When I finally managed to restart the computer, the file was gone. My desktop was back to normal. But when I looked at the clock, it was 3:14 AM again.
There were no progress bars. There was no "Success" message. Instead, my desktop icons began to rearrange themselves. They didn’t snap to the grid; they drifted like debris in a slow-moving current, clustering in the center of the screen to form a crude, pixelated shape—a serpent held in a human hand. File: ANDROMALIUS.zip ...
I’ve been watching the clock for what feels like hours. It hasn't moved to 3:15. I think he's still in the room, waiting for the extraction to finish. When I finally managed to restart the computer,