"Pick up the pace."
Still on the roads of the massive shopping district, hastening our steps and borrowing the night's darkness as camouflage.
The cloaks helped too, the rest of our journey towards Kenneth's apartment went uninterrupted.
"T-this way."
At the top floor of apartment block #129, Kenneth pulls out his key from his pocket with his intensely trembling hands, but dropped it accidentally.
"S-sorry."
"I'll do it." Shockwave extends out a hand to Kenneth, which Kenneth then placed his keys on.
"Alright get in." Shockwave said after unlocking the door.
Every player's apartment is similar, it's a very small rectangular room, approximately 3 metres times 5 metres.
It has three doors, a wooden one that leads to the exit, another wooden door to the tiny bathroom and a glass door to the balcony.
The four of us in a single apartment was compact, our movements were very limited.
Shockwave and Kenneth Spears sat on the singles bed while me and my uncle was standing next to it. There was nothing else in the room beside the bed.
"Judging by how you don't know about GPS, they never found your apartment despite you being hunted for at least 2 years?" My uncles asked.
"I guess not."
"Why not? You're their biggest target, they've been trying to kill you so much so that almost everyone knows about it."
"I...I don't know."
"Why do they want you dead in the first place?"
Shockwave froze. There wasn't any lights in the room, it was only lit by the dim moonlight peeking in through the glass door to the balcony.
"I am..." She visibly struggles to explain.
"In short and simple terms, I was the reason The Reaper was in this game."
"You killed Reaper in real life."
"I did."
Uncle lets out an exasperated sigh, turns his back on us and facepalmed.
"How are you not dead yet?"
"I've always thought if I just stayed in my apartment, leaves only when necessary and be cautious while outside, there's no way for her to find me, I didn't know of the GPS's existence."
"Everything about you makes it harder for me to trust you in our alliance."
"It's him that wanted us in." Shockwave turned to me, how rude.
Well, might as well give my input on this discussion.
"I think it makes sense why they never went to GPS to find her."
No one asked me why I think that and my uncle still had his back against us, a bit of a letdown. I'll elucidate on my point then.
"You're not really a threat for them, they're a big alliance and you are just you, you can't do anything against them, can you?"
"No, no I can't."
"That response of yours means you've never done anything damaging to them in the game, since you're not even aware that you can."
"What's your point?"
"My point is, there's no reason to kill you if you pose no threats.
However they inhibit your progress in campaign stages, that's to prevent you from becoming stronger to the point where you actually do become a threat."
"It'll be more convenient to just kill me."
"Living Cemetery showed their desperation for you, that's high demand. If I'm GPS, I'd sell your information at a ridiculous price, a price that indeed inconveniences Living Cemetery."
And knocking on every apartments' door isn't an option for them either.
They're not the strongest alliance, accidentally invading privacy of stronger alliances may provoke war.
"As a businessman, one should learn how to compromise, GPS wouldn't set a price that Living Cemetery won't pay."
My uncle retorted, still had his back against us though.
"Nothing wrong with being greedy. After all, you, Eleanor, you've proven to be elusive. If I'm GPS, I'm willing to bet that you will continue being a pain in the ass for Living Cemetery, until they have no choice but to accept my ridiculous offer."
Shockwave had a second to think, before she realises,
"You're saying...we were never in trouble, not even now?"
"I'm not saying that with absolute certainty. Killing Corpse and you becoming stronger than ever, that may have already immediately provoked them to sacrifice the points and accept GPS's deal.
But to me, chances are low."
Both Shockwave and Kenneth Spears lets out a sigh of relief after my comment on the situation, they seemed to be convinced.
"There's still a chance they did take the deal, we stay here tonight, just to be safe." My uncle said while exiting the room to the corridor of the apartment building.
"Where are you going?" I asked before he closes the door behind him.
"Check if we were tailed...and Sean..." That's probably the first time he spoke to me willingly after stage 1-5.
"Follow me out." He said, and left my sight but leaving the door open.
"This month's Afterlife Tournament will commence in 10 hours!" Before I walked out the room to my uncle, my earpiece rang.
"Guillotine's definitely just gonna win again this month, tsk." Overhearing an intriguing line from Shockwave to Kenneth Spears, I stopped myself on my way out the room.
"Again?"
How could a team win again, if one team wins, they'll just get sent back into real life.
"They've won every month's tournament for as long as I've been here and there's no new competitors this month, they'll undoubtedly just win again."
"Won't they get sent back into real life after just one win?"
"No, they get five passes back into life when they win, they don't necessarily needs to use it on themselves."
"Who do they use them for then?"
"Other members in their alliance."
"Who are those?"
"Can't believe you're new to the game." There was a brief pause before she said that line, she probably checked my profile and found out I'm a newbie.
"Guillotine is the preeminent alliance in this game, lead by silencer, yet they accept any applicants to their alliance at random.
Maximum members of an alliance fixed by the game is 100, so their alliance is constantly full with people.
It's a great alliance to be in. Every month, five random members are given the pass back into life, and five random applicants are accepted into the alliance.
For a lot of weak players, this is the lottery, a very slim chance of salvation every month.
For people that didn't lose hope in their own abilities though, it's best not to apply for it, it'd be useless, there's too many applicants every month.
Chances of someone actually getting accepted into the alliance and obtaining the pass back into life is lower than actually trying to win the tournament. That's what I think at least.
They're so far undefeated for as long as I've been in the game, heard they're a band of professional assassins before they died."
"I see."
What a fascinating idea this alliance had, I thought.
Then, I exited the room, closing the door behind me once I'm out in the corridor.
My uncle was standing right outside with his back against a wall, doing something I never thought I'd see him do, lighting a cigarette.