The library was empty except for a girl in a grey hoodie, staring at her own phone. Her screen mirrored his. She looked up. “You saw the email too?”

He should have ignored it. Instead, he put on his shoes.

“We run together,” she said. “Or we don’t run at all.”

“Then I win.”

A red pulse swept the map. Thirty new players had just joined. And one of them, , was already running toward the library.

He looked at Mira. She offered him the key.

The email arrived at 3:17 AM on a Tuesday. No sender name. No company logo. Just a subject line that made Jayden’s thumb hover: and a single line in the body: “You’ve been chosen. Don’t install it. Play it.”

He clicked the link.