At first, it was perfect. High-resolution scans of every question, every chart, every single-word explanation. He drilled through 200 questions that first night. But on question 201, something shifted.

He tried to delete the PDF. The file was locked. He tried to reformat his external drive. The drive ejected itself. A new notification appeared: “You downloaded a shadow. Now the shadow owns your clock.”

The file was called UW_Step1_Definitive.pdf . It was 4.7 gigabytes. As it downloaded, a strange calm settled over him. The progress bar crept: 10%... 40%... 75%... 100%.