Ready Player Zero

Chapter 1: Awakening

New York City, 2029. The city that never sleeps had become a restless, dystopian sprawl, a testament to the decay of a once-great civilization. Unfinished skyscrapers, now dark and lifeless, loomed over the horizon, casting long shadows over the teeming streets below. The neon lights of billboards flickered ominously, painting the city in an eerie, artificial glow. Among the masses, millions of tents sprawled across the urban landscape, housing those who had been pushed out of affordable housing by the obscenely rich who bought up all livable properties for hundreds of miles.

Inside a dark, cluttered apartment, a young man known only as Zero sat hunched over his computer. The faint hum of his machines filled the air, a comforting sound amid the chaos outside. The blue light from multiple screens illuminated his face, highlighting the determination in his eyes. He took a deep breath, his fingers poised over the keyboard, ready to execute a command that could change everything.

$ RICO.exe