I didn’t get lucky enough to overhear anything else. There were just footsteps, stuff getting moved around, and the terrifying sensation of someone messing with my neural link without my say-so before darkness and numbness consumed my world.

  The next thing I knew, I was standing in a long, dimly lit corridor that seemed to be made entirely of glass, which made for some very trippy reflections.

  Before I could think twice about whether it was smart to do or not, I brought up my stats.

  No changes there, which was honestly a good thing. ‘They’ (whoever ‘they’ were) could have done any number of things to my body which I would never recover from, and which almost certainly would have tanked my stats. I mean, could you still have a nominally ‘normal’ physique of 1 if someone took your arms or legs off? I’d be willing to bet on a no.

  Even better, I still had access to my stat screen itself. And it wasn’t sending me creepy messages or screaming at me! Progress!

  On the other hand, I was pretty sure that I was currently stuck inside of the net. Presumably in the ‘block B’, whatever that meant.

  Another notable if slightly trippy thing was that I actually looked like myself. The many reflections that spun through the mirrors with every motion I made showed me, down to the tiniest physical detail. My hair, which I noticed for the first time was getting long, looked realistically textured. I could easily spot the well-known minor imperfections in my features. All physical functions, including breathing and blinking, were copied over perfectly.

  I could only assume my clothes were also copied over from my actual body, too. Seeing as I was wearing some odd, skintight suit, that made me feel all sorts of awkward. Especially when I thought about who could have been the one to change me into it.

  Funnily enough, the veracity of my copied appearance only served to stress me out.

  It was yet another link in a long chain of proof that my captors were not your regular flavor of corpos. The level of tech they had access to and the quality of work they produced all showed they were probably used to getting exactly what they wanted when they wanted it.

  And I had messed with that.

  I didn’t need any grand declarations of hatred to know what my future held. The ‘doctor’ intended to wring whatever use he could out of me before putting me into the ground. Or, more realistically, an industrial grade incinerator.

  I clung to that thought like a lifeline. It kept me firmly rooted in the present moment and fighting for survival. If I allowed my mind to wander, then I would be a sobbing ball on the floor.

  But despite my best efforts, flashes of Mela, Garren, and the other Kittens still flitted through my mind like a kaleidoscope of misery. I mean, if I was there, stuck in whatever cyber hell the ‘doctor’ had created, then I had little doubt my body had been pried from the cold, dead fingers of my friends and allies.

  The worst part was that I couldn’t even regret going to the HQ on Mela’s summons. They would have been dead and gone regardless, but at least this way, I got my punishment for it all. At long last, the corpo had me, and —

  “Attention, Subject 46.” The voice of the girl I’d overheard talking before rang out all around me. “You have one goal ahead of you: reach the end of the maze, alive. You will start the test in 3… 2… 1…”

  I had just enough time to drag myself out of the misery-pit I’d been slipping into before the counter reached zero, and the light level of the hallway suddenly rose significantly.

  The light seemed to come from everywhere. It wasn’t blinding, exactly, but it stabbed into my eyes unpleasantly. I squinted one last time at my reflection, caught sight of the nearly natural eye color I’d set for myself, and shrugged. I wasted a couple of seconds to turn it back to the default glowy red the eyes had been set to originally.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  Even that delay caused a very low, quiet hum to kick up behind me. I turned to see that I was separated by about two meters from a dead-end wall, where a glowing spark of electricity was building up in midair.

  It grew the longer I stared at it. Lightning bolts started to shoot off from it and into the mirror walls, where they left scorch marks. Then, ever so slowly, it began to hover towards me.

  So, cooperate and don’t take too long, or you’ll get zappy-zapped to death.

  Message received.

  The hallway ahead of me did not look that intimidating, to be honest. Though the mirrors made everything a bit wacky, I could still see it was a long stretch of hallway that eventually branched out to left and right. So, not wanting to die by lightning, I hurriedly moved forward.

  I briefly considered bringing up my Clairvoyance and trying to slip through a wall or something, but dismissed the idea quickly. Bringing up my stats had been risky enough. I knew the assistant was running interference for me, but I still didn’t want to play with fire and actively use my skills. There might be no way to fudge the readers and oversight for that, and then the doctor would most likely catch on.

  I had no idea why his assistant was lying on the subject, but —

  My vision glitched. I got to see my future self step forward, trigger a pressure plate, and get absolutely skewered by the spikes that erupted from absolutely everywhere a second later.

  I stood there, leg frozen mid-step, entirely unsure what to do.

  I didn’t want to die. No matter how much I wanted to keep my possession of the Shadow Runner Package secret and support whatever scheme the assistant had going, I didn’t want to die.

  Then again, she did let him know I had a ‘high compatibility level’ with the eyes. So long as I stuck to what I could do before I got the package, I’d be fine. Right?

  I could only hope so.

  Glancing back at the approaching electricity, I took a cautious step backwards. Then I hurriedly tested the path ahead. Taking a step towards the right half of the hallway triggered the plate. A step towards the left, however, did not.

  So, a simple ‘walk on this side of the corridor and die’ kind of trap. Easy peasy. The existence of the trap itself? Not as ideal.

  The sound of electricity behind me intensified.

  I let only the tiniest bit of panic slip into my expression as I ran forward at a jog, eager to put distance between myself and the zappy-zaps in case any future traps took longer to get around.

  Between me and the end of the first stretch of hallway, I ran into three more traps. One of them was another pressure plate, this time on the left, that triggered more spikes. One of them was a sensor trap that took me a couple attempts to figure out: I needed to duck below the halfway point of the corridor’s height.

  The last one was the worst. It was a pitfall trap. Gauging how far I’d have to jump to clear it was nerve-wracking, especially when I could only use the brief flashes of passive Clairvoyance insight.

  I did it, though. And then I was running again, constantly conscious of the electricity’s approach.

  As soon as another hallway opened on the right, I turned down it, for no particular reason. I just needed to keep moving, to keep my legs pumping, far away from the creeping electricity, and —

  Another glitching Clairvoyance peek, this time presenting me with the vision of two sweeping blades that would swoosh through the hallway at ankle height. My eyes widened, and I jumped over the spot just as the blades emerged. Risking a glance back, I saw the blades were still spinning, even in my wake.

  So, there were some static traps that would linger once triggered by proximity. Good to know!

  Ahead of me, the maze gave a turn to the left with no other options, so I booked it.

  The next trap was an invisible tripwire. It would have triggered a lattice mesh of lasers, designed to turn me into smoking chunks of meat. Then came another sensor that I had to duck under, followed by a nice little ‘left step, right step’ game with multiple pressure plates on the floor in a zig-zag pattern.

  I threw myself to the left down another stretch of corridor — and froze.

  It was a dead end. Even if I managed to run down the small stretch of remaining free space, doubtless littered with more traps, that would be it for me.

  The crackling electricity behind me seemed to double in intensity as blood rushed into my ears. I swallowed against a suddenly dry throat.

  I had a moment of amusement that they had copied over my body with such high fidelity. Then I turned to watch my slowly approaching death with mounting despair.

  I wasn’t stupid. One of the first things I’d researched about netrunning was what happened to runners who got offed in the digital realm. The answer varied, but… overall? Your best bet was to protect your avatar like it was your real-life, flesh-and-blood meat suit.

  Then again… some runners didn’t die, right? Some even got off scot-free, with only a very unpleasant seizure lingering in their memories as a token of their digital demise. Maybe I’d get lucky! Right?

  Right?!

  A few sparks flickered out from the electricity ball and reached me, sending flashes of agony through my digital body. Muscles seized up. Vision flickered. I was a puppet on wildly moving strings, and then the entire ball entered my chest and —

  My mind and body were a mess as I lay huddled on the ground. I couldn’t string together a thought or move a muscle. Oh, my limbs were twitching plenty, but not because I wanted them to.

  Then a voice cut through all the confusion and fear like a bucket of cold water dumped on my head.

  “Attempt number 1 recorded as a failure. Rerun in 10… 9…”

  Suddenly, my muscles started responding. I pushed myself onto my back. My thoughts were also growing clearer, though they felt like they were echoing up into my brain from some deep, deep well.

  I’m alive?

  I was pretty sure I could remember my chest exploding into a shower of gore when that ball of electricity entered it.

  “3… 2… 1…”

  The dim hallway lit up again, and the quietest possible hum of electricity began to build as a spark burst into life behind me. That sure got both my mind and body churning into action.

  I was alive, and I was back at the start of the maze. That was all that mattered.

  I spared a moment to confirm the first trap was identical, but then I was sprinting much faster than before. The next three traps were simplicity itself to dodge. This time, when the choice to turn right was presented to me, I very much kept going straight.

  I was doing as well as last time on the traps themselves. The variety would probably ramp up later, but for now, the most complex thing I ran into was a proximity sensor trap. I couldn’t avoid triggering it, and it formed a grid of lasers I couldn’t just dodge past. Still, I soon noticed they popped on and off every two seconds, so I just had to get my timing right and I was through.

  I turned right at the first hallway ending because it was the only option. Then, at a second crossroads, I risked another right. It was another double after that. Heart thundering in my chest, I took a left.

  I wanted to curse at the sight of yet another branch at the end of that hallway, but I sprinted for the left again. Then a forced right for lack of choice, and…

  Another dead end.

  I froze. I was doing so well! I’d been running, so the electricity was a mere distant hum. It would take a hot minute to catch up to me, but I wasn’t sure I had enough time to backtrack.

  A shiver took root in my body. My hand shook as I ran it through my hair.

  I didn’t want to just stand there and wait to die. I couldn’t. I wouldn’t go through that hellish zapping again.

  I eyed the hallway, then broke into a sprint. This time, when a flash of Clairvoyance gave me a warning, I ignored it.

  My foot landed on the pressure plate, and spikes turned me into a living pin cushion.

  To my despair, I didn’t expire immediately. My digital nature prolonged the suffering before darkness finally took me.

  Then my eyes blinked open as pain wrecked my body, radiating through me like those spikes were still embedded.

  “Attempt number 2 recorded as a failure. Rerun in 10… 9…”

  Oh.

  I began to chuckle, then outright laugh as I forced myself to my feet.

  So that’s it! No running away for me!

  I was there to be a good little guinea pig, and I didn’t get to expire until they gave me permission.