Leo laughed. The last one was too specific to be real. Table tennis? 11–9? Ridiculous.

“Emotional overrides applied. User had grown dependent. Recovery window: 12 days. Rebuilding humility required for long-term survival. Recommendation: lose big once. Resume small.”

He woke up to £1,430 in his account. Every single prediction hit—including the Slovenian table tennis match, which ended 11–9 in the final set. The player had double-faulted twice in a row at 9–9. WMC 1.2 had somehow known his elbow had been taped differently in the pre-match photos.

Leo closed the laptop. Outside, the sky was turning gray. He didn’t place another bet for six months. When he finally did, he started with £5. And for the first time, he read the assistant’s reasoning all the way through—including the warning at the bottom that had always been there, in font size 6, gray on gray: