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Camrad_RIP 07.04.25 в 11:52

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Camrad_RIP 07.04.25 в 11:52

It all started when Igor ran out of toothpaste. He preferred to brush his teeth not with any toothpaste, but with a special dental one that helped with bleeding gums. With the acquisition of the Lot and the filling of the Step scale by one tenth, his health improved significantly, and he noticed that his physical characteristics had strengthened somewhat. This also affected the cosmetic effect, or at least it seemed to him that he began to look less miserable. His gums also stopped bleeding from the slightest touch, but he used a proven product out of habit. The trouble was that the 24-hour store near his house did not have the necessary paste, so he had to go to the nearest large market, stretching his legs at the same time.

Camrad_RIP 13.04.25 в 15:46

The shopping itself went without incident. Igor bought all sorts of things, including fresh baked goods, so he walked home almost jumping as he walked. And, cutting through the courtyards again, he suddenly stopped and froze. He would not have confused this feeling with anything else, not in any way and never, not after the horror he had already experienced. The stench of stagnant water soaked in the decomposition of corpses, cold and dirty, disgusting even when trying to think about this feeling. Like a light breeze, like a distant echo, it overtook him in the middle of someone else's yard and almost drove him into hysterical panic. Frozen, overcoming the desire to turn around and run wherever his eyes looked, he carefully sat down on a damp and cold bench, putting down the bags with the purchases and looking around with an attentive and anxious gaze.

Camrad_RIP 13.04.25 в 16:49

An ordinary courtyard. He passes here regularly. Ordinary people in it: some guy is poking around under the hood of an old Toyota, a couple of schoolchildren are playing snowballs in the wet snow, threatening each other with unprintable insults, a tired woman is dragging much larger bags of groceries home, a drunk worker is trying to enter the entrance, not noticing that his magnetic key clearly does not fit the purely mechanical combination lock. A typical, almost pastoral picture, if you do not count the feeling of trouble that overtook Igor, a feeling of disgust and alienation, which simply should not be because such shit should not exist at all. The direction was felt instinctively. Instinctively, he looked in the direction of the tightly locked basement doors, just as instinctively realizing that he did not want to open these doors at all.

Camrad_RIP 13.04.25 в 16:59

The stench of chilly energy flowed from the basement windows, covered the courtyard with a thin shroud. Its long tentacles rose upwards, towards the residential apartments, as if reaching out, reaching out to the warmth of human bodies. Igor sat on a cold and uncomfortable bench for the sake of decency, burying his face in a game open on his smartphone, thinking about his own things. He thought gloomy and evil thoughts, exclusively in dark tones, the very darkest, diluted only by a bloody crimson. Igor was not exactly a callous person, but rather an indifferent one, one of those who would not refuse help, but would not be the first to offer it. One of those who would prefer to shift responsibility onto someone else, so that the problem would also become someone else's, so that competent organizations would deal with it. Competent exclusively in words, and full of poisonous sarcasm.

Camrad_RIP 13.04.25 в 17:02

But here and now he had no one to shift responsibility to, no one to complain to and demand that something be done. Even if he risked turning to people in uniform, whom even calling people was often an insult to the human race, they would not even listen to him. Because he was talking nonsense. He understood that his “I sense evil hidden in the basement” looked like nonsense. What was even worse, they might believe him. He did not know what was happening to his colleagues there? How many of them ended up in the same city as him, and whether the creation of any special departments to combat the paranormal threat had already begun. Common sense, logic, and even the notorious intuition asserted that he did not want to get caught by the authorities who knew about the phenomenon of the Lots. It would be good if he stayed alive, and there was no point in even stuttering about health and freedom.

Camrad_RIP 13.04.25 в 17:05

How long did it take the hole to turn the candy seller into what he eventually became? Well, he was literally locked in a cramped room with a breach, a physical breach, literally, which he initially, perhaps, simply stuffed with rags and decided to think about the problem tomorrow. Here, a whole five-story building became victims of the flow, and they were separated from this crap by strong walls and a floor. It is unlikely that this will save them all. This abomination will flow through any matter, there is no need to even talk about cracks and pipes, but people had some kind of protection. But it will not be enough, it will not be enough, and all, well, or some, of the inhabitants of this place will face a very bad ending. Men, women, old people, children and pets. And simply death will not be the worst option for what happens to people.

Camrad_RIP 13.04.25 в 17:08

"I'm so sick of this..." Igor sighed tiredly, pulling a fresh eclair out of the box. "Call the fucking Auror Office and Who-Knows-Which Watch."

Camrad_RIP 13.04.25 в 17:09

With these words, he stood up, dusted himself off, and dragged his purchases home.

Camrad_RIP 07.04.25 в 11:53

He returned to this place after midnight, dressed in thick and strong clothes, armed with a crowbar found in the closet, covered with two of his magical abilities, and also using camouflage tactics. His entire face was covered with a balaclava mask, thick ski goggles on top, more for eye protection, with several flashlights, a couple of knives, prepared torches, a lighter, and an irrepressible fighting spirit. Okay, it must be admitted that there was no fighting spirit, only a sense of duty and readiness, if something happened, to immediately retreat, run, and then call the police and let them die for the good of the citizens they swore to protect. In principle, it was possible to immediately move on to the last point, simply breaking down the door, and then telling the good people that someone's corpse was lying in the basement. This could even be entirely true. There is a fake SIM card, an old burner phone bought at the market second-hand. Introducing yourself with a different name is also not difficult. Just call, the police should come, and after it goes missing, they will perk up and start moving.

Camrad_RIP 13.04.25 в 17:31

It was either greed or a lack of cynicism that stopped him. After all, he had to send the first patrol to certain death, unless there was a colleague with the Lot among them. Or simply the readiness to shoot at the sound and any suspicious movement. So Igor was going to go to war, constantly cursing himself for his soft-heartedness, stupidity, and other shortcomings, like a conscience that just wouldn't die. Well, or at least make sure that he wasn't paranoid and that there really was a hotbed of nastiness in the basement of the building. Maybe he'd be lucky and that shit wouldn't have time to breed mutated cats and rats for protection, so all he could do was silently lock the passage and not have to fight for his life?

Camrad_RIP 13.04.25 в 17:35

He came out to the basement from around the corner, cutting through the garages, where there was no one at all now, and where there were no cameras yet. He walked out slowly, covering his head with a hood and pretending he always walked like that, even setting the flashlight to minimum power. Just a late night passerby, nothing special. Everything was in order, nothing to worry about, right? He got there without problems or incidents, did not meet any night passersby, and was ready to plunge into his first voluntarily chosen battle, when he was alarmed by a voice that came almost from behind him. A hoarse, smoke-filled, old man's voice, politely addressing him from the darkness:

Camrad_RIP 13.04.25 в 17:44

"God help you." Igor doesn't know how he managed not to squeal and not jump, only twitching a little, slowly turning around. "What, it stinks too, huh?"

Camrad_RIP 13.04.25 в 17:45

What he had taken for a pile of rags under the bench in the almost complete darkness turned out to be not a pile, but a living person, only wrapped in many layers of cloth that stank of the odor of a long-unwashed body. He was getting to his feet, slowly and not even trying to threaten, of average height and build, with a face thickly overgrown with a dirty, shaggy beard. So dirty that the beard at the end had simply stuck together into a solid lump and was carelessly pulled together with a gaudy pink elastic band for hair. The same homeless person he had had the chance to observe before, albeit only from afar or from hearsay, was standing right in front of him and only squinting slightly from the flashlight directed at his face.

Camrad_RIP 13.04.25 в 17:51

"Yeah. It stinks." Igor agreed with the description, and without sarcasm, because the scent of his interlocutor was the fragrance of the Garden of Eden, if compared with the lightest shadow of what was hidden in the basement. "I couldn’t help but want to clean it."

Camrad_RIP 13.04.25 в 17:52

In the almost complete darkness, the interlocutor's toothless smile, barely visible behind his dirty hair, was already ominous. Combined with the oppressive atmosphere of the background coming from the basement, as well as the realization that this stinking man has unknown magical powers... the ominousness took on several new levels. It took Igor, clenching his hands on the crowbar shoved into his tennis case, some time to realize that this man was in a good-natured mood. And the homeless man, as if not realizing how much he had managed to scare his opponent, farted loudly, burped, and scratched his ass, not at all embarrassed by the fact that his clothes were pretty wet and should have been freezing, not warming. Well, judging by what Igor already knew about him, this guy gave a shit about weather conditions even more than about his appearance and hygiene.

Camrad_RIP 13.04.25 в 17:54

"Me too, my dear fellow, want to, well, shut this crap up." He even pointed his finger towards the door, poking it several times, letting us admire the long, thick yellow nail on his finger. "But I'm too chicken to be alone. I mean, I plugged up the last pipe, and I almost shit myself. And it didn't stink as much there. It was weaker."

Camrad_RIP 13.04.25 в 18:05

The guy suppressed the urge to joke about how the smell of his interlocutor indicated that he hadn't managed to avoid shitting himself after all. He switched to a more businesslike tone. They both spoke quietly, even softly, but they heard each other perfectly well and, in Igor's case, he didn't trust his opponent. Only his opponent seemed to be pretending very well, or simply wasn't afraid that Igor would decide to let him in for an EXP. The question was, was it naive stupidity, or a clear understanding that he was stronger than the young stranger? From the words of the homeless man who called himself Vas-Vas, or Vasily Vasilyevich, but better Vas-Vas, that's what all his friends called him, he had already managed to win a fight with a very healthy and seasoned rat, who had taken to dragging not only yard cats, but also not particularly large dogs to her hole in another basement. And almost dragged away some toddler left without maternal care, miraculously saved by his father, who started honking the horn, frightening the creature with a loud sound. Apparently, he thought it was some kind of dog, and thought he had imagined the giant rat.

Camrad_RIP 13.04.25 в 19:59

Vas-Vas, decided that it was not right for such crap to live next to a kindergarten and his beloved warm basement, win. He even bragged about a bunch of fresh torn holes in his rags. But he did not want to repeat such an intense duel. So he sat there, sleeping, ignoring the possibility of dying of cold, waiting for the moment when he mustered the resolve to go to the basement, or until someone entered there, so as not to break down the door. The homeless man was afraid of attracting the attention of the police, about whom he spoke exclusively with obscenities, it seemed, many times more than what could be hiding behind the door. On the one hand, Igor did not give a damn about such a partner, and on the other ... on the other hand, he was even more afraid of going there alone. Well, for the sake of confronting a common and terrible enemy, the most diverse people joined the unions, so their union will not particularly stand out against the background of historical examples. Perhaps, if Igor were a typical bender mage with lightning and ice spikes in his arsenal, he would have risked his health by trying to "level up alone", but his Lot was a support class. He needed someone who could fight in his place. And he wasn't going to worry too much about the life of the homeless person who offered to cooperate.

Camrad_RIP 13.04.25 в 20:07

"What's your name, my dear fellow?" Vasily was sincerely happy that they had come to an agreement. "And what can you do? I am very strong, beat me as you want. As long as I have Shots, I can take everything on myself, that's it."

Camrad_RIP 13.04.25 в 20:11

Igor's twitching eye is not visible under his glasses, but it twitches. Vasily's linguistic perception of his Status list module was quite different from Igor's. The seasoned alcoholic called the Vessels Shots, and the Tablet he called the Snack. In the sense that he drank a Shot, add the Snack on top, and the miracle has happened. There was some logic in this, but it was so alternative that Igor, who was used to sublimely mysterious commentary-images, had an uncontrollable slight pain in his head. Against this background, he even forgot about the worries that he didn't know a damn thing about his partner, who could very well attack the young man too. He agreed to the alliance more out of desperation, because it was less dangerous to risk getting involved with Vasily than to try to fight in proud solitude.

Camrad_RIP 13.04.25 в 18:08

"Call me Hedgehog." That's all he said, suppressing the desire to take a nickname like Alucard or Dante, otherwise he would definitely end up as some kind of chuunibyou. "Because I'm strong, but light. And I can put a protective screen... well, like a shield over your armor. I can show you, if you don't mind."

Camrad_RIP 13.04.25 в 18:09

Characteristically, Vasily allowed it right away, as if he wasn't afraid of a dirty trick, which only made him more nervous. Either he was such an idiot, or he was so confident in himself, but it still made him nervous. Vasily, who had gasped from the feeling of the imposed amulet, played with his hand for a while, even trying to bite himself, but was extremely pleased. Their conversation, which had already lasted half an hour, fortunately took place right next to the basement door and had no witnesses. But it was simply dangerous to drag it out any longer, it was too easy to run into unwanted witnesses. And so, he took out his crowbar, Vasily armed himself with a hammer wrapped in blue tape and a chef's cleaver, found in some dump, and then they stepped closer to the door.

Camrad_RIP 13.04.25 в 18:11

The renewed Vessels were full. Only one of them was blocked, but this blockage allowed Igor to silently put his fingers on the massive door lock, by the way, very fresh, literally just recently hung, and then simply squeeze it in his fist, crumpling it like a craft made of warm plasticine. Vasily Vasilyevich, who chuckled respectfully, immediately squeezed forward, holding a hammer in his hand, forcing him to hold his breath and wipe away the tears that had appeared in his eyes. The click of the flashlight was followed by another click, but the spare flashlight went to his ally, and forever. Igor will not take it back until he bathes it in pure alcohol, and after that, the flashlight will stop working anyway. The darkness, dispersed by two beams of light, and the hoarse curses of Vasily, remembering the builders, the authorities, Gorbachev, modern youth, Cervantes, and again the builders.

Camrad_RIP 13.04.25 в 18:14

And steps.

Camrad_RIP 13.04.25 в 18:15

They both step forward, focusing more on their own sensations from the much denser filling of space with filth concentrated in the basement than on the still absent map. The creaking of small stones, the splashing of puddles flowing from leaking pipes, a heavy and oppressive feeling of maturing danger. The feeling of dead, frozen filth does not just stink, it permeates everything and everyone, making you forget even about the stench of a homeless person's amber. Only five Vessels spin in the chest, form a spiral, suck in the filth penetrating the body and quickly remove it. By the way, from such a close distance, Igor feels not only filth, but also sparks of warmth from Vasily, exactly three of them, also located in his chest.

Camrad_RIP 13.04.25 в 18:17

You can't call it a magical vision, because he doesn't see them, he just knows. And, what's characteristic, the guy was able to sense other people's Vessels only after these Vessels began actively cleaning toxic energy from the body. It's worth taking note of this moment as a very effective way to figure out a fellow magician. Vas-Vas, who looked at him thoughtfully, also probably sensing five, not three, Vessels in the guy, didn't ask anything. He only scratched his ass again. And they walked, and continued to walk, having passed the basement almost from one end to the other, if he understood the scale of distances correctly, before turning to an inconspicuous block and a lopsided door. You know, those personal basement closets, usually right under someone's apartment, where you can store canned goods, a box of Christmas tree decorations, and a thousand and one pieces of all sorts of junk that you're too greedy to throw out.

Camrad_RIP 13.04.25 в 18:29

Igor exchanges glances with Vas-Vas, carefully presses on another extremely fresh lock, intending to rip it off with the help of light amplification... but it falls itself, already hopelessly broken. Having intercepted the lock in flight, the young man thoughtfully looks at the handle, which seems to have been gnawed on one side, and then points to the door and shrugs questioningly. The ally, who looks at him just as questioningly, shrugs, steps back, yanks the door open with a sharp movement, and prepares a hammer. The stench of rotten meat, previously elusive behind the ally's scent, hits him in the face with full force. Its source was two corpses gnawed to the bones, or maybe more than two. Igor counted by the number of skulls with the top cut off by something sharp and carefully eaten from the inside. There is almost no blood and meat, just a little bit of guts and scraps of sinew and muscle on gnawed bones.

Camrad_RIP 13.04.25 в 18:34

Igor felt so sick that only the increased pressure of the vile energy prevented him from vomiting, switching his mind into combat mode, and also thanks to the mask on his entire face. It not only cut off the smell, but also forced him to realize that he would have to vomit right into the fabric of the balaclava, risking choking. Vasily's swearing turned out to be sobering and very timely, because Igor forgot about everything, even the fact that he had been waiting for a treacherous blow from his ally until the very end, deliberately not imposing a second buff on him. The overgrown stinking homeless man again swearing over cannibals, janitors, oligarchs, Exupery, his ex-wife who had squeezed out his apartment, and cannibals again. He swore and gradually backed away from two breaches.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.25 в 08:08

The first, narrow and deep, led to the same place as the hole in the stall. Barely fifteen centimeters wide at its widest point, it looked more like a long crack running along the wall farthest from the door. Several shelves had been dumped on the ground, as well as all sorts of junk, and the pickles had not broken or spilled all over the closet only because they had not been there to begin with. Igor was even scientifically interested in whether this crack was visible from the other side, since this wall separated two rooms. Well, it did, because now physics and other laws of the material world had been cruelly fucked up again. The second breach was located in the ceiling. Below, in the middle of the bones, it was easy to discern the bricks that had fallen. It led not to the space beyond reality, but to the apartment above. There were also a few other things that came from that apartment, the same large tablespoon lying in one of the empty skulls. Judging by the marks, it was used to scrape the contents of someone's head. And the hair from those heads was cut. There it is, lying around - long, dyed blond, definitely women's, and short men's, already graying, lying around in separate clumps.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.25 в 08:12

After exchanging glances with Vasily again, he presses his finger to his mouth in a request for silence. Vas-Vas finally shuts up and stops swearing all around, and then shudders when Igor casts a second buff on him, taking the load on his own Vessel. Vasily farted again in surprise, which almost made Igor cry. But he quickly pulled himself together, without asking any questions, went into the closet, hung the hammer and cleaver on the waistband of his pants, and jumped up, clinging to the edge of the breach with his fingers. His shining fingers even left a stencil in the floor material. Then the homeless man pulled himself up quite athletically and immediately gave his hand to Igor, standing below. He doesn't care about hygiene, grabbed his ally, and let himself be pulled up. He was simply not tall enough to jump. They made quite a noise, but no one came to this noise, which was pleasing, but also worrying. He wanted to know what the two mages who found themselves in someone else's bathroom encountered.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.25 в 08:19

The apartment in general and the bathroom in particular were not cleaned, even dirty. The dark blue tiles and once white linoleum of the hallway floor were decorated with numerous stains of a suspicious color. A loud snore was heard from the far corner of the apartment, and the two burglars again exchanged glances, grabbed their weapons more comfortably, and went toward the sound. The floor creaked and squelched underfoot, but Igor sobbed even louder when he glanced into the kitchen, passing by the doorway and almost falling, frozen in place. The gutted and partially cut-up body, from which they had managed to remove the skin, and almost finished eating the brains with a spoon, clearly could not belong to anyone except a miniature dwarf or a very small child. Vasily, who stepped back a little and looked at this spectacle, barely audibly, but very ominously snorted, gradually turning into a roar.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.25 в 08:24

A growl answered him from the far room, or rather not a growl, but an irritated grumble, with which someone rolled off a bed or a sofa, and an instant later threw open a locked room door. He was tall and fat, broad in the shoulders and completely bald, and his face, although very deformed, resembled a child, not even a teenager, a little older than the remains lying in the kitchen. Against the background of such a huge body, this face seemed ridiculous, but there was no urge to laugh. With a loud smack of swollen lips, this something stepped towards Vasily, who had gathered himself up, and then seemed to groan. The sound echoed throughout his body with strange vibrations, and the young man, feeling how his amulet was losing its invested power, realized with horror that from this inaudible scream, at best, a massive stroke awaited him.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.25 в 08:26

"Shut him, Vasya!" It was impossible to give a more comprehensive comment, but the homeless man realized that this squealing was not doing him any good, and he rushed forward and attacked with a hammer. "Shut him up!"

Camrad_RIP 13.04.25 в 18:36

The hammer blow was simply intercepted, and the freak grabbed the hammer with his bare hand, like grabbing a snowball. And he regretted it very much when the striking part, which flared white, simply tore the plump and loose-looking hand to shreds. The creature's mouth opened in a silent scream. The pressure on the amulet increased, sagging it a little faster. At this rate, they both had at least a minute. The effect of the creature's spell was incomparable to the power of purely physical attacks from the candy mafia's long arm. The creature leaned back from the swing of the cleaver, stepping back. Or rather, it began to step even before Vas-Vas struck, simply from the pain in its hand, but it turned out that this step was good for the fatso. The wide-open mouth met a new attack, this time from Igor, who stepped after his ally and tried to strike with a crowbar in a spear-like lunge, like a dart.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.25 в 08:30

What is doubly surprising is that he got it. A white flash allowed him to push the tip of the crowbar, previously wiped clean of any organic traces, between his upper lip and nose. The wound looked neat from the front, but from the back, the white energy literally tore out part of the back of the head, splashing an old chest of drawers with indescribable abomination. A little bit of it also got on the group photo standing there, depicting a happy, as happy as possible, family. In the face of the eldest son, a boy of about ten, one could hardly recognize the mug of the creature that had just fallen dead. The current year was indicated in the lower right corner of the photo. The heavy impact of the body on the floor could clearly alarm the neighbors, but Igor personally hoped that the neighbors would not become the same as this fat lump.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.25 в 08:33

The lump, or rather a monster, right now was becoming transparent and partly liquid, like jelly, not soaking into the floor, but falling into it. Not even into the floor, but through a reality too soft for him, returning to where the offspring of the Other Side belong. Again, he and Vasily exchanged glances in a wordless dialogue, and then a bit of rainbow mist flowed into both of them, and even if you count both clouds, it is noticeably less than after one candy seller. Well, to be fair, this cannibal was really weaker. It felt weaker and did not put pressure on the mind. He only beat with physics and magic. But yes, to a random police squad, this fat man was like an avatar of death itself, because there would be nothing to cover from his scream with. Unless you shoot right away, but for that you need to be ready to shoot and know what exactly you will meet.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.25 в 08:43

Step: 0 [108/1000]

Camrad_RIP 07.04.25 в 11:56

"It's time to get out of here, Hedgehog. "Vasily says, in a very casual tone, sniffling, as if they had just gone for some bread. "Now they'll start running, you see, those bastards in uniform, and we'll quickly become the scapegoats, my dear fellow. Do as you know, but I wouldn't take anything from here."

Camrad_RIP 14.04.25 в 09:01

Igor did not immediately realize that the tramp was convincing not him, but himself, because personally the Standard-Bearer himself would not have taken even a suitcase with dollars from this slaughterhouse. Characteristically, he did. Vasily did not look for or pocket anything from this apartment, despite the fact that his gaze was literally glued to the sideboard filled with various bottles. Well, Igor understood him here. He, too, would not want to eat, drink, or anything that could be found in this place. Who knows what the alcohol turned into in such a lair of Evil or what the kid who mutated into a cannibal mixed in? The options were coming up with one more gloomy and disgusting than the other, so neither of them risked their health, sanity, or even their lives.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.25 в 09:04

They got out of the apartment the same way they got in, closing the crack in the basement at the same time. Just like last time, he and Vasily received an image-offer to widen and stabilize the passage, turning it into their personal hunting grounds. Just like last time, both of them unanimously repeated their previous decision, not wanting to open the hole to the Other Side even further. The only difference from the hole in the stall was that only two Vessels were needed for a complete closure, and seven for stabilization. Instead of pouring in all the supplies from one Exalted One, they could sacrifice one Vessel from each. That made the closure process only slightly more complicated than casting the most ordinary and standard protection. As a reward for this deed, they received exactly one Mark of Valor, obviously a tiny one. Igor, who still had the protective film of the very first consumable used on him, silently handed the reward to the homeless man. The guy certainly didn't smell like roses, but he did the main job, protecting the young man from possible damage. The guy wasn't sure he would have survived the fight so easily.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.25 в 09:08

They left the basement quickly but carefully, just as carefully going through the garages further away, trying to stick to places with fewer cameras. Igor took the crowbar with him. And of course, he did not leave any traces at the scene of the battle and was determined to get rid of the old clothes and shoes, on which there could well be material traces of the murdered residents of that apartment. The only thing he lacked was the suspicion of the authorities... true, the authorities would most likely get to Vasily, but here it helped that his ally had not seen Igor's face, did not know his name, and did not have his address. It would be better for all sorts of special services to find out about the guy's abilities than to enter the battle now and try to clean up a dangerous witness. Someone might have been tempted, someone would not even think about it, having started to carry out, but the novice Standard-Bearer still has principles.

Camrad_RIP 13.04.25 в 20:15

"Hey, Hedgehog, you won't have a hundred and fifty rubles, will you?" The question brought Igor out of his reverie and stunned him a little with its expectation and suddenness. "Just a little short, yeah. You'll really help me out. I will definitely ret... I mean, I can exchange this crap! I don't need it at all!"

Camrad_RIP 07.04.25 в 11:58

But he obviously needed vodka. For a while, Igor seriously considered deflecting the plea with a typical refusal. He didn’t have to lie much. He didn’t take his wallet and documents with him on this work. But he still didn’t refuse. You never know, maybe fate would bring them together again against another monster. Sighing, he reached into a small pocket on his belt, taking out a five-thousand note folded into a small square. Taken in case of meeting a very persistent night patrol and trying to buy off someone else’s attention. Unrolling his “alternative passport”, he silently hands it to Vasily, who beamed, clearly recognizing the note even in the almost complete darkness. Someone will have a night of drinking, but maybe it’s for the best. Maybe he won’t remember who exactly he went on a raid with to hunt a very fat and gluttonous screaming cannibal.

Camrad_RIP 13.04.25 в 18:58

"If they ask, say that you found it." The toad was pushing, that was undeniable, but the voice of greed overshadowed the fact of a successful mission and everything that he would be able to extract from an active combat confrontation using the Tablets, even if so fleeting. "And don't blab about me too much."

Camrad_RIP 07.04.25 в 12:00

"I'm a grave!" Vasily agrees to his conditions in a tone of conviction that Igor doesn't believe for a moment, hastily stuffing the banknote into the depths of his rags. "You, that is, if you need it, call me, if anything. I'm usually near the avenue during the day, or spend the night in the basement. Well, where I told you. About that rat. God help you, my dear fellow, yeah!"

Camrad_RIP 13.04.25 в 15:08

The guy couldn't find an answer and simply nodded briefly and in a businesslike manner, walking away into the darkness in the opposite direction from Vasily, hiding in the passages of small streets and alleys. Having reached the cache with spare clothes and shoes, he quickly changed, taking off his mask and glasses. Looking around furtively, he stuffed the clothes back into the hiding place. Ideally, he would burn them, but that would attract attention and take up time. It would be better to come here separately for this purpose when the opportunity arises... he just had to think earlier about the fact that he would have to clean up traces of his presence at the crime scene. It turned out clean with the seller, there were no bodies left there, no blood, no bones. But in the cannibal's apartment there was a real massacre and it didn't disappear anywhere, damn it. However, at least he got into this massacre for a reason: here is the experience of the Tablet's work on another Exalted One, and the use of light amplification directly in the fight against the creature.

Camrad_RIP 13.04.25 в 15:10

These short seconds actually gave a lot, allowing him to realize, if not completely, then at least to realize, the true price of his gift. From those crumbs of realization, which would have given someone else hardly a unit of understanding on the scale, he personally received so much that it was even uncomfortable. Or rather, he did not even immediately receive, but realized and gradually digested the realization, long after he had already returned home, vomited from memories of someone else's diet, and then slept for almost half a day. And for the first time, he began to read all sorts of crime news more carefully, looking not for stories about all sorts of supermen, but more mundane things. Missing people, murders, especially brutal crimes. And if the picture in the rest of the world did not change much, then in this very city, the situation clearly stood out from any norms.

Camrad_RIP 13.04.25 в 15:13

Frequent disappearances of people, a pack of dogs on the outskirts of the city, which seriously mauled a whole team of young athletes who were returning from training, including three cripples without fingers and one in intensive care, the same pack, which almost ate the dog hunters or government specialists who tried to shoot them. A daring robbery of a bank collection point, when an armored car was hit with something heavy and large-caliber, only the marks on the armor look like it was cut open with either bare hands or a plasma cutter. A major businessman and one of the mayor's deputies who hanged himself in his own office, and he hanged himself very mysteriously, because, well, nothing foreshadowed it. Some guy who ran into the hospital screaming that worms were crawling under his skin - typical delirium for a schizophrenic, but he, placed in a mental hospital after (or before, who knows) an examination, was found dead in the morning. With numerous holes, like Swiss cheese, and barely even bleeding. Oh yeah, these same holes were in the corner of the room, leading through the floor straight to the basement. And these are only the most public cases, the most memorable, damn!

Camrad_RIP 13.04.25 в 15:18