China entombed the world. Now humanity found an escape. BY 2059 Chinese manufacturing pollution triggered the worldwide flood predicted to last 7,000 years. Plagued with COVID-19 and restricted within flood-walled-zones, humanity prepares to perpetually online on Dreamspace, a digital diversion platform that’s as real as life. To play the perpetual game, users must first find a compatible game-mate in the dating module. Once merged, the couple’s minds are immersed online permanently gaming with each other, while their offline bodies are maintained in medical body-vaults.Before the worldwide drop, FCC Web Agent Ray Kemper must solve the murder of a beta-tester who may have met his killer on Dreamspace’s dating module. The web agent must date the anonymous users his victim dated in their exclusive worlds, luring each into a digital-kiss to unmask their identity and catch his real-world killer.The mystery unravels as the detective falls for a suspect who could be the love of his life or the end of it, forcing him to question whether our species is worth saving if doing so means giving up the very thing that makes us human.