Elias switched his feed. He bypassed the theater's secure server and slotted the chip into his wrist port.

It was 2041. Two decades of generative AI had turned the internet into a funhouse mirror. Anyone could fabricate a video of a president declaring war or a pop star confessing to murder. The term "verified" had become so rare that OVH’s green checkmark—a stylized eye inside a circle—was now more valuable than most national currencies.