Chapter 4: Beyond the Code

Their path to the first "failure" was full of tension. With each step, Anya felt the world around them twist more and more, as if space itself was losing its shape. The horizon lines flickered, buildings melted before our eyes, and the sky flickered like a frozen screen. Even time seemed to start flowing differently: seconds stretched out and then accelerated dramatically.

"It's more like a dream than a game," Lisa muttered, looking around carefully. "Although I wouldn't call it a nightmare — it's much worse than that."

"Don't get distracted," Max said sharply, moving forward. "We're almost there."

Anya walked next to Dima, who continued to study the surrounding code through the\interface. His face was serious, focused, but there was a hint of fear in his eyes.\ She noticed that his fingers were trembling.

"Dima," Anya called softly, trying not to let the others hear her. — Are you sure this 'failure' is the way out?"

He turned to her, his eyes bright with nervous tension.

"That's not quite the way out." Rather, it's a bug in the\code. A weak point in the structure of the world where we can penetrate deeper, into the core of the system. If there really is a backdoor, then we will be able to find it through such gaps.

Anya nodded, feeling a knot of unease form in her stomach. They were playing a game with an invisible opponent who knew them every step of the way. She needed more information to understand what they were dealing with."

"And if that's not the way out?" "What is it?" she asked, not taking her eyes off the tower they were approaching ahead of them.

"Then we'll just be trapped even deeper," Dima said grimly.

As the group approached a tall tower that looked as if it had been built from fragments of various worlds, Max froze and motioned for them to stop. His eyes were focused on the tower's entrance — a giant metal portal surrounded by flickering glitches.

"Is it here?" "What is it?" he asked me.

Dima checked the data on his interface and nodded.

"Yes, that's it." Log in to"failure".

Max took a deep breath and went to the front door of the house. His face was set in a determined expression, but Anya knew he was afraid of her, too. They were all afraid of me. But there was no choice.

"Opening it?" Lisa asked, her voice shaking slightly.

"I don't have time to think about it," Max said shortly, and without waiting for an answer, he pushed open the elevator doors.

The massive doors slowly slid open, revealing a dark corridor leading down into the depths of the tower. At first glance, it was quiet, but Anya sensed that something was lurking in the darkness.

"Go ahead," she said softly, gripping the hilt of her sword. "Be careful."

They entered the tower, and the doors closed behind them with a thud. It was dark and cold inside, and the walls were covered with strange symbols that flickered intermittently in the air, like glitches in the matrix.

"What is this place?" Lisa asked, her voice barely audible, as if she was afraid that her voice would awaken something hidden.

"It's a kind of forgotten level," Dima explained, studying the\symbols carefully. — Perhaps the developers started creating something like a database for managing the game, but then left it unfinished. This level is distorted, unstable — the perfect place to hide a loophole.

"But this doesn't look like a place to just hide," Max said, looking around, peering down the hallway.

Anya felt a chill run down her spine. She looked at the flickering symbols on the walls and tried to understand them. There was something familiar about these symbols.

"It's not just a code," she said, coming closer. - This is the\team.

"A team? Max asked.

"Yes," said Anya. - Command to change the world. If we can understand how it works, maybe we can not just get out of here, but also change the game itself."

Dima stopped next to her and began to study the\symbols.

"Anya's right," he said. - These characters can be used to access the core of the game. But this is dangerous. Any mistake — and the world can come crashing down on us."

"We're already in danger," Max snapped. "Let's try it."

Dima took a deep breath and gently touched one of the\symbols. Suddenly, the air around them trembled, and the walls began to shimmer even brighter."

"Hold on! — Stop it! " he shouted.

The world began to spin around them, space contracting and expanding at the same time, and suddenly they were in a different place — in a giant room surrounded by streams of code. It was like the heart of a game, a place where the lines of digital reality met and intersected.

"It's a core," Dima whispered, looking around. — We're inside the\system.

Anya stared at the pulsing streams of code that seemed to be alive. This was the heart of the game — here they could find what they were looking for." Backdoor, loophole, way to get out of the trap.

"We're on the right track,"she said, her voice full of determination. "But we need to be even more careful now." If the system notices us here, it won't give us a chance to survive.

— And who says the system doesn't already know about us?" A cold voice rang out.

Everyone froze. The silhouette of a human slowly emerged from the shadows ahead. He was a tall man in a formal suit, but his face was distorted, as if he had been drawn on a crumpled piece of paper.

"Director," Max breathed.

"Welcome to the heart of the game,"the man chuckled, his eyes glittering like two cold monitors. — Now the game starts for real.