The green flare light flickered in the sky above the Rozhok apartments. It wasn't just a supply drop; it was a beacon for every hungry squad in the area.
John looked at Michael—the bot with the soul of a pro. "They have no idea what's coming, do they?" John said, a grim smile returning to his face.
Michael didn't respond with words, but his actions spoke volumes. He didn't run toward the building; he started a series of rapid, tactical movements, flanking through the water-logged ruins. He was moving like a shadow, using the "bot-step" intermittently to confuse the enemy's sound visualization on their mini-maps.
Inside the apartment, a four-man squad was laughing, thinking they were the kings of the hill. "I see a bot in the ruins!" one of them shouted. "Leave him to me, I need the kill points!"
The player leaned out of the window with a Kar98k. But before he could even center his crosshair, Michael performed a frame-perfect "crouch-peak."
*Crack-crack-crack!*
Three bullets from Michael's M416 tore through the player's Level 2 helmet.
[Michael (BOT_ID_001) knocked out Xx_Slayer_xX with M416]
"What?! A bot just one-tapped me from the ruins!" the player screamed in his squad's ear.
John seized the moment. "My turn," he muttered, rushing the stairs with a shotgun and grenades, knowing that Michael was covering every window and every exit.
As the building turned into a chaotic mess of smoke and explosions, John felt something he hadn't felt since the crash—total confidence. He didn't have to check his back. He knew Michael was there. He knew the ghost in the machine was watching over him.
One by one, the squad fell. The last survivor tried to jump from the roof to escape, but Michael caught him mid-air with a clinical spray of lead.
Wiped.
John stood on the roof, waving his pan toward the ruins where Michael was hidden. Michael stepped out from the shadows, his default white shirt stained with digital soot, but his stance was as lethal as ever.
"We're not just playing PUBG anymore, are we, Michael?" John whispered to the wind. "We're rewriting the game."