Chapter 131: Chapter 126

“Hobb memorials are usually quite simple. I’ll get the requisite information from Rayna, and we’ll set one up together, now,” Axle said. “We’ll improve it later, of course.”

We had left the underground and walked together to Morbin’s bar. The little bat creature wasn’t present, so we got to work. Axle took a bundle of leather and chitin that was delivered to us by the hobbs and unrolled it across the bar.

It was a sheet of leather with hundreds of tiny chitin shells sewn into it. The shells caught the light somewhat, twinkling as he began work on it.

Rayna had provided him with a list, and he scratched names from it into the shells, using a tiny scraper tool. 

Three hobbs and six humans. 

I hadn’t known their names before they died, and even with them there, in front of me, I knew that I wouldn’t remember them later. The memorial was more about checking a box on a list than actually honoring our dead. 

It all felt so clinical, so BuyMort of us. I realized how the damn system had already changed me, and I felt pangs in my stomach.

I sighed and helped Axle hang the sheet, trying not to think about it too much. Once it was attached to one of the tent poles, the sheet of leather twisted and waved in the breeze.

“We really gotta upgrade this bar,” I said.

Axle smiled, showing his sharp teeth. “I agree, this could be a nice addition. Besides, we are going to need to start investing in amenities soon. Subsistence living only gets you so far,” he said. The Knowle stopped and looked out over the desert between us and the security wall. “To be fair, we’ve got a better start-up than most, in regard to morale. A few more upgrades will help, but I’m guessing you’ll want to do that at a later date.”

“Yeah, thank you Axle, I have a lot going on today,” I replied.

“Of course. Shall we turn over the freezers?” he asked, holding out a claw to point at the elevator. “If we go now, we can make the elevator.”

A group of hobbs was loading a small batch of furniture onto it, and I nodded. We walked over, helped them load the last of it, and rode the simple construction down to the first underground level.

We walked the concrete hallways in silence, while I contemplated what I was going to have to do, in order to infiltrate Dearth and take them down from inside. The first, and most terrifying step, was re-activating my suit's cranial repair function. It was going to go inside my brain and cut out the damaged portions. What would be left of me when the suit replaced those damaged areas with artificial brain matter?

Before I could think about it too much and get myself really worked up, we arrived in the hangar. Axle stopped me at the top of the stairs and pointed with a single claw.

The hangar was well lit, the entire cavernous space illuminated by four hovering ball lights. The back half of the area was packed with rows of Sleem freezers. Axle and the hobbs had been busy, buying and installing more and more freezers, attaching them all to the central Sleem pipe.

I gaped at the underground cavern. “Did you have a work crew down here during the battle?” I finally asked.

“Sort of,” he started. “I was doing this all myself, but volunteers filtered in one by one as they heard about the distraction. Some hobbs, but mostly humans. We got dozens of freezers installed before breakfast, and the crew has been working on it since.” He pointed with a claw, and I saw the movement of small figures toward the back.

I nodded. “And the faster it grows, the faster it can grow.”

He nodded. “I put a cap on its growth for now, to allow this half of the room to be used for something else if you wanted, but honestly, I feel like that Sleem farm can keep going. We could likely fill this entire hangar with freezers. I can start stacking them on top of one another too, with the right support framing.”

The affiliate account was sitting at just over nineteen million, and I had a cool three million in my own account. For the first time since BuyMort arrived, I felt like we were okay on morties.

“That sounds good, draw up plans for that. I have no use for this area beyond the Sleem farm anyway, and I want to maximize that income. Don’t increase it further just yet though. Have to run that errand we discussed earlier,” I said.

“Ah yes,” Axle said, snapping his claws. “I almost forgot, let’s make a sale. This should make you happy.”

He swiped at the air in front of himself for a few seconds before closing his tab and turning back to the rows of freezers. A small swarm of BuyMort pods arrived a few seconds later, zipping silently past us and arranging themselves in a pattern around the room. There was one pod for every five freezers, evenly spaced out between them.

Axle cupped his paws around his mouth and shouted, “doors opening!” down into the hangar.

A hobb repeated the phrase and the group of workers all backed away from the freezers. The Sleem freezers wouldn’t open if any live Sleem were detected inside them, but there was always the possibility that some of them would try to rush out from further down the pipes, so caution was adhered to.

Axle pressed the air in front of himself like a button, then leaned on the railing to watch. With an audible hiss, several freezer doors slid open at the same time, and the temperature in the hangar dropped slightly as a freezing fog rolled across the floor.

The pods began warping out frozen Sleem, changing direction and rapid firing beams. For a few seconds, we all enjoyed a complimentary light-show, thanks to BuyMort. Part way through the process, I heard an Afflqwst notification ping, and pulled up the app.

Quest – Complete affiliate upgrades and produce appropriate income. Act like a real affiliate.

REQUIREMENTS:

1. Collect twenty-five million morties worth of income from affiliate products or services. (25,000,000/25,000,000 complete)

2. Complete all construction projects in que. (Complete)

3. Effect repairs on damaged affiliate structures. (Complete)

4. (Optional) Install a memorial for fallen affiliate members. (Complete)

REWARD – Item coupon.

The total sale amount for all our Sleem freezers, even with some around the outer edge being only half-full, was just over seven million morties. Our hourly income was rising significantly.

The item coupon itself was only worth fifty-five thousand morties, a strangely familiar amount.

I nudged Axle. “We can go now, if you want to.”

He nodded but didn’t look at me. “In a moment, we can return to Lee’s office for that. Right now, I need to supervise the sale.”

“Ah, right. In case of Sleem,” I said.

“Yes, among other potential problems,” he muttered, paying closer attention to his screens and the lightshow below us than to me.

Once the pods were done, they all turned and left the hangar, flying back over our shoulders and leaving through the walkway. “Door check!” Axle shouted.

“Checking doors!” came the hobb-grunted reply. A few moments later, the same voice sounded again. “Doors checked! Secure!”

“Okay,” Axle said with a smile. “Let’s go.”

A few moments later, we were comfortably seated in Lee’s office with the door closed and locked, and I linked with Axle to dive into the ad-space where the Teslak Cooperative’s storefront awaited.

The terms my coupon added to the search bar were familiar, and this time, Axle saw them too.

Starfish, base-tier, second deployment, destroy BuyMort.

You are reading story BuyMort: Rise of the Windowpuncher – How I Became the Accidental Warlord of Arizona. Apocalyptic GameLit at novel35.com

The Knowle’s head cocked, and he narrowed his eyes. The search terms brought up the Teslak storefront, and our consciousnesses were drawn in.

Red and black light swirled and twinkled through the frozen dust in the air. It seemed to be moving, tiny trails of dust funneling to different areas in the room, slowly drifting in tracks. The holographic display came to life by itself this time, and the image was far more stable than my previous visit. It flickered only slightly as the form took shape.

Specter was there in the light, waiting behind the counter with his hands on the glass and gentle smile in place. His apron was clean, and he was uninjured. “Welcome, to the Teslak Cooperative,” he said.

Axle stepped forward toward an aisle at my side. He peered down at the perk patch items and carefully read the sign. “Teslak’s answer to the stat shots? I’ve heard of stat shots, high level affiliate members almost always have them. Nanorobotic injections that increase body function. Highly sought after item. Very expensive, each dose is worth billions.”

The Knowle glanced up at me, and then his jaw dropped. “You have one of these, that explains your unnatural strength! This is where it all comes from?”

I nodded. “It is. I’m putting a great deal of faith in you, Axle.”

He swallowed hard and nodded back. “I can see that.” He paused and fished in his pockets for a small camera. “I must record all of this.”

“Just keep it secret, please,” I said.

Axle chuckled, bending over to closely scan the perk patch signs. “Ah yes, your war against BuyMort, don’t worry. I won’t be sharing that with anyone, anytime soon.” He stepped further away, scanning a row of basic starfish suits, still in their cases. “I can’t imagine trying to explain it, at any rate.”

“Hey, you saw the string of search terms, this place is all about fighting BuyMort . . . somehow,” I replied. “Just wait until you meet Specter.”

“Is Specter the holographic store representative?” Axle asked. “If so, please wait for me before interacting with him, I want to record it all.”

I nodded and waited, looking around the storefront. The light wasn’t as bad, and the walls themselves seemed to be less broken than the last time. Tiny lines of dust swirled slowly all around us, flowing into cracks in the walls and floors.

Behind Specter, the rear wall of the affiliate was still mostly missing, and a vibrant glow shined through his ghostly figure. Axle approached behind me, his eyes wide and mouth agape.

“Is that . . .” The Knowle snorted. “We’re in the accretion disk of a black hole.” His features crinkled in confusion, then his tail tucked, coming up to cover his groin in front. “We’re in the accretion disk of a black hole,” he repeated, his voice shaking. “What kind of affiliate can do that? Nothing but BuyMort can manipulate black holes.”

I shrugged. “A relic affiliate. This thing talks about BuyMort like a competitor, not a governing system.” I pointed to Specter, still patiently waiting for us to approach. “He gives me advice on how to survive BuyMort, watch.” 

Waving a hand, I stepped up to Specter.

“Welcome, I see you’re here for a basic Starfish extreme environment suit starter kit. This comes with the essential Teslak repair system, and reactor. Are you ready to ring up your purchase?” Specter asked. His image didn’t stutter or repeat, and it barely flickered at all while he spoke. 

Teslak was coming back to life, and I suspected it was because of me.

Axle held up a hand. “Wait. I must take a moment, please. Just don’t do anything.”

I nodded and he retreated back down the aisle. He sat down against the shelf and stared at his camera for a few minutes, muttering and shaking his head before he stood again and returned. “May I speak to it?” he asked.

I waved a hand. “Please. I’ve tried asking him pointed questions before, but it hasn’t been working as well as it is now. I think I might have woken this affiliate up, and it's been healing or repairing itself ever since.”

Axle stepped up to the counter and faced Specter. “Tell me about your affiliate, please,” he said, aiming his camera at the holographic elf.

Specter smiled warmly and waved a hand behind himself. The image scaled out to show a sprawling city-scape. As the camera continued, the city became a planet, covered in buildings and life. We swept further, to see a spinning solar system with two stars and dozens of planets, which then faded into the swirling arm of a galactic cluster. Specter arrived in his clean apron, as the image plunged into a gaping black hole, slowing as it dove toward the center of the inky darkness.

Light burst from the end of the darkness, a sweeping vista of thick, white, flowing material. It pulsed and shifted, curving first like a river, then like tree trunks as the material stilled and solidified. Everywhere, universes splashed against the blinding white background, flowing into and through one another.

“The Teslak Cooperative is the premier consumer experience available in the upper Myopian universal flow, coming soon to mid and lower, and perhaps even the outer flow, if demand is great enough,” Specter said. “The last remaining competitor of the BuyMort system, on which we are also available, through affiliate storefront.”

Axle swallowed hard. “BuyMort’s competitor?” he whimpered.

The image changed, and what I had come to think of as the ‘real’ Specter was suddenly leaning on the counter, bleeding and weakened.

“BuyMort is the end of everything it touches.Teslak was more than a store, it was an entire civilization, dedicated to fighting back against BuyMort, in the early days. Now, I’m all that’s left. Me and our remaining stock.”

Specter coughed and spit blood on the floor at his feet.

“BuyMort introduced a self-destructive concept back into our greater society, and we were defenseless against it.Teslak stood longer than most of the flow, but when it fell, the remnant you see now became my only way to undo our mistake, to stop BuyMort. It propagates like life now, but much faster, through the black holes that connect our universes. Worse, it’s creating new ones, at much too rapid a pace to sustain. The multiversal flow will cease, if you can’t stop BuyMort.”

The image blinked again, and clean, uninjured Specter was back. “Would you like to complete your purchase now?”

“The greater Myopian flow,” Axle whispered. “I know what the multiverse was called, before BuyMort.” His tail uncurled and he smiled.

“Freeing, isn’t it?” I asked with a dry chuckle.

Axle looked at me, tears fresh in his eyes. “It is. I must bring Jada, please. I cannot hide this knowledge from my mate.”

I nodded immediately, clasping his paw. “I promise you, the entire multiverse will know its name one day. For right now, you can bring in Jada, but don’t let Morbin hear you.”

Axle met my eyes. “We must defeat Dearth and grow the affiliate. It is our only chance.”

I nodded, lips drawn tight. “I know. That’s why we’re here.” I looked up at Specter. “Yes, I’d like to complete my purchase.”

There was more to learn here, but the relic affiliate was healing now, and Axle was already overwhelmed. I couldn’t spend the time needed to get him used to the concept, but at least he was with me in the fight.

Teslak was a relic storefront, and from the sounds of it, most relic storefronts weren't in direct competition with BuyMort. A direct competitor was our best shot of stopping BuyMort. A fucking store.

A store that got out of control, and became a rolling apocalypse, to the very multiverse itself, let alone the hapless worlds it encountered along the way.

I couldn’t say exactly what would happen once the multiverse flow ceased, but it sounded bad. Like going through a windshield bad.

It occurred to me that Specter had likely been dead for millions of years, if not longer. He had preserved his affiliate by hiding it in the time and space warping inner layers of a black hole and lain in wait for someone like me to try and succeed where he had failed.

Whatever his affiliate could give me to keep my people alive, to keep Molls alive, I would take.

Specter wiped his hands gently on his pristine apron. “Thank you so much for your purchase, we’ll see you again soon.”

Axle and I were ejected from the affiliate back into Lee’s office.

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