My laptop screen flickered, then resolved into a courtroom. Not a video game. Not a simulation. A perfect, photorealistic chamber of law, rendered from my memory. The peeling leather on the witness stand. The faint water stain on the prosecution’s table. And the judge’s bench—my bench—looming at the far end.

But v1.11 had one more feature. A tiny, almost hidden button beneath the verdict options: “REAL-WORLD EXECUTION – Enable?”

I froze.

I was the judge.

So yes. I downloaded it.

I looked at Thorne. He was crying. Real tears. On my screen. In my bedroom at 6:12 AM.

The screen went black. The courtroom vanished. Silence.

His face paled. That wasn’t supposed to happen. Fines in a game weren’t real.