He logged straight into Dead World Online, the same game that had given him everything and now threatened to take it all away. His username lit up the feed, and instantly the chat exploded. Messages flew past, first came the loyal fans, begging for answers.
[Chat]: "YO HE'S BACK AGAIN"
[Chat]: "Sid, say something! Are the rumors true?"
[Chat]: "Bro looks dead inside."
[Chat]:"Play the game, legend. Show them who you are."
But in seconds, their voices were drowned out, replaced by the haters who only came for the viral edits.
[Chat]: "NECRO LOVER LMAOOO"
[Chat]: "Zombie fucker confirmed"
[Chat]: "Sid's career over RIP"
[Chat]: "Lol just admit u like corpses"
[Chat]: "Wait… is this the necrophilia guy?"
[Chat]: "Bro I just came from that edit where he freezes around every hot undead chick"
Sid stared at the chat, his hand trembling on the desk. His heart thundered so loud he thought the mic might pick it up. For a long moment, he said nothing. Just breathing. Watching the hate scroll by in blinding waves.
Then, slowly, he leaned forward. His voice was steady when he finally spoke, but there was a razor edge under every word.
"You all think you know me. You don't."
The chat didn't slow down. Insults, memes, spam. He waited until it melted into motion, then spoke again, louder.
"You think I'm sick because some viral clip made you laugh. You think a thousand comments and a million jokes can tell you who the hell I am."
His fist slammed the desk, rattling the mic. His voice rose.
"Well, you're wrong. I'm not broken. I'm not a freak. And I sure as hell am not the joke you want me to be."
Sid leaned closer, eyes locked on the lens as if he were staring into every face behind it.
"I'm Sid Wilder. I've fought through worse than your words. I've fought through pain, loss, and my own failures. You can call me whatever you want. But tonight I'll show you all. I can kill a zombie girl. And I'll do it live."
He paused, breathing hard, letting the silence stretch. The chat was still flying by, but there were gaps now. Messages slowing.
"You want to know the truth? You'll see it here. No edits, no cuts, no lies. Just me, the game, and the dead."
Sid sat back, jaw tight, and let the stream roll, his decision made.
His cursor slid across the screen, opening Dead World Online. The title flashed in blood-red letters before loading into his character select. His main avatar appeared, lean and armored. It looked almost like him, sharpened into a darker, deadlier reflection.
Every piece of gear gleamed with legendary rarity, a clear sign of how much time and care he had poured into designing his character.
The screen faded in, dropping his avatar straight into the chaos of Wave 6999. The city was strangled by creeping vines and roots.
From every shattered alley and broken window, zombies poured out in endless waves, their twisted bodies ranging from sluggish hulks to razor-fast hunters.
It was a nightmare battlefield, the kind where most players didn't survive longer than ten seconds.
Sid's camera zoomed in tight as his character crouched low, combat knife flashing in his right hand. He didn't fire a single bullet at first.
One zombie lunged, knife slid under its chin, tearing clean through. Another grabbed from the left, Sid spun, slammed his braced left arm into its skull, shattering it against a wall. The kill feed lit up, numbers spiking.
[Chat]: "Holy shit…"
[Chat]: "He's not even using a gun??"
[Chat]: "How the hell is he alive at 6999??"
He moved like water, his fingertips gliding across the keyboard, every command flowing into the next and making his avatar's movements look smooth and effortless.
A dodge roll carried him under the claws of a terrifying zombie, then his knife came up in a perfect counter, severing its throat.
A horde rushed him head on, he finally swapped, knife sliding into its sheath as his crossbow came out.
The switch was instant, bursts of arrow tore through the swarm, every headshot clean, every reload perfectly timed. He didn't waste a bullet.
[Chat]: "THIS is why he was famous."
[Chat]: "Bro's not human."
[Chat]: "World Rank #2 for a REASON."
[Chat]: "All you edit clowns can shut up now."
Sid's kill counter skyrocketed, his name flashing across the leaderboard as he chained combos together with impossible precision.
The game rewarded mastery, and Sid had it in spades. Even when the screen filled with grotesque bosses, he carved through them with brutal efficiency.
Knife. Punch. Swap. Rifle. Reload cancel. Headshot. Roll. Repeat.
The chat, once a storm of hate, was shifting. Newcomers who had only shown up to mock were silent, their messages swallowed by a flood of awe and praise.
[Chat]: "Ok ngl this is insane."
[Chat]: "Wait… he almost beat World Rank 1, right?"
[Chat]: "That dude stalled at Wave 7000… Sid's THIS CLOSE."
[Chat]: "Bro's about to make HISTORY while y'all call him necro lover."
Sid didn't answer them. The game was his language, and he was speaking it fluently, drowning out every insult with a kill count that no one could deny.
Then a message shot through the flood of reactions:
[Chat]: "Cathedral… show us the cathedral"
[Chat]: "Yeaaa take him back to the bride!!"
[Chat]: "Remember where he froze??"
[Chat]: "He won't face her lmfao"
Sid's eyes narrowed. His fingers slowed just enough for him to think. He remembered earlier when he cut the stream short because he couldn't kill the zombie bride. The one he froze on. The one that made the memes spiral out of control.
His jaw tightened as he pushed his avatar toward the cathedral. The massive doors rose ahead, carved wood warped with rot, candles flickering weakly at the entrance. Low groans drifted from inside. The chat exploded.
[Chat]: "He's actually doing it???"
[Chat]: "Bride speedrun let's gooo"
[Chat]: "This is where he froze, remember???"
Sid pushed forward. The cathedral doors creaked open, revealing rows of pews broken under the weight of shambling corpses.
Stained glass shattered across the floor, moonlight spilling over dozens of undead crawling through the aisles. And at the far end, in front of the altar, stood the figure in the torn white dress.
The zombie bride.