful, a far cry from the true dangers of a red zone.

While still being wary of their surroundings, especially since a sniper on the hill could easily take them out no matter where they were, they made their way to the old watermill.

Entering through the door, the two found themselves inside a wooden building. Wooden gears of various sizes occupied the space that faced the river. They turned and rotated in a slow and orderly fashion. Two wooden stools were placed on the sides, one closer to the door and the other closer to the large gears.

“What are these for?”

Chione asked as she moved one of the chairs. She then took a look at the gears, which seemed to be spinning without any good reason.

“In the real world, they use a watermill to produce goods. Milling, rolling, hammering, those kinds of stuff.”

Ethan looked at the gears. He followed them from the large water wheel outside, through a gear on the wall and up to the one on the roof, but they didn’t seem to be connected to anything. Maybe those who owned this building in the game took the thing it was connected to when they left, or maybe this structure was one of the incomplete ones. Incomplete buildings were not uncommon in the game, scattered throughout various corners of the world. The technology was relatively new, the game probably didn’t have much development time, so the developers fixed stuff up as they went.

They have been adding new, better content recently. They probably put those kinds of content as a priority, hence why the watermill stayed in its state, or maybe this was all intentional, a way to add to the abandoned feeling of Hokisa.

Something shining in the corner of the room caught Ethan’s attention. He approached the item and kneeled beside it, taking it into his hands. It was a key, but without any description whatsoever. He put the item into his inventory and opened up his quest screen. He looked through the three quests he accepted. Two of them had already been completed, thanks to the person they defeated previously.

After examining the watermill for anything else of interest, they stepped back out to the roads.

“Any other place you want to visit?”

Ethan asked. The high-level sniper rifle she currently holds, along with various other loot he acquired from their victim was worth much more compared to his quest, so he would prefer to go back and secure their loot. Had Chione wanted to take a walk around Hokisa, he wouldn’t stop her, but she shook her head.

“We have school tomorrow, let’s not go back too late.”

“Alright.”

But as they walked toward the bridge, they saw four people standing below Hokisa’s gate, an empty tank behind them. Ethan and Chione quickly hid behind the bridge’s stone side wall. Chione brought her medium-level sniper rifle out and aimed at them.

“They saw us?”

Ethan whispered.

“Negative. Should we shoot?”

This was a red zone, so if they didn’t strike first, they would be at a disadvantage. There was no guarantee that the enemy wouldn’t strike, and they outnumbered them.

“Wait.”

Ethan checked the map of the area. The map provided a top-down view of the region. He examined it, looking for hidden escape routes and covers. The village was divided into three sections by three main roads. A western road ran through the side left of Hokisa’s river, going from top to bottom, while two other roads went parallel to it, right of the river. On the bottom end and top end were two horizontal roads running left to right, connected to two bridges that crossed the river.

“It’s Calista.”

Chione suddenly uttered out of the blue.

“She is laughing, Mason smiling beside her.”

“You’re not jealous, are you?”

Chione brought her eyes from the scope to Ethan, her face bearing a complicated expression.

“Am I not supposed to convey that information?”

“... No.”

Ethan didn’t care what they were talking about, what they were laughing about. The fact was that they had entered a red zone, and unless they had some kind of agreement beforehand, it was a free for all. Even if they did have an agreement, that didn’t guarantee that the other side couldn’t backstab him, so he needed to be on guard at all times.

“Fire first. We’ll collect all their stuff anyway, so if there’s anything important, we could just return them.”

“Alright.”

Chione aligned her sights, her finger on the trigger.

“Mason.”

Ethan chose the target. Ethan had no idea what the other two players were, Calista was a new player so she shouldn’t be a threat, while Mason was a veteran like him. Ethan looked at the four people in the distance. He couldn’t see any of them from here, unable to recognize neither their names nor equipment, but if Chione didn’t say anything, she probably didn’t recognize them either. Besides, unlike Chione, they probably did enjoy playing the game.

And killing another player was part of this game.

“Fire.”