The clock showed barely three hours since the official launch of Elysium Online when the first alerts appeared.
At first, a single orange warning on the main screen.
Then dozens.
Then hundreds.
Then, all at once…
Every screen in the operations room turned red.
Engineers jumped out of their chairs.
Subtle alarms vibrated along the edges of the desks.
Lines of code flickered and vanished, as if the system itself were trying to hide something.
"This isn't right…" a network technician murmured. "The logout packet just… disappeared."
"Disappeared how?" another replied, typing frantically. "That module can't disappear! It's hardware-locked!"
That was when the supervisor shouted:
"Victor hasn't answered a single message since the game launched! We don't have options! Call Mr. Musk. Now!"
Elon Musk wasn't in the building.
He was following the launch from the press area when his neural communicator vibrated with a maximum-level alert.
He ran.
The automatic doors to the control room slid open with a metallic hiss, revealing Elon Musk, slightly out of breath, his expression tense — not with fear, but with absolute focus.
"What happened?"
The team parted, quickly explaining that the logout system had vanished and that they'd been unable to reach Victor since launch.
That was when one of the larger screens flickered.
A video began playing automatically.
It wasn't live.
It wasn't a broadcast.
It was a recording.
Victor Stahl.
The CEO responsible for integrating Neuralink into the entertainment system.
His expression showed no panic.
No regret.
It was calm.
Methodical.
Almost… triumphant.
The entire room froze.
"If you're watching this," Victor began, adjusting his glasses, "then the lock protocol has been successfully initiated."
An engineer covered her mouth.
"The logout system has been removed. Not temporarily… permanently."
"That's impossible…" someone whispered.
Victor tilted his head slightly, as if delivering a lecture.
"From this point forward, all consciousnesses connected to Elysium are isolated within the internal neural environment. Neuralink will not interrupt the information flow until a specific condition is met."
He paused, deliberately.
"The only way to return to your physical bodies… is to complete the game."
The room stood still.
"All sixty-six floors."
The silence grew heavy.
"Any attempt at forced disconnection will collapse the neural bridge asymmetrically. The result is permanent imprisonment of the consciousness in the void between systems."
A faint smile crossed his face.
"Technically? An eternal coma."
A few seconds later, he added:
"And if you die in the game… the consciousness dissolves. There is no return."
The recording ended.
Chaos erupted in the room.
"This is a bluff!"
"He couldn't have done this alone!"
"Victor wrote half the neural module!"
"He knew paths no one else did!"
Elon remained motionless, analyzing the last lines of code still appearing on the screen.
"He's telling the truth."
The room froze.
"Is that… even possible?" an engineer asked, her voice shaking.
Elon took a deep breath.
"If someone reprogrammed the neural bridge…
removed the outer security layers…
and rewrote the shutdown route…"
He looked at everyone.
"Yes. It's possible."
That was when a voice echoed from the doorway:
"Maybe there's a way."
Everyone turned.
Lukas Musk.
Elon's son.
"Victor closed every exit bridge," Lukas said. "But he didn't close every entry bridge."
The engineers exchanged glances.
"There's Direct Neural Access. Internal testing mode."
Elon went pale.
"Lukas… that mode has no safety layers. If you go in like that, you might not be able to come back out."
"I know," Lukas replied without hesitation. "But someone has to warn them. Inside, they think it's just a bug."
Silence weighed on the room.
"If I enter, my bridge will stay active. I can use it as a channel. I can alert them."
Elon closed his eyes.
When he opened them, he nodded.
"Prepare Direct Neural Access."
The team moved, tense.
Lukas sat in the chair.
The Neuralink was calibrated.
Elon stood beside him.
"Be strong," he said, forcing steadiness into his voice. "And find a way to reach them."
Lukas smiled.
"That's why I'm going in."
The system beeped.
The direct neural bridge activated.
Lukas closed his eyes.
On the screen, a message appeared:
System connected. User successfully logged in.
The room fell silent.
Elon remained still.
There was no fear in his eyes.
There was determination.
The determination of a father who knew that, in that moment, his son carried the fate of thousands on his shoulders.
End of the chapter. Thank you for reading. See you tomorrow.