He tried to close his eyes. They wouldn’t close. The game’s HUD was now his cornea: health bar top left, ammo counter top right. A new prompt blinked: Quick Time Event: Survive the betrayal.

It was 3:47 AM, and Leo’s search history looked like a confession. Jet Li: Rise to Honor — PC download. Full version. No survey. No virus.

The last thing Leo saw before the loading screen for Level 3 was his own reflection in a broken mirror—but his face had been replaced by a low-poly texture, jaw frozen mid-snarl, eyes two dead pixels in a sea of violence.