We took the rest of the night to rest and recover. Our body clocks had been thrown completely off track by the constant night of this world. There wasn’t any meaning anymore to going to bed and waking up fresh. We rested when we needed to.

  I spent a few quiet minutes opening my achievements and loot boxes before moving on to what I had planned for the day.

  The rewards from the checkpoint fight were the biggest I’d seen so far. With the XP drop, I’d leveled up to Level 8, same as Siva. Shawn was at Level 9 and edging close to 10. Jess had finally crossed to Level 5, which meant she’d be visiting a 7-Eleven soon as her class needed to choose a subclass at that milestone.

  Aside from a big pile of gold and the usual health and mana potions, a few items stood out. I went through them one by one.

  [Quiver of Plenty]

  [When added to the hotlist, it provides an endless supply of regular arrows. It reverts to a regular quiver when worn outside the inventory.]

  Finally, no more salvaging arrows off corpses. The only catch was it cost me a hotlist slot. If my items keeps growing, I’ll have to prioritize.

  [Ring of Strength +2]

  [Adds +2 to the wearer’s base Strength.]

  This was straightforward. I slipped it on.

  [Spellbook: Summon Ally]

  [Usable once per day. On cast, it summons a party member to your current location. The summoned ally is imbued with [Wrecking Ball] for the duration of the charge.]

  [Wrecking Ball]

  [Grants temporary invulnerability while charging and ignores obstacles in the path.]

  The spell was pure utility. A dozen uses flashed through my head. I read the spellbook as warmth bloomed through my chest and settled. I added it to my hotlist next to the new Quiver.

  The last item was a bit odd, a stack of Banana Notes—the Japanese-issued currency from the occupation during World War II. They were useless. And frankly, insulting, dredging up memories of war in our country. I thought about burning them, then shoved the stack into my inventory. Maybe they’d make decent kindling someday.

  I knew everyone else had picked up decent loot too. Siva stepped out of his room in a new windbreaker. It was army green, with a modern camo pattern. He said it bumped his HP and carried a [Phase] enchantment. Once a day, he could step through a wall.

  Jess had received a handful of buffs like [Shield], [Soothe], and a few others usable on herself or the party.

  Shawn… didn’t share what he got. He waved it off when I asked, but something had unsettled him. I didn’t push. He’d tell us when he was ready.

  Once I figured everyone had had time to study their new loot and spells, I called for a team meeting. I wanted to float an idea.

  We gathered around the dining table just as Siva said he wished this world still had takeout.

  That settled it. I changed the venue.

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  “You know what… let’s go eat at the hawker center. Let’s eat out today. Shawn’s buying.”

  Shawn started to protest, grinning, as we headed out of the base toward the nearby 888 mall.

  After a hearty dinner… breakfast? lunch? Whatever. After a hearty meal from the mechanical hawkers, I decided it was time to share my half-baked plan. We hadn’t talked shop while we ate as Shawn held court again, spinning ridiculous stories and, somehow, getting Jess to talk.

  We learned she was an only child and that she went into medicine after her mum died of cancer. It was a common story but that doesn’t mean it was untrue. Or unworthy.

  I cleared my throat. “Okay. I want to run something by you. Hold judgment till the end.”

  “Oooh, this is gonna be fun…” Shawn snickered.

  I ignored him.

  “I’ve been thinking about the purpose of this world. The ‘how’ can wait. I’m more interested in the ‘why.’”

  They were listening. Good enough.

  “I used to GM tabletop games like D&D, Pathfinder and Delta Green. When we had a noob or an under-geared player, I’d ‘gift’ them something at character creation.” I tipped my chin at Jess.

  She nodded and took a slow sip of coffee. Siva studied his fingers. Shawn leaned back like he was at a comedy set, eyes half-lidded.

  “If the CR, the uh... challenge rating was too easy, I’d dial it up. Extra mobs. Curveball traps. Like - ”

  “- like what happened at the checkpoint,” Siva finished, looking up as he rubbed the back of his neck.

  “Yeah.” I let that sit. “And sometimes I’d call a friend in as a special guest for a session or two. Just to spice things up.”

  Azim’s smile flickered through my head. Judging by the way Shawn’s eyes sharpened, he was thinking the same thing.

  “There’s a GM here. Somewhere. It’s adjusting on the fly. Changing things up.” I drew a breath. “I want to talk to them. Him, her.. whatever’s running this game. I want to call out the GM.”

  Jess’s gaze went hard and faraway, like she was doing math in her head. Siva squinted at me, curious. A small smile curled at the corner of Shawn’s mouth.

  “I don’t like where you’re heading with this, Chris,” Jess said, leaning in.

  I lifted both hands in peace. “That’s why I’m bringing it up first instead of just… doing it.” I glanced at Siva. The memory of almost getting us killed at Sungei Buloh still haunted me. He gave a slight nod.

  “What do you have in mind?” Siva asked.

  “What are the constants in this world? Think about it. Look at where we are.” I gestured around.

  “Cheap… food?” Siva ventured.

  “Free supplies in the supermarkets?” Jess added.

  “Not to mention endless fuel,” Shawn said, finally opening his eyes and sitting up.

  That last one caught me off guard. I raised an eyebrow at him.

  “What? When was the last time you filled up your motorbike? Or the Digger? It doesn’t run on mana, you know.” He grinned.

  “Good point.” I pointed at Shawn. “They’re giving us these things so we don’t die of starvation or logistics. It wants us to continue. What if… we took all that away?”

  “You want to kill the hawkers? I’m not letting you kill the hawkers, Chris. They could still be...”

  I raised a hand to stop her. “No. Of course not.”

  Not yet.

  “What’s the one place everyone has to go to just to gear up, a session zero, so to speak?”

  “You want to trash the 7-Eleven?” Shawn said. He got it.

  “And the supermarkets,” I added.

  Siva shook his head. “What does that accomplish? How does that get you a meeting with the… GM?”

  “What do you do when you’ve got an idiot player, murder-hoboing their way through, or refusing to play the character?” I asked, smiling.

  “Sure. You pull them aside and have a chat,” Shawn said.

  There it was. The confirmation I was looking for. I wasn’t the only one who spoke this language. At some point, each of us had sat at a table and rolled dice. The world wasn’t just a game; it was pulling in people who already knew the rules.

  I nodded. “Exactly.”

  All our HUDs chimed at once.

  A new window overlaid our vision, not in the usual system blue. This one was a much colder and clinical neon green.

  [UNSCHEDULED CONTACT REQUEST]

  Participants: Chris, Shawn, Jess, Siva

  Directive: Chris to proceed alone to Mall Management Office at Level 2

  Consequence: Non-compliance will trigger Enforcement Protocol. Subject: Siva. Action: Terminate

  Status: Monitoring active

  [Navigation ping: SET]

  A red dot pulsed above the escalator, pointing toward the dark corridor marked MANAGEMENT.

  Siva’s chair scraped back. “Why... why me?” His breath hitched. His hands trembled before he could still them.

  I caught his wrist, steadying it. “Hey. Breathe.”

  Jess was already moving, voice low and even. “Siva, look at me. In and out.” She tapped two fingers against her sternum. “Now.”

  Shawn’s grin didn’t reach his eyes. “Well. That escalated quickly.”

  The red ping pulsed again, brighter, like a heartbeat.

  “We just got our meeting.”