Быть Гладу и Хладу / There will be Hunger and Cold: 10. Неожиданно с Ильей случилось то, что он считал невозможным, что с ним даже в самом раннем детстве почти не происходило – он покраснел

10. Suddenly, something happened to Ilya that he considered impossible, something that almost never happened to him even in his earliest childhood – he blushed.

Camrad_RIP 28.08.25 в 09:42

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Camrad_RIP 28.08.25 в 09:42

Ilya didn't like the pasta, despite the beautiful presentation and good service. The taste was too unusual. But Irina was simply delighted, and not because of the pasta. In her mood, she could have eaten at least another paste, a nutritional mixture in a tube, which serves as the main diet for welfare, but she would still have been delighted. Throughout their impromptu breakfast, Irina continuously shared her delight about a very successful and extremely profitable Cycle in financial terms. As a result of this Cycle, the girl received three drops of Essence at once and, at the same time, managed to partially get rid of the risk of persecution from the fans of the Elder Father. Well, not so much from persecution in general, as from specific persecutors, and she also gave a reason for new persecution, but the fact itself means a lot.

Camrad_RIP 28.08.25 в 09:47

She managed to very successfully meet a whole wandering tribe of local Bedouins, who were considered heretics by the local settled inhabitants of the oases, because they believed in the Guiding Star, and not in the Elder Father, for whom they were mercilessly oppressed, who were the earthly Jews of the conventional Middle Ages. Moreover, she met them just at the moment when this tribe was attacked by fanatics who went on a "small holy campaign". Roughly speaking, one or two ruling leaders, who had their own oases and lands, decided to gather a detachment of armed morons from all over the world and send them into battle against the infidels or the damned. Going into battle against the damned creatures is a coward; such creatures themselves can kill a lot of people, and it is also difficult to find them. Here, you need to gather a whole brigade of hunters; there are many of them, and then it is boring to clear the territory of evil.

Camrad_RIP 28.08.25 в 09:49

Well, or send such a holy campaign to the wild dunes, the deepest corners of the Dusty Desert, where the creatures literally roamed in crowds. Only in those places, entire armies of full-fledged holy campaigns perished, even Holy Campaigns, and not groups of morons with poles. Especially since these morons were gathered more in order to rob the surrounding Bedouins under a noble and plausible pretext. Nomads live poorly and in shit, yes. At the same time, they always have special reagents and "holy sand" in stock. Holy sand, as Irina quickly explained to his bewilderment, was called "dust saturated with energy and magical aspects", among earthlings usually called "spice" in honor of the classics of science fiction novels. There were countless varieties of it. They met everywhere. Even on Ridge, they mined something like that, Ilya found out.

Camrad_RIP 28.08.25 в 10:01

In short, these holy warriors pressed the tribe. They fought back, and then Irina came out to the side of the fighters, going away from the city, where she killed several influential men. Dirty, tired, fed up, she was not going to harness for anyone's side, having had a taste of local hospitality, but then a detachment of archers sent to occupy a convenient height came out to her. The God-fearing sons of their Father did not bother to figure out who this woman was, without a hijab, trying to either kill, capture, or rape her on the spot, spitting on the task at hand. In the end, they did not succeed in anything: neither kill, nor capture, nor rape, nor get to the flank of the Bedouins and shoot them with bows from a convenient position. It turned out to burn, attracting the attention of comrades with flashes of flame and loud screams

Camrad_RIP 28.08.25 в 10:52

The Diver, who had fallen into a frenzy, unleashed her talents to the fullest and simply burned the crowd of natives, and they burned, for what else could they do without proper protection? As a result of a protracted battle that turned into a swift phase, the Bedouins, the people of Dawn, as they called themselves, accepted the gifted woman into their initially temporary company. Fortunately, this faith has no particular problems with girls who do not resemble Muslim women in their degree of being wrapped in rags and intimidated by men. The ruling clergy and worshippers of Guiding Star have their quirks, sometimes even contradicting the Father, but at that moment, no one was in the mood for theological disputes. They had to bandage the wounded, gather their belongings, put the old people, women, and children on camels and carts, and get away before new bloodthirsty enemies arrived. It turned out that the vicious Bedouins had killed innocent preachers, the bastards.

Camrad_RIP 28.08.25 в 10:56

Execute everyone, having first collected everything valuable, no mercy!

Camrad_RIP 28.08.25 в 10:52

"Their leader is an old woman, ancient, like lamp technology." Slightly drunk with excitement, not from a light cocktail, Irina beamed with smiles as she recounted her adventures with a slurred tongue. "Not gifted, just, well, kind, marked by Dead. But smart, the bitch, and quick-witted too. She figured me out right away, saw through me in a couple of sentences, but she really needed me more than I needed them. So we agreed, at least at first..."

Camrad_RIP 29.08.25 в 06:56

Having agreed not to kill each other and having collected their wounded, finishing off the wounded of others, and also having privatized the trophies after the battle, they moved straight into the desert, where they hoped to hide far away from the aggressive theocrats. They succeeded, but with nuances, because instead of the worshipers of the Elder Father, desert creatures came to the smell of blood, namely the withered undead, of which there were plenty in those dunes, and the most diverse and, as if selected, extremely dangerous. But here the fugitives were a little lucky, because it was in the confrontation with the undead that they had even more advantages than in the fight with people. Take, for example, the damned flame, Irina's main element, which worked reliably and deadly against ordinary Withered Ones. Well, if at all, it is possible to apply the epithet deadly to the undead. Plus, the earthling was not alone; she was covered by Bedouin fighters, some of them quite good, including the only gifted one of the tribe.

Camrad_RIP 29.08.25 в 07:00

"A sullen guy, young and really brick-like, zero emotions at all." Ilya can't help but think that all these emotions, absent in the individual she describes, she compensates for with her own. "A Grave Robber, just typical, I don't know about the build, but I've definitely seen "Seal of the Undertaker" and "Word from the Grave", plus he swings a weapon normally, better than me, for example. He was tearing apart corpses like crazy, faster than the booze at a FaFo party runs out!"

Camrad_RIP 29.08.25 в 07:01

Somehow smoothly and gradually, Irina's monologue gave way to a dialogue, and then to Ilya's monologue, who explained on his fingers how exactly the warlock, swinging into the damned flame, would have to destroy the Grave Robber, who had ceased to be an ally, in battle. Of course, no one guarantees that this battle will necessarily happen. Still, practice and statistics showed that such clan-religious formations are very similar to each other, both on the good old Earth and in the damned Broken. If there is a need or even just a profitable opportunity, they will not only sell the stranger who helped them and saved their asses, but they will also twist her themselves and bring her to the buyer on a platter. Or they will not twist her, but will burn in the fire of the enraged Warlock.

Camrad_RIP 29.08.25 в 07:05

Of course, there were still options in which the benefit of her presence would outweigh the options with betrayal, or the risks of such would not pay off the benefits. There were even some tiny chances of a certain personal sympathy or nobility that came from somewhere, but this is a purely statistical error. It is much more likely that Irina will be offered to marry that very gifted guy, because such a bride is very profitable for the granny-leader. Someone else's, yes, but not tied to anyone by obligations, fresh blood and power. Power that will perfectly support the grandson, Grave Robber. Not the most popular, but a completely functional combination that lacks only a skilled specialist in controlling and weakening the enemy. But you never know, suddenly in the guy's build there are a couple of suitable talents? What is characteristic, so far, such hints have not been made, but the guy looked at the earthling not without slight interest; that's a fact.

Camrad_RIP 29.08.25 в 08:02

At least because she, being not only gifted, but also well-groomed and beautiful by earthly standards, simply overtook the rest of the Bedouins of their tribe like standing ones, if you ask about appearance. In fact, it is a completely working tactic of integration into society through family status; many earthlings, regardless of gender, did not disdain such an approach if they played alone or simply the community was too weak and small. This method is not without certain problems and its own special difficulties, but it works. Many do not hesitate to use it, sometimes literally living in two families, one of which is earthly, and the other is a game. Another question is which of them is real, yes.

Camrad_RIP 29.08.25 в 08:05

"No-o-o-o, that's too much, damn it," Irina responded to his comment with a carefree wave. "I'll get to the neighboring region, and then I'll leave without saying goodbye. The guy there is normal and covers the backs of all the Dead to glory, but no, I don't want to get married yet. Neither there nor here."

Camrad_RIP 29.08.25 в 08:06

"Then put a protective circle before going to bed, sleep with one ear half-tucked in, keep a knife under your pillow, and try to cook your own food and drink." Standard precautions, to which it is also worth adding the presence of ways to check food and water for unnecessary additives, as well as separate amulets that work on principles opposite to the checking talent, so that one overlaps the other. "Once you develop the axial talent, if you choose "Warmth", you can fill the food with warmth. Then, if there are magical additives, they will sparkle in perception. You will not miss them. Well, or develop "Pacifying Flame" in sensorics, but I do not advise it. After all, a balancing talent, such should first of all enhance cognitive stability. At the third step, perhaps, then many builds allow this talent to be directed to the sensory branch.

Camrad_RIP 29.08.25 в 08:09

"Do you think they'll try to poison me?" She asked, wincing at how stupid it sounded. "Although, yeah, what was I talking about? They'll definitely try, it's Broken, damn it."

Camrad_RIP 29.08.25 в 08:10

"They might also add a love potion or something to suppress your will if they decide to go with a relatively gentle method," Ilya warned her honestly, knowing from a bunch of stories on the Forum how often such a result comes, regardless of gender. "Control your thoughts. If you suddenly start showing uncharacteristic reactions, then chew some decoction, and then run. Or fight. But I don’t advise shedding blood right away, not in your situation. Bedouins, and in the desert, they can find you later, set up an ambush at the respawn point, so put out the bastards only as a last resort, when you are absolutely sure that you will not leave quietly. The Guiding Star seriously boosts search talents. They can find you, especially if they are using a mark. However, if there is a mark there, washing with flame can easily burn it, and the Grave Robbers put their marks on the living with somewhat more difficulty than on objects. This is a direct hint to burn whatever the guy touched, if anything, and you can burn everything or leave it and take other people’s rags with you."

Camrad_RIP 29.08.25 в 08:25

Irina, to her credit, listened attentively and almost wrote down, which involuntarily aroused sympathy. Ilya was generally pleased to talk to a knowledgeable person who could really appreciate his advice. It was doubly pleasant because she showed the best qualities that all normal divers should have. And he only needed to find himself in the role of a sheep in the middle of a community of earthly Luddites once! Of course, his relationship with her is far from pure and bright, more reminiscent of a search for mutual comfort and benefit, but this is an honest mutual benefit, not going beyond the very clear boundaries they themselves tacitly set. In general, the morning went well, gradually turning into lunch, which they had fun watching old TV series, still on the monitor, and not through the virt or holo. Then the evening came.

Camrad_RIP 29.08.25 в 08:31

They both carefully avoided bringing up the topic of Oleg, who was currently sitting somewhere in the depths of the law enforcement system, awaiting the results of the investigation. Irina had just casually noted that with the drops she had received for the serious battle and the subsequent journey through the desert, coupled with regular fights against the undead, she would replace the locks on her home, and also install a signal transmission sensor, in case of other people's cameras under the ceiling. Otherwise, the day had gone wonderfully, even though Irina had almost made him howl in agony when they had moved on to the logical conclusion of a wonderfully spent day - his knee was healing in no way like Wendigo's, and his partner was not a feather.

Camrad_RIP 29.08.25 в 08:46

The very next morning, returning to his apartment by taxi, not risking another walk in the park, Ilya allowed himself to relax and exhale. And also to think hard, so hard that he almost fell over when getting out of the shower. Irina's cycle was a success. It's stupid to argue with that. For an individual who is not a member of the community to earn three drops, and a clean three, not two, and a little more due to previous successes... this is a reason for celebration and natural pride. To pull this off, the cycle must be literally combative, as if it got into a meat grinder and miraculously did not twist in it.

Camrad_RIP 29.08.25 в 09:10

The cycle was not easy for the girl, that's a fact.

Camrad_RIP 29.08.25 в 09:10

But it wasn't overly complicated either. That's the problem! Having roughly estimated and schematized her exploits, Ilya counted one and a half, at most two drops of Essence, honestly earned by an ordinary diver. And this is given that she was very modest in his presence and, in fact, killed a much larger number of fanatics who attacked the Bedouins. Or she rushed at a lurker hiding in the crowd, for example, without even realizing that she had killed a gifted person. And the lurker had to be pretty pumped up! Or one of the undead creatures encountered on the way turned out to be very weakened, in fact, but at the same time, close to the second level. Or something else like that, fortunately, he could come up with as many options as he wanted.

Camrad_RIP 29.08.25 в 09:23

But three drops of Essence are too much. It's too much for a cycle that was not spent in almost continuous battle with a relatively weak but quite dangerous opponent. For a girl who does not have the means to speed up pumping, such a result seems like a statistical anomaly, no doubt. Unless we assume, just for a second and not seriously, that her relationship with the greatest Waiter of the entire Earth had some effect on the speed of development of her Twin. In the end, earthlings know very little about the mechanics of Lotteries. They know practically nothing, to be honest. Ilya himself almost never encountered information about great traits and blessings of almost any kind. Could it be that the effect of such a blessing partially passes through the connection between worlds, even for a first-level freshman?

Camrad_RIP 29.08.25 в 09:27

Having weakened greatly, almost completely dying out, but somehow acting on Earth. If this effect had been acting at full power, then Irina would have received not three drops, but almost a ten, or even a little more. But some effect, part of it, may well remain, if it did not seem to him. Or is he simply delirious, looking for answers where no one even asks a question? Questions, as they say, are worth a million, and the answers to such are absolutely priceless. For now, while there is no clear evidence or confirmation, it is easier not to think about such things at all and move on to more specific tasks and questions.

Camrad_RIP 29.08.25 в 09:29

And no, the first thing Ilya did not do was check Krokodil's personal blog, preferring to deal with matters closer to his heart. First, he strained the language model, spending half a day messing around with the transfer of markers of the farm accent, and then set up a matrix for gradually getting rid of that accent and switching to a standardized city accent. He was pretty fed up, and he still had to learn all these boundaries and marks, when and what words to remove from the lexicon, and how rarely to use them before that. Boring, stupid, and quickly annoying work, which will also give literally a few percent to the overall efficiency. But being a professional diver is built on not being lazy and not being greedy to waste your precious time on such things.

Camrad_RIP 29.08.25 в 09:37

Boring, stupid, annoying, but capable of saving the life and existence of a diligent diver.

Camrad_RIP 29.08.25 в 09:38

Also, even Ilya already knew a lot about his talent, which he would raise immediately after waking up in the Broken, but now, since there was an opportunity, it was necessary to check everything again. Percentages, probabilities, aspect options - all this seemed to him to be a branched network of connections and meanings. Building builds in fact, resembles a very specific section of applied mathematics, however, not without a number of features of the humanities, such as the necessary connection to the Broken and deep knowledge of it. Ilya was calmed by this activity. He knew perfectly well how exactly he would develop the Eye, what aspect options he would be able to get, which of them were more desirable for him than others. But he still went through all these tables again, trying to understand what exactly he should do.

Camrad_RIP 29.08.25 в 09:41

He needs to contact his fellow Earthling; there are no options here, and there can be none. If you have the opportunity to help avoid problems and possible death, without getting into trouble, then do so. This is banal logic, common sense, which all Earthlings use to the best of their ability. Not without individual griefers who deliberately try to drive their fellow divers into zugzwang, but in general, people of Earth help each other in the Broken. If it costs them nothing. Or if there is no opportunity to get a specific benefit from the help provided, putting any price on their help. In Ilya's case, helping this diver is beneficial to Ilya first and foremost. He does not need one of his fellows to alarm Ryuk and provoke him to some excessively cruel actions against the Wendigo, who did nothing to anyone.

Camrad_RIP 29.08.25 в 09:47

The fact that his warning will also save his colleague from problems is just a nice bonus, nothing more. After looking at the monitor screen for a while, Ilya nevertheless opened the search by nicknames and began to look for the fellow earthling who had shown up during the ritual. Any earthling could choose three absolutely any nicknames on the Forum, and there is no ban on repetitions, because earthlings are distinguished by a unique identification code, and not a nickname. Among divers, it is generally accepted that one of the slots is spent on an official and confirmed account in case of official work for the government, so that it is linked to real IDs and a profile, the second on an also confirmed, but anonymous one, and the third on a completely anonymous one without any confirmation, purely for trolling and flooding. So that you, the troll, are not identified and do not stop letting into decent blogs, yes.

Camrad_RIP 29.08.25 в 09:50

Needless to say, what passions sometimes happened when a careless anonymous person exposed the connection between the official and unofficial accounts. A great opponent of all perversions and a preacher of Christian Orthodox morality turned out to be a regular at particularly black blogs, full of murders and violence against very underage boys and girls from the aborigines of Broken. Moreover, he also generously, without hiding, paid for certain divers to put on a show according to his requests and scenarios. And all it took was one time, when drunk, to make a payment not through the Forum, but through a regular conditionally anonymous crypto-transfer, quickly tracked down by all sorts of hackers and anti-rape activists! There was a real fight back then, and that jerk, a week later, mysteriously went out the window... as they suspect on the Forum, solely because he could talk and tell about his colleagues at the charity fund, as well as his brothers in faith.

Camrad_RIP 29.08.25 в 10:02

Yeah.

Camrad_RIP 29.08.25 в 10:02

Adultery, corruption on a large scale, just plain asshole behavior – if you are careless and let the online Sherlocks compile your slips of the tongue into a clear link to a person, you can get into serious trouble. Ilya had never had such skeletons in his closet before, and used practically only one official slot of the Forum tied to his name and patronymic. Through this name, he received orders, confirmed his diploma and qualifications, and kept in touch with a bunch of colleagues in education. Obviously, he had no right to use this name for communication, but he did not want to use a second nickname, through which he ordered services himself, including those that were tied to his unusual build. There was a third slot left, which was for trolling, so Ilya chose it.

Camrad_RIP 29.08.25 в 10:05

Finding the Crocodile was a bit more difficult. There were quite a few of them on the Forum, including nicknames written in different languages, with different layouts, and with different additions. Fortunately, there was only one ++KroKroKroKodЫЫl among them and he carefully marked a new topic in his blog, symbolically calling it "Lands of the Crown, Dead Man's Ridge, ritual marker, Upper Stone, Coal, Bird, Lazy, South Coal." The name is more than understandable to anyone who managed to collect at least minimal information about their location. Under the topic title, the OP described the main geographical details, the dangers of the wastelands, and even the most popular Dead Gods, an incomplete list of important personalities with names, surnames, and posted drawings of their coats of arms. The drawings were already made on Earth, not with a screenshot, but by hand and somewhat carelessly, but the author still knew how to draw. Intimate details like build, class, or current location were obviously not specified.

Camrad_RIP 29.08.25 в 10:11

The author of the topic also took the trouble to throw in a pretty good summary of the wrestlers in general and the numbered regiments in particular, and also to attach a transcript of what he saw during someone else's ritual of conversion of old man Lyubozar Dolgoleikin, backing it all up with his conclusion that they had stumbled upon a fully-fledged, trained group of seven hostile divers. Moreover, the transcript was absolutely identical to the one Ilya had received from one of the top-tier linguists. He was probably happy to receive payment for two tasks, having spent his efforts only on one. However, the earthling is not offended, because this similarity in itself says a lot, for example, about the financial situation and the brain of the customer. Not being greedy in paying a professional and then generously sharing the information received is the right move, in all respects.

Camrad_RIP 29.08.25 в 10:14

The information itself is worthless after you've learned it, but when it's made publicly available, it can save someone's life and cause gratitude. Roughly speaking, his generosity costs him nothing, since he made the order and paid for himself... but what a plus in karma in case of communication with colleagues!

Camrad_RIP 29.08.25 в 10:14

This short description ended with an offer to communicate officially or unofficially, but better unofficially. Crocodile's account had a banner of a confirmed diver, but without class indications or references to a real person. There were no fresh comments, except for the classic "First!", no less classic "Firstcommenter is a LOSER!", and an equally classic "Have a good dive. Take care of yourself, brother" from another confirmed diver, official and registered. An advertisement for a company specializing in creating builds and ripping off illiterate fools, another advertisement, an offer to officially register with a list of all the advantages of such a solution, an invitation to a theme party only for divers... a little more than one and a half hundred messages in total, which is not enough for a freshly created topic with search and marker tags, sometimes they collect more.

Camrad_RIP 29.08.25 в 10:22

However, among these garbage comments, many gems were really important for Ilya or at least made him smile a little. Some official diver with the Assassin class sympathized with the fact that he would have to deal with firebirds and wholeheartedly wished the topic starter to successfully hang the whole gang of Boretzars on the branches of the nearest forest. In response to this, another official diver with the Druid class and a plaque-mark of the same community as the Assassin politely and tactfully asked not to hang the corpses on the branches of his favorite grove. If he is so drawn to killing Boretzars, then let him bury them under the roots of growing battle oaks or decorate the fir trees with intestines and entrails.

Camrad_RIP 29.08.25 в 10:38

A number of other commentators wrote about their encounters and conflicts with the Boretzars, as well as the results of those conflicts, mostly bloody and brutal. Most often brutal in favor of the earthlings, but not always, because knowledge is knowledge, builds are builds, but the Boretzars were still pretty good at fighting. One newly-minted diver, who had just finished his second cycle, mistakenly thought that he was their neighbor. Instead of the Dead Man's Ridge, he had the Dead Man's Spine. True, the Spine was not a rocky wasteland, but a huge mountain peak, next to which even the earthly Himalayas would seem like a pile of sand for road repair work. The author of the topic immediately pointed this out to him, thanking him for his attention and suggesting that he finish for today, because it was time for him to go to bed.

Camrad_RIP 29.08.25 в 10:41

However, fun is fun, and the most valuable of all is the last of the comments, written late at night, after the "main typical set of standard jokes and giggles in the Forum editorial office" was exhausted. An anonymous account, through the mechanics of confirming the truth, reported that it recognized the location and some personalities, but could not help or hinder. Because it was thrown almost to the opposite part of the continent, to the very coast of the Island Satrapy, to the coastal colonies of the said Satrapy captured in the last century. From there, it is about one and a half thousand kilometers to the lands of the Crown, if you believe the far from accurate maps that he managed to spy. It is even longer to see to the very edge of the Ridge. This once again confirms the quality of the ritual marker, since it reached the diver even at such a distance, albeit barely, at the very edge.

Camrad_RIP 29.08.25 в 10:43

Well, whether the person was lucky or unlucky with his location is a debatable question, but what can be said for sure is the fact that such a case is unlikely. Usually, divers are thrown into a circle of about three hundred to five hundred kilometers in diameter. The fact that this time the circle turned out to be so wide, more than anything else, indicates that the number of divers in their seeding is significantly higher than the norm. It will be complete crap if the Boretzars are thrown more or less evenly, in a relatively small radius ... and this is quite possible if the Gift used was not the bottom. Of course, this is not a full nine. In this case, they would not need any rituals, because they would appear in one clearing, figuratively speaking, but it is still not pleasant for earthlings.

Camrad_RIP 29.08.25 в 10:51

Sighing and realizing that postponing it any longer was simply counterproductive, Ilya began fruitful communication via the monitor screen. The Internet is the best friend of any self-respecting anonymous person. In the saddest cases, the only one.

Camrad_RIP 29.08.25 в 10:52

FullofRegrets [confirmed diver], [definitely not a shaman], [truth confirmed by the Mechanism]: saw the marker, handled the quick escape well. And, alas, it was not in vain that you were overcautious. I can't say much; everything is five-nine-alpha-three. I can get into trouble later. My subjective advice: don't set foot in Lazy. It might pass, or it might, like with me, become sad. To the point that the sadness will be permanent and without a restart. Continuing with the marker topic from the representative of the Boretzars, I am throwing out some of the information I have collected about them and the problems they bring us.

Camrad_RIP 29.08.25 в 11:25

Having sent the message, he managed to order food delivery, have breakfast, and almost fall asleep, sitting at the table, but he held on. By willpower, which is comparable to the great trait bestowed upon him, no doubt, but he held on. And having held on, he began to check the responses; fortunately, the flood wave had died down, and Crocodile had successfully deleted most of the spammers and jokers from the thread, apparently having come to his senses a little in the morning.

Camrad_RIP 29.08.25 в 11:28

++KroKroKroKodЫЫл [topic creator], [confirmed diver], [cold-blooded and charming]: ok, the argument is clear, and rest assured, dude, I'll take it into account. Thanks for the praise about the marker. If only you knew how tired I am of it. I can't stand it. I won't ask about what's going on in the city. I just looked through the Citadel protocol now, and I roughly understand your code. Like they took you for the balls and can interrogate you at any moment in such a way that they'll understand that you've leaked information to someone else. Accepted, bro. Just for the sake of professional standards, I'll ask - can you get out yourself, or at least die? Or should I call seven-nine-seven? Or eleven-eleven right away?

Camrad_RIP 29.08.25 в 11:42

FullofRegrets [confirmed diver], [definitely not a shaman], [veracity confirmed by the Mechanism]: thanks for the offer, but I either don't need the help, or it's just useless, it's more likely to hurt than help. With that, I think I'll leave everyone here without my company, because after the Cycle I'd like to relax a little, and not all this.

Camrad_RIP 29.08.25 в 11:46

KroKroKroKodЫЫл [topic creator], [confirmed diver], [cool and charming]: pon. Then bye, dude, maybe you'll manage to get out of it.

Camrad_RIP 29.08.25 в 11:55

Ilya did not answer, preferring to leave the last word to the Crocodile, and went to take a nap, trying not to disturb his painful knee unnecessarily. The conversation left behind rather strange impressions, as did the unknown interlocutor. It seemed that his manner of writing was extremely informal, like that of a carefree lover of nightclubs and new types of synthetic drugs. On the other hand, he was very well-versed, had the right tactics of behavior, and either money or connections. Oh, and the commas in the addresses were placed correctly! Again, Ilya had only heard briefly about the linguist who translated the Boretzars correspondence for him, but he knew that this guy charged a lot and would not take it from everyone. Not because he was a crook, but because he always had a lot of orders and was used to keeping a queue unless the client overpaid outrageously.

Camrad_RIP 29.08.25 в 11:56

Having failed to come to a conclusion about his interlocutor, the diver continued his simple and relaxed life - rare correspondence with Irina and colleagues, frequent warm-ups so that his leg wouldn't go numb and his muscles wouldn't atrophy, and lots and lots of time on the Forum. Masha, may she hiccup, had already managed to blab about how exactly Ilya got his sick leave, and those wishing to pry all sorts of details out of him or just congratulate him on the epic victory of a real Man, were filling up his personal messages faster than debts in the credit account of a citizen addicted to virtual casinos. He had never been much of an introvert, but at such moments, he wanted to turn off all means of communication and go live somewhere in the African desert that had become a dump of toxic waste, build himself a hut there, and live in harmony with nature.

Camrad_RIP 29.08.25 в 12:15

Instead of hating people, he focused on watching the news for the last Cycle. Fortunately, there wasn't much of it. The Citadel was burning, clearing out territories of wild lands and recapturing territories lost from the previous wave of creatures. There was a turning point in the Chinese "fight of the three yokozun", but not in a positive direction, because the number of factions desperately fighting for the legacy of the Heavenly Path increased again, reaching five. Split after split, and the direct participants of the events writing on the Forum conclude that the main factions are no longer even trying to pretend that the Path will get back on its feet. Rather, they are trying to rake in more for themselves before they are forced to get away from the grateful locals.

Camrad_RIP 29.08.25 в 12:18