5 [Debt]

(ET = Earth Time)

It was early the next morning when Haley woke up, 7:32am to be exact, he'd only slept for a few short hours, but he didn't feel exhausted in the slightest in fact, he felt an abundance of energy that was unusual for him.

'A side effect of Medical Analysis v0.2? Is my health that poor that simply a couple of hours of improvement shows such a drastic difference?' He pondered before pushing the thought out of his head and stretching, after a long yawn he finally crawled out of bed.

"The Mod Market doesn't come online until 8:00am ET… considering its 7am its been online for about 32 minutes already – there's no time to waste then." Haley muttered as he moved towards the holographic display above his desk, doing things through the HUD was fast for simple processes however for connecting to the Mod Market it was best to have an external connection in case of an external breach.

'Some people who didn't take that advice have ended up dead from someone hacking in to and running a script to shut down their nerve system…' Although the benefits of the HUD were undeniable, when connecting to public networks it was best to do so as little as possible with it or else… simply put, having someone literally hijack your nervous system would end in disaster.

With practiced efficiency he opened the ModCo website and typed in his log-in details before navigating to his desolate store page, quickly he typed in the details of Medical Analysis v0.2 and added it to his store page before transferring the code from his HUD to the computer.

[Medical Analysis v0.2]

[HUD Modification Details: Analysis of Wounds with techniques provided step-by-step as to how to stop bleeding and close the wound. Provides in-depth analysis of the users' own health with analysis of any current and potential future medical issues depending on the life-style of the user.]

[Price: 2500 Luna]

After looking at the price he set he felt satisfied, using the Luna provided by MedCo as reward for adding his first item he added MedCo Copyright Protection and Code Protection, these options were there to ensure the complete protection of the rights of the owner of the modification – only fools wouldn't pay for them considering there wasn't a single entity other than the members of the Dark Web who would dare to offend MedCo out of fear of the consequences.

Haley couldn't help but shudder as he thought of the immense power the company held, they held the majority of the government in their grasp; nothing was out of reach for them, Haley was sure that the moment the true benefits of his mod were revealed to the world they would come knocking at his door trying to force him to sign over the rights for the code.

It was fortunate that they cared too much about their reputation otherwise they could simply steal the code already on their site but the public backlash could be devastating for them in the long run, many of their government supporters would potentially turn their backs on the company if it was discovered that a massive corporation was stealing from an individual.

'The Media would have a field day, I guess all that's left to do is to wait?' Haley sat back and relaxed in his chair as he watched the time pass by, unfortunately an hour passed without anything happening – in frustration he hit his fist against the desk.

'Dammit, all I need is a spark – someone to take a risk and try it but…' Haley was interrupted by an alert on his HUD, a message to be precise, it was a message from the debt collectors; opening the message his face paled as he looked at the amount that they said he 'owed' them, it had increased by a staggering 500,000 Luna within a single day.

He quickly messaged back and asked why the amount was now so high only to receive the following message a few minutes later:

"Due to no-payments being made in the past month an increment of 500,000 Luna will be added for every additional day the debt goes unpaid. This information is all provided in the contract you signed, have a pleasant day sir!"

Haley cursed his misfortune and his lack of awareness back then, when he signed the contract, he didn't even check the contract – a rookie mistake he would come to learn a year later when it had already grown out of control.

'I'm screwed! Why am I such a fool? There has to be some way to fight this…' With a troubled expression Haley threw on his jacket and started to head out, as long as he had something to pay, they wouldn't be able to keep increasing the amount, as long as there was some sort of payment they couldn't continue to increase the amount but just to be sure…

As he looked for his apartment key he opened the HUD and searched for the clause in the contract, luckily it stated that as long as 'some' payment was made then they couldn't continuously increase the amount that he owed which was fortunate however it did mean he had to find a source of income and fast or else he would owe more than a couple million by the end of the month.

It took him a couple minutes to find the key, it was under the hoodie he was wearing the day before and took off after getting back to the apartment. 'I'll clean up when I get back…' He thought, looking at the mess of an apartment.

Silently Haley took the elevator to the ground floor only to be stopped by a fat figure, a walking talking pig, 'If it wasn't for genetic experiments being banned I would've thought someone had crossed the DNA of a pig and human to create this guy.' He cursed silently; the pig-like figure was his Landlord – Leonard.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Despite his short stature he tried to make himself seem intimidating by looking down his nose at Haley, all he could do was internally groan before putting on a polite smile. He didn't want to piss off this guy today, he hadn't paid his rent and he had the ability to kick him out at a moment's notice for non-payments.

"I was just going to the bank to get you your money Sir, if you can give me…." Leonard cut him off with a snort, something that was quite fitting considering that his nose was shaped somewhat like a pig. "Do you think I'll fall for that crap again? Get me that money now or get the hell out of that apartment!"

Haley gritted his teeth and tried to think of a way out, he simply didn't have the money to pay him today – he couldn't help but curse his bad luck for running into this guy, he was normally only active during the night for certain 'reasons' that the entire apartment complex could hear due to how thin the walls were.

"How about this, I pay you triple the rent I owe, and you get your rent tomorrow?" Haley could almost see the cogs turning in the pigs head as he looked as if he'd just hit the jackpot.

"Okay… but you need to put something up in case you can't pay – what about that modification of yours you've been working on?" He said while licking his lips greedily, a chill ran through Haley's spine, 'How… how does he know about that? The only people who know about that are me, my family and… that damn professor!' His eyes went cold as he stared at the pig, he didn't know how the two were linked but…

Gritting his teeth, he slowly spoke, "Fine…" Leonard stretched his hand out for them to shake on it but Haley simply ignored him and walked right out the front entrance.

"You little shit, did you think you no one could track you on those forums?" Leonards eyes held a malicious glint as he watched Haley walk off into the city.