Ethan sat with his phone in his hand for a long time, and eventually just turned the screen off and set it face-down on the mattress like that would stop whoever was watching from watching. It didn't feel like it worked. Nothing tonight had felt like anything worked.Sleep, when it finally came, lasted less than it should have and ended the way most things had started ending lately … with a notification.[NEW MISSION AVAILABLE.] [TARGET: LOW-TIER MONSTER DEN, LOWER BLOCKS SECTOR 7.] [REWARD: ENHANCED STRENGTH.] [TIME LIMIT: NONE.]No time limit. Ethan read that part twice, waiting for the trick. Every mission so far had come with a countdown, a threat, a leash pulled tight enough to feel. This one just sat there, patient, almost polite."What's the catch," he said out loud, to a ceiling that didn't answer.He got up anyway. Not because the system had forced him … his arm stayed his own this time, his legs answered to him and no one else … but because refusing had already cost him a ni