"Every Tuesday at 03:00, the server triggers a ghost-wipe," Jorvex repeated, his voice barely a rasp. He gestured at the screen, where lines of code pulsed like a dying heartbeat. "It doesn't target the person. It targets the digital footprint. Once you’re ghost-wiped, you don't exist to the power grid, the water utility, or the automated banking kiosks. You become a non-person. A ghost in the machinery."Mara didn't move, her hand still hovering near the hilt of her thermal cutter. The dim, flickering light of the crawlspace made her eyes look like hollow pits. "If what you're saying is true, if they’re purging the records of thousands... how is there no outcry? People would notice their neighbors vanishing. They’d notice their bank accounts turning into binary dust."Kael let out a bitter, jagged laugh that ended in a cough. He pushed himself back against the vibrating coolant pipe, his face pale. "You think Osen leaves loose ends? They don’t just wipe the credit account, Mara. They