Range (Ulengov)

Yesterday Altai was a war hero. Today he is a prisoner who chose exile to Rhapsody instead of death. This planet, the Range, knows no mercy. Here, thousands of prisoners fight each other for a place under the strange, cold sun. Here, the leftover alien biomechanisms and out-of-control Terran war machines roam in the ruins, and human life is measured in virtual experience that can be exchanged for armor and implants. Surviving in the Limbo slaughterhouse, upgrading to the tenth level and getting into the Green Zone is all any dead man can hope for. Except not everyone succeeds. Altai will have to make a lot of effort just to take a breather, and remaining high in the audience's favor is something worth striving for. After all, the Range, among other things, is the most popular reality show, one of the few where everything is real, and death... death only raises the ratings.

Altai managed to survive in Limbo and get a coveted pass to the Green Zone, but this is only the beginning of his journey. Thanks to the "Hand of Justice" achievement, the former planetary assault trooper saw a faint glimmer of hope that one day he'll escape Rhapsody. One day, maybe, if he's lucky... Now is not the time, though. After all, a visit to Elysium is just a short respite before a new race with death begins. At the Verge, the Orange Zone of the Range, all achievements received in Limbo mean nothing. The rules change as the game progresses and the most important one, as usual, is written in small print. The only way to survive is to become stronger, faster, and smarter than your opponents but that's not easy. You'll have to shed blood for credits and virtual experience that allow you to buy weapons and power-ups. Hopefully, this will be the blood of your enemies and not your own.

Altai has always considered himself lucky but this time his luck at the Range may have run out. His first venture into the Orange Zone turned out to be a setup, a standard leveling up mission proved to be disastrous, and an epic quest cost the lives of his squad mates. Moreover, he found himself teetering on the brink of survival. Now, Altai's life depends on an experimental neural network and an alien creature whose sole purpose is to subjugate his consciousness and turn him into a living weapon. To come back from the dead and go through Inferno, to win on a crazy show and free his friends - alone, without armor or weapons... Impossible? Well then, he's gonna have to do the impossible - simply because he doesn't have a choice.

Altai has managed to accomplish the impossible. He survived in the Red Zone and won the tournament-but the victory didn't give him the satisfaction he'd been seeking. He took revenge on the man who had ruined his life-but revenge only raised new questions. Questions that can't be answered as long as he remains in the Range. There's only one thing left to do: complete special assignments given by the Administration with the hope that, sooner or later, he'll earn his freedom. If he survives, of course. When Altai is given such an assignment, he happily accepts it. Scouting out a remote outpost is also an opportunity to establish his own base, bypass the Range's system and continue to level up-after all, since an alien symbiote has invaded his brain, the usual upgrade paths are closed to him. But the former planetary assault trooper doesn't realize that he's become a bargaining chip in a web of intrigue spun from orbit and that his raid on Inferno is supposed to be a one-way ticket.

Few people on Rhapsody have ever managed to achieve what Altai has achieved. The status of a champion, a high level, increased loyalty of the Administration . . . But when things go completely sideways and the Range system falls apart, virtual achievements lose value. When forts perish and the Perimeter collapses, when the Xenos have swarmed Limbo and are trying to break into Elysium, the only things that matter are the thick walls, a supply of ammunition, and a friend's shoulder to lean on. Altai has it all, but he can't just sit it out. A once-in-a-lifetime chance is calling him to the very epicenter of the Invasion. And he can't pass it up. As he heads out for the wastelands of Inferno, Altai has no idea that it is there where the final act of the tragedy will play out-the tragedy that began on the other end of the Galaxy and turned the war hero into a criminal and a murderer. Will he be strong and fortunate enough, or will someone else, the one who started it all, put an end to it? Who knows? But it's worth the effort. After all, it's not just his life that's at stake.

Fate has once again played a trick on Altai. The chance to evacuate from Rhapsody was nothing more than an empty promise. Victory turned into defeat, and friends turned into enemies. Past achievements lost their value and disappeared. All hope was gone, and he had to start all over again. The last act of the tragedy turned out to only be a prelude, with new challenges looming on the horizon. Getting to Elysium, breaking through the Perimeter, and putting an end to the story that brought Altai to the Range in the first place . . . Sounds easy for someone who is used to surviving in hell. Except that the planet is facing an Invasion, the Green Zone is besieged by the Xenos, and a fleet is already hurrying to Rhapsody to level the planet's surface. However, hatred, rage, and a thirst for revenge are a great recipe for achieving the impossible.