In New York City in the near future, 18-year-old Emika Chen hunts a man wanted by the police. Instead of attending college, Emika is a bounty hunter, looking for petty criminals in a city with rising crime and overworked police. She competes against other hunters, each trying to bring in the wanted suspect first. As Emika tracks down Martin Hamer, wanted for gambling on the immensely popular virtual online game Warcross, readers learn from her internal monologue that she is desperately in debt—$3,450 in rent and $6,000 in credit card bills—and that this bounty of $5,000 would allow her to evade eviction. Readers also learn that the annual Warcross championships are about to begin with a ceremonial opening round, the champions having gone to Tokyo for the event, and that the game’s inventor, the famous Hideo Tanaka, just turned 21.

Emika uses her phone maps and hacked directory of Warcross players to locate Martin Hamer in a café. Though she successfully sneaks up on the man, chases him in the street on her electric skateboard, and brings him down with her stun gun, she does not receive the bounty. When the police arrive, they state that another hunter confirmed the suspect’s location before Emika did.