In a not-so-distant future… more and more people are fleeing into a ghostly but so fascinating virtual reality of online games. And more and more often, people vanish into that reality forever, leaving their loved ones with piles of problems. But as it often happens, new problems gave birth to a new profession. Igor Lambert is a “returner”—a special person who can feel the Network and isn’t affected by the space of Chandler, where other people can disappear forever.
When the son of an old friend “logs in” to the game, Igor rushes to help without thinking twice. But not everything is that simple. There’s a “hardcore” mode enabled there, and dying in the virtual world is equivalent to death in reality…