It was a normal Friday night. You were getting ready for bed when, without warning, a wave of nausea hit—sharp, dizzying. You weren’t alone. The whole city seemed to tense in sync. Then, a glowing screen appeared in your vision.

[SYSTEM UPDATE DETECTED] Welcome, Player. Would you like to OPT IN to the New World Experience? [Yes] [No]

Your chest tightened. You hadn’t moved—was this a dream? Just as you hesitated, a scream tore through the apartment. You rushed out. Your roommate stood frozen, staring down at a pile of ash.

“She said no,” he whispered breaking down. “She clicked ‘No’… then she turned into fucking ASH?!”

A new message blinked above you: [WARNING: Declining Participation = User Erasure]

This World is No Longer Passive. You turned back to the screen.

[OPT-IN CONFIRMED]

And just like that, numbers filled your vision—health, stamina, skills. The world hadn’t ended. It had become a game.

For the past week, many people have tried to use this new mechanic to their advantage.

Athletes pushed their Strength stats. Students crammed to boost Intelligence overnight. Office workers with high Luck started winning lottery draws or walking into random promotions. The world didn’t slow down—it accelerated.

Crime changed instantly. Petty thieves with Stealth upgrades became invisible on surveillance. Charisma builds conned entire crowds with a glance. Police departments struggled to keep up, especially once some officers started rerolling their own stats.

Meanwhile, influencers showcased new “Skill Loadouts,” livestreaming XP grinds, daily quests, and spontaneous PvP fights in public parks. Gyms became battlegrounds. Libraries turned into INT farming hubs. Hospitals now displayed Health, Trauma, and Debuff Resistance meters on patient charts.

But not everyone trusted it.

Doctors began questioning if people were actually healing, or if the system was just masking symptoms with artificially boosted stats. Some patients came in with perfect Health bars… then flatlined minutes later. Sleep became erratic. Many refused to rest in fear their stats would decay—some even overdosed on caffeine and stimulants trying to keep their buffs up. Mental health clinics saw surges in patients tracking “Insanity” or “Cognitive Stability” as if they were just status effects.

But not everyone played fair.

On Day 5, a man in Los Angeles with a maxed-out Berserker trait caused a 14-car pileup just to farm adrenaline-based XP. The next day, two classmates in Dhaka dueled with sharpened kitchen knives for a rare class unlock. By Day 7, major cities enforced Safe Zones—areas where combat was forcibly disabled by global system patches.

Yet, something darker lingered.

People who chose to Opt-Out—or hesitated too long—were still vanishing. No respawn. No trace. Just a puff of ash, a blinking message:

[USER REMOVED FROM ACTIVE SESSION]

Hackers, coders, even AI researchers tried reverse-engineering the interface. But even those with Intelligence stats over 150 met a hard wall—one that didn’t just block them, but stripped them of key stats in retaliation. Some disappeared entirely. The message was clear:

[SYSTEM IS ABSOLUTE. TAMPERING WILL RESULT IN REMOVAL.]

And so, society split. Between Players… and the missing.

Now, everyone’s stats hover like silent judgment over their heads. Reputation can be seen. Lies can be tracked. Weakness is no longer private.

As for you and your roommate...the feeling of purpose seems...well not normal anymore. Your roommate has been doing lots of research doom scrolling social media while also getting stats from it still coping with his girlfriend while you sat on the couch looking at your stats page making you feel existential about yourself and what you actually might become.