"Fernando Torres and Viktor Vladimir. I'm putting a bounty of 5 million New Earth Coins on each of them."

Raquel Roy spoke with a voice coated in unmasked anger. The pictures of Vik and Tory were shown on the spectral screen along with their respective bounty amounts listed under the same.

Raquel didn't just stop there.

"We've also found out their Permavatar names. Fernando Torres is known by the alias Chingada Madre 666.

And this guy, Viktor Vladimir has a Permavatar named Vik Lord of..."

...

"*cough cough cough!"

Raquel found it difficult to pronounce Vik's permavatar name. But she knew it had to be said. So she mustered even greater courage and took a long breath before speaking out loud.

"His Permavatar name is Vik Lord of 69s."

Vik would have laughed his ass off if it was any other occasion of a woman saying his handle name out loud with a blush on her face. But he was too preoccupied with survival to joke about it. But that didn't prevent Tory from producing a chuckle when he saw Raquel's face while saying his friend's name.

Raquel looked like she was challenging anyone to laugh at her situation after saying that name. But she quickly readjusted her demeanor and carried on.

"Please contact us if you find either of them on earth or in Oasis Online and we will take care of the rest. Of course, you will be provided with the appropriate bounty amount a few days after your claim has been validated."

Vik and Tory's bounty pictures were dispersed as Raquel wrapped up her speech.

"That's it. I hope all the denizens of the Oasis can come together and help us serve justice to my father's overt and covert killers. Thank you."

Raquel Roy concluded her statement and looked dead in the eye of the levitating 360-degree holo camera that was shooting her. It was as if she was looking right at Vik and Tory at that moment.

The news was too shocking for anybody to care about Raquel's awkward situation when saying Vik's Permavatar name. Remington Roy, a powerful awakened, successful businessman, and veteran ranker in the Oasis had died. He was killed by two lowlifes who were just unranked humans.

The news was difficult to digest for anyone. Including the ones who now had a huge bounty on their heads.

Vik and Tory looked at each other with grim expressions on their faces. They both thought about the same thing. That they would have to kiss their life goodbye if they couldn't get out of this mess soon. And yet, the only thing they COULD do at this point was to hide.

But hide for how long?

And was it possible to hide forever?

Nobody could give answers to questions wreaking havoc in their heads. All they could do was think about survival.

"Tory, let's get outta here. Fast."

Vik finally came to his senses and snapped Tory out of his thoughts. They both left the bar and chose a secure place to exit out of the Oasis. They didn't dally for long in the Podcafe. Thankfully, it was still nighttime. There was no manager at the place. The cafe ran on AI after all.

And the news about their involvement in Remington Roy's killing has not been made public in the real world yet. But they both knew it wouldn't be long before that happened.

Vik and Tory returned the same way they came from and finally found themselves inside their temporary hideout. They needed to plan something. Anything.historical

A storm was heading their way.

"Hermano, how many years are remaining in your lifespan?"

Vik and Tory had started drinking for real this time. They both were silent and in thoughts of their own. But Tory couldn't keep the facade of calm for long and asked his close friend.

Vik knew Tory only called him hermano when he was extremely emotional. Therefore he didn't try to make fun of him and answered honestly:

"I'm 24 years old now. So 25 years and a few months give or take. What about you?"

Vik said as he sipped from his beer bottle. Tory was a consumer of the same brand. He thought for a while as if to count before finally responding.

"I only have 14 years, hehe! But even 14 years seems like a long time now.

What do you think? Will we be able to survive the shitstorm heading our way? You are the brains of our team. You can think of something. You always did."

Tory looked at Vik with false hope in his eyes. A flame of pipedream he knew would be extinguished by the winds of reality. Vik's answer wasn't any different.

"Honestly? I don't know, Tory.

They have our footage while we were in that facility. How the fuck did that happen?"

Vik said and took some more gulps from his cold one before adding up.

"I had made sure that all the surveillance sensor signals were rerouted before starting our job. We also wore those synth-skin face masks. Still, they know our identities.

Those signals had been looped to the baldy. So either that baldy has betrayed us or this is a much broader conspiracy than any of us involved can understand or see right now."

Tory nodded at Vik's analysis when he heard it. He wasn't the brains behind the operation but he understood the nuances of the job just fine when Vik explained them to him.

Vik then looked in a particular direction before speaking further.

"Those pods hold the key to finding those answers. I'll bet you anything they didn't plan to let us get away with those pods. If they are the real deal that is. If that's the case we should check them out before coming up with anything."

Vik and Tory looked in the direction of the underground garage where the truck was parked in unison. They began walking in the same direction without wasting time.

***

The MCP chips were a compulsory implant one had to wear from birth. And this was a global mandate. It came with a lot of facilities and functionalities that a person would need throughout all walks of life.

But there was a catch.

These MCP chips came with a counter that would activate from when the child was born. And every child was only allowed to live 50 years. There was almost no exception to the rule when it came to non-Metas.

Upon reaching the age of 50, one would need to visit the government facilities in their various city-states. If they were lucky, they would have the opportunity to serve the region's government or the city-state handling the matter. It would mean that their lifespans get extended by the MCP chip.

Otherwise, they would die painlessly after 50 years.

People choosing not to utilize these facilities will only backfire on them as they won't be given a buffer time. They would just die off on their own.

And nobody could tamper with the MCP chip or the counter running inside them either. And if they tried, they would be killed instantly by the chip itself.

They said that the MCP chip limited the lifespan of people so that resources on earth could be better managed. The governments said that the world was once riddled with overpopulation centuries ago so they had to take this decision.

But Vik didn't buy that bullshittery. This trap was made so that governments and city-states could control their populace better. And they had achieved remarkable results in achieving just that.

But was there any other reason behind the 50-year lifespan limit? Vik often thought of questions like this when he was a child. His parents had separated from him for the same reason after all.

The parents' lifespan counter was running out. They had to travel to a nearby facility operated by an institution to see if their lifespan could be extended.

Vik's parents never returned from that facility.