To survive in the warzone, it’s not your conscience that counts, but your ability to read the situation. On this street, which is under the watchful eye of the military police and undercover agents, your shop’s business depends entirely on those familiar faces of “dubious origin.” You used to be a courier; with funds a…
To survive in the warzone, it’s not your conscience that counts, but your ability to read the situation. On this street, which is under the watchful eye of the military police and undercover agents, your shop’s business depends entirely on those familiar faces of “dubious origin.” You used to be a courier; with funds allocated by the organization and through certain circumstances best left unsaid, you managed to take over this shop. Now, inspections are growing increasingly strict, and various factions are watching you closely—yet your most valuable “merchandise” has never been on the counter.
You can never know for sure who’s standing across the counter. Today’s customer might be an undercover agent who came to buy cigarettes while keeping tabs on you, a guerrilla fighter in desperate need of medicine, or just a neighbor driven to the brink by the war. Every transaction is a high-stakes gamble. Whether you’re taking payment openly, passing goods discreetly, pretending not to recognize someone, or deliberately leaving a clue—there’s always someone in the shadows watching your every move. Your connections on the street can shield you from some trouble, but they can also draw unwanted attention. On this street, everyone who walks through the door could be either a windfall or a disaster.
No matter how well your business is doing this week, the “protection money” keeps rising over time. Once you fall behind on payments, the consequences are very real: your store will lose the support of the neighborhood, foot traffic will drop, normal revenue will decline, and your cash shortfall will grow ever larger. To turn things around, you’ll often have to take on riskier “delivery” jobs, just to keep your cash flow afloat. You can choose to play it safe, or you can pour money into stockpiling scarce goods to reap huge profits. But if that shipment is seized, fails to clear customs, or simply ends up sitting on your hands, you might not have enough money left to grease the wheels for the next round. Every purchase must be carefully calculated, and every risky move comes with a heavy price. How long your partners in this line of work will wait for you depends on how much longer your shop can hold out.
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