The last thing Leo heard before the monitors went black was the sound of a physical belt tightening—not on a stack of books, but around his own chest. The "Client" wasn't a piece of software. It was a vacancy. And he had just given it a home.
"Just a client," Leo muttered, his mouse hovering over the Extract button. "Probably some dead MMO or an old VPN."
Leo reached for the power button, but his hand froze. He wasn’t controlling his arm anymore. On the screen, his own face—captured by the webcam—began to smile, though his real lips remained pressed in a thin, terrified line. The cursor moved on its own, clicking Y .