Take a shortcut through the alleyway

Vert glanced to her side, seeing an alleyway that looked like a promising way around the construction. It wouldn't be most people's preferred way of going, but Vert wasn't above taking some risks to get to her goal.

Chika would have called her foolish, but fortune favored the bold.

So off she went into the alley, doing her best to avoid the dirt, grime and trash that littered the place. She knew the city of Leanbox like the back of her hand, but the inner parts were unknown to her. As a CPU, she felt very out of place.

Still, it should be fine, right?

"Hey, you there!"

... No, of course not.

Just as she was about to turn a corner, a voice rang out to Vert. She stopped, turning around to face the source of the voice. Vert was greeted by a trio of men, who stood a dozen or so feet away from her. One of them took front and center, while the other two stood behind him, seemingly acting as muscle. They looked fairly young, but their tattered, dirty clothes and unkempt hair suggested that they were either impoverished or homeless.

"Me?" Vert asked.

"Yeah, you!" The man in front, presumably the leader, shouted. "You think you can just walk into our turf, carrying those bags and wearing all those fancy clothes, and expect to just walk out? Are you daft?"

Vert didn't expect the men to know who she was. The human identity of a CPU was strictly prohibited and extensively protected information that only a carefully selected few knew. It allowed them to walk among their people completely unknown to them.

"Are you implying that you're robbing me?"

"He's sure as hell not asking for your number, dumb bitch!" called one of the men from behind, inviting a laugh from his friends.

"Let's put it this way." The leader brought out a dagger from his pocket, holding it loosely in his hand. "You drop the bags full of goodies, we take the bags and you get to go home without a pretty little hair on your head unharmed. Can your pampered ass comprehend that much?"

Vert stiffened. It wasn't like she was the type to carry her weapons with her at all times. She didn't fail to notice that his two stooges had weapons on them as well, one of which looked like the hilt of a gun.

For that matter, Vert knew she had to consider her options wisely.