The Most Useless Awakening in History

Morning in Clayton City always felt like a replay with the volume turned down. Before sunrise had fully broken, the old district was already lit by ad screens: hero rankings, sponsor badges, last night’s best-rescue clips cycling across the towers like the whole city was doing free promotion for somebody else’s life. Aiden Carter gripped the steering wheel of his delivery van and stared at the AR navigation box floating over the road ahead. Twenty-four years old. Delivery driver. Temporary contract. Twelve dollars and seventy-five cents an hour, plus a so-called hazard bonus. That was his universe. PulseNet trending boards, hero academy interviews, top-tier streamers sitting on rooftop penthouses getting invited onto late-night talk shows, all of