That night, as the screen’s glow dimmed and the system’s new rhythms settled into a borrowed heartbeat, they felt two losses at once. One was material: files encrypted, hours wasted chasing patches and resets, a bank account that would need new locks. The other was subtler: the erosion of trust in their own choices. How many small clicks had become a trail of compromises? How many times had they accepted the clickbait cure for boredom and been told it worked, only to find the work it required was always, quietly, on them?