She handed him the cup and smiled. Her smile was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
“Hot chocolate,” she said. “That’s my favorite, too.”
“Really?” He forced the word out and would later hate himself for such a dumb reaction.
She chuckled. “Yes, really. But don’t tell anyone, ok?”
Kai gulped as she squinted her left eye into a conspiratorial wink.
She stepped past him and activated the beverage machine, which prepared two cups of cocoa.
“You must be new here. I’ve never seen you before,” she said, handing him one of the fresh cups. “I’m Alice.”
He took the cup and finally managed to behave like a civilized human being again instead of like a drooling monkey.
“Kai.”
“Pleased to meet you, Kai,” she said, giving him another smile that turned his knees to jelly. “I’ll see you around.”
Her cup in her hand, she walked off toward the exit. Kai stared after her with an open mouth. Every one of her steps was graceful perfection.
“Don’t even start dreaming about it, dude.”
A mocking voice behind him made him jump and spill his cocoa again.
Completely baffled, he turned around and saw Marco behind him, a huge grin on his face. He and the others from his team had entered the building through the side door. The rest were now standing at the food distribution point, yet he was certain that every one of them had witnessed his encounter with Alice. Kai’s cheeks turned fire red and he hated himself even more.
“She’s gonna rip your heart out and eat it for breakfast,” Marco said, shaking his head. “You wouldn’t be the first one.”
“I… um… it was nothing. I accidentally bumped into her and spilled my coc… coffee.”
“Right,” Marco said while pulling down his left lower eyelid with his finger. “Nice try. But it won’t work. That chick is miles out of your league. Miles as in from here to Timbuktu. Got it?”
“Yeah. But I didn’t try–”
Marco laughed and walked back to the others. Kai sighed.
He grabbed some napkins and cleaned the cocoa from his suit. It turned out that the outer fabric was fluid repellant and that his little accident wouldn’t leave any stains. He had been told that the gimps were automatically cleaned and disinfected in their lockers every night, but having brown stains on it for the rest of the day would still have been embarrassing.
Kai joined the others who had gathered at a table by the window. Judging from their faces, they had all witnessed him talking to Rogue and were ready to mock him.
“There he is, our Casanova,” Marco said mischievously. “Here the second day and already trying to hook up with the hottest girl around.”
Claudia rolled her eyes and an irritated expression flashed over her face.
“She isn’t that hot. You guys are all the same.”
“Right,” Francois agreed. “Way too skinny if you ask me.”
“What are you talking about?” Josh said. “She’s a goddess!”
“Oh Josh,” Claudia chuckled.
“I didn’t try anything, really,” Kai said. “It was a coincidence.”
He tried desperately not to show how excited he was about the encounter. It already felt like a surreal dream.
The only one not participating in the banter was Viktor. He didn’t get any food or drink either, and instead just sat there with crossed arms and a slightly bored, aloof expression on his face. Kai wondered why he was even there. After all, the others had told him that Viktor rarely socialized with any of them.
“Here comes the master,” Marco said, pointing at the door with his chin.
“Nice of him to join us,” Kai said, surprised.
“He usually wouldn’t,” Marco explained. “But he said he has something important to tell us and that we may as well do it during lunch, especially since Kai spent some quality time with the character editor this morning.”
“Stop being a dick,” Claudia said, then turned to Kai, her usual kind expression back on her roundish face. “It happens to everyone. Lex had to outright drag me out of there or I would have wasted the whole day.”
“Why is the editor so detailed?” Kai asked.
“You mean, why can you pick a cock?” Marco said. “Several reasons. For one–”
“Hey gang,” Topher said, approaching them.
He grabbed a chair and pulled it up to the table, which was, like most, made for six.
“Hi Topher,” Kai said. “Sorry it took me so long in the editor. I lost track of time in there…”
The team lead waved his hand.
“No big deal, Kai. But what I’m about to tell you is.”
“Is it about the tournament?” Josh asked, his voice filled with anticipation.
Topher nodded.
“The email about the tournament went out this morning, and–”
He paused for a second to create suspense. Even Viktor turned his head and gave him his full attention.
“–and this time they picked Behind Blue Eyes 3 for the next tournament.”
“Yes!” Marco called out.
Claudia clapped her hands, and Josh and Francois exchanged a high-five.
“I knew it!” Claudia said. “I told you we’d be lucky this time. I was feeling it in my gut!”
“Famous female intuition, huh?” Marco mocked her, which made her flip him off in a playful way.
Everyone was excited.
“This means a great chance for our team and for every one of you individually, guys,” Topher said. “We’ll put in an extra hour of practice every day until the tournament next week.”
Then he turned his attention to Kai and explained.
“Every three months, they pick a different game to test the multiplayer in a tournament. Of course, the teams who are currently testing the chosen game have a big advantage over the other participants because they know the mechanics in their sleep.”
“And that’s us,” Kai said, feeling the others’ excitement spread over to him.
“Among others. We’re not the only squad testing this game, of course.”
“But the others suck!” Marco laughed.
Topher grinned. “I wouldn’t say it so drastically… but, yes. I want you guys to win the low-level challenge. You have a realistic shot there.”
“Hell yeah,” Marco agreed.
“You really are a lucky bastard, Kai,” Francois said. “Some people have worked here for years and never get to play the game they test in a tournament. And you’ll have your first one after a week.”
“Tournaments are so important because they can boost your progression tremendously,” Topher said.
“I’ll reach Level Two!” Josh said dreamily.
“Alright,” Topher said. “I suggest you finish your lunch quickly and jump back into your pods. We not only have a game to test, we have a tournament to win.”
Kai was grateful that he was off the hook from being mocked, at least for now. The others began chatting about the upcoming tournament and seemed as excited as little children.
He didn’t understand all of what they were saying, but he was sure he would learn the specifics in time. And he knew for a fact that he was an excellent player when it came to multiplayer shooters. Judging from the way Topher had glanced at him, the team lead was well aware of that, too.
The excitement about the tournament and his encounter with Alice made the horrible scene he had witnessed earlier appear like a bad dream that was already fading. Yes, the job was dangerous, but it was worth it.
It wasn’t only the benefits, the money, the fun, and the possibility to participate in tournaments that were like e-sports on a smaller scale.
No, Kai also knew that he would stick around for her, no matter what. How else would he ever be able to see her again? Maybe talk to her?
Yes, he was well aware that she was lightyears out of his league. Unearthly beautiful, she was a hero among Helltek em
ployees and a multi-millionaire. Not to mention that she already had a boyfriend who was as pretty, cool, badass and rich as her.
And yet… it couldn’t hurt to dream. Could it?
Chapter Sixteen
By the end of the week, Kai was convinced that time could pass at different speeds. It wasn’t only a feeling, it had to be a fact.
While the days – and weeks, and months – had dragged like they were stuck in glue when he was working at Fuji, his first week at Helltek had rushed by at light speed. He could hardly believe it was already Friday night when he exited the train and hurried home to make it back in time before curfew.
Over the last couple of days, he had played through the whole game three times, repeating every level over and over again. The others said that BBE3 was a well-developed game. Compared to others they had tested, it had very few bugs. That was laudable of the studio and made their job safer than in many other games. The downside was that they progressed more slowly if they didn’t find bugs.
Kai had scored 48 points in his first week anyway, which everyone agreed was pretty good. Topher said that Kai was doing a great job. Apparently he was attentive and not only had an eye for details but a deep sense for level design too, which made him discover issues more easily than most.
They only discovered small issues. Minor glitches, such as AI clipping through obstacles or pathfinding errors, broken shaders, T-poses, or a slight FPS drop when too many particle effects were involved – which was a very common issue every gamer had encountered one way or another. The scanner kept acting up in several scenarios, and Viktor claimed that it was something embedded deeply in the code and that, most likely, the studio wouldn’t be able to fix that in time and would ship it as it was.
As long as it was no major issue that could pose a threat to the players or turn into a showstopper, studios often decided to ship the game and fix the smaller issues with a patch – or sometimes they wouldn’t.
On Thursday they had delivered a new build which had curbed the high intensity to an acceptable level, and the showstopper Kai and his team had encountered had been fixed. It still was very unpleasant to receive damage or die when playing the game on hard mode and at the highest intensity level. But in an email accompanying the latest build, the devs claimed that this was by design.
Gamers who chose to play new-gen shooters on hard mode expected a thrill. Damage at death had to come with a price. However, the intensity was bearable now, and neither Kai nor his crew had encountered any horrifying incidents such as the bomb on his first day.
Whenever they found an issue, the testers tried to reproduce it at least four times to deliver a result that was as accurate as possible. This was the part of the job most game testers disliked, but Kai didn’t mind it. It had an analytical aspect that he, as a mathematician, could relate to. And it was even fun for him to try to reproduce everything as thoroughly as possible.
“Give it a couple of weeks,” Marco had commented, laughing.
His colleague probably was right about that. So far, everything was new for Kai, and it was all exciting and fun. He had decided to not think about the risks that the job could bring anymore but instead focus on the good and fun aspects. And his goals.
Kai wanted to reach Level Two as quickly as possible. It was his way out of the tenement slums he was forced to live in now. His only way. And he was determined not to mess that up.
Even though his pay was almost double what he had earned at Fuji, it still wasn’t nearly enough to move out of the moldy place he shared with his stoner roommates and move into a better apartment, maybe one by himself. The opportunity Helltek offered in giving their employees apartments on the campus was incredibly generous. Even with Level Two income, Kai could hardly have afforded to live in a better place. Maybe he could have moved into a tiny studio apartment, but certainly not in a better district or closer to his workplace. One of the reasons Helltek offered apartments to their employees was that they could be at work in five minutes and therefore spend more time testing instead of commuting for hours every day, such as Kai and Josh were forced to do. Right now, Kai spent more than four hours on public transport every day. Time that was completely wasted and energy draining.
Usually, when he came home in the evening, all he could do was take a quick shower and then go to bed. He hadn’t been in VR all week. Kai wondered how his online friends were doing and hoped everyone was alright. He still didn’t know what had happened to Red and the other players that had been affected by the horrifying incident with the giant spider in TSOTA.
Kai shuddered, imagining what could have happened if the Cyber Squad Level Ten team hadn’t stepped in just in time. And remembering what those guys were capable of sent chills down his spine.
Especially when he thought of her.
He hadn’t seen Rogue since the accidental bump in the cafeteria. Every moment he didn’t spend in VR but in the real world on Helltek’s premises, he kept watching his surroundings attentively in the hope of eventually spotting her somewhere.
It was a foolish hope, and he knew it. Even if he managed to see her somewhere on the compound, he still wouldn’t have an opportunity to talk to her again. What purpose would he have? He was only a Level One tester, a freshly hired noob, whereas she…
What reason could she ever have to talk to him or interact with him in any way? It was a very lucky coincidence that he had bumped into her the other day. Something that most likely would never happen again. No wonder his team was mocking him about it.
Yet he couldn’t help himself. He had been thinking about the encounter over and over again. Recalling every single detail. Like watching a video, replaying it a hundred times.
It was only in retrospect that he had noticed what remarkable speed and agility she had shown when catching his cup. It had been so remarkable that he wasn’t sure if it had happened that way or if it was his brain playing tricks on him, remembering details that had never happened that way.
In his mind, Kai saw her hand lash out, fast as a snake. The more he thought about it, the more he was convinced that it couldn’t possibly have happened the way he remembered.
Alice was amazing enough as she was, he didn’t have to equip her with inhuman speed in his imagination. And yet…
You really have to stop thinking about her, idiot, he told himself for the millionth time. It’s pathetic.
Kai sighed, walking down the hall toward his apartment, the unpleasant odor of eggs and wet socks hitting his nose, like every day.
It’s only temporary.
Yes, it was only a matter of time. He only had to achieve another 952 points and then he would leave here once and for all and never look back.
Hopefully, the tournament next Wednesday would give him a huge boost. Everyone in the team seemed convinced that they would score well, and Topher was pushing them to their limits in after-hours training sessions. Although he meant well, it was exhausting.
Today, Kai was so tired that he didn’t think he’d even make it under the shower. He would collapse into bed and fall fast asleep as soon as he entered his room.
Fortunately, his roommates were busy with their usual, meaningless business when he entered the apartment, and no one bothered him when he walked down the hall to his room. They didn’t even know that he was working at Helltek now. And even if they did, they probably couldn’t care less.
“Good evening, Kai,” Alessia greeted him when he entered his room. “Did you have a pleasant day at Helltek?”
“Mhm,” he answered.
Could it be that the personal AI had become more talkative lately? Or was he imagining it? He wasn’t sure, and he didn’t really care.
“You can always share your thoughts and experiences with me, Kai,” Alessia said with her typical neutral voice that seemed to hide sarcasm. “You know that.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he mumbled, falling on his bed.
He didn’t even bother to undress. Within seconds he was asleep.
***
“You wanker.”
Kai laughed. “Yeah, I missed you, too.”
Only seconds after he had logged into VR and TSOTA the next day, Stan had sent him an angry message.
Now the stunning Dark Elf girl was standing in the courtyard of his estate, glaring at him, her arms crossed. Her facial expression looked surprisingly real, and very feminine. It was a look every guy in a relationship knew well.
“Where the bloody hell have you been, Kai?”
“I was busy. I’m sorry.”
“As you should be! I was worried.”
Kai winked. “How sweet of you.”
“Asshole.”
“Ok, I get it. I could have sent a message. But I was away all week and when I came home, I was too tired to go into VR.”
“So, you got the job with Cyber Squad?”
“I did! And–”
“And that’s exactly why I was worried about you! I thought you’d been killed there. Or worse.”
And you weren’t so wrong about that, Kai thought. Instead, he smiled cheerfully.
“It’s really not as dangerous as everyone thinks it is. Actually, it’s pretty awesome.”
“You need to tell me all about it!” Stan said, excited like a little boy.
Kai did. He told his friend as much as he was allowed to. About Helltek, about the amazing people he’d met, the incredible technology the testers used, the crazy cafeteria serving free food, the beautiful compound, the high-tech suits the testers wore – and what they had nicknamed them.
That had made Stan laugh out loud.
“Seriously? They call them gimps? That’s hilarious!”
They had left Kai’s estate and were now riding through a gloomy swamp. Stan had a quest here and had asked his friend to join him and help him beat the world boss. He had tried it a couple of times on his own over the last week and failed every time. Kai felt guilty about having left his friend in the dark about his whereabouts and was more than happy to comply.
“And the girl testers? Do they wear those gimps, too?” Stan asked.
“They sure do.”
Cyber Squad - Level 1: A Gamelit/LitRPG Lite Cyberpunk Adventure Page 19