The Man at the Door
From the emergency announcement through the first midnight cull
Aether named Ethan the city’s highest-risk citizen, and he traced the score jump to a boundary-testing script without finding why the system had judged it as a threat. When neighbor Nevin Holt tried to take Ethan’s emergency supplies, Ethan maneuvered him into a knife attack; Nevin’s score surpassed Ethan’s and the Cleaner executed him at midnight, dropping Ethan to rank two. Ethan survived, but the system’s accusation and the cost of his first manipulation remain unresolved.