Wyn’s portal opens at a height not too high. He lands abruptly on his feet, then collapses as he loses balance. His face has endured enough punishment already at this point, so this one is nothing to him. Yu lands in the same fashion but ends up twisting his right angle.

“It’s not too bad,” Yu reassures Wyn.

The lines are still long, though shorter than before. Yu seems to be in more pain than he admits. Wyn decides to continue on with this zone. He can’t have Yu risk another portal. Ever so slowly, they make it to the lines with Wyn assisting Yu all the way. The lines are now noticeably longer than before as more souls have joined in.

“Lines so long, you’ll heal before we get in.”

Indeed, Yu heals days before they reach the entrance. But eventually, the wait is over. They’re pushed to the entrance of the gate. Based on Wyn’s unfinished count, there are at least twenty demons here. All of them are wearing different costumes, but with the same theme of gaming. The cat in front of Yu dresses like a soldier, while the other one behind is in a spacesuit. The items they hold differ according to their characters. The soldier demon asks for Yu’s backhand. He then places a credit-card size device on it. Using two nails from each paw to press the left and right of the device firmly, the device sinks and disappears into Yu’s right backhand. The other cat then signals Yu with its paw to move along. Wyn follows suit. He doesn’t get to ask any questions as the lines are too long and the cats would just ignore him.

The area behind the gate is rather congested. A lot of souls are busy trying to figure out the kinks of the devices. Wyn is starting to worry, as he remembers well how his balance is ticking down every second. Yu pulls Wyn by his arm to get further ahead into the zone, away from the crowd. But due to the sheer number of obstacles, they can’t maneuver themselves well. The whole room is midnight blue and decorated with RGB lights everywhere, walls included. The lights on the walls change not just colors, but also patterns every so often. Above are drones that project signs. These signs have blinking RGB lights around them. The one closest to Wyn says, ‘Area 0’ with a pink neon arrow pointing straight ahead. As they keep pushing through the crowd, Wyn catches a glimpse of how to work out the device from some nearby souls. By tapping his palm with the other hand, the current balance appears on the registered backhand. Tap once to see the current balance for a few seconds. Tap and hold to see the balance for a continuous amount of time. He pauses to teach Yu what he has just learned. They see their balances for the first time and already, almost two thousand credits have been deducted. His heart sinks as he knows they aren’t going to make it at this pace.

After calming himself down, Wyn detects a faint noise, largely drowned by the ongoing commotion. Looking up, he sees two disturbing cat-shaped drones carrying two souls. The cat drones remind Wyn of a drone made from a dead cat he once saw on ‘uWuTube’ – a bobtail with rotor blades replacing the paws. Then it hits Wyn that this might be a way to get around the zone. Wyn quietly tells Yu to wave and even flash their balances blankly into the air in desperation. It seems to work, as two drones approach them vertically. Other souls nearby make way for the drones to land. Some try to ask the two how to call the drones down. Some try to steal the drones, but are zapped to paralyzation the moment they hop on. Wasting no time, they get on the drones, ignoring everybody else around.

“Yuck,” Yu exclaims.

A display appears above the drone head. There are fifty two areas in total. All of them are called by the number, starting from zero to forty-eight. Then there are three more that say “Gambling Zone,” “Combat Zone,” and “Admission Gate.” The fare starts from two hundred credits and goes all the way to five thousand and two hundred credits. Wyn is overwhelmed by the number of areas and high fare prices. Confused and in panic, Wyn tells Yu to choose number four. He expects the first area to be packed, but at the same time he doesn’t want to pay a high fare that would jeopardize their survival. While the drones are flying, Wyn notices that there are no differences between different area numbers, except for the signs. The less-than-one-minute flight costs them one thousand each. Wyn’s current balance is below seven thousand one hundred credits. Yu’s is similar, but is twenty credits short compared to Wyn’s.

The area, and every area in the gaming zone, is brimming with computers. The individual desks have RBG light strips around the edges and the legs. The gaming chairs even have light effects on the outer rim. There are black tempered glass partitions between the computers. The desks are made of the same material as the partitions. They’re placed in rows and all face the same direction toward the dome. The black thirty-two flat screen OLED screen goes incredibly well with the sleek black headset and a TKL gaming keyboard. However, there’s no CPU anywhere at the desk. Wyn scrambles to find two side-by-side desks for both of them, while Yu is still dazed by the light effects. As he sits, the mouse catches Wyn’s attention as it changes size according to the size of his palm. And the moment his palm touches the mouse, the monitor wakes up and the balance on the backhand lights up constantly. An enormous collection of games appear right before Wyn’s eyes. He is once again overwhelmed.

Yu calls out to the stubby munchkin wearing a vampire costume nearby for guidance. He and Wyn quickly learn that, as long as their hands are on the mouse, the deduction stops. All games have a pay-per-round system, much like in an arcade. Instead of winning tickets, a player would be awarded with credits. Multiplayer games are a bit different, in that they have a wager system where the winning team takes all. Wyn also takes the opportunity to gain more information on the transportation modes available and how the fare system works. Turns out, there’s only one transportation mode in the gaming zone.

“Area Zero is everything before the first area and all the way to the gate. To the left of Area Zero are odd-numbered areas. Conversely to the right, are even-numbered areas. The fare starts at two hundred credits and increases by increments of two hundred,” the tabby explains without breathing.

“One more question. Might as well. When a black band leaves and re-enters the zone, what happens to the credits?” Wyn asks.

“The movement stops then resumes,” the cat answers.

“Shit!” Wyn thinks to himself.

Now that he knows his trick won’t work on this level, he’s starting to panic. He’s staring blankly into the screen, trying to visualize various scenarios in his head of how painful a slow decapitation would be. Yu, who’s not into gaming, is waiting for Wyn to make a suggestion.

“What now chief?” Yu asks.

“Ha? Oh, right. Let’s start with an easy game.”

Wyn clicks on the search button that in turn, brings up a search bar along with the genre buttons below. He types in a game name he’s familiar with, but the result shows another game of a similar name instead. After trying no fewer than ten games, it becomes clear that all the games have their names altered – ‘Call of Injuries’, ‘League of the Ordinaries’, Pwned-world’, ‘Digimonger’, ‘Super Normal Pets’, ‘Dead Cellulites’, ‘Alien Wake’, ‘2/3 Life’, ‘Penultimate Fantasy’, to name some.

“Like this place is not overwhelming enough already! Now we have to choose a knockoff to play?” Wyn complains. “A noob like you should just play a match three game”

“Hey now! How ‘bout we duke it out in ‘Street Sweeper Fighters’?”

“But that means I get your money. That’s not gonna get us anywhere!”

“We’d wager only one credit each. I need to show you I’m not a noob.”

After creating a private lobby, the men are in the character selection menu. This game is practically a two-player fighting game that’s known and loved throughout generations of gamers. However, in this version, the characters are re-skinned with a bunch of random people with brooms and dustbins. The mechanics work much like the original game. Wyn and Yu duke it out for a while. Their epic clash costs Yu a total of twenty credits.

“You can play whatever game you want now. I’ll be busy with match-threes, thanks.”

The two would go on to do their best to earn credits. Wyn’s strategy is to focus on his favorite roguelike genre, where at the beginning he’s expected to lose a couple of runs. Yu on the other hand, while doing well, is earning significantly slower. They haven’t let go of the mouse even once during the days-long session. Yet, none of them feel fatigue nor uncomfortable.

“You want to see other parts of the level?” Yu asks.

“Bored already? Do we have enough credits to leave?”

“‘‘Earn slow’, might as well be the motto of this zone.”

“That’s because you’re playing kiddies games.”

Checking the balances on their backhands, Wyn has ten thousand and five hundred credits left, approximately two thousand more than what Yu has.

“You know, getting there costs at least four thousand right? That’s almost half of what you got,” Wyn speaks.

With that information, both spend even more time grinding. It takes longer this time because of Yu’s inability to finish the harder stages of the match-three games he plays without Wyn’s assistance. Their current balances, however, are respectable. Wyn’s is now above twenty thousand and Yu’s is around the thirteen thousand mark.

“Let’s check out the gambling zone first. We don’t need skills there and it’s closer,” Yu suggests.

Wyn sighs knowing he isn’t the type to rely on luck. That said, he’s willing to see it out solely because it’s cheaper to get there. He’s also wishful that he can’t be unlucky all the time. Palms still on the mice, the two call down the cat drones. The fare for the gambling zone, from the fourth area, is forty two thousand credits. Yu gulps as he reluctantly selects the destination.

In this special area, there are no computers, just a large empty space. This area is, instead, packed with souls trying to cross the two zones. Unlike the first level, there’s no wall between the zones, which accelerates the crossing. At a distance, the two men can’t see what’s out there due to the bright setting of the gambling zone.

“This is like a different world!” Yu exclaims.