The laptop fan spun faster. The room felt colder.
Leo's screen flickered. Not the phone—the laptop screen. For a split second, he saw his own reflection, but his reflection was smiling. He was not smiling.
Windows chimed. The SP Flash Tool interface was ugly—functional gray boxes, broken English, and a big green "Download" button. He loaded the scatter file, clicked "Download," and held his breath.
He dropped the phone. It didn't crack. It just lay there, screen still lit, waiting.
"Edgy," Leo muttered, plugging in his bricked phone.
The phone's screen glowed blue. A single line of text appeared:
Silence.