Chapter One: The World's Only Piece of Junk

“Shut up! The core tower is at eleven percent!” The view plunged into first person. Black tactical gloves hovered over a holographic keyboard. When Shen Yan moved his fingers, the hands inside the screen copied him. The game was Boundary, but no version he had ever played. Its basic rules—capture beacons, transport energy, destroy the enemy core—had once been carved into his bones. Yet this map was four times regulation size, and every ability was unfamiliar. Four teammates were dead or critically wounded. Fog swallowed most of the minimap. His side had only its final core tower. A short-haired girl stepped into view. Blood striped her cheek; her gaze was colder than a gun barrel.