Major cyber attacks — some authored, the chronicle suggested, by the same states that later investigated them — were used to justify central control of critical infrastructure. Power grids failed. Supply chains snapped. Supermarket shelves emptied for months at a time. Stimulus cheques arrived in digital form only, routed through accounts that the state could freeze with a single click.
What had been marketed as emergency measures quietly became permanent. Shoothis underlined the word quietly on his wall. In every chapter of the chronicle, that word did more work than any weapon.