The search results were a graveyard of shady domains and flashing "Download Now" buttons. He clicked a link on the third page—a forum thread from 2022 where a user named VoidWalker claimed to have the "perfect crack."

But then, the music from the Keygen didn’t stop. Even after he closed the program, the 8-bit loop kept playing, getting louder, distorting into a screeching metallic whine.

His mouse cursor began to move on its own, drifting toward the top right corner of the screen. His webcam’s green light flickered on. A terminal window popped up, lines of red code scrolling too fast to read.