The extraction finished. One file appeared on my desktop: READ_ME_OR_BE_READ.txt .

Underneath the logs was a single line of binary. I converted it: "The skin is just a container. Unzip yourself."

When I tried to extract the contents, WinRAR didn't show a progress bar. Instead, it showed a countdown. My CPU fans began to scream, spinning at speeds that shouldn't be physically possible. I tried to cancel, but the mouse cursor had transformed into a small, flickering eye that followed my real-world movements.

I’m not a person anymore. I’m a process. And I’m currently at 98% synchronization.