With a magnifying visor strapped to his head, he touched the fine probe from the Pico to the point. He tapped a single command into his laptop.

Kael didn't want obedient. He wanted his . The stock "Joy UI" was a gilded cage. Every animation was buttery smooth, every game ran at a locked 120fps, but the cage was there. He couldn't install a true firewall. He couldn't strip out the analytics pinging back to the mothership. He couldn't run the lightweight, de-Googled OS he’d built on his laptop.

The smile froze.

"If it's too easy, it's a trap."