Operator

In the neon-lit purgatory of the Borderlands, where games of death decide your fate, there is one rule everyone knows: the Operator. Is too overworked, under-caffeinated, and officially out of patience.

Lyra is the secret engine of this lethal world. From her hidden control room, she calculates every laser's path and builds every impossible arena for the whims of the cruel, bored citizens who reign. Her only rewards are a visa that resets every 24 hours and the quiet obsession of the most powerful beings in existence. All she wants is a quiet eternity of complex code and comfy socks. So, for fun, she does the one thing she shouldn't: she creates "Ryu," a ghost player, and walks into her own death games.

Now, the emperor in the machine is trapped in the maze. The citizens who crave her, the players who depend on her, and one chillingly observant genius named Chishiya have all seen the ghost in the system. And in a world where everything is calculated, the most dangerous variable is a lonely girl who's forgotten how to be human-and the one player sharp enough to use her as the ultimate key to survive.

She built the hell. Now she has to survive it.