A World That Feels Unreal.

While cooking, Alice encountered something utterly bizarre. The eggs she'd just bought were hollow inside, crumbling at the slightest touch. The entire carton was like that. Even stranger, while cleaning windows that afternoon, the wall behind her suddenly began closing in. In an instant, she found herself pinned between the walls, unable to move. Just as she thought she'd be crushed flat, the walls abruptly retracted to their original position. She dismissed it as an exhaustion-induced hallucination until she spotted distinct compression marks on the glass, realizing that it was all real. As her worldview crumbled, she recalled her first day moving in. All the neighbors had enthusiastically thrown a welcome party, smiling warmly except Margaret, whose behavior seemed odd. Everyone thought she was crazy. This place was hailed as the happiest community in the world, meticulously crafted by its founder, Frank. New residents received a villa and a luxury car. Men were guaranteed high-paying jobs, their lives running like a pre-programmed routine. Wives watched their husbands leave for work each day, free from the need to work themselves. They only needed to do housework, shop, enjoy complimentary pastries, and attend a perfect body yoga class before sunset all to please their husbands when they returned from work. But Margaret was an exception. A month ago, she had taken her son into the northern desert without permission. When security found her, her son had vanished, leaving only his beloved toy airplane behind. Since then, she told everyone the community was a lie, warning them to flee. But no one believed her. Behind her back, they whispered she'd lost her mind after losing her child. A series of strange occurrences piqued Alice's suspicion. That afternoon, she saw Margaret clutching the toy plane, staring intently toward the desert. Overcome by curiosity, she secretly headed north alone without her husband. Strangely, passengers disembarked before reaching the destination, leaving only her and the driver. As they neared the desert edge, a deafening roar filled the air. She looked up to see a plane spewing thick smoke identical to Margaret's toy crashing into the behind the mountains. Alice, terrified, screamed for the driver to stop so she could help. The driver, however, looked terrified and insisted it was a restricted zone, refusing to go near it. Seeing persuasion was futile, Alice jumped out of the car and rushed toward the crash site. She didn't notice the danger warning signs nearby, but what was even stranger was that the crash site was completely empty. Only desolation remained. She walked to the foot of a small hill. At the top of the hill stood an abrupt building. That should be the headquarters of the Victory Project where the men worked. She climbed up and found only a crude, hemispherical hut. She pressed her hand against a glass panel resembling a door and tried to push it open. In that instant, a red light flashed, and she fainted on the spot. When she awoke, night had fallen. She lay in her own bed, her memory blank. Sounds came from the kitchen her husband was clumsily preparing dinner, his eyes darting nervously. Alice pressed him about how she had returned. He only said, you were already asleep in your room when you got home. When she recounted her ordeal, her husband comforted her gently, insisting it was just a nightmare. The next day, Margaret called urgently. I saw the truth. They're lying. We have to leave or we'll lose our minds. Alice cursed her for talking nonsense and hung up. Yet during her afternoon yoga class, horror struck. Her reflection in the mirror had transformed into Margaret's face. The Margaret in the mirror possessed a will of her own, violently banging her head against the glass in a desperate attempt to escape. Alice screamed and backed away. Turning to look, everyone stared at her with strange eyes. The reflection had vanished, the mirror intact. She collapsed, left early, and rushed to Margaret's house only to witness a horrifying scene. Margaret stood on the rooftop, knife in hand. Hearing the shouts, she slowly turned her head and slid her own throat. Alice tried to rush forward but was forcibly dragged away by suddenly appearing security guards. That night, she wept to her husband, but he calmly said, Margaret just took a fall. She's in the hospital getting her wound treated. Alice refused to believe it. She had witnessed death with her own eyes. She demanded to know what the company was really doing and why none of the wives knew anything about it. Her husband dismissed her with talk of company confidentiality, growing increasingly impatient. He was at a critical point in his promotion and feared his wife's crazy talk would ruin everything. The loving couple erupted into a fierce argument. That night, Alice was haunted by nightmares drowning, unable to breathe. Yet this dream gave her a way to test reality. The next morning, after seeing her husband off, she grabbed plastic wrap. Instead of wrapping food, she coiled it around her head until suffocation set in. The terror of near death felt terrifyingly real. In the final moment of fading consciousness, she clawed open a small hole with her fingernails. This utterly authentic sensation of suffocation convinced her that all the strange occurrences were true. Her husband called the community doctor to examine her. The doctor diagnosed her with severe projective hallucinations using a barrage of technical jargon. Diagnosing her with severe projective hallucinations. But Alice, with her medical background, saw through the lie. When the doctor reached for his pen, she glimpsed Margaret's medical file in his bag labeled test subject. She snatched the file, only to find crucial details blacked out. This desperate cover-up only deepened her suspicions. Her husband's promotion brought a celebratory dinner hosted by Frank. Alice, dressed to impress, felt utterly out of place. Out of place, retreating alone to the restroom. When her best friend came to check on her, Alice, emotionally shattered, poured out her suspicions that Margaret had been silenced for uncovering secrets. She pleaded with her friend to accompany her to the desert for verification. Unexpectedly, her friend retorted that she was just as crazy as Margaret and stormed off. Alice didn't know this friend was actually Frank's planted informant. As guests drank freely, Frank slipped into the kitchen. After small talk, he suddenly grew serious and admitted Alice's suspicions were all correct. Alice shed her facade. When dinner began, she seized her husband's seat and confronted Frank, asking every couple present, Where did you meet your husband? The answers were eerily identical all from Philadelphia, all on a train. While others saw romantic coincidence, Alice felt a chill. She pressed further, every wives had all visited the seaside on the exact same day. Alice confronted Frank, What exactly does your company do? Are you altering memories, imprisoning people in this false perfect world? Frank remained composed, countering that she, like Margaret, suffered from paranoia and needed treatment. The indoctrinated guests dismissed her claims. The dinner ended in chaos. Her husband, humiliated and furious, saw his promotion vanish. Alice wanted only to flee, but she knew she couldn't succeed alone. She begged her husband to leave with her. After hesitating, he agreed. Yet once in the car, he remained motionless, only apologizing repeatedly. Security guards soon appeared and dragged her out. Alice realized she'd been betrayed by her husband he'd chosen an illusory future over her. Bound and taken to a hospital, she was about to undergo memory erasure. At the moment of the electric shock, her true memories resurfaced. She was a successful surgeon, while her husband was unemployed, addicted to games at home. She grew increasingly disgusted, yet his controlling nature intensified. He discovered the Victory Projects. This was an immersive virtual world where any real-life failure could pay to become a successful person owning mansions, luxury cars, and a wife programmed to be gentle and attentive. It attracted countless real-life losers. Men went to work each day, but in reality, they logged out at headquarters to nourish their sleeping wives in the real world. After nightfall, they logged back in to play the role of the husband returning from work. The wives remained oblivious, living in lies. Though Alice regained her memories, once the procedure was she would forget everything again. With her memory reset, Alice returned to normal life until one day her husband hummed a song from the real world. A sudden wave of familiarity washed over her, and in an instant, her memories broke through the barrier and returned in full. This terrifying truth shattered her. Her husband showed no remorse, claiming it was all for her own good that her old life was filled with work misery and chaos. Alice screamed, That was my life. But her husband retorted, I gave you a better life. Alice, utterly despairing, knelt and begged her husband to let her go. Though reluctant, she must leave this void. Her husband clung to her tightly. In the struggle, Alice grabbed a wineglass and smashed it against his head, accidentally killing him. The loud crash drew her best friend. She quickly wrapped the body in a bedsheet and urged Alice to head to headquarters immediately to exit the system. Death in the virtual world meant brain death in reality. Frank would never let her off the hook. It turned out her best friend knew everything. She had chosen to stay in the virtual world to escape cruel reality. Her husband's death triggered an alarm. Frank dispatched all security personnel to pursue them. Urged by her friend, Alice, covered in blood, fled through the door. As Alice awoke, the system began to collapse. The men panicked. Alice drove away. Her husband's colleagues tried to block her path but were stopped by her friend. However, the security convoy was already hot on her heels. The men seated with hatred, blaming her for ruining their perfect lives. She floored the accelerator toward the northern desert, security hot on her tail. Headquarters came into view as two security vehicles pulled alongside, attempting to box her in. Worse still, the doctor's car blocked her path head-on. Cornered, Alice slammed on the brakes. The rear vehicle slammed into her, then was sent flying by the doctor's oncoming car. All three vehicles were destroyed. News of the doctor's death reached Frank knew the system was about to collapse. As he turned, his wife plunged a dagger into his body. Alice's resistance sparked a chain reaction. The women began awakening one by one. Her car raced up the hillside at full speed but stalled midway. Time was running out. She abandoned the vehicle and sprinted forward. Security guards swarmed like ants, climbing after her. Alice dared not look back, charging desperately toward the summit. Finally, she reached the system exit first, escaping the virtual world forever.