Project Daily Grind (Mirror World LitRPG series Book #1) by Alexey Osadchuk

The bank teller's fake sympathy was a cruel sting. Mr. Antonov, a plump man whose hand had never known true labor, delivered the crushing news: no more loans. My daughter, Christa, lay in a German clinic, her small chest ticking with a prosthetic heart, waiting for a miracle we couldn't afford.

Every penny was gone. Our apartment, our cottage – sold. Two weeks, that's all the money we had left for her hospital stay. And the Japanese clinic needed fifty thousand dollars upfront for the custom-grown heart. Two hundred fifty thousand in total. An impossible sum.

My mind raced, numb with despair. I needed money. Now. As I stumbled out of the bank, a colorful poster caught my eye: 'The virtual lands of Mirror World await you! Live out your most secret dreams!' Bullshit. But then, a line beneath: 'Industrial Mega Bank offers consumer loans to finance your work and account upgrade in the Mirror World virtual game.'

A cold dread settled in. Was this a solution, or another trap? My brother, Gleb, my estranged half-brother, was the only thread left. I scrolled to his number, 'Brother,' listed in my contacts. The phone rang, a lifeline to a world I never imagined entering.