“I miss real food,” Daamin sighs as we eat lunch.

“I know what you mean,” Kai responds.

“Yeah, this stuff tastes great, but there’s no real texture or heat, that’s part of enjoying food,” I add to conversation.

“I’ll make sure to work on food quality in the next update,” Kay responds sarcastically.

“You’re not getting a next update, you’re probably going to jail, for a long time,” I respond casually.

“Ass,” Kay starts.

“Asshole,” I interrupt. “I know, asshole. You need some serious character development.”

We spend the next few minutes joking around as if nothing has changed between us. I laugh and play along but this dynamic is on thin ice. Daamin and Kay are acting like they’re in love again so I guess their car ride went swimmingly. Kay insisted we, “do lunch,” and have this moment because there’s important information about the next piece of code.

“Help, police,” an NPC runs down the street full speed. A gunshot cuts through his shouts for help as he falls forward rolling head first. Another NPC digs in his pockets and removes some items before taking off. A few players rush over and strip the dead NPC of any remaining items. I expect Kay to rush over and revive the man the same way she had in The Badlands but she just continues eating.

“You’re not going to do anything,” I ask her.

“Why would I do something?”

“That NPC just died. I know you can revive them.”

“Yeah, but he was killed by another NPC. It’s scripted. It was supposed to happen that way. It’s cyberpunk.”

“It’s murder, that you can reverse.”

“But cyberpunk is supposed to be bleak.”

“Not necessarily. It doesn’t need to be people just getting murdered for no reason.”

“It’s about the exploitation of people by large corporations.”

“It’s about the struggle between wealth and poverty. A microscope on what is currently happening in our world.”

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“That means high crime and murder. It’s cyberpunk.”

“Stop saying it’s cyberpunk,” I slam my fist down on the table.

Kai puts his hand over my first, “Dre, calm down. You know she’s screwed up in the head.”

He’s right, she is screwed in the head. I don’t even know why I’m arguing with here. Honestly, I don’t even know why I’m mad. It’s not as if I care about the definition of cyberpunk or an NPC dying in a scripted event that will repeat until the end of time. I’m just so mad for no reason. This game is taking a toll on me and I can’t wait for it to be over.

“Just tell us about the next quest sweetie,” Daamin says once I’ve calmed down.

“Did you just call her sweetie,” Kai asks.

“Kay you better start talking about the next challenge,” I look into her eyes. “Or else, I swear I’m going to put so many holes in you Daamin won’t know which one to fill.”

“If you insist,” Kay rolls her eyes.

“I do insist.”

“Well, the next quest is the hardest, a real challenge. It’s the only quest with a real price for failure. If you die on the next quest you respawn at level one without any of the items you’re carrying or own on the server. Essentially it’s a full character reset. But, there’s a small chance that you really die. I might have taken some shortcuts when coding everything to lock people in the game.”

“Why would you do that,” Kai asks.

“The quest is designed so you can get the first three pieces of code in any order but this next piece needs to be retrieved last. It’s a deterrent to keep people from beating the game. There’s a change in difficulty from here on out,” Kay explains.

“You said that you were upset nobody had completed the game yet, but you made it impossible,” Daamin says. “Nobody would willing to risk life and death.”

“It’s not impossible baby,” she runs a hand along his scaly face. “It’s just really hard. That’s why I wanted to make sure you were all ready for the fact that you could lose everything you earned in the game, including your life.”

“You know what I think cyberpunk is about,” Kai asks.

“No but I’m sure you’ll tell us,” Kay responds.

“I think cyberpunk is about the perversion of a capitalistic society. A society where businesses will provide great technology to people, without explaining how it destroys their lives. It’s a world where greed rules over everything else and every piece of optimism hides a dirty little secret. The secret is that the monsters win. But who are the monsters? The corporations, the billionaires. It’s people.” Kai pauses for a second, “Kay, I think you’re a monster. Because of Daamin I thought there may be some redeeming qualities to you, but there aren’t. You just keep showing us you’re a bad person.”

“Am I monster,” Kay questions. “Yes, I am. Just like both of you. Alexandre, you’re a very violent man who can’t control or even understand his own emotions. At least I know what I want and don’t have violent outbursts. Kai, poor little Kai. You know exactly what you want, and you’re too scared to take it. Instead you pretend to be some dime store therapist and guide people to their true selves. But you’re too afraid to be who you really want to be.”

“Maybe we should just get going towards the next quest,” Daamin speaks over Kay. “If we’re all still willing to go. I don’t have anything to lose so I’m still in.”

“I’m not waiting for someone else to get us out of here,” I say.

“Well if my monster buddy is in, I guess I’m in too,” Kai rolls his eyes.