The next morning, Shai awoke to chaos.
His cracked tablet was blowing up with notifications. Vireon High's student group chat had exploded overnight.
[LIVESTREAM CLIP: TriggaTom Meltdown!!]
[NEW TREND: #YouveBeenFarmed]
[WHO IS THE VIRAL GHOST?!]
[TriggaTom Hospitalized After "Spiritual Data Overload"??]
"Spiritual… what the—"
Shai scrolled through the trending threads, heart racing. He was the ghost. The glitch in the stream. The one who triggered it all. The meme was everywhere. Edits. Parodies. Reactions. Analysis videos. And every single one was dripping aura.
The interface chimed again.
---
> Current Aura: 3,920
Aura Conversion Rate: +210/hr (Passive)
System Update Available: Accept?
[Y/N] <
---
Shai hesitated. His instincts, the ones his mom had tried to drill into him for years — don't trust free things, don't install sketchy files, don't click yes — all screamed "No!"
He clicked Y.
The screen pulsed.
> System Upgrade: Viral Bloom 1.1 Active
Description: Humor doesn't just spread. It consumes.
Effect: Absurd content now generates ambient aura through recursive exposure cycles. <
"What does that even—"
His thought was interrupted by a new pop-up.
---
> New Target Identified: Influencer System Detected
System ID: ASMR Succubus 7.0
Host: "LollyPopSinz" – Tier-3 stream queen
Location: Vireon Tower Arc 7, Floor 22
Risk Level: Moderate
Reward: Est. 6,000–10,000 Aura <
---
Shai stared.
Not only did the interface identify other "System Hosts" like TriggaTom, it was giving him quests. Missions. Challenges. These people weren't just influencers anymore. They were system nodes. Living, breathing extensions of trend-based gods.
And AFI wanted to harvest them.
---
> Accept Mission?
[Y] [N] <
---
Shai stared at the options. Then remembered the way the interface had eaten TriggaTom's system like a bag of chips. He remembered the way the crowd had chanted for someone they didn't even see. How the whole world had moved for a moment—because of him.
Was he just a hacker with a broken tablet yesterday?
Now, he could be a legend.
He pressed Y.
---
One Hour Later – Vireon Tower Arc 7
The elevator chimed as he stepped into the glitter-and-pink lobby of Floor 22. Light shimmered through holographic curtains. Plush toys with dead-eyed grins lined the walls. It smelled like artificial strawberry and tension.
He hadn't been here in years.
And sitting in the middle of it all, surrounded by monitors and mic setups, was LollyPopSinz, aka Lana Suri. Vireon High dropout. Now a digital siren pulling in simps by the thousands. Her system was tangible to Shai now — a shimmering, pulsating avatar floating behind her shoulder, shaped like a chrome succubus with speaker horns for eyes.
It turned toward him.
And snarled.
---
> SYSTEM ALERT: ASMR Succubus 7.0 has detected AFI.
Initiating Countermeasure: Sonic Disorientation
WARNING: Aura Drain Possible <
---
Shai reeled as a soft, whispering hum filled the room. It wasn't physical sound. It was psychological. Code-layered. It tugged at his will. His vision blurred.
Then AFI spoke:
> Activate Defense? <
> Skill: Viral Bloom – Subroutine Mode: SHITPOST BARRAGE
Confirm? <
He grinned.
"Do it."
---
Reality rippled.
Suddenly, LollyPopSinz's stream glitched. Her soothing whispers were replaced with absurd, rapidfire memes — spaghetti keyboards, screaming goats, Nicolas Cage faces, recursive farts echoing across dimensions.
The chat lost its mind.
[WTF IS HAPPENING?]
[THIS IS PEAK CONTENT!]
[#YouveBeenFarmed2]
---
> Aura Harvesting: +7,240
System Fragment Acquired: ASMR Succubus 7.0
New Ability Unlocked: Sensory Jam – Disrupt enemy attention loops through audio-absurdism.<
---
Lana collapsed onto her fluffy beanbag chair, unconscious. Her system disintegrated into harmless data, and the room returned to silence.
Shai exhaled. His hands trembled, not with fear — with exhilaration.
He wasn't just playing a game anymore.
He was the game.