Bang!
The corridor door flew open. Two cops locked eyes with Leo, one drawing his gun.
His partner grabbed his arm. "You nuts? This is a hospital!"
"...Fine!" The cop holstered his weapon.
In the chaos, Leo bolted, darting down a side corridor.
"Chase him! Stop!" the cops shouted.
The camera zoomed past Leo, through a glass window, landing on Vincent in the ward.
"I…" Vincent glanced at the hectic hallway, then at Carol.
"Let's go," Carol said, her eyes no longer confused but heavy with reluctance. "Wait!"
Vincent turned back as she called out.
She held his gaze. "Me and the kid are waiting for you."
Vincent's eyes reddened. He nodded, then shoved open the ward door, leaping onto the maintenance ladder outside the building.
Below, the hospital was a fortress of flashing police lights, armed officers aiming at the entrance.
"Damn it!" Yin gritted his teeth, adrenaline pumping as he climbed the ladder to the roof.
Thump, thump, thump.
Twitch chat went wild.
"What? Only Yin's view now?"
"Where's ShuBro?"
"No split-screen?"
"Why's it just Yin's perspective?"
Exactly. As Yin burst out of the ward, the game's signature dual perspective vanished, locking into Yin's solo view.
ShuBro's voice crackled over team chat. "Yo, Yin, I'm seeing your perspective!"
"What?" Yin hit the rooftop, sprinting for the gate. "You're not running? Why're you watching me?"
Bang!
The rooftop door slammed open. Yin stumbled, crashing to the ground.
And then—a cinematic masterpiece.
As Yin fell, the camera seemed to fly, diving through a vent and landing on ShuBro, fleeing down a corridor.
"What the—me?!" ShuBro gasped, stunned by the sudden protagonist swap.
He glanced back at the cops closing in and bolted.
"Hell yeah!"
Yin caught on. His screen now showed ShuBro's view. "Run, ShuBro! We're trading off! This is—"
"One shot!" Twitch chat screamed.
Seamless camera switches blended CG flair with the IndieVibe X2's first-person immersion. Adrenaline spiked, and the live stream exploded.
"Freaking unreal!"
"This shot's giving me chills!"
"WindyPeak, you play dirty like that?"
"This is next-level! Goosebumps!"
"Camera work's so smooth!"
"Holy…"
Faster. Faster.
A desperate chase unfolded through the hospital's maze-like corridors.
"Stop, Leo! You're under arrest!" the cops yelled.
ShuBro smashed through a corridor door, leaping and decking a cop trying to block him. Rounding a corner, another officer tackled him. They grappled, stumbling, and crashed through an emergency exit door.
"Screw you!" ShuBro landed a punch, knocking a tooth from the cop's mouth. The officer tumbled down a spiral staircase.
The camera followed the tooth, landing on the floor below.
Bang!
Two more cops stormed in, charging up the stairs toward ShuBro.
Unseen, Yin crouched behind a potted plant, watching.
"Holy—" Yin and ShuBro gasped in unison.
Silky. Smooth. Epic.
Bang!
A door behind Yin burst open. A cop charged out.
"Run!" Yin shouted, sprinting.
"Stop! Freeze!" the cop yelled.
"Freeze? Yeah, right!" Yin taunted, tearing through the office area. "Move! Outta the way!"
He dodged panicked doctors, sliding past an empty bed rolling out of an elevator.
Bang!
A door swung open, catching Yin off-guard. He crashed into a glass wall, the camera lurching.
"Your turn, ShuBro! Take it!" Yin yelled.
ShuBro grabbed the spotlight. "Got it!"
He raced down the corridor, barricading a door with a cabinet. More cops closed in as he burst through the back door into a repair elevator shaft.
With a leap, ShuBro grabbed the elevator cable, sliding down. Yin's figure flashed past an elevator door below.
"Your turn!" ShuBro shouted. "Take it!"
The camera trailed Yin through a vent, then flipped to ShuBro as he tackled a cop, shattering glass. Yin appeared on the other side.
Kicking out a window, the camera slid to ShuBro. Darting past a security room, it flipped to Yin via a monitor screen.
"Your turn! Run!"
"Got the baton!"
"My shot!"
"Yours!"
Seamless relays. Perfect flow.
Each camera switch was a visual feast, blending the duo's perspectives like a high-stakes baton pass.
Yin and ShuBro were floored, goosebumps rising. "Oh my God—"
"This game's insane!"
Twitch chat lost it.
"No way! No way!"
"I'm shook…"
"WindyPeak gets it!"
"My mom's wondering why I'm kneeling to my screen."
"Brain overload! This is art!"
"Movie-level? Nah, this is art-level!"
"No wonder no one drops games against WindyPeak. This quality crushes everyone!"
The chase was a masterpiece. The one-shot camera work, paired with the player's perspective, pushed gaming's visual language to new heights. It rivaled the awe of Titanfall's time-stop level—a true artistic triumph.
The escape wasn't just heart-pounding chases. They'd sailed raging rivers, fished in quiet streams, played horseshoes, Connect Four, even raced wheelchairs for balance.
For players, it was a thrilling fantasy. For Vincent and Leo, it was their world, their story.
Now, that story's revenge was nearing its end.
"You look nervous," Leo said in the plane's cabin, eyeing Vincent.
"Not bad," Vincent replied, glancing over. "You?"
"A bit. Keeps me sharp." Leo leaned back.
After a beat, he spoke again. "You know, I've been thinking about you and Carol. You're all cagey about her. Wanna hear my two cents?"
Vincent shrugged. "Sure. What's up?"
"Write her a letter," Leo said. "Linda and I hit a rough patch once. Different situation, same vibe. I couldn't talk, so I wrote it down. Worked like a charm. You see how we are."
Vincent mulled it over. "I'm not great with words."
"Just a thought," Leo said, waving it off. "Oh, and congrats on the kid, by the way."
They fist-bumped, grinning. "Thanks," Vincent said. "I'll think about the letter."
He glanced out the porthole. "You ready?"
…
"No! I'm not ready! Hold up, Gus!" Zoey Parker clung to the plane's door handle, panic written all over her.
Wind roared past the open hatch. Clouds whipped by below.
The final showdown loomed. They had to parachute into Harvey's Mexican hideout, dropping from the sky like commandos.
Zoey wasn't new to skydiving—she'd done it in PUBG's trial on the IndieVibe X2, and it was a rush. But now, with the cabin's full-sensory tech, it felt too real. Her legs wobbled. If not for the handrail, she'd have crumpled.
The wind howled. Zoey shouted over it. "If we picked my plan, would we still have to jump?"
The game offered choices. At the farm, Vincent's path meant luring the owner out; Leo's meant breaking in and tying them up. In the hospital, Vincent could fake a sickness to scare guards; Leo's way was a knockout punch. Same goal, different styles, reflecting their personalities.
For the final assault, Gus (as Vincent) wanted to parachute, citing the dense jungle below. Zoey (as Leo) trusted the pilot's experience for a landing.
After debate, Zoey caved to Gus's plan.
But she knew Gus's tricks. "No matter what, we'd have to jump, right?" she said, glaring.
Gus shook his head. "If you'd pushed harder, we might've landed smooth. No jump."
Zoey's jaw dropped. "Gus, you—"
Bang!
Gus pushed her.
Zoey's scream tore through the sky. "You jerk—!"
Whoosh!
They plummeted, wind screaming past. Zoey fumbled, yanking the parachute cord from memory.
Whoosh!
Her body jolted—then nothing.
Silence on the team chat.
Three seconds.
Then Zoey's voice, trembling with panic. "Where's my parachute? Gus? My parachute?"
"What?" Gus replied.
"Why? You're asking me? Where's my chute?!"
Zoey sucked in a breath, then screamed in the IndieVibe X2 cabin. "It flew off! You jerk! That was the safety release, not the chute! I'm falling! Save me!"
"…Can you chill for a sec?"