Rain tapped softly against the windows.
The university lab was quiet except for the hum of computers and the faint clatter of keyboard keys.
Lin Xia didn't look away from the screen.
"Final build complete."
Her voice was calm, but her fingers paused for just a second.
Three months.
That's how long it took to create XO PROJECT.
Across the room, Mei Chen leaned back in her chair, spinning slightly.
"Finally," she groaned. "If I stare at that code any longer, I'm going to start seeing it in my dreams."
"You already do," Yue Ning muttered, sketching something lazily in her notebook.
Mei Chen smirked. "At least my dreams are interesting."
Lin Xia ignored them, eyes scanning lines of code.
"No bugs detected. System stable. We just need one last test run."
"Tomorrow," Yue Ning said immediately.
"No," Lin Xia replied.
"Tonight."
Silence.
Then—
The door creaked open.
A girl stepped in, holding plastic bags.
"You're still here?"
Li Qiao.
The lab assistant.
Mei Chen lit up. "You're a lifesaver."
"Food," Li Qiao said, placing the bags down. "Eat before you collapse."
For a moment, everything felt normal.
Warm.
Safe.
They gathered around, laughing quietly, the tension easing.
Until—
The computer screen flickered.
No one touched it.
Lin Xia frowned.
"…Did you start it?"
"No," Mei Chen said.
The monitor glitched.
Then—
XO PROJECT booted up on its own.
The title screen appeared.
But something was wrong.
The colors were distorted.
The music slowed… warped… reversed.
Yue Ning leaned forward.
"…That's not our intro."
Text appeared.
Not typed.
Not coded.
But written.
WELCOME BACK, CREATORS.
A silence fell over the room.
Lin Xia stood.
"That's not possible."
Inside the game, characters began to move.
Without input.
Students filled a classroom.
One by one…
They turned.
And looked directly at the screen.
At them.
The lights flickered violently.
The air shifted.
The screen cracked with white light—
And everything disappeared.
They woke up in silence.
Chairs.
Desks.
Sunlight.
A classroom.
Yue Ning's breath caught.
"…Where are we?"
Lin Xia's eyes widened.
"No…"
Mei Chen stood up slowly.
"This isn't funny."
At the front of the room, a teacher wrote calmly on the board.
Students sat around them.
Normal.
Too normal.
Then—
A boy in the back turned his head.
His eyes glowed faint red.
He stared at them.
And whispered:
"New players."
The bell rang.
A cold, mechanical voice echoed through the room.
GAME SYSTEM ONLINE.