“This is insane, Vanda. Your game is affecting what they see and do, even if they don’t realise it’s all augmented,” Maya said, her voice a mix of awe and concern. “Someone could misuse this to manipulate or harm people.” Vanda felt a weight in his stomach. He had wanted to create worlds for people to enjoy, not tools for manipulation. “We need to find out who else could be behind this. I haven’t shared my work outside of class.” Determined to get to the bottom of the mystery, they made their way to the computer science department. There, they accessed the server room with permission from their professor, under the guise of working on a class project. They needed to check if someone had hacked into Vanda’s project files or if the school’s network was being used to broadcast the AR overlays. As they sifted through lines of code and server logs, Maya pointed at a series of unauthorized access entries. “Look, these entries are from an off-campus IP address, and they coincide with when your console started acting up.” Vanda’s mind buzzed with possibilities. Who could access his designs, and more importantly, why? They copied the logs and decided to trace the IP address, but as they left the server room, the lights flickered ominously, and a shadow passed by the hallway window—a shadow that looked suspiciously like one of Vanda’s designed antagonists. “Did you see that?” Maya asked, gripping Vanda’s arm. He nodded, his resolve hardening. “Yeah, and we’re going to find out what’s going on. This is my game, and I’m not letting someone else control it.”
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