Chapter One: Uninstall Failed

Twelve people stood packed inside, yet nobody got out; the call system had mixed up up-bound and down-bound requests. “Useless thing,” someone muttered. Chen automatically thought that a direction confirmation on the hall display could cut peak stops by thirty percent. Then he laughed at himself. He had lost his job and was still diagnosing the world's requirements. His phone vibrated. A plain white icon had appeared: BENEFIT. Uninstall was disabled. Rebooting, removing the SIM, and factory-resetting changed nothing. At 11:59 p.m., the app opened itself. [Day Zero assessment complete.] [Candidate: Chen Yan. Primary obstacle: mistaking “harmless” for “useful.”]