From now on they would be forced to live forever in reality.

I had never seen two people shot to death before and it was hard to react, even though they were virtual lives. So much for their adventure; there would be no more virtual shopping for them, nor many of the huge facilities that Allsium provided.

By now they would have been in their respective homes cursing the wretched Italian who had stitched them up with bullets and returned them to their dark existence. Although that didn't save the fact that both Zen and I were very surprised to see that Greek had kept an ace up his sleeve in the form of a Beretta.

“What are you fools standing there like passive stares? “said Greek as he approached the leader to strip him of all his belongings. Search the other one before they come back with more people. Come on, dammit! “He let out a big laugh. This idiot had a hotel room of his own on him. We've won the lottery, ragazzi!

I didn't even know how to respond to that. It was great news, of course. The best that four rookies who had just arrived on a planet where the system did not protect certain areas could have, although I would have liked to avoid witnessing the virtual death of two users. No matter how many thieves they were, that image would never be erased from my memory.

“Stay with Dagon," I said to Zen as I walked over to the other virtual stiff. I think he's in shock.

I stripped the hooded man and everything went into the group's common inventory. The dingy bow was already a better weapon than anything we were carrying, with the exception of Greek's Beretta, which we knew nothing about. Otherwise, two hundred credits, rope, lighter and basic tools that anyone traveling far from virtual Earth had to carry to survive. We could use some extra gear.

But the leader had turned out to be a bloody gold mine.

“This turkey is loaded, ragazzi. Look at the inventory.

It was unbelievable. We had pulled off the coup that rookies dreamed of. We weren't going to be filthy rich, but at least we could buy weapons to defend ourselves.

The idiot had twelve hundred credits on him.

“Dagon, wake up! “I slapped him twice as I bent down. It's all over now. Get up, you're too heavy for all of us to drag you around.

“I'm... uh... I'm sorry, guys. I don't know what came over me," he mumbled.

“Well, you're out of your mind, ragazzone. You pissed your pants and didn't shit yourself by miracle. “Greek could have a lot of good things, but tact wasn't among them. But luck smiled on us and we're almost rich, so you can buy new pants.

“I can't believe it," Zen commented, "this guy had a lot of money on him. Maybe they were preparing for a trip, or they wanted to buy new weapons.

“The bows aren't so bad," I said, testing the string tension. There were twelve arrows left, which I would keep in case someone showed up.

We were already warned about the danger of Initium for novices.

“Well, let's get out of here," said Zen hurriedly.

“Come on, Dagon, move, come on. “Greek got under the big guy's arm. They were like a comic duo.

The Italian was short and short”tempered, but he was going to have to explain to us what the hell he was doing with a Beretta in his possession. And not because we wouldn't have done well, but because there were supposed to be no secrets among the members of the group.

“Let's go to a safe place," said Zen. And that excludes the property of the guy we just took out.

“I suppose his henchmen are still hanging around," I said. They'll think they're getting back what was theirs, but they've got a good chance.

When you first acquired a property in Allsium you had to visit it and enter it to make it official. But best of all, returning to that property would be free, no matter what world we were in.

We could say that we were in luck, as long as we dismissed the idea that a clan wanted to kill us and that we had to spend a few days out in the open and unprotected, at least until things calmed down.

“We'll have to take turns on watch, guys," Zen reported. If anyone goes back to real life, at least one of us will have to keep watch over the rest.

“I have to go to work in a couple of hours," said Dagon, a little more recovered from the shock.

“I have no intention of getting out of bed. “Greek spent the most hours in Allsium. There were days when he didn't even come back to reality.

“"Passing from the real world," Zen also said.

“I don't have anything to do in reality either, unless my mother bothers me," I replied.

Actually, of the four of us, only Dagon had something to hold on to in real life. During his eight hours of work the rest of us could devote ourselves to scouting Initium and looking for a safe place. Then we would figure out a strategy to get to the newly acquired property.

“We have less than two hours to find a cave or something for Dagon to take shelter and be safe," I reported.

“While I go to work and get there I can stay connected, but you know that once I get to work I have to disconnect.

Entering hibernation mode was mandatory for anyone who worked in real life. In this state, Allsium could not be accessed and the company ensured that its employee would do whatever he had to do during his working day. His body in Allsium was paralyzed, just like that.

In the virtual Earth there was no problem, you could walk through the streets and see frozen people everywhere. You couldn't rob them or, of course, do them any kind of harm because they were protected by the system. But Initium was no longer protected and was a free world, so leaving a frozen body anywhere was a lure for thieves and murderers.

If care was not taken, Allsium's life of lawlessness could soon be over.

“Fuck, this place is depressing," Greek announced, as if we hadn't noticed.