He clicked.
The title screen was wrong. The usual neon-grid intro was replaced by a black void. No menu, no options, just the word "SEED" pulsing in a cold, digital blue. Before he could press anything, the game started.
Nothing.
Then he saw the other riders.
He launched the game.
Leo looked down the slope. In the distance, far, far below, he could see a finish gate. It wasn't glowing green like the real game. It was red. A deep, arterial red.
He tried to hit the home button.
A new text box appeared in the center of the screen. It wasn't a game message. It was a system notification, typed in real time.