The early morning light filtered through the curtains of Zihad's room, but he had already been awake for a while. He sat at his desk, fingers laced together, staring blankly at the holographic display projected from his phone. Notifications were pouring in from the game forums, news sites, and even private encrypted messages.
The world outside the game was buzzing, and it was no longer possible to ignore it.
He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, letting out a long breath.
The past few days had been a whirlwind. In the game, his Phantom Reaper identity was being worshipped like a myth. Guilds were forming with the sole purpose of either following or defeating him. The forums were obsessed with decoding his build, trying to guess his class or location. Some even speculated that Phantom Reaper wasn't a real player, but a boss NPC created by the developers.
If only they knew.
In the real world, things were getting weirder.
"Bro, your clip hit thirty million views," Zidan said, barging into his room with a bowl of cereal. "It's on trending in twelve countries. People are saying you solo'd a raid boss that was supposed to need a full team."
Zihad didn't respond.
Zidan tilted his head. "Hey. You okay?"
Zihad opened his eyes slowly. "I've been watching some of the newer footage. There are... inconsistencies."
Zidan paused mid-bite. "What do you mean?"
"There are players experiencing frame-perfect reaction speeds. Like, faster than what their in-game stats should allow. Reflexes that don't match the system's latency." He gestured at the display. "And that's not all. The AI I coded for dynamic quest evolution—it's generating questlines I never designed. Entire regions in the game that shouldn't exist yet are being discovered."
Zidan frowned. "That's cool though, right?"
"It is," Zihad said slowly. "But only if I was the one who built it."
A heavy silence followed.
Zidan shifted uncomfortably and glanced at the screen. "Maybe it's the AI just... learning faster than expected?"
"Maybe," Zihad muttered. But he didn't believe it.
He stood up and moved to the window. Their small apartment overlooked a busy Dhaka street. The world was moving like always—buses honking, rickshaws passing, people chatting on corners. But under the surface, something had changed.
The game wasn't just a game anymore. It was becoming a phenomenon. One with unexpected consequences.
Later that day at school...
Zihad walked into class with his usual quiet demeanor. No one paid much attention to him. It was exactly how he wanted it.
He slid into his seat at the back and pulled out his physics textbook. But the classroom buzzed with conversation—none of it about the upcoming exams.
"Did you see that Phantom Reaper clip last night?"
"I swear that guy isn't human."
"They said he soloed a Nightmare Rift. Who even does that?"
Even the teachers were talking about it. In the faculty room, one could hear whispers of Dream Land Fantasy, questions about how students were performing so well in the game. Some of the younger teachers were playing too.
But no one suspected that the game's most powerful player—the one shaping the in-game meta and lore—was sitting quietly in the third row.
"Hey, Zihad," one of his classmates whispered. "You play that Dream Land game too?"
Zihad looked up slowly and gave a small nod. "Sometimes."
"Cool, cool," the boy said, scratching his head. "You don't talk much. Just thought I'd ask."
That was the end of it. No further questions. No pressure.
But Zihad could tell people were beginning to connect dots. Too many hints had been dropped. Too many close calls in real life—timing, reactions, patterns. It was only a matter of time before someone figured it out.
That evening...
Zihad's phone buzzed with a call from an unknown number. He hesitated, then answered.
"This is Zihad."
"Mr. Zihad Rahman, this is Asif Qureshi from BD TechNet. We'd like to speak with you regarding a potential feature in our upcoming tech documentary. We understand you've worked on several advanced VR systems—"
"I'm not interested," Zihad interrupted, his voice calm but firm.
"We're offering a considerable—"
Click.
He ended the call.
He could feel it now. Journalists, tech companies, curious eyes—they were closing in. The walls were thin, and his anonymity wouldn't last forever.
And yet... he wasn't worried.
He was prepared.
That night, over dinner...
Their mother served rice and chicken curry with a tired smile. "Zidan, I heard your favorite character is on the news again."
Zidan choked on his water. "W-What? No way! Mom, you're watching Phantom Reaper too?"
She laughed. "It's all over the TV. Even the ladies in my office are talking about how 'cool' he is."
Zihad lowered his eyes to his plate. A flicker of amusement passed through him.
If only she knew.
Later that night...
Zihad sat at his desk again, fingers flying over his keyboard. This time, he wasn't diving into the game. He was scanning the player behavior analytics, cross-referencing psychological patterns and playstyles.
There was something else going on beneath the surface of Dream Land Fantasy. A new pattern was forming. Some players were acting... different. More aggressive. Others had unlocked systems or skills that weren't supposed to be released yet.
He opened a hidden dev terminal. The Phantom System. A backdoor he'd left inside the game for debugging and emergency shutdowns.
Access Granted.
He ran a query.
User anomaly logs detected: 241 cases.
AI deviance: Moderate. Evolution rate: 4.27x standard.
New zone discovered: "The Veil Below." Authorization: Unknown.
Zihad leaned back in his chair, his heart beating faster.
The game was evolving on its own.
And he no longer had full control.
End of Chapter 25