The first three links were shiny, official-looking ads for Microsoft 365. “Free for one month!” they sang. Anil did the math in his head. One month. That was enough for the test. But his bank account had exactly ₹1,247—enough for chai and bus fare for two weeks, not a recurring subscription he’d forget to cancel.

He deleted the browser history. And he never, ever searched for free download again.

The fourth link was different. It had a spelling error: Downlaod Excel 2016 Full Crac k . The font was a garish Comic Sans. The download button was a pulsating green orb.

They worked in silence as the city slept. By 5:47 AM, Priya had pulled his resume, his old case files, and a half-finished novel about a corrupt cricket league from the rubble of the encrypted drive.

Anil nodded. “The test.”

“I downloaded Excel,” he said.

Then, the laptop froze.

“The ransomware locked the .xlsx files,” she said. “But you never had any. You were trying to make one.”