Throughout the night I had nothing much to do, so I split my mind as far as possible.

With time I was getting better at splitting my mind and controlling each 'part' and by morning, I was able to split my mind into ten separate parts!

Of course, as soon as I opened, Kyle was the first to walk in, always arriving as soon as the store opened.

Though he seemed to have gotten some sleep since he didn't seem dead on his feet like he had been the last couple of days when he entered the store.

"Welcome, Kyle, how are you doing?" I asked, concerned for the health of my best customer.

"I'm doing better, can I get the same as usual?" He asked, giving me some cash.

Nodding, I walked over to the fridge and pulled out an Ice-Cold Nuka Cola and Deathclaw Omlete for $15.

I lowered the price of some goods, Nuka Cola being one of them, bringing its price down from $10 to $5.

Nuka Cola became one of his favorite drinks due to them being the most commonly found refreshments in the Wasteland, I believe there were some days in which that was he could drink to fight dehydration, not that it was a suitable replacement for water.

Food and drink in hand, he walked over to his computer and sat down to eat.

Such was his daily ritual whenever he came in, and once he finished his meal, he jumped back into the game.

Not long after, I was surprised to see Volkov enter the cafe with a few other men, all who looked as buff and mean as him.

"...What in the hell?" One of the thugs cursed upon gazing at my form.

"Mind your words, Vik, he is not something you want to antagonize," Volkov warned his associate.

"He's right you know," I joked, causing the men to frown.

"So, I see that you are fulfilling your agreement, will these gentlemen be joining you today?" I asked.

"I recall seeing something called 'Multiplayer,' does that mean they would be able to play with me in Project Zomboid?" Volkov asked with a serious tone, staring deep into my eyes.

"That's right, though they will have to play through the tutorial first, and you would need to make a Server," I informed him.

"Server?" He asked.

"Think of it as a world that can be public or private that would allow other players to join. However, if that's not what you want, you could also host a world, which would require you to be online and in the game," I explained after a moment of thought.

"I see, I'll be paying for them," Volkov told me, just before I informed him of the increase in price, which he still begrudgingly still paid.

The four men walked over to the computers and hopped on.

With that, half of my computers were already occupied, leaving only five left.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

I needed to expand soon, otherwise, I wouldn't be able to handle more customers.

Watching the men sit down at the computers, I observed Volkov guide them to create their accounts.

With no shame, I listened in.

"Once you're in, start the tutorial, afterward, join the server I make and select whatever occupation you feel is the best for you and for surviving, spawn in Riverside and let's try to meet up, find the river, and wait, I'll find you, just stay put."

Seems he had a plan, and with a click of a button, their bodies went stiff and they entered the game.

It took only a moment for the other thugs to complete the Tutorial due to the time acceleration.

Checking for myself, I noted that Volkov made a public server anyone could join, simply called 'Volkov's Server' and with a mischievous smile, I decided to do a little bit of trolling.

Using one of my minds, I hopped into his game world and while floating far above him, got up to mischief.

...

[Volkov's POV]

After selecting Fire Officer, Volkov found himself in the living room of some house.

Examining himself, he found that he had boots, firefighter pants, a black T-shirt, and a fire axe, as well as socks and some underwear.

Axe in hand, Volkov quickly searched the house, finding a duffle bag that he filled with a couple of cans of food, bottles of water, a blanket, and a pillow.

With that in hand, he stepped out of the house to find that he was in some sort of gated community, he noticed a few nearby cars but decided to travel on foot so as to not draw a horde of Zeds onto him.

Having not known where he was, he was forced to walk around for a few hours before he found the front gate of the community, of course, he came across a couple of Zeds, causing some of his clothes and the axe in hand to become a bit bloody.

Though now he had some gloves, a few watches, and a pocket knife.

From there he walked down the road until he eventually made it to the city where he briefly explored in the other world for supplies and materials.

Making sure to keep to the outskirts of the city, he eventually made it to the river where he sat against a tree and ate some of the food he brought along with him.

Suddenly, he heard a branch snap behind him, and jumped up with the axe in hand, turning towards where he heard the noise, to find...nothing.

Taking a deep breath, his eyes scanned the surroundings, not even noticing the shimmer in the air as an invisible figure stalked him in the distance.

Once he felt he had enough rest, he got up and began walking along the river, hoping his associates would have already reached the river by now and were just waiting for him, unaware that he had eyes watching him from afar.

...

Meanwhile, the three other men who had finished their tutorials and joined the server were running around the city, having no idea where the river was due to not being able to find a map.

Each in separate parts of the town dealing with their own problems, forced to adapt to their new situations.

However, what was the same with all of these men, was the shimmer that followed them, 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘦𝘥 them.

These figures leaped between trees, and rooftops, and lurked in the foliage and dark allies, watching as the men killed and hunted down the Zombies.

Seemingly curious, one of these shimmers jumped behind a lone Zombie, and with a swing of its arm, it latched onto the back of the zombie, and ripped its entire spine out, with the skull dangling on the end with what was left of the flesh that covered its head.

Seemingly disappointed, the shimmer let out clicks before tossing the bones to the side, not finding the creature to be worthy of becoming a trophy.

Same with the other figures that stalked the men, each was disappointed by the prey of this world, though perhaps the men would prove to be cunning and worthy prey.

...

Meanwhile, I was staring at the four Yautja that were stalking the men.

I was growing increasingly annoyed that even a stray thought could end up changing the world.

I mean seriously, I intended to scare them a bit, sounds of footsteps there, talking over there, simple things really, to 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 them, not kill them.

However I did see an opportunity here, with a wave of my hand, I got rid of all of the Yautja but one, moving him far away to continue their 'hunt.'

Consider it an Easter egg, one that can and will hunt the players if they enter their hunting grounds.

Of course, I made sure to make a Credit reward for hunting down the Yautja, but made it a one-time reward.

I also made sure that in case of death, the Yautja's equipment would be unusable, wouldn't be fun if the Players got their hands on alien tech in this simple survival world.

Focusing back on the task at hand, I went back to trolling the men.