A text box appeared: The Guest is hungry. He wants something fresh.

The mechanics were eerily fluid. He clicked a knife to chop an onion, and the sound wasn't a stock asset; it was the crisp, wet thud of real steel on skin. He moved the mouse to turn on the stove, and his speakers emitted a low, vibrating hum that made the glass of water on his real desk ripple. "Nice haptics," Arthur muttered. Then, the "Guest" arrived.

The "v1.0" didn't stand for the version. It was a countdown.

Arthur looked back at the screen. In the reflection of the game's mirror, he saw a second figure standing directly behind his chair in the real world—a figure that wasn't there when he turned his head.

It wasn't an NPC. A window on the kitchen wall—a virtual mirror—flickered to life. It didn't show a character; it showed a live feed of Arthur sitting in his own darkened room, viewed from the perspective of his own webcam.

Arthur tried to Alt+F4. The screen stayed. He tried to unplug his monitor, but the image of his room remained burned into the pixels, glowing with an impossible light. In the game, a chef’s hand—controlled by no one—picked up the virtual knife.

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