The Featured List.

the beginning.

IN AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION, AT AN UNDISCLOSED TIME.

"It's insane. It's bloody insane. What is this? Ready Player One?"

"Trust me. They're gonna love it."

"Oh yeah. Like they loved all the other changes."

"Hey! The new tagging system works spectacularly! I can see no reason why anyone would complain!"

"I'm going to pretend like I didn't hear that. Seriously though, why would they participate in this? You've made it far too difficult for the average Wattpadder. I mean, have you seen the intelligence of a ton of the content on here? It's rather concerning for the future of the publishing industry."

"Likewise, I'm going to pretend you didn't say that and counter that statement with this. The ones who are dedicated will get it. They'll fight for the answers, they'll solve the puzzles. This is designed for the true believers the intelligent types. Plus, it'll bring the whole community together. Like in Willy Wonka!"

"You know that everyone is going to be at each other's throats on the Forums, right?"

"Shut up. Let me have my moment."

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Jenny's eyes blinked open as she glanced at her clock. 3:24 am. An alarm was blaring outside her apartment, one of those high pitched beeps that came with the more modern cars. It was lovely if your Tesla was being stolen, not so lovely if a stray cat happened to meow too loudly, and you were just an innocent bystander trying to get to sleep at a godly hour.

It took another two minutes before the alarm finally stopped. It was a miracle the whole neighborhood wasn't awake at this point. As far as she could tell, she was the only one who had been disturbed by the experience. Fantastic. Horray to those who had normal sleeping schedules.

Afterward, she was only left to ponder what the hell she was going to do now that she was awake. It wasn't an unusual occasion for her to wake up at unusual times, but this morning felt different. She wasn't going to stare at the ceiling, questioning the meaning of life. That got old after five minutes on a good night anyways.

No, instead she was going to get something done.

She pulled out her laptop, charged for a good eight hours of feigned productivity, and opened Wattpad.

It would be a bit of an exaggeration to say that Wattpad was her lifeblood. It was more like her second kidney, in a sense. It was there, it served benefits if used properly, but there were backups that served similar purposes, and it wouldn't be the end of the world if it failed. Of course, this is somewhat ironic given what she was destined to get herself into, but that was what she believed at the time.

It was in that spontaneous, 3:30 in the morning decision that changed her life forever. She opened Wattpad and was met with an unassuming popup. The background was orange glitter, with text short but vague enough to be intriguing.

LET THE GAMES BEGIN.

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