The red lights faded. The engine’s menacing arc slowed to a gentle hum. The Admin reappeared, looking impressed.

The Admin smiled, and for a second, his face flickered into a thousand different expressions—a tired mechanic, a burned-out software engineer, a student who’d failed this same test years ago. “I’m the ghost in the machine. The accumulated frustration of every real mechanic who ever had to debug a hack job made by a student who just clicked through the lesson.”

He landed on a cold, hard floor that smelled of ozone and burnt rubber. Groaning, he looked up. He was no longer in his dorm room. He was standing in the middle of a vast, impossibly detailed 3D engine bay. Piston rods the size of tree trunks moved in slow, menacing arcs overhead. Wires snaked across the floor like glowing veins.

Leo tumbled back into his chair, the smell of ozone fading. The Electude page was normal again. His progress showed 0% on “Parasitic Draw.”

Leo spun around. A figure leaned against a giant, translucent battery. He was made of the same blue light as the login vortex, but wearing a grease-stained jumpsuit and safety glasses. His name tag flickered: SYS.ADMIN | ELEC .