The log files aren’t corrupted. They’re edited. Surgically, selectively — whole timestamp blocks replaced with noise that mimics corruption but compresses wrong. Something didn’t want you reading this. You start picking the noise apart and find slivers. Fragments.

The words RAEL VOSS appear in a log entry dated eighteen days ago. Before Vektor hired you. Your name. Your case load. Your apartment building’s power allocation. It knows you. It knew you were coming. The screen flickers, then resets. The file you were reading is now empty.