Logan's appearance didn't make the soldiers react. And Logan realized why a second later. Behind him, more people were converging on the road and heading towards the barrier. From seniors to people with young children, they had worn out faces, as if they'd aged a decade in the last week.

The line of soldiers remained motionless, their eyes hard. One gestured with his hand for Logan to come through. It was a bored gesture, as if he'd done the same thing a hundred times.

…All right. It wasn't what he was expecting, and it was frankly a bizarre reaction when encountering someone Logan's level, but he would take it if it let him into the crowd. The more people for his lodestone, the better.

After he passed the first line of soldiers and went beyond the junkyard cars, two men blocked the entrance to the main crowd, their masks off and eyes sharp. They had the same black rifles swung over their shoulders and knives strapped to their thighs. But other than the intimidating look, their uniforms were clean, no hints of blood.

"Hold on there, mate," said one with a lilting, Australian accent. His eyes were blue, and he had a short, manicured beard, one that looked carefully maintained. "Do you have any plastic on you? It's important."

Logan blinked. "Plastic?" His mind went to the oozing blob and the discarded plastic around the harbour. "Plastic containers?"

"Containers, bags, ties, anything. Come on, don't try to hide it. It's a magnet for that thing." He gave Logan a once-over, his eyes lingering on his chest with a curious quirk of his eyebrow. "Nice armour. You have any plastic underneath it? Give it here, and Nettle will put it in his pouch."

"…his pouch."

The soldier next to him shook a gleaming, poofy black fabric bag five inches across, barely large enough to fit a six pack of beer. It reminded him of something that a magician would use. Hang on. It didn't look anything like the spatial storage devices he'd encountered so far—bracelets or a collar—but something told him that it couldn't be anything else.

Logan scanned it with [Idiot's Inspect]:

[Spatial storage pouch. C Grade.]

"That's a spatial storage device," said Logan. He didn't know why he'd thought it was something special, something only available to Logan or people like Pied's agents. There were billions of people in the world, which meant billions of opportunities to win System rewards.

"What gave it a way," said the soldier, deadpan. "Of course it is. It's the only way to hide plastic from the monster. Wait," he said, giving Logan a closer look. "You're a Yank? What are you doing here then? On an Apocalypse hols?"

"I'm Canadian."

"Oi! Up from up north! Here's an odd duck. You're—"

The other soldier jabbed the man in the side. "Look at his level."

The soldier's gaze became unfocused as he scanned Logan with [Identify]. For a second, an uncomfortable sensation sloshed through Logan's stomach. The Silverdagger Clan's bounty was still active, and anyone who'd leveled up their skill would be able to see his hidden name.

While the man scanned him, Logan did the same with [Idiot's Inspect]:

[Bill Nettle: Level 45. A human being.]

[Highest Stat: Dexterity. Characteristics: A follower rather than a leader. Hidden name: Nettle.]

[Zachary Bailey: Level 39. A human being.]

[Highest Stat: Constitution. Characteristics: An earth mover. Hidden name: Zachary.]

Logan felt a surge of relief. At that level, unless [Identify] worked differently than [Idiot's Inspect], there was no way they'd recognize him as 'Idiot.' That wasn't to say that there wasn't anyone else in the crowd who could. Logan needed to be careful here. His purpose was to sell items, not cause people to gang up on him. Killing a bunch of people wouldn't endear him to the locals.

Zachary swallowed and hunched his shoulders as he took a reflexive step back. "You must be here to join the hunting party. You Canadians are made differently, huh? Are you all running around at that level? I'd say he made the one percent, wouldn't you, Nettle?"

The other soldier, Nettle, snorted. "And then some. Well, you're welcome here, that's for sure. Damsel is dealing with a swarm of two tailed crocodiles over in Melbourne or she'd come here instead to deal with it, mind? But another high ranker will work just as well."

Logan's gaze sharpened. "Damsel? 'Damsel Fuck You'?"

"Oi, watch your language!"

The soldiers stared at Logan with straight faces. Blinked for a second. Paused, and then laughed. "You got us there, mate! You've heard of her then?"

Damsel Fuck You had been on the Leaderboard. Come to think of it, it had been a while since Logan had checked it:

Leaderboard:

Rank 1: Charon: Level 201 --> 230

Rank 2: Idiot: Level 139 --> 161

Rank 3: Damsel Fuck You: 125 --> 128

Rank 4: Yogi Bear: 118 --> 121

Rank 5: Thor: Level 118 --> 120

Rank 6: Scott: Level 108 --> 119

Rank 7: Mictlantecuhtli: Level 112 --> 114

Rank 8: The General: Level 112

Rank 9: Xuanwu: Level 107 --> 111

Rank 10: Sarah Ellison: Level 110

King Kong had dropped off the list, while Scott had climbed four ranks to overtake Mictlantecuhtli. Charon, the Man in Black, continued to climb up the ranks at a frankly ridiculous rate, although Logan was the only other person who'd climbed so quickly, moving from level 139 to level 161.

But Damsel was right up there underneath Logan. If she were friendly rather than an XP harvester, Logan would like to meet her.

Everyone on the Leaderboard had to have a story. Logan had placed on the board because of what he'd gone through in the trial dungeon. For anyone else to advance over level 100 without having to resort to massive XP harvesting… that was someone he wanted to know.

He also had to be careful. If Damsel were around, she'd be able to view his hidden name. Everyone else he'd fought who'd wanted the bounty had been no threat to Logan, but he'd have to be wary of someone that close to his own level.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

There was something to be said for his stealth player status, but could he trust it? Damsel was a mystery, and for all he knew, she could have had a similar encounter in a trial dungeon and leveled up her stats even more than Logan.

Still, there was no point in worrying about it until it became an immediate problem.

"I've heard the name, never met her though." Logan ran a hand through his hair and looked over at the crowd, at the thousands of people. They looked orderly, with no fear. For that matter, there were no fires around the city. For that many low leveled people to be in one place, the organizers of this gathering must have fought off the XP harvesters. "How did you manage this?" asked Logan, gesturing to the crowd. "No one's panicking and worried about their safety."

Zachary raised an eyebrow. "This lot? There are children there, mate, of course we figured out a way to protect them. But we give credit where credit is due. Damsel organized this. It was a shit show until she got us in line."

"But how did you tell everyone to come here? Your cell service isn't down?"

"Nope. It's down. That went within the first few days. Radios, generators and solar power, that's the way to go. The buildings on either side of the street have solar panels on the roofs, then we have back up generators down here. The people live in the buildings, but they can mingle at street level for everything else."

"Mind," said the other soldier. "It's starting to work too well—too many people. Damsel is securing a few other sites, but it's going too slowly. She's pulled in too many different directions."

Logan blinked at the crowd. They made it seem so simple, but unlike in the Okanagan, they must not have had an interfering fucker like Pied abducting the population. And yet that didn't explain how they'd kept the XP harvesters under control.

"What about XP harvesters?" asked Logan.

They both tensed, Zachary narrowing his eyes. "What about them?"

"How do you keep the crowd safe and stop someone from infiltrating it? There's a lot of defenceless, low leveled people here."

Zachary's voice hardened. "Just because I said Damsel is otherwise occupied doesn't mean that she wouldn't drop everything and teleport here if we called for help. You're higher leveled, I'll give you that, but you don't want to fuck with her, understand?"

Logan rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm asking out of curiosity, not because I'm someone who would take advantage. I've had to deal with my own problems back home and I'm just wondering how you managed it. I mean you no harm. Or harm to the people here."

The man twisted his mouth. "Back home, huh? You know what that means, don't you, Nettle?"

"Yep," Nettle said. "No planes. No ships." He pinned Logan with a look. "What kind of portal skill do you have, then?"

Logan paused. The soldiers had seemed up front with information and ready to share, but Logan was starting to wonder if that was a way for them to disarm people. Was their true purpose to make them seem unassuming, share too much so that others would do the same?

Logan averted his gaze and pretended to watch the people who were entering the gate, the kids and seniors who looked so world worn. "I came here to offer something to the people here, something that I think will help. Supplies, weapons, clothes. Even gold. But I'm on a time crunch, and I need to offer and leave. I have my own people relying on me back home. Is there anything stopping me from entering that crowd?"

Nettle smirked. "Offer supplies and weapons, eh? For free, then?"

Logan hesitated, but there was no way he could lie. They'd know soon enough. "…It's not free. But it'll help."

"Oi!" Nettle suddenly shouted and turned his head. "Charlie! Show this one—" He looked at Logan. "What was your name again?"

"Logan."

Nettle raised his voice. "Show Logan the way, mind? Guess what, mate, he's level 161, and instead of wanting to join the fighting party, he came here to push his goods, a little portable shop keeper in the apocalypse! Who knew, huh?"

Charlie was a man in his early forties, with short black hair intermixed with silver. He was wearing khaki pants and a beige tank top, his shoulders muscular, his biceps bulging. Strapped to the outside of his thigh was a knife sheath, the handle of what looked like a substantial knife bulging from the end. "Is that right?"

Logan frowned. Nettle was pretending to be friendly, but there was an undercurrent of hostility in his words. Holding back a sigh, Logan scanned Charlie with [Idiot's Inspect]:

[Charlie Nguyen: Level 76. A human being.]

[Highest Stat: Strength. Characteristics: An expert in wilderness survival. Hidden name: Chuck.]

Logan had assumed he'd just need to find a good place for his lodestone, a place where people gathered. He'd never thought he'd be sidetracked into some kind of 'fighting party.' Shit. He had to find a way around this. Time was ticking, and he was nowhere closer to finding a place for his nine other lodestones.

Checking the status of his quest, Logan winced.

[Quest Progress: 7% complete. 24 hours remaining.]

He didn't have time for this.

"Talk to Charlie," said Nettle, making a motioning gesture with his hand, "he'll get you sorted. In fact, if you want to meet Damsel, that's your best bet. Best friends, Charlie and Damsel, won't you know it."

"Come along then," said Charlie. His voice was gravely, gruff. A smoker's voice. He gave Logan a considering eye, his gaze becoming unfocused, that look that everyone had when they used [Identify]. Logan tensed. The man was level 76, he had to have leveled up [Identify] enough to see his hidden name.

"It's this way," said Charlie.

But other than a slight tightening around his eyes, Charlie didn't show any evidence of noticing anything strange. Logan would never believe that at face value, though. He was too high leveled to have left [Identify] in the dust.

Either he'd forgotten about the bounty, or he wanted to lure Logan into a false sense of security.

Logan followed him as he walked through the crowd. The body odour of thousands of people in one street in humid, sweltering heat made him scrunch his nose in distaste. There was a cacophony of noise as hundreds spoke at once, but most didn't pay any attention to Logan. They had their own priorities—greeting people as they poured through the fence. Others strode through the crowd with purpose, distracted, more focused on their own tasks rather than Logan's sudden appearance.

Off to the side, others had put up portable tables. Cans of meat and fruit were stacked on top of each other like in a grocery store and lines of people waited for a share.

Interesting. So, in addition to figuring out a way to make this place secure, they'd created a food distribution system. And with thousands of people, that would require a massive amount of food. At least that would make the food items inside of his lodestone less attractive.

Logan eyed the area, searching for a place he could craft his lodestone, but other than on the side of a building, nothing jumped out at him.

Charlie looked at Logan. "Come along," he said in his gruff voice. When Logan had caught up to him so they were walking side-by-side, he said in an undertone, "You know where I'm leading you, right?"

Logan gave him a careful glance. "No."

"To the group gathering to fight."

"I don't—"

"Mate, you're a stranger who could kill monsters in his sleep. These people out here are defenceless, some of them are barely past level two or three. They're expecting us to help them. Protect them. You're telling me that you came here expecting to sell food? Not for free, mind you, but for greed?"

Charlie sneered. "And you can't be arsed to help? Can't you see how we'd view that? You either join the party that's going out to kill that thing, or you can get lost. And if you refuse to leave, well, I guess you'll get your wish and you'll meet Damsel, but it won't be for a reason that you like."

Logan smothered a frown, aggravation making a muscle in his neck twitch. He had to be referring to the plastic oozing monster out at the harbour. Pinching his nose, he considered a way forward. There was no way to get out of this. Either he left and found another group, or he'd take care of this, hopefully obtaining enough goodwill which would allow him to put up his lodestone and obtain the trust of the people. The more trust he had, the easier it would be to sell items. There were thousands of people here, and although many of them likely didn't have KarmaCoin, the chances were better than anywhere else.

"What do I have to do?"

Charlie nodded his head. "That's more like it. You'll join the fighting party, keep the others alive and help them level. That's what fighting parties are for, mind? That monster has been nothing but trouble since it crawled out of the ocean. We need to kill it, but we form parties to help each other advance. The highest leveled user makes sure that everyone gets the chance to take a shot, so that when we bring the monster down, we share in the XP."

Logan could do that. Besides, how long would it take, anyway? Although the monster was the size of a house, it was only level 90.

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