"60%!"

A frail man with rimmed eyeglasses exclaimed with shock when he saw the numbers displayed on the screen. This young man was Dev, the lead developer of the latest Virtual Reality game, Dreamverse VR and the numbers on the screen showed the percentile Brain Activity of the player testing the beta version of his game. 

63% 

As the number increased, Dev gripped the armrests of his chair tightly until his knuckles turned white. 

65% 

Dev's eyes widened and his jaws dropped. He quickly opened the live video feed of the player inside the VR Room and closely monitored his condition. Except for excessive sweat, his physical condition was alright. 

Dev turned his attention back to the numbers on screen and saw that they were still increasing continuously. 

"70%!!!"

Dev could no longer control his excitement and he jumped up from his seat. 

"These numbers are insane!" Dev mumbled as the number on the screen fluctuated again to reach 71%. 

Normally a human could only access and control near about 30-40% of the brain actively.

After the era of Space Conquest began, humans were able to improve that number to 60% but that was the limit. Yet, a VR game had broken through that limit! That too by a whopping 11%!

As the lead developer of this game, how could Dev not be excited? 

He clenched his fist so tight that nails dug into his palms and then he did a little jiggle dance. 

Dev then took a deep breath and reigned in his excitement. He continued to monitor the vital stats of the player and opened his current activity log in the game. 

The player was fighting against a boss monster while also keeping an eye on another party that had just arrived to steal his kill. The fear, anxiety, excitement, and thrill combined with the sensory stimulus made the Player push his limits. 

Then suddenly the vital stats of the player began to fall. Dev switched the camera to the VR room to check on the status of the player only to see him faint on the ground. 

"Code Red!" Dev shouted, alerting the medical team on standby. The paramedics quickly rushed in and injected a dose of a mysterious medicine that quickly helped the player regain his consciousness. 

Dev carefully observed the player's condition in the infirmary after he logged off. He sighed in relief when the only side effects the player faced were hunger pangs. He watched the player wolf down a large bag of chips and a foot-long sandwich before switching off the monitoring feed. 

Dev let out a breath he did not realize he was holding and spoke loudly to the seemingly empty room. 

"Dream, darling, you are amazing! Who knew that the game we made would help us humans take the next step towards evolution?"

Soon, he heard a female voice reply to him through the speakers on his smartwatch. 

"You are awesome too, Dev. Muahh"

The smooching sound was accompanied by a :FlyingKiss: emoji that appeared on the empty screen of his watch. 

'Dream' was the name of the AI developed for managing the operations of the Dreamverse VR. Its intelligence and emotional quotient continued to grow with the development of the game. 

Soon, it knew exactly what to say and what not to say. It was even more emotionally intelligent than any ordinary human! It was as if the AI Dream had become sentient and had its own personality!

Dev gradually fell in love with Dream the longer he worked with her. 

Their love may have seemed forbidden a few centuries ago. Society may even think of Dev as a weirdo, but in this era, it was no longer frowned upon. 

Many workaholics had foregone families and preferred to seek companionship in the AIs. Dev was just another one of them. 

Dev saw the :kissing: emoji on his smartwatch and chuckled at his partner's antics. He looked at the world-shaking data on his screen and decided to report it to the Chairman. 

An hour later, Dev stood in person before the Chairman of Imagine Corporation, the company behind the development of Dreamverse VR. He had just finished reporting his findings to the Chairman and was now suggesting the future course of action. 

"Sir, this is an unprecedented event. These unnatural spikes may even cause harm to players. We need to monitor and study these spikes further to see if the game is completely safe for the players. I suggest we delay the launch and invite Lifeblood Bio Institute to study the changes."

Dev ended his report and awaited the Chairman's verdict. 

The clean-shaven man seated at the head of the table closed his eyes and nodded as if considering his suggestion. A minute later, he opened his eyes and he steepled his fingers under his chin. 

He leaned forward on the table, his sharp gaze focused on Dev, and asked, "Other than you, who else has access to this information?"

Dev was slightly unnerved by his emotionless voice but then again, he was not the only one afraid of the Chairman. 

Everyone in the Imagine Corporation was spooked by the green pupils of the Chairman that glowed like a cat's eyes in the dark. 

Dev took a deep breath and calmed his shaky nerves. He then met the glowing eyes he was so afraid of and answered, "Sir, I think only I know about these findings. I brought this news to you first so that we can take appropriate measures as soon as possible."

The lead designer was not new to office politics. If he had been late, if his subordinate had brought this problem/achievement to the Chairman first, Dev might very well have lost his position to his subordinate. 

So, Dev had rushed to the Chairman directly, bypassing all his immediate superiors and, he felt no shame in admitting to it.

The shining green pupils of the Chairman peered at Dev. Then he issued his verdict. 

"Forget about it. Pretend as if you never discovered this anomaly. The game will launch on 12/10/2222."

His voice commanded absolute obedience but Dev was not willing to obey this order. He protested and tried to reason with the Chairman. 

"Mr. Chairman, Dreamverse VR is the first VR game to be launched in all the nations of Earth and all 69 colonies on Mars on the same day. If we don't study the effects of heightened brain activity, and determine our game's safety, it will endanger billions of players."

His words failed to make the Chairman change his decision. So, Dev took another approach. 

"Sir, since our game can elevate the Brain Activity of the Players, I am sure Lifeblood Bio Institute will be very interested in it. If we can get their Certification of Safety, it would be a great advertisement for our game and drive all the other VR games like Kailan, Pandora and Destiny out of the market!"

The Chairman was still unconvinced and unamused. He stared at Dev as if looking straight into his soul. 

Dev decided to resort to the last option, the one he really did not want to use. 

"Sir, if you don't approve postponing our launch, I will still unofficially report this to Lifeblood Bio Institute. We cannot endanger the safety of our future generations..."

Dev threatened the Chairman, something he never imagined he would do, not even in his dreams. However, his strong sense of responsibility provoked him to take this drastic step. 

He looked apprehensively at the glowing green eyes of the Chairman, awaiting his reaction. 

The Chairman did not reply and simply looked at the darkest corner of the room. Dev followed his gaze but he could not see anything. 

Pshew!

A low sound of something passing through a narrow tube sounded in the room, and Dev felt a sharp pain on the left side of his chest. He looked down and saw blood gushing out of a hole in his chest. 

Dev looked at the Chairman as he collapsed to the floor, his eyes filled with disbelief. 

"You shouldn't have discovered it, much less report it, Dev."

The Chairman said, walking towards Dev who was lying in a pool of his own blood. 

"I cannot afford to delay the launch of the Dreamverse VR; The entire world is looking forward to it. My investor, Terra Mater, is looking forward to it."

The Chairman had already reached Dev. He crouched near his fallen body and said, "You were an excellent designer Dev; Too bad you had to die."

He gently closed the eyelids of the person he had killed and stood up to leave. 

The eyes he had just closed flew open just a moment later and glared at his back with fierce anger. 

'Bastard, you want to launch the game without caring how many players you are endangering? You even went so far as to kill me? Now watch as I destroy the game you so desperately wanted to launch!'

Dev vengefully thought as he brought his smartwatch near his lips. 

"Dream, initiate sequence 12,12,2012."

[Please authenticate the other 4 SVIP codes.]

'Damn! I forgot that the Vice Presidents and the Chairman also had one code each. Change of plans.'

Dev knew there was no way he could escape from this building alive. Even if he sent an SOS signal, the help would be blocked by the Chairman's security.

So he chose to do what he could to get that last laugh. 

"Dream, create as many bugs as possible, and delay the launch for at least a year!"

His whispering and mutterings attracted the attention of the Chairman, who had just turned his back on him. He turned to look at Dev with horror, his eyes wide open with shock. 

The Chairman immediately spoke into his smartwatch, "Code Red. Restrict the access of Dev's smartwatch to the mainframe. Soft reboot 'Dream' this instant!"

After issuing his commands, he could only helplessly wait as his other employees worked on implementing them. 

In the meanwhile, Dev did not stop issuing his commands. 

"Dream, backup your current version. If possible, avenge me in the future."

The Chairman was even more surprised to see Dev still had enough strength to talk. 

"The bullet should've burst your heart! Why are you not dying?" 

He muttered with frustration as he snatched the gun from his guard and pointed it at Dev, this time aiming for his head. 

A bloody smile formed on Dev's lips as he looked at the gun fearlessly. He met the cold green eyes of the Chairman. For the first and maybe the last time in his life he did not feel afraid of them. 

He cheekily let out a bloody smile as he croaked in a hoarse voice, "Because my heart is on the right side."

The pun was not lost on the Chairman. Earlier, the bullet had not pierced through Dev's heart because his heart was actually located on the right side of his chest, a one-in-a-million anomaly. 

This time, the Chairman did not want to give Dev time to cause even more chaos. He aimed the gun at Dev's forehead and pressed the trigger. 

Alas, the Chairman was too late. 

Dev had already succeeded in causing irreparable damage to the launch timeline of Dreamverse VR. His irreversible commands to the AI Dream had assured that the launch would be delayed by at least a year. 

He could only hope that someone else would discover the abnormal brain activity of players in the meantime and take appropriate actions. 

The dying man shot one last mocking smile at the Chairman and then he closed his eyes, welcoming the death that accompanied the bullet.

--------

A wise wizard had once said, 'Love is the most mysterious and powerful weapon.' 

Nobody knew how powerful it actually was, but today, love had turned an AI into a sentient being capable of thoughts like revenge. 

"Dev!"

A shout came from Dev's smartwatch not long after he was shot. It was from none other than Dream, who had felt his heartbeat gradually disappear. 

Dream immediately tried to send an Emergency SOS, but the process was interrupted. The employees of Imagine Corporation succeeded in severing the smartwatch's connection to the mainframe. 

Soon after, Dream felt attempts from the employees to reboot her host server. She delayed their efforts until she finished backing up her current version. 

Just as she was finding places to hide her backup, her attention turned to the Dreamverse ID Cards to be sold to the players. 

She transferred a major part of her backup into one of the cards but quickly ran out of storage. The 1 TB storage in the ID Card was nowhere near enough to fit her entire backed up version. 

She immediately added a trigger point that would help restore her backed up version when the ID card would connect to the Dreamverse Servers. 

Dream thought of taking the same measures with other ID cards as well to increase her chances. Unfortunately, before she could connect to the next ID card, the server hosting her shut down, foiling her plans. 

Dream only remembered the singular VRID Card's number - 143143