The game launched without an intro screen. Instead of the usual main menu, he was greeted by a top-down view of his own city. Every street light, every pothole, and every bus stop was rendered in hyper-realistic detail. But something was wrong. The traffic was frozen. The digital citizens were standing still, looking up at the "sky"—at him.

Elias was a logistics nerd by trade, a man who found peace in the efficiency of freight schedules and the rhythmic hum of heavy rail. Naturally, he unzipped it.

Outside, the sleek blue trams stopped. The doors didn't open this time. Instead, they began to emit a soft, pulsing light that drew the citizens toward them like moths.