His camera light flickered on. On the screen, a live feed of Elias himself appeared, but his face was distorted, filtered through a terrifying, digital rot. Below the image, his banking app opened automatically. The numbers in his savings account began to spin backward toward zero.

"Maybe," Elias muttered, his thumb hovering over a dubious 'Download' button on a site cluttered with flashing pop-ups. The headline screamed: .

The neon sign above “The Binary Tap” flickered, casting a glitchy blue glow over Elias’s cracked iPhone screen. He wasn't there for the craft beer; he was hunting for , a legendary, high-end design suite that usually cost more than his monthly rent.