2

Chapter 2

Still, hand-to-hand combat is not my thing.

Ignat easily got away from my jab and shortly punched me in the liver. It felt like a sledgehammer hit him in the stomach, and I bent forward, trying to get my forehead into his face.

- Look you! - the big man, whom I still hooked, was surprised. - Courageous!

For the next half minute, I played the bag, trying to minimize the effects of his punches and make rare counterattacks. I have to admit, I was lucky that Ignat did not set out to knock me out or cripple me.

Having limited himself to a few powerful blows to the body and dried off my hands raised in the block, he stepped back and smiled friendly:

- Tickets?

“Quits,” I grimaced from the pain in my stomach, but shook the outstretched hand.

He turned out to be so cooler than me in hand-to-hand combat that he could calmly give me humiliating cuffs on the back of the head or put a couple of black eyes. But Ignat, apparently, knew about our distinguishing feature with his brother and behaved tactfully.

It seems that he put him in his place, but he did not stoop to humiliation either.

“Your brother, by the way, fights better,” Peter could not resist commenting.

Well, who would have doubted!

Leaving the entrance after him, I waved to my mother standing by the window and climbed behind Ignat into a tinted UAZ Patriot. Pyotr threw bags of pastries and pickles into the trunk and got behind the wheel, while Ignat and I sat in the back seat.

“Here,” Ignat handed me a leather folder. - Let's not waste time. We drive for half an hour. You need to have time to read the papers. There will be questions - I will answer what I can.

"Okay," I eagerly opened the folder, feeling a lump of cold reappear in my stomach.

I glanced briefly at the copy of the contract. It turns out that two months ago Max switched from his main business to work at the Game - World corporation , in which he was hired as a developer of virtual worlds. In parallel with this, he continued to earn money as a Conductor.

He helped to get artifacts, pass raid bosses, and arrange collapses in the gaming market. In general, any whim for your money. We played so many games with him that we just felt the game mechanics. But for everything you had to pay a price ...

But more on that later.

A month and a half ago, Ignat and Peter came to Max with a simple, at first glance, task: to find and pull one girl out of the virtual. I stopped reading the contract and looked skeptically at Ignat.

For my brother to risk everything he had and agree to this adventure? Not to life! After all, it’s not for nothing that we gave up on the career of e-sportsmen! It’s just that my brother found the strength to continue to engage in virtual, and I ... I ran headlong into books, complex logistics schemes and science.

- Did you read it? Ignat clarified, watching my emotions with interest. Now the glasses.

I looked suspiciously at Max's sunglasses in the folder, but put them on anyway.

Attention! Enter password!

Password? What's the other password? And how did they manage to shove an add-on module into ordinary glasses. reality?

Attention! Enter password!

Brother? Max Mad? Alex Ice?

Attention! Password is wrong! Enter password!

I took off my glasses and looked inquiringly at Ignat.

- Do you see anything? the man asked curiously. “If it weren’t for his ultimatum request to hand over those glasses to you, we would have thought it was a stupid prank.”

- Message?

“Well, yes,” Ignat shrugged. “He spent some sort of divine artifact to send word to the real world. - He asked me to urgently hand over the glasses to you and say that he was very sorry.

It's a pity? I silently put on my glasses and thoughtlessly stared at the inscription:

Attention! Enter password!

What could Max be sorry about? After all, he was always better than me. And in everything: in studies, and in sports, and with girls, and even in the Game! A little faster, a little smarter, a little more determined. He was number one and I'm always number two.

You could say that I envied him. Yes, I'm still jealous. He lives without looking back, he spits on someone else's opinion and does as he sees fit. He has no end to girls and ... most importantly ... Marina chose him.

Marina… Marinochka… Mariska.

My former classmate and ... for a year and a half, as Max's ex-girlfriend. I don’t know why I fell for her so much then, but in those days when we stormed the South Korean esports Olympus, I was torn from two feelings.

Wild, crazy jealousy and incredibly sweet gratitude to God for every minute spent next to her.

“Marishka,” I whispered with my lips alone.

Attention! Password accepted!

The next second, Max appeared in front of me.

- Hi brother! Max said cheerfully. “If you see me, it means that something went wrong.

He smiled guiltily and scratched his stubbled chin.

- Now I'm officially working on the Second Chance project, Digital Immortality, everything. Remember when we watched that episode on the HoloNet together? But in fact ... The story came out bad, and I hoped that I could handle it myself, but it didn’t work out. I think Ignat will give you most of the information, but I want to warn you right away: do not study the materials on the game.

So, it’s definitely not a Second Chance… I mean, don’t study? What are you talking about, brother? How can you go into the game without preparation?

“I know what you’re thinking now,” Max looked me straight in the eyes. And I repeat again: No. Study. Materials. By. game. I'll tell you more, don't even dare to ask what game it is. Firstly, it will be easier for you yourself, and secondly, Ignat's leadership will appreciate this step and, perhaps, allow you to return to normal life.

Return? Will they let me?

"That's right," Max seemed to see right through me. “This girl to be found… has recently been the bride of a very serious person, and she has been in the game for two months now. Irreversible consequences, as you know, come after six months. You will receive this message in about a month or two. That's why…

My brother pursed his lips, wondering how much time I had.

“Therefore, you will have a maximum of six to eight weeks. Remember. The first month you completely devote to pumping, becoming your own in this world, assembling a reliable team, looking for a support base. Some clan or local Order, in general, you will figure it out yourself. And only when you reach the hundredth level, you can go in search of her.

Max narrowed his eyes, as if considering whether to tell me or not.

“You will definitely be able to find her, because she scattered in the game… breadcrumbs. By the way, this info is so important that because of it I spent the Divine reward and now I am recording this video for you.

Divine reward is very cool in any game. He could choose the most unique skill or the coolest armor, but instead he decided to send me a message… So this is really important.

- Farther. Choose your favorite race. Bet on the starter set. Don't play, live. Act with your conscience, despite the fact that this is a game. Besides…” A shadow of uncertainty crossed his brother's face. “But anyway, it doesn’t matter…

Max, well, who gives hints like that? Even more confused!

“Most likely, by the time you watch this recording, Game - World will have already taken my capsule out of its territory ... But then you will have a chance to beat compensation out of them. For example, a free six-month capsule rental.

What? Where will it take? What are you talking about, Max!

“You know, San,” my brother looked straight into my eyes. - If I had the opportunity, I would have spent the last three years in a completely different way ... I would communicate more with you, with my mother, with Marishka ...

Hey Max, what are you thinking? What's a goodbye brother?!

“Don’t be upset,” the brother smiled evilly, showing his lower teeth in his own manner. - We will fight again! Firstly, the Krestovskys never, you hear, never give up, and secondly, it’s not for nothing that half the world knows me under the nickname Max Mad or Mad Max! God willing, see you in the game. And remember: try not to die!

Right now, nothing is clear at all!

“And by the way, as soon as you finish watching this tape, it will self-destruct,” my brother looked at me carefully and repeated. — It will not be erased, but will self-destruct, San. Max pursed his lips in sympathy and spoke softly. - Five…

You mean self-destruct?

- Four…

Like in American action movies?

- Three…

I ripped my glasses off my eyes and pushed in the power window button.

- Two…

- What are you? Ignat tensed, watching with me how the tinted glass of the UAZ was slowly lowering.

- One…

I slipped my goggles into the gap that had formed and jerked my hand away.

Wow!

A small bright orange petal of fire swelled next to the car, and Pyotr suddenly turned into an oncoming lane.

— Beiiiiii!

- Oooo!

— What are you doing?! - Peter shouted, miraculously moving away from a collision with a beha flying towards him. - What the hell?!

- That's how, then - Ignat, unlike Peter, reacted to what happened quite calmly. “It’s strange, we checked these glasses, they didn’t have explosives, not a single gram of electronics ...

“Ignat, I’m completely confused,” I admitted frankly. - What about Max, who is this girl, why us?

- As we found out, your brother, who is still listed as an employee of the Game - World company , disappeared three weeks ago.

- Yes, stop! I put my head in my hands. - For starters, how did he get into Game - World ? He has his own business.

- Four months ago, after two years of work in Game - World , one girl disappeared. For the first week, we tried to act officially - we bombarded the corporation with lawsuits, letters, met with the management, attracted the FSB. Unsuccessfully.

- That is, a person disappeared at work, and everyone just turned a blind eye to it? I was surprised.

“As you can see, not all of them,” Ignat disagreed. - As soon as it became clear that it would not be possible to resolve the issue by legal methods, we turned to Maxim Krestovsky, better known as Max Mad, for help.

“Actually, this is confidential information,” I put in my two cents.

“Yes, yes…” Ignat waved him off. - Further. Your brother agreed to help and got a job at the Game - World company , where he was taken with arms and legs as soon as he showed his resume.

“Still,” I couldn’t resist. - It's Max!

- Yes, - Ignat did not understand my sarcasm, - your brother is a legend in his own way.

I gritted my teeth, but didn't interrupt.

- The first month he settled down at work, then he said that he had groped something, and then suddenly stopped communicating. Not counting the message received yesterday.

How long ago did Max go to the game? I asked. "And what's your plan?"

“About five weeks,” Ignat answered immediately, “but the plan is simple. We are taking you to Game - World , you make a scandal, demand to find your brother, you are offered compensation, you agree and choose a capsule on the territory of the corporation.

- Why is it necessary on their territory?

Because access to the world we need is only there.

— And if I am secretly taken out of the company?

“We will find you thanks to this thing,” Ignat showed a syringe with contents that looked more like mercury than a GPRS tracker.

- But…

- If Max had one, we would have found him and, most likely, the girl we are interested in a long time ago.

- Yes, but...

- Five million rubles.

Crap! Help your brother, and even earn the much-needed money now! Plus, if Max was in the pod for five weeks, what's with the damn credit? Is it overdue again?

My stomach turned cold from the feeling of impending problems, and I frowned at Ignat.

- Give me your contract, inject your rubbish, but I need a deposit of one million.

- It's ... possible, - Ignat nodded slowly, taking out a contract from the folder and handing it to me:

I, Alex Ice, undertake to find and return Marina Lavrova from the virtual

Date:________ Alex (Ice) Krestovsky

I took the pen with stiff fingers, drew on the paper a scribble similar to my signature, licked my parched lips and incredulously specified:

Marina Lavrova

“Well, yes,” Ignat nodded. — Marina Sergeevna Lavrova. The city of Moscow, a former member of the eSports team "Crosses".

Marina… Marinochka… Mariska.

This, damn it, just can't be!