Chương 45: Solo Mission - Robert (2)

When I exited the building I was in, I was greeted by my worst nightmare ever. A vibrant street packed with Hoppers walking in all directions minding their own business. The street was narrow and somewhat filthy; litter was thrown to the sides, and I could tell that there wasn't an established system in the town to deal with excess waste. And above that were washing lines with clean clothes hanging from them.

I could imagine the animosity the people drying their clothes would feel if their clothes ever fell from the washing lines and landed in a pile of trash. I could hear people's conversations as I walked past them.

"How many beasts did you manage to defeat today?"

"Maybe about forty?"

"What level are you at now?"

"I'm still on the basic level. I've progressed to stage 4 though."

"Nice, nice. I'm only around a hundred XP away from reaching the advanced level."

"That's cool." Around me, I could see people selling a plethora of different products: there was fruit, vegetables, bread, water, and even what appeared to be skill orbs. They were being sold at different prices, and from all the shouting, I could deduce that the primary currency in this town was the mana crystal.

"A pack of strawberries for five basic mana crystals!"

"Unrefined skill orbs are ten advanced mana crystals!"

"Twelve bottles of water for ten basic mana crystals!" I wanted to cover my ears so badly; I thought that the shouting was going to rupture my eardrums permanently. But I had to endure it. After all, I was trapped in the middle of a labyrinth of streets and it looked like there was no way out. Hastily, I pulled out the map that Jake had given me just a few minutes prior and opened it.

"Damn, this is such a useless map." The map had a full outline of the town and all of the streets. However, it also showed all of the houses, and all that did was add unnecessary detail, making reading the map more complicated and problematic.

"Street names, street names. Where are the street names?" Eventually, when I reached an intersection with another street, I managed to find and read out a street name. I then scrupulously scanned the map for any signs of the street name I had just read out. And soon, with a drop of luck falling from my head, I found it. I was finally able to get my bearings.

"How the hell am I supposed to get out of this town then?" It must be embarrassing reading a map in the middle of a busy street when there are countless people walking past watching you. That was exactly the embarrassment I was feeling whilst trying to read the map of the town. Beads of sweat began to drip from my forehead onto the map, which just complicated everything further. I felt like a lost tourist who shouldn't be there.

"I have to go here, then I have to make a left turn, then I have to walk here…" Please, please, please. I just needed a quick route to take me out of this carnage.

"I think I've got it. Let's just pray that there's a gate there. Otherwise I'm screwed." Clack, clack, clack. I was just one of the many Hoppers in this town wandering around; I felt like a lost dog. The situation I was in now was akin to solving a giant maze. The streets themselves formed a giant labyrinth that seemed impossible to solve.

"This way…" Whenever I looked up, I could see buildings that were rotting, derelict or unfinished, as if nobody ever bothered to finish them. Signs for a myriad of different services, such as hotels and supermarkets, were falling apart, the ink on them fading with age. Letters that were painted on strips of concrete were vandalised, coated with a layer of fresh graffiti.

"How did I end up here?" Clack, clack, clack.

"Ouch!" I fell forward, almost hitting the ground. My feet had touched something they weren't supposed to touch, which made my body lean forward like a falling tower. If I had fallen over and hurt my body, that wouldn't be good.

"What did I trip on?" The answer was a massive pothole chilling in the middle of the street. There were no notices or warning signs indicating that there was a giant hole in the street. That was for the people to figure out.

"Stupid pothole." Although I had been talking out loud, it was almost impossible to hear what I was saying due to the collection of conversations taking place simultaneously on the same street.

"How many caves are there?"

"I heard there's around fifty."

"Surely there should be more than that." These stupid people, I thought to myself. They can't ever shut up. The town was stupid, the people were stupid, heck, even this planet was stupid. Those were the thoughts I had in my brain after I got back up. Nevertheless, if I ever wanted to reach my intended destination, I had to lumber on and stay determined. The street I was on had shops that mainly sold clothes, and judging by the height of the buildings, it appeared that the owners lived directly above their shops.

"I don't need clothes, unfortunately," I said to myself. Clack, clack, clack. After what felt like hours of walking-"Woah. What have I come across here?" The simple answer was the town square. The town centre. A place where the streets weren't congested. A place where I could finally breathe proper air. A place where personal space existed.

"This is quite nice." I had read Night Hoppers ten times in the past. The novel had mentions of Cayman and Ellie stumbling upon planets that had Hopper towns like this one, but none of them could compare to the sheer magnitude of the one I was in. The Hopper settlements mentioned in the novel were more like small villages, but the one I was in could qualify to be a city. None of the towns mentioned in Night Hoppers had a square as imposing and impressive as this one.

"I should easily be able to find a place like this on the map." Shortly afterwards, I was able to locate the town square on the map. This town didn't have any other squares or even large areas where there were no buildings.

"I want to take a picture of this place so badly, but I have no idea whether my phone will work on this planet." After all, I was not on Planet 500, no, excuse my language, Planet Earth, anymore.

"This is a good place to take a break and catch my breath." I looked around. Everywhere I looked, there were buildings that seemed to stretch forever. Thin buildings that were mostly three floors tall, most of them with balconies, that were hurriedly built by the Hoppers temporarily residing on this planet. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. The town square was a way of escaping from the nightmare that was the layout of this town.

Trying to navigate around the town as a Hopper who has never visited before was a strenuous ordeal in itself. On the other hand, it was impossible not to marvel at all the dedication and commitment put into building this town. At least a hundred, if not a thousand, Hoppers would most likely be required, and it must have taken years for them to expand the town to the size it is today.

"However, sadly, I need to keep pushing. I'm only in the town centre. It's going to take a while for me to reach the gates." I couldn't believe that Hoppers had been trying to claim this planet for a whole decade. Even Jake, the person who acted as my guide, had been trying to claim the planet for eight years. Their dedication was one to be admired, but I also couldn't help but think whether all of this was futile.

Cayman saying that this planet had the most failed missions out of the four that he had selected was unequivocally an understatement. Maybe they should have just found another planet to claim instead. What was so special about this planet? I continued walking like a lost tourist around the town square, my gaze glued to the large map I was holding.

"I have to go this way. No, crap, I have to go this way." My sense of direction wasn't the best; my inept map-reading skills had kicked in at the wrong time. There were so many narrow streets branching off from the town square from all directions that it was impossible to tell where I was going in the absence of street names.

"I think I have to go here." As I picked a direction to start walking in, I could hear the sound of several Hoppers' voices getting louder.

"Have you heard the news?"

"What news?"

"It's about one of the caves."

"What about one of the caves?" One of the caves? I wanted to carry on going, but at the same time, I also wanted to listen intently to what these people were saying.

"Two more people have died trying to explore and fight the beasts in one of the caves."

"That's crazy. Which cave is it?"

"I think it's cave number 33. They say that it's the devil's cave." I thought my heart was going to skip a beat. Cave number 33? That name sounded oddly familiar… As I listened to the conversation, ominous beads of cold sweat began to trickle down my back like cute little waterfalls. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the card Jake told me was akin to an identification card and held it in my hands. On the card, in bold black ink on a white background, was the number 33. I thought I was going to faint.

Jake had given me the pass to what those Hoppers called the 'devil's cave'. The name 'devil's cave' had countless connotations and I didn't want to think about any of them. The simplest one was probably the fact that by entering cave 33, I would be walking towards my unfortunate demise. As my heart rate skyrocketed, I continued to listen to the conversation, still clutching onto the map and looking down at it.

"They say that people enter cave 33 and never come out."

"What? Is that true?"

"It certainly is. That's why more than half of all the deaths related to mana beasts on this planet have come from cave 33."

"That's crazy. Then why can Hoppers still go into that cave? Shouldn't the cave be closed off?"

"The situation's not that simple. People who have explored the cave and have survived say that there are traces of higher-level beasts in there, and the presence of higher-level beasts means more valuable rewards."

"That is true." I was visibly shivering. I didn't want to be seen as a scaredy cat in public, but the irony was off the charts. I had already shown to the whole town square that I was scared of cave number 33. And who wouldn't be? That Hopper had said that most of the deaths caused by mana beasts have happened in cave number 33, so of course humans were going to be scared of that cave. Naturally, humans feared death more than anything, and I was not an exception to that implicit rule.

"Just ignore it," I said to myself.

"How hard can the beasts be in that cave? I have experience defeating and mutilating a legendary-level beast, so unless there are other legendary-level beasts in there, there should be nothing to fear." Although I tried to calm myself down with words, the statistics still instilled fear in my mind. As I tried to repress my worries, I continued walking, heading off in a direction I believed was the correct one. However, just a few seconds later-"Ow!" I had hit something. It wasn't just anything. It was a person.

It wasn't any ordinary person either. It was one of the Hoppers talking about cave number 33.

"Watch where you're going, lowly Hopper!" I looked up with wide eyes.

"S-Sorry," I stuttered, still not having overcome my social ineptitude in any way, shape or form.

"I-I'm new here."

"That isn't a valid alibi," the Hopper said sternly.

"Anyone, not just Hoppers on this planet, should know to look at where they're going." I nodded. This was the Hopper who had been talking about cave 33, so surely they should have more information about where I was heading. I wanted to talk to this Hopper about the cave, but my social awkwardness had formed a barrier that prevented me from doing so. Even though I was desperate for some sort of answer.

"E-Excuse me," I said in a quiet, hushed voice.

"C-Can you take me somewhere?"

"Are you lost?" The Hopper sneered, smiling slyly. I nodded gingerly. The Hopper I had bumped into sighed. He then looked at his companion as if to confirm whether this was all OK.

"Where do you want to go?" the Hopper questioned. With my heart beating like it was about to explode or fly out of my chest at any moment, I raised the hand that held the card and showed the person the number on the card. The Hopper who looked at the card was startled to the point of having a heart attack.

"C-C-Cave 33?" I nodded with an expressionless, stoic look that was similar to Ellie's everyday expression.

"This has to be a mistake. What level are you?"

"Basic."

"Stage?"

"Stage 4." The Hopper was about to faint. He couldn't believe that someone at the lowest level of skill users was being sent to the most deadly cave in all existence on this planet.

"T-T-There has to be a mistake," the Hopper stuttered, about to go insane.

"I-I-I think you've been given the wrong card."

"Can I see your card?" I abruptly asked, trying to change the subject. The Hopper, his face shaken up with fear, reached into his pocket with his trembling hands and pulled out his 'identification card'. On that card, on a white background, was the number 12 written in bold, black ink.

"The person who gave you that card is trying to kill you," the Hopper said, changing the subject back to my card.

"You're basically courting death. By going in, you're walking towards your untimely demise. There's no way you're surviving the mana beasts in that cave. It's impossible to." I put the card back in my pocket.

"Regardless, take me to cave 33," I said in a sombre voice. My social awkwardness had disappeared, tantamount to a bubble that had just popped. The Hopper sighed. He said, "As you insist." Finally, I had someone to take me to my intended destination. That rendered the map useless, although it had been useless since the first time I opened it. We left the square and turned onto another narrow street filled with people. Maybe my initial estimate of there being around a thousand people in this town was too small.

"The person who gave you that card is trying to kill you," the Hopper repeated; his whole body was trembling.

"No doubt about it. The person who gave you that card knows what he's doing and he wants you dead." Numbers couldn't accurately sum up how many shops there were on the street the Hopper and I were walking on; as we continued to walk, there were more and more restaurants popping up. Maybe this was a dining quarter.

"If you die in cave 33, it's not my fault," the Hopper declared adamantly. I couldn't open my mouth. I couldn't believe what the Hopper was saying. To summarise, the Hopper was implying that by giving me the pass to cave 33, Jake was trying to kill me. Jake was attempting to assassinate me and hide all the evidence of my unfortunate death. That was what the Hopper was trying to say. But how could that be true? On the surface, Jake looked like a generous, benevolent guy who was willing to help others in need.

So why would a guy like him want to kill an innocent little boy who's only been in the Hopper business for a matter of weeks? The obvious answer was that his generosity and kindness was just a façade, and his real self was somebody associated with the forces of evil. That opened up a realm of new possibilities, which meant adding another slew of unanswered questions into my brain, which was already being overwhelmed with unanswered questions.

"You know what they say on these planets," the Hopper continued speaking. I shook my head.

"Never trust anybody on these planets. Even now, you shouldn't be trusting me because I could secretly pull out a knife and stab you to death. We all have one goal we want to achieve, and that goal is the same for every person here. It doesn't look like it on the surface, but this town is lawless. Crimes happen every other night. Murders, robberies, shootings, you name it. They all happen in this town. So watch your back, kid, because you might get stabbed out of nowhere." I turned around.

"Systems put in place to police this town have all failed. Every single one of them. They've all failed. Because the power of the Hoppers cannot be contained. That's just how it is in the world of Hoppers." That was exactly what the world of Hoppers had to offer. The sickening, dark reality of being a Hopper and trying to claim a planet that other Hoppers wanted as well. The insatiable greed, the desire for more, the idea that the number of planets out there is infinite.

And humans want to claim the planets in any way possible, even if it means killing others and discarding the evidence. The Hopper Police don't exist; they've never existed. Sometimes, on different planets, the presence of other Hoppers is more dangerous than high-level mana beasts because of this reason. And that was how Hoppers operated. Before long, with the help of the other Hopper, I had finally made it to the gates where I could exit the town. The landscape beyond the town was a spectacle to behold.

"This is where I'll leave you," said the other Hopper.

"All I can say is good luck on your mission, and I hope you'll make it out alive." The Hopper waved at me before turning back and walking in the opposite direction back to the town square. I watched as he was absorbed into the crowd of people walking on the busy, bustling street. He was a nice guy, I thought. From the outset, the Hopper I walked with didn't seem to harbour any malicious intentions; he seemed genuine enough. But I still couldn't trust him for other reasons.

I walked up to the guard who was stationed at the gate.

"Show me your card," the guard declared in a monotonous voice. I took out the card Jake gave me and showed it to the guard.

"Jeez, you're gonna have a hard time," said the guard.

"That's not a cave someone like you should be going to. How old are you, twenty? Less than twenty?"

"I'm seventeen, sir," I replied, sounding too formal.

"Well, good luck, young one. Try not to die. If you can do that, you might be able to access the most prestigious rewards this planet has to offer." The guard gave me a pat on the back as if to infuse a good luck charm into my body, which I gladly accepted. I then put the card in my pocket and started walking forward. I had finally stepped out of the town and into the wilderness beyond.