A million?! Death?! Maybe there's some mistake?
I carefully counted the zeros again. That's right, six circles stood after the vertical line. And judging by the fact that the previous inscriptions were not only in my head but also reflected in the real world, the words about the penalty were no joke.
And they hid the reward! What if it's just a dead hedgehog? Although, the main reward in my case would be not dying, everything else is secondary.
"Schizo, you've completely lost it?" I mentally tried to reach the voice inside my head. "Where am I supposed to get that much money?!"
No response. Fine. It's not like I wanted one anyway.
Looks like I'll really have to find a million somewhere. And in just a month. I've never held that much money in my hands! I think even Valerie, who controlled our entire neighborhood, never saw such sums! Although... A logical thought flashed through my mind.
Is a million crowns a lot or a little?
My mom once told me that in her youth she vacationed in Bali. And for a million local tugriks, you could have about five good lunches. That's it. Maybe it's the same here?
So. Before issuing the unique quest, the schizo gave me some achievement. For which, by the way, they still didn't give a rating! But they did credit a thousand crowns as compensation. It turns out, if I scare about thirty bears a day, then in a month I'll accumulate the required amount!
I surveyed the forest with a thoughtful look. No, not an option. There are hardly that many bears here. And I doubt I could handle thirty a day.
Then the city? I'll go there anyway. I need to understand where I've ended up, and my stomach is already growling demandingly. Ideally, I'd also visit a doctor. I don't think voices in my head are normal.
But from an earnings perspective, I'm completely uncertain whether I'll be able to find common ground with the inhabitants of dark alleys. Usually, we quickly and clearly explained to strangers sneaking around our neighborhood where not to go. And I don't think it would be any different for me.
However, I still need to get to people. So I looked at the tree crown where the three-headed beast disappeared once more, kicked the rough trunk for good measure, and trudged toward the city. The sun had already touched the horizon, and I wanted to reach the settlement before it got completely dark.
The distance to the city turned out to be not as great as it looked at first glance. After about ten minutes of wandering through the forest, I came out onto a dirt road, which I trudged along for another half hour. I didn't meet any cars or people along the way, but tire tracks imprinted on the dry earth clearly indicated that someone passes through here periodically. I also found a sign on the roadside, on which I could barely read the name of the settlement—the letters were impossibly faded. Either Sentun or Svetaun, it was hard to tell.
Finally, the city buildings themselves appeared ahead, and at first, I couldn't believe my eyes. Is this a village?! But I clearly saw some high-rises and office towers from the hill in the forest?!
Right in front of me stretched a mixture of an abandoned village and a small urban settlement. Wooden houses, warped from age, shabby walls, broken windows—complete rot and ruin. There were no buildings higher than three stories on the outskirts of the city, but tall office buildings were visible somewhere closer to the central part of the settlement.
At first, I thought this was just an abandoned part of the city. But the lights in the windows indicated that people still lived in these dilapidated apartments. God, what a dump have I ended up in?
I had to wander through narrow dirty streets for about twenty minutes, avoiding piles of garbage and bodies of homeless people who decided to lie down to sleep almost in the middle of the road. Thankfully, random passers-by limited themselves to wary glances, and it didn't come to conflicts.
The slums ended suddenly. One moment I was walking around some brown lump, and the next, the broken asphalt under my feet turned into a decent sidewalk, with flower beds and well-kept lawns. Simultaneously, the schizo activated again.
Attention! You are entering a restricted area! Minimum required rating — 10.
Comparing personal rating with the required...
Error...
Rating not defined.
Attempting comparison again!
Error...
Attempting again...
Error...
Error...
@#$%^&*!!!
This time it really didn't like something, and endless errors poured down like a river. But no one was rushing to me with screams, so I just swiped away the annoying messages and continued on. Now the surroundings really looked like a city.
Good lighting, passersby in decent clothes, expensive cars. I could actually stop here. Now I just needed to find a decent eatery. Unfortunately, nothing like that had appeared on my way yet, so I tugged on the sleeve of a guy passing by.
"Hey, bro!" The guy almost tripped from surprise, but I held him by the fabric of his jacket. "Don't be scared! Just tell me where I can wet my whistle with something stronger than tea. And preferably not something that tastes like piss."
The guy looked up at me, opened his mouth to start speaking, but just froze.
"What's up, bro, are you mute or something?" I snapped my fingers under his nose. Zero reaction. "Tsk, the first person I talk to, and he's mentally ill."
I waved off the strange guy and went on. Just in case, I looked myself over, maybe something was wrong. My clothes were a bit worn but didn't even smell. Sneakers surprisingly clean. No stubble either. Unfortunately, I didn't have a mirror handy to check my face, but I hope it's fine. Certainly better than those homeless people from the dirty alleys.
Finally, after a couple more minutes of wandering, my eye caught a bright neon sign: "The Kind Moose. Craft Beer." Well, at least something!