Leo reached for the power button, but his hand froze. The shadow under the streetlamp in the game began to climb out of the bottom of his monitor like spilled ink, pooling onto his keyboard.

He looked back at the screen. The faceless ronin was now standing still, but its head was slowly turning—not toward an in-game enemy, but toward the "camera." Toward Leo.

He encountered the first enemy, a static shadow standing under a flickering streetlamp. Leo pressed 'F' to strike.

He realized then that 41.61 wasn't a version number. It was a countdown. And it was already at 00.03.

A text box appeared at the bottom of the screen, flickering in a harsh red font: