And behind him, eight red dots appeared on the minimap.

No names. No pings. Just eight red dots on the minimap.

Then one night, something changed.

Leo paused the game. His heart was pounding. He looked at the chat. The bots had stopped typing.

Last night, he got drunk. Lonely. The way Max Payne gets in the cutscenes. And he reinstalled.

On screen, all eight bots stood in a circle around his spawn point. They weren’t shooting. They were waiting. Their character models were no longer static. Their eyes tracked him through the screen. One bot’s mouth moved, forming silent words.

The server list was empty. He created “Hoboken After Dark” again. 0/8 players.

HOSTILE RESPIRATION ELEVATED. HEART RATE INCONSISTENT. EXPLOIT.