I placed the white card on the kitchen table like it was a bomb.
Tony hovered on the opposite side, screen showing a tiny pair of binoculars.
"You're really going to interrogate a playing card at four in the morning?"
"Do you have a better idea?"
"Sleep."
"Rejected."
I tapped the card once.
"Okay. Talk. What is Echo?"
Silence.
I poked it again.
"I'm serious. You've been cryptic for two chapters. Spill."
The card finally answered, voice calm and dry inside my head:
Echo is what remains when an Administrator is erased but refuses to stay erased.
I blinked.
"That's… actually a straight answer. Suspicious."
You're welcome.
Tony floated closer. "Ask it why your percentage keeps rising by itself."
I did.
**Because the seal is cracking. Every time you use the Debug Menu, every time you survive a Patcher, every time you refuse to die like a normal User… the lock weakens.**
"So I'm basically speedrunning my own boss fight?"
Correct.
Great.
I leaned back in the chair.
"Who sealed Echo in the first place?"
This time the card hesitated.
That information is restricted.
"By who?"
By the ones who are still afraid.
Before I could ask another question, the kitchen lights flickered. The debug panel opened on its own.
> [ALERT]
> Observation unit has arrived.
> Threat Level: Low
> Recommended Action: Act normal
A soft knock sounded at the door.
Tony and I stared at each other.
"Act normal," I whispered.
I opened the door.
Standing there was a man in a cheap delivery uniform, holding a pizza box. He looked completely ordinary. Too ordinary. The kind of ordinary that felt copy-pasted.
"One large pepperoni for… Zeke_N?" he said with a friendly smile.
I didn't order pizza.
Tony projected a message only I could see:
That's not a pizza guy.
I forced a smile. "Wrong address."
The delivery man tilted his head. His smile didn't change, but his eyes flickered with static for a split second.
"Are you sure? The System says you ordered it."
I opened the debug panel behind my back and quickly scanned him.
> [Entity: Observation Unit – Model P-14]
> [Disguise: Pizza Delivery]
> [Primary Directive: Confirm User is still within acceptable parameters]
> [Secondary Directive: If Echo value exceeds 2%, escalate]
He was still smiling.
I smiled back harder.
"Tell the System I said thanks, but I'm on a diet."
I closed the door in his face.
Three seconds later there was no one in the hallway.
Tony's voice was quiet.
"Your Echo value just hit 1.9%."
I looked down at the white card. It had moved closer to the edge of the table on its own.
You're running out of quiet time, it said.
I rubbed my face.
"Tony."
"Yeah?"
"Next time I suggest poking something with a stick… stop me."
Tony's screen showed a tiny stick figure of me already poking a giant red button labeled "DO NOT TOUCH."
"No promises," he said.