Kristoffer Pauly
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MADMAN APOCALYPSE - Chapter -145
🕑 Added 2024-11-19 22:19:50 +0000 UTC-Previous chapter-
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Chapter -145
By the time I made it to the Safe Zone with my new group of friends, I’d already said “Damn that’s crazy” in reverse-speak about eight times. Still, no one had noticed that I wasn’t the real Nate Asher.
“They’re gonna catch on,” Panda insisted.
As I climbed the steps up to the town hall’s front door, Emma said, out of nowhere, “Nate sure became a lot more talkative since that weird guy with the eye showed up.”
The other two both nodded.
“He’s finally coming out of his shell,” Henry agreed.
“I thought for sure he’d never get over watching his parents, his three brothers, two sisters, aunt, uncles, and wife get brutally murdered in front of him in that torture dungeon.”
“Holy shit!” Panda exclaimed. “No wonder this guy became a Skinstealer. His mind must’ve been totally wrecked.”
“You’re bad friends,” I said honestly.
“Aww, thank you!” Emma exclaimed.
“Let’s definitely stick together,” I added.
“You’re leaving?” Benji asked, as he heard the reverse of what I’d said.
I nodded. It was easier than trying to explain myself.
“You’ve gotten good at this,” Panda praised me.
I walked through the door to the town hall and was greeted by an announcement.
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WARNING!
Now entering Safe Zone ‘Castle Twine’!
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I groaned at the horribly-narcissistic name. Perhaps the Twine brothers were no different than Logan and Ophelia.
The entrance of the Safe Zone was like a lobby with a few offices that’d been turned into shops, with one run by a hovering milky-white jellyfish that looked like it sold healing items. It had about a foot of water inside the store and there were two crustacean humanoids guarding the entrance. Next to it was a pharmacy run by a pink axolotl. It looked identical to the one in the Serenity Park Mall, with rows of items and a simple counter. Since I didn’t see Steve inside, I figured he’d probably already burnt his coins on Sanity Pills.
There was also a pawn shop along the other wall, with three Players lined up in front of the security door. A dark crustacean stood in front of the shop, wearing a bulletproof vest and trying to look intimidating. None of the people in line were anyone I knew.
From the lobby was a set of double doors directly opposite the entrance and a stairwell leading up. I went up the stairs, since I figured it’d give me a better view. At the top it led to a U-shaped gallery that looked down on the hall below, which had a stage at the far end.
“This place is way smaller than the Mall,” Panda remarked.
Despite the town hall’s size, it had a lot of Vendors crammed into the place, as well as a Safe Zone Token arcade and a familiar carapace-covered character, who leaned against a large metal box full of wares.
There were a lot of Players around, walking to-and-fro or haggling with Vendors. It took me a second to notice Tina, James, and Steve standing in front of Shellby the Wandering Smith. The Birthday Brat was haggling with the Triops about something.
I walked over to them and Tina looked away from the items on display, giving me a nod. Steve didn’t notice me right away though, since he was too focused on an item he wanted to buy. I scanned Shellby’s metal box and saw that most of her items were sold, though she still had two Tinctures of Full Recovery, some Curse-Lifting Powder, the Golden Sea Urchin, and the Fur Collar I’d sold her.
There was an additional item, which was listed at 1200 coins, and it was what Steve wanted to buy. I frowned as I inspected it.
“Why is she selling that?” Panda wondered.
Steve froze and turned to look at me. He blinked rapidly in confusion as he saw my face and Panda sitting on my shoulder.
“Tina? Are there more than one insanity panda?” he asked, his eyes locked on me.
“I’m the one and only,” Panda said with a wink and a smug grin.
I sighed.
“Why are you wearing the skin of Nate Asher?” Tina asked me.
Steve looked between me and her.
Then he finally seemed to realize.
“Gambit!? Is that you!?”
A few Players turned in our direction at his outburst.
“Sure, tell everybody, you idiot!” I hissed.
“‘No, don’t tell everyone, you genius’?” he repeated slowly.
I pinched the bridge of my nose, while trying my hardest to not throttle him.
“Why does Shellby have the item that Bee was carrying?” I asked.
Steve and Tina looked confused, while James was just looking up at me in amusement.
“He wants to know why she’s selling the Microphone,” Panda repeated. “It dropped from the Announcer that Gambit and Bee killed. She had it in her inventory when she was kidnapped by the ants.”
Tina nodded, quick on the uptake. Then she raised the question to Shellby.
The Triops fixed its three eyes on me and said, “I find my wares here-and-there. Sometimes on the dead that wash into the sewers, sometimes at the bottom of lakes, and occasionally on the loot left behind without an owner.”
I grabbed Shellby by her carapace-covered shoulders.
“Where did you get this!? Did you find it on Bee’s body!?” I asked her urgently.
“Gambit, you’re not making any sense.”
Shellby looked from Panda to me, and I recalled that she’d been able to see him thanks to the third eye with the X-shaped pupil. “I did not find your friend, no. The item fell from the sky as I was traveling to Madeville through the forested mountain.”
I let go of Shellby’s shoulders.
“That shouldn’t be far from where you fought the CPS. She must’ve tried to leave a trail or something,” Panda guessed.
I ground my teeth in frustration. We’d already wasted too much time.
Suddenly a hand fell on my shoulder.
“Nate, you shouldn’t yell at the Vendors,” said Henry. Benji and Emma were standing behind him.
“My name isn’t Nate,” I replied.
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LIAR!
‘Faux Pas’ deactivated!
---
My borrowed body shed away like a second skin. As soon as I was back to normal, Lordie hopped out of the transport cage to sit atop my head.
“What the fuck!?” Henry exclaimed and pulled his hand away as though he’d been burnt.
I opened the top of my suit and took out the unFake plugin, then I slotted unHero back in again.
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PLUGIN UNINSTALLED.
‘unFake’ protocol no longer in effect!
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PLUGIN INSTALLED.
‘unHero’ protocol now in effect!
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“If you touch me again I’ll break your fingers,” I told him.
Suddenly two achievements hit me, followed by an announcement.
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WARNING!
Child Protective Services have come to publicly execute the registered Amoral Pervert known as ‘Gambit’ for the following crimes:
Failure to disclose his amoral history when moving into a new neighborhood.
Kidnapping the Wayward Minors known as ‘James Anderson’ & ‘Bee’.
Killing countless Child Protective Services Agents.
Public exposure in a school zone.
All Players found to be colluding with this registered Amoral Pervert will be executed alongside him. If you bring him outside the Safe Zone, you will be spared.
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I took a deep breath. “Maybe we didn’t need the flare after all,” I said.
Steve looked panicked, while Nate’s friends seemed on the verge of attacking me.
I grabbed the Microphone from Shellby’s box. “This belongs to my friend.”
She nodded.
“I’m also buying this,” I said, grabbing the Golden Sea Urchin that no one else had bought yet.
“That’ll be 2400 coins.”
I handed her the money and was left with 218.01 coins as a result. But I knew it was a good trade. Tina immediately purchased the remaining Tinctures.
Steve was looking down the end of the gallery and over the side, where people were running around like headless chickens. “What do we do!?” he yelled.
I pulled out the obsidian headphones and handed the Announcer’s Microphone to Steve.
“Tell them all to stay inside the Safe Zone and protect James. Oh, and add that we’re the good guys.”
Steve’s eyes widened. With the microphone, he’d be able to affect everyone in the entire Safe Zone.
I put the headphones on and gave him a thumbs up with Brock.
When he didn’t immediately use his ‘Steve Says’ power, the balloon gauntlet piped up. “Sing ya cunt!!”
The Birthday Brat looked at my gauntlet with a shocked expression, but then he lifted the microphone.
As his voice became amplified, I felt every syllable as a slap on my chest. I saw how everyone around us and below immediately calmed down. Panicked and worried faces turned to determination. Nate’s friends immediately walked over to James and Benji lifted him up onto his shoulders.
Tina, Steve, and I walked towards the exit, while Chris’ little brother waved at us.
It was finally time to board the CPS’ hive ship.
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