We trapped the bandits in the manager's office for now. We planned to return when the prisoners were free and shut them in Games Warlock, where they could stay until they decided to quit being dicks. We even planned to bring them food. We weren't monsters.

  I was still keeping the loot though

  They had over a dozen healing cans. I let them each keep one, to heal their bruises, and took the rest to distribute to other survivors. They were probably stolen anyway.

  As agreed, they forked over their Funbucks. I was pretty sure they lowballed me, but I had no way to check, so I let it go.

  [ Tadeo Martins has transferred $1000 to Will Tombaugh. ]

  [ Clint Moro has transferred... ]

  [ New Total: $2,870 ]

  We locked the office door with Blayden's keys and dragged a shelf in front of it. New notifications popped into my interface.

  [ Daylight Robbery

  Force customers to give you at least 1000 Funbucks.

  Reward: +1 ZETTAMALL? Battered Slapfight Crate ]

  [ Hope You Don't Regret It

  Show mercy to a customer who attacked you.

  Reward: +1 ZETTAMALL? Battered Slapfight Crate

  [ Advancing your OddBotz Storylines will grant rewards. The path they take and the rewards you receive will depend on your choices. ]

  "Are you guys seeing this?" Chaz said. "Apparently I've 'begun Yuzumaki's story'."

  "I see something about Storylines," I said. "Do you know what it means?"

  My arm raised on its own, and Khan's mouth appeared. "I can answer that. Your friend's OddBot is part of a faction of OddBotz, the Fruit Ninjas. How Chaz interacts with that faction and those associated with it will shape Yuzumaki's destiny, changing his abilities."

  "So not killing Painapple is a choice he'll remember later," Chaz mused.

  I stared at my hand. I knew I was trapped in a shopping mall and getting advice from a cybernetic king grafted to my arm, but this was getting silly.

  "Is there actually a Fast Food Empire?" I asked.

  "Yes," Khan said matter-of-factly. "And we have diplomatic relations with several other entities."

  Val perked up. "What about Mall Minotaur?"

  "He's something of a neutral party. Like your Switzerland, except he never banked stolen gold for the Nazis. If we meet someone I share history with, I'll let you know."

  "Thanks," I said. "Let's go find the others."

  Huge W was, well, huge. Like Gateway, just walking to the west wall took us past the barrier in the corridor. If we could break down that wall, we would end up in the back of a shop in the central plaza.

  A quirk of mall architecture meant that Huge W went even further. There was an extra room in the northwest corner, a space in the central plaza that was too awkwardly-shaped to be a shop. Its northeast quarter was walled off because some escalators happened to pass through on their way outside. Huge W had claimed the space and filled it with party supplies.

  The entrance was lined with cardboard cut-outs of ice creams and balloons. The inside had everything you'd expect, from balloons to wrapping paper to pi?atas. Windows above the western shelves and along the escalator wall had been taped over with gift wrap, as had a fire exit to the west. (That was probably the Zettamall's doing.)

  The Party Room even had fourty or so people for throwing a party with, though since they'd spent a couple hours bound by Twistipede they probably weren't in the mood. A lot of them had bandaged, shoplin-inflicted wounds.

  I clapped to get everyone's attention. Kara was already reaching for her boxcutter, and I didn't want any more misunderstandings.

  "Excuse me! Hello! Everyone alright? My name's Will, these are my friends, and we're from Gateway. We're here to rescue you. Is the manager here?..."

  "Well... uhh... that's me," a slightly confused-looking man in a buzz cut said. He was standing around with a box full of wallets and phones.

  "Can you help us out? We want to get everyone geared up and fed."

  He blinked. He looked at me. He looked at the box. He looked at me.

  "...Sure. So you don't want this?"

  "No, that was the other guy. Everyone can have their stuff back—"

  The manager grabbed his phone and practically threw the box onto the tiles, sending phones flying.

  "Just a sec," he said, typing furiously. I'm Hugh, by the way."

  "I'm Will, and this is..."

  We introduced ourselves, but he seemed distracted. Just as we finished, he stopped typing and looked up with a confident smile.

  "Well thanks for saving us!" he said. "We're all glad you came along when you did. My name's Hugh, and I'd be happy to help in any way I can."

  I stared at him. He smiled at me. I stared at his phone. He had a chatbot app open.

  "...Did you generate that?"

  "Of course!" Hugh began. "AI is the future, you know. One day all jobs will be done by robots—"

  "That's great," I said quickly. "Listen, I'd like our stores to work together. Can you help with that?"

  "That sounds great," Hugh said, typing again. "One sec... okay. Here are some things I can do: One, distributing supplies. Two, inventory—"

  I patted his back. "Okay, uh, you do that! I'm sure you know what you're doing!"

  Those we freed first set about helping the others, and soon we had a whole crowd of people hugging me and shaking my hand. I awkwardly reciprocated until Kara led them out.

  "This way, people! Let's talk where there's more room!"

  I looked at the window again as the group passed by. The gift wrap on the windows overlooking the escalator was a little torn, and the windows weren't sealed...

  Three people stopped me on their way out. I decided to come back to that later.

  The first guy—a man with a mop of black hair, dark brown skin, a very loud shirt, and flip-flops—offered me a fistbump. "Thanks, cuz. I'm Reg, this is Harmony and Michael. We'd like to help."

  Harmony gave me a nod, arms folded. She was a short Asian woman with a bleached ponytail, a long t-shirt over activewear, and the aura of someone who was pissed off but trying to suppress it. I could respect that. She'd gotten into a fistfight with Magic's crew and taken a few bruises before she went down.

  "Reg and I work here," she said. "We can take care of this place. Don't bother with Hugh, he sucks."

  "He's alright when he's in his element," Reg said.

  "Yeah, like lying on his resume or counting on his fingers," Harmony grumbled.

  Michael offered me a handshake. The other two were around our age, but he was definitely older, and he looked like a horror game protagonist: generic pale dude, short dark hair, jacket and jeans, and the burdened yet defiant aura of someone who was Going Through It.

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  "I'm a doctor. I'm a little far from my tools, but I'll do what I can."

  "There's a medical centre and a pharmacy downstairs, if that helps," I said. "And I took a bunch of cans from Magic, if you want them."

  "This guy's good," Reg said, patting Michael's shoulder. "Trust me. I've seen what he can do with only a first aid kit and office supplies. Can't wait to see what he can do with, you know, medicine and things like that."

  "Enough about that," Harmony said. "Did you see Blayden? He used his bot to get away, said he was going upstairs to get help..."

  My moment of hesitation was enough for them to work it out, but I said it anyway. "He's dead. We found his body in the elevator. I'm sorry."

  They sagged. Harmony sniffled and turned away. "Damn it, I told him to stay..."

  "Was it those guys?" Reg asked.

  "I think shoplins did it," I said. "He was shot with a bow."

  Reg sighed. "Makes sense. Where are they now?"

  "Locked them up in the manager's office. We were gonna banish them to Games Warlock."

  A cold expression crossed Harmony's face, and she turned towards the office. "Let me talk to them..."

  Reg grabbed her shoulder. "It's not worth it, Harm!"

  "Yes it is!" she snarled. "He was a friend! He was trying to help us!"

  I had an idea. "Would you like to feed them healing drinks? They're actually really painful."

  Harmony paused. A smile creeped up on her face. "...I'd like that."

  I counted out the cans as we headed for the manager's office. I didn't notice the door was unblocked again until we'd stopped in front of it.

  "...This isn't how we left it. Be careful," I said, and tried the handle.

  Locked. I pulled out Blayden's keys.

  Magic's crew was gone. In their place was Hugh, tied up and confused.

  "What the hell? What happened?"

  He stared at us. They'd taken his phone and tossed it in a bin.

  "Uh..."

  Magic's crew had left the store in a hurry, using the aisles to avoid being spotted. They hadn't been seen at Gateway either. We decided to send Cosmo a warning and leave it at that. Whether they spent the night hiding in Games Warlock or somewhere else didn't really matter to me, as long as they were gone.

  Hugh was reunited with his phone and given a new, vitally important task: to stay in his office and generate ideas.

  While I had the trio's attention, I returned what stolen loot I could. Harmony chugged a can to fix her face and immediately doubled over in pain, so Reg took over. He insisted I keep some cash and a six-pack of healing cans, which was great for me.

  [ New Total: $670 ]

  I also kept the unclaimed loot: a pair of black-and-white basketball sneakers with cross straps, a white Glamthing with a black bursting-hand symbol, and a piece of paper in a sheet protector. The paper was covered in weird symbols and complicated circles, which weren't translated for me like the alien logos on everything else.

  [ A pair of Blackguardz Killmax 29s! The KM29 offers an affordable stealth experience for the fresh-meat killer. With these shoes on, you gain [Silent Steps].

  Blackguardz: Break Oaths, Not The Bank! ]

  [ Rare! A WARCRIMES Expired Glamthing! Give your friends the peaceful death they deserve with this stylish accessory! This Glamthing glows if Expired are near at hand. ]

  [ A DarkSpire Occultech Spell Scroll: Find Store (Tack Shop)! Tear this scroll to teleport to the nearest tack shop. If your current mall does not have a tack shop, you will be blasted into the most similar available store and take a large amount of damage.

  DarkSpire Occultech: Sufficiently Advanced Magic! ]

  Besides that, our work seemed to be done. The Huge W survivors could take care of themselves, and all we really needed to do was get them up to speed. Nice, Mean, and In-Between did great: Reg kept people calm, Harmony kept them on task, and Michael worked out what actually needed doing.

  "Let's work together," I told them. "We'll make sure everyone's fed."

  Reg gave me the bro handshake. "Of course, cuz!"

  "We'll get stronger and repay the favour," Harmony said, offering a fistbump. She'd taken a healing can to fix her bruises, and was already itching to fight. "I won't get robbed again."

  Michael preferred the Handshake Classic. "Like I said, I'll do what I can."

  I went to find Team Gateway. They'd changed their clothes, moved some chairs around the electronics counter, and taken a break.

  "Welome back," Kara said. She'd grabbed some joggers, less bloodstained sneakers, and a shirt with a ribcage on it. The Zettamall hi-vis hoodie looked a little out of place, but this wasn't the time to perfect our fits.

  I pulled up a chair and sat down. "Hey. Do you know what a tack shop is?"

  Chaz raised a hand. He'd acquired new cargo shorts for storing things, and an anime t-shirt from Games Warlock for fun. Finally, his tattoos could breathe.

  "It sells stuff for horses," he said.

  The mall did not have a horse shop. I put the Scroll of Exploding Myself in my backpack for now.

  "You want something to change into?" Lex asked. She'd just swapped her gym clothes for fresher ones.

  I looked down at my bloody slacks. "Yeah, but I've got some gifts first. Everyone take a can. Chaz, this is for you."

  I passed around the Slurp Nurse cans, then offered Chaz the Blackguardz shoes. He studied them, nodded in satisfaction, and untied the shoplin Glamthing from his wrist.

  "Here, I'll trade you for this."

  I tied both Glamthings to Khan's wrist as Chaz put his new shoes on and stomped around, experimenting. He no longer made a sound when he walked, not even when he jumped on the tiles. He could still rattle the shelves if he tried hard enough.

  "We've been talking about Level Three," Kara said, holding up her phone. "I asked Zettachat about it, and it sounds bad."

  [ ZETTACHAT > Bippity Boppity It's Time To Shoppity ]

  hentai_feet.mp4 Today at 11:20 PM

  Yeah, there's a bunch of shoplins up here. They fortified that shit.

  SkullGirl33 Today at 11:20 PM

  How many?

  hentai_feet.mp4 Today at 11:20 PM

  Looked like 20 last time we checked? And they send out patrols sometimes.

  They shot at us with bows when we went close.

  DClass Today at 11:21 PM

  I'm watching them from my store. They started in the post office but they keep pushing out further and further.

  Shoplins just keep coming out of there in packs. Way too many. I might need to run soon.

  maxbasedvapegod Today at 11:21 PM

  ANY HOTTIES UP THERE??

  DClass Today at 11:21 PM

  One sec.

  No, sorry.

  "I think they stop coming if we smash the Lair," Chaz said.

  "That's gonna be rough if they have bows," Lex said. She was starting to relax around us. "We could gear more people now and hit it tomorrow..."

  "New enemies tomorrow," I reminded everyone. "The Lair could get worse."

  Chaz sat back. "Oh damn, you're right. That's going to suck."

  Lex groaned and leaned forward, rubbing her head. "I just wanna go home..."

  "Me too," I sighed. We'd spent most of our evening dragging corpses somewhere they could decompose in peace, and the culprits were goblins dressed for a summer day at the hardware store. Nobody could be okay with this.

  That killed the mood. As the others fell silent, I stared at the ceiling. My mind went back to the guy in the OddBotz store.

  "the other one... it goes on forever..."

  What did he see? What was the Zettamall? Why would anyone need to teleport to a horse shop? Where the hell were we?

  I decided not to share this with the others. Even Kara, who always adapted fast in a crisis, was starting to look strung out. It was better to focus on what we could do right now.

  "I think it's worth a try," I said. "Let's find out more about the Lair and make a plan. I'm not going to sleep tonight anyway."

  The others began to steel themselves again. Kara rebounded first, as usual. "I'll message everyone!"

  Chaz stretched. "If we can get isekai'd here, we can get isekai'd out! We just gotta survive."

  I stood up. "I'm going to change first. I don't want to be the only one here dressed for work."

  "I got you," Lex said, unslinging Snakpak.

  I looked at my status window as we walked away. There was another reason I wanted to go upstairs: I had a theory, and if I was right, we needed to add the people upstairs to our group of survivors as soon as possible.

  The problem was the Slapfight crates, the weird ones we got for fighting Magic's crew.

  [ A Battered Slapfight crate! Awarded for fighting other customers—and hopefully winning. Contains a useful piece of gear from a Player vs Player brand. ]

  The "PvP" crates seemed easy to get, at least at first. I'd won three from our brush with Magic without even trying. They were definitely easier to get than keys, which the Zettamall had been stingy with.

  There was one way to get free keys though, and the Zettamall was broadcasting it. All you had to do was kill people.

  [ STATUS

  TIME: Day 1, 11:25 PM

  CUSTOMERS: 711/1167

  ODDBOTZ: 129/711 ]

  I had a really bad feeling about this.

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