Outside, the rain stopped. The only sound was the steady, rhythmic click of analog sticks moving in a pattern no human thumb could ever make. The driver had installed perfectly. Windows 11 showed no errors. The E-GPV PhantomX was ready for use.

Then, a single word appeared in the center, rendered in the same crimson as the gamepad’s light:

And somewhere deep in the machine, a new player had just loaded into the tutorial.

Leo opened his mouth to scream, but the only sound that came out was the crisp, digital chirp of a button being pressed. His right thumb, moving on its own, had slammed down on the ‘A’ button.

The text scrolled faster.