“You know how weird it is for me to just sit here while your eyes stare at invisible screens and your mouths murmur commands I can’t hear?” Max said.

“Yeah, I get it, but there’s nothing we can do about it,” Hut--the bounty hunter--spoke, his eyes focused on his CHEKs UI.

“Isn’t there an option to make everyone see our screens?” Gwen--the mastermind--looked around. “Or one of those weird computers whose screen shows the screens that you see?”

“There is, but it either needs you to have a higher level or some high stats: it’s grayed out for me,” Hut said then laughed. “And you really think we’re gonna find a computer in a bounty hunter hideout?”

“I don’t know…” Gwen murmured. “Maybe there’s some sort of cyber bounty hunter! He’d be the most vicious in the land, taking down his prey through computers and technology!”

“Cyber-hunter?! Nooooo!” Max said with a girl’s voice. “Stop reading code! It’s already dry down there: if you continue, I’m gonna die of thirst!”

Hut closed his eyes and shook his head in disappointment while Gwen lost his shit laughing.

“Do you even have the ability to shut up, Max?” Hut said.

“I’m just trying to not die from boredom over here!” Max threw his hands up. “What rank are you at? How much longer is it gonna take?”

“Patience, my child, you are bored for a noble cause,” Gwen spoke.

“I’m at rank #655 -- only a hundred fifty five other hunters to surpass,” Hut said. “I wanna see how far we can take this. I’m bound to be the only one in this hideout who’s in the top five hundreds, maybe the only one who’s ranked.”

“Ranked, through the dumbest loophole in history.”

“If we found out you can just get a mastermind to assign wanted alive bounties on one person over and over, and claim each one yourself, then there are countless others,” Hut spoke. “I’m pretty sure at least a third of rankings are hunters who used this loophole. No reason to feel bad by cheating a little.”

“There are some shady fuckin’ Realms in the north, whole clusters of hideouts. The hunters there must be racking in the loot like crazy! Also aren’t some soldiers hunters as well? When you kill a thousand in the battlefield, at least a few hundred will have public bounties.” Max looked around. “This is one of the biggest hideouts, but there are only like a hundred people cramped in here. Yeah, the loophole works, but I doubt your rank will stay that way longer than a day or two -- there aren’t that many hunters and the competition is fierce.”

“I don’t know -- last I heard, every soldier’s a hench,” Gwen said. “And who in the world is having a thousand people battle?”

“I exaggerated a bit…”

“Yeah and you’re exaggerating your boredom.”

“Couldn’t I pick a fight?” Max asked. “Whilst I kick ass, you could continue the cycle, assigning bounties on my ass and claiming them.”

“And what if you lose, the guy who you fought decides to claim the bounty on your head, and 50C$ vanishes from my balance?”

“Then make the bounty only 10C$. Actually, why are we still in this hideout?!”

“Claiming 10C$ barely raises the rank,” Hut said, ignoring Max’s question. He knew perfectly well that Max could beat any heat they had, but he was far from willing to have another conversation explaining why he didn’t want to take on any more. They needed some rest from their nonstop lifestyle. “I’ll find a dafa later. It’ll be my gift to you for helping me reach rank #500.”

“What am I gonna do with a dafa?!”

“Fight it.”

Gwen cracked up. Then his face went blank, hands dropped.

“Shit.”

Max and Hut turned to him. “What?” they asked at once.

“Shit, shit, shit.” Gwen’s eyes jumped from point to point, swiftly navigating CHEK screens. “Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit, I stopped paying attention and made a mistake...”

“What is it-- oh, shit.” Hut’s jaw dropped, eyes focused on his screens. “T-that is one hell of a mistake.”

Max’s gaze snapped from Gwen to Hut.

“What’s goin--”

“Can you undo it?” Hut said.

“No-- yes-- I’ve no clue--” Gwen stuttered.

“Shh!” Hut put a finger over his mouth.

“I don’t know -- I probably haven't unlocked that feature yet,” Gwen whispered, eyes even more frantic.

“Maybe we can quickly raise your level?”

“Shit, shit, shit,” Shaking his head, Gwen cursed. “We need to run, right now!”

“There’s definitely someone with auto-notice on -- they’ll see us.”

“Running’s the only choice--”

“What is going on?!” Max snapped. “This isn’t funny! Can you stop this charade or tell me the truth?!”

The room quietened down. A few people near the three friends focused on Max. More and more heads turned towards him until everyone in the room was staring at him.

“Shit,” Gwen and Hut cursed at once. Gwen continued. “Instead of making you wanted alive, I made you wanted dead.”