In my office, I rubbed my eyes as they grew fatigued from staring at the screen for too long. I looked over at the clock, it’s 7pm. I’ve officially been watching game footage for 12 hours now.

There was a ring on my doorbell. I got up and walked over to the front door. “Hey Tom, come on in.” I said, inviting him into my condo.

“Thanks for letting me crash here during the investigation, Vin,” Tom said, walking in, taking off his coat. I took the coat from him and put it on the coat rack near the door. Then I led him further into my home. “Wow Vin, this is the first time I’m seeing the place. It looks like you’ve all grown up.”

“Thank you, Summer thought, I needed more paintings and decorations.” I said, guiding him to the kitchen. “She says the plain walls and bland furniture screams bachelor pad.”

“Don’t take advice from your sister about decorations. When I talked to Autumn, she told me how you can’t even sit on the couch because it’s filled with throw pillows.” Tom said with a face of disgust.

“Believe me, I am not taking any interior design tips from her; you should see the curtains.” I said, opening the fridge. “Do you want something to drink? Are you hungry?”

“I’ll take water for now; we can grab food after we discuss the case.” Tom said, catching the water bottle I threw at him.

We walked over to my office. “It would seem that the killer has a special way of killing his targets.” Sitting in my chair, I pulled up a video. “I watched the footage of all the players you sent. One thing I found in common is the killer only goes after high-ranking players,” 

On the video I was currently watching, I moved the video back to the beginning. “He can somehow mask his real gamer tag, Glitch_Slasher, and his actual appearance until a certain point in the player vs player match.”

“That shouldn’t be possible, right?” Tom said.

I pointed to the screen. “It shouldn’t. We have specific protocols to prevent players from doing that. Which leads me to believe our suspect works for the company.” I said, clicking play on the video. We watched as Glitch_Slasher with black long hair and a purple sword with a trench coat on his back. Above his head was a fake gamer tag over his head.

"Do you know what mission he uses to spring his trap?” Tom said.

“No, it must be one of the newer missions that went to one of my colleagues for approval. Oh, it’s about to start, pay attention to that character with the purple sword, that’s Glitch_Slasher” Our suspect approached a character that seemed to be an adult sized tinker bell with a blue dress. Her gamer tag was Tinker_Blue. The players chatted for a bit and then they both accepted a PVP match.

“So, is this how Glitch_Slasher is doing it? After that mission, he gets them to accept a PVP match?” Tom asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, that’s been consistent with every interaction Glitch_Slasher has had with each victim. Then, during the match, he snares his trap, and, after a certain point, death is almost guaranteed. Watch, it’s about to happen.” I said. The match seemed in favor of Tinker_Blue, she brought Glitch_Slasher down to about 20% of his health.

“Please have mercy on me. I’m not as skilled as you.” Glitch_Slasher said.

“Come on now, your level 50. You’ve played this game long enough; you know how this works.” Tinker_Blue said, as she raised her sword to give the finishing blow. “Also, you could have picked higher level gear, it doesn't make sense you only equipped level one gear. You can only blame yourself for losing.”

An almost demonic grin spread across Glitch_Slasher’s face. “Perfect, just what I like to hear.” He leaped forward and slashed at Tinker_Blue. However, as he slashed his sword, it glitched and shifted to a purple and black blade with wings on the hilt. When it connected Tinker_Blue only loss 1 HP. However, Glitch_Slasher’s appearance completely changed, and you could see his real gamertag. 

“Whoa, how did he do that?” Tom said, pointing to the screen.

“It shouldn't be possible. Here's how it works: when a player attacks, they're actually starting a pre-made animation - the VR just tricks their brain into thinking they're doing the slashing movement. Other players or monsters can knock you out of the animation, but the player cannot stop it. Which makes it impossible for players to switch weapons in the middle of an attack. I have our developers and artists researching flaws in the slashing system now. ”

I changed the video, so we were now viewing the situation from Tinker_Blue’s perspective. “For PVP and other one-on-one player interactions, we record them in the event there is a complaint about cheating.” I rewound the video to where Glitch_Slasher reveals himself.

We were now watching the video in first person; we could see there were a bunch of debuffs placed on the Tinker_Blue. But what was most concerning is the message in front of us.

You’ve now entered a one-sided death match. You will be at an extreme disadvantage. If you can defeat the player in front of you, then you’ll receive a huge coin reward, but if you lose, you will die in the real world. In other words, no HP, no life.

The message disappeared and Tinker_Blue looked up at her opponent’s health, slowly climbing back up to full. His gamer tag changed to his real name, Glitch_Slasher. We saw his level jump to 2 times that of Tinker_Blue’s.

“I have reviewed all the gamers you gave me and once they get to this point of the match, they end up losing and begging for their lives. Then he cuts them down to their last remaining health and the player dies. After that Glitch_Slasher logs out.” I said, ending the video before we watched Glitch_Slasher give the killing blow. “Was the medical examiner able to find something?”

Tom scratched the back of his head. “Yeah, but it leads to more questions than answers.” Tom pulled out his phone and tapped on it, probably looking for his notes. “All the victims died the same way. There was an electrical current sent through the victims’ eyes that fried their brain. Which leads me to believe there is only one killer, and he found a way to make the VR headset a death trap.”

“Hmm, it's good knowing they all died the same way, so we can narrow down the amount of suspects. But there has to be something that is connecting them all. I doubt he’s specifically targeting all the players that accept the mission.” I said, turning back to the screen.

“We checked the background of all the victims and there was nothing connecting them to each other except that they plated the same game and were high ranking.” Tom said, scrolling through his phone.

“There are a few shared traits between them in the game, though. They’re all in the 50–60 level range. Probably because the highest level in the game is 140, and if he chooses anything higher, he couldn’t completely double his level. It’s also worth mentioning these are all solo players. He’s never tried pulling this trick with a group of players. For now,ow we'll just have to assume that he can only do this trick on one person at a time.”

“Hmm, that’s a good amount of information, but we’re at max level, so we’ll need to find another way to lure him out. You don’t have any spare characters in the level range, do you?” Tom said. I shook my head. 

 “Me neither.” Tom clapped his hands and rubbed them together. “We'll figure out how to lure him out later. For right now, we need to get some more information on how he picks his victims.”

“Finally, Thomas Morningstar returns to the front lines!” I cheered. “Should I tell Ruzo to join us and get the band back together?”

“No, leave him out of this. Kalina would have my head if she knew I brought a minor into an investigation.” Tom said.

“Or is it because he’s….”

“Shush, you might slip up and tell the boy if you're not careful.” Tom chuckled. “If you mess up, I am not saving you from Autumn.”

Tom’s words sent a shiver down my spine. “Your right. Hell, has no fury like that woman’s scorn.”

There was a growl that came from Tom’s stomach. “Alright, let’s get some food. I’m starving.”