Elias, a digital archivist who spent his nights hunting for corrupted software and forgotten analog signals, clicked download. Usually, these files were empty shells or common malware, but KBBKBB.rar was massive—4.44 gigabytes.

Elias froze. He didn't have a camera in that corner of the room. He slowly turned his head to look at the ceiling. There was nothing there but peeling wallpaper.

His monitor flickered, the backlight bleeding a bruised purple. A window opened, but it had no borders, no "X" to close it. It was just a grainy video feed of a room that looked exactly like his own office, seen from the corner near the ceiling.