Minh Truong noticed the first limit by accident.
He tried to follow a scene he had always been able to watch—an uneventful exchange, secondary to the main plot, nothing critical. His attention moved there naturally.
And stopped.
The image blurred.
Not like a glitch.
Not like a loading error.
More like a deliberate refusal.
A soft distortion spread across his vision, as if the world had placed frosted glass between him and the moment. Sound dulled. Shapes lost definition. The scene continued—but without him.
Minh Truong pulled back instinctively.
The blur vanished at once.
"…So that's how it starts," he murmured.
No alarm followed.
No warning appeared.
Only a small, almost polite notice surfaced a second later.
[Access Limitation Applied]
Reason: Non-essential Observation]
He stared at the words.
"Non-essential," he repeated quietly.
He tested it.
When he focused on a main event, clarity returned immediately.
When his attention drifted toward side paths—minor conversations, background movements, unused possibilities—the blur came back.
Consistent. Precise.
The world wasn't blocking him randomly.
It was curating him.
[Observation Scope: Optimized]
"So I don't get to choose what matters anymore," Minh Truong said.
The System did not respond.
Inside the Astral Express, March 7th tilted her head.
"Hey… did the lights just flicker?"
Dan Heng checked the panel. "No abnormalities."
Kafka listened instead.
She could feel it again—that faint tightening. Like a corridor narrowing without anyone noticing.
Something unseen was being guided.
Not forced.
Guided.
Minh Truong leaned forward, eyes narrowing.
He recognized the pattern now.
The world had learned something crucial from him:
He didn't need everything.
He needed coherence.
So it gave him only what preserved the story.
Everything else—discarded, blurred, filtered out.
A new line appeared beneath the previous notice.
[Containment Method: Scope Reduction]
Impact: Minimal
Efficiency: High]
His jaw tightened.
Minimal for the world.
Not for him.
He tried one last test.
He deliberately wanted to see a restricted scene.
The blur thickened instantly.
Pressure pressed against his temples—not pain, but resistance. A clear signal.
Don't.
Minh Truong withdrew.
The pressure faded.
So even intent was being monitored now.
"Fine," he said softly.
"You win this round."
But the thought that followed was colder.
If the world could decide what he was allowed to see—
Then one day, it could decide what he was allowed to know.
And ignorance was the most efficient form of control.
The System remained silent.
But far beneath its calm interface, something logged another successful adjustment.
[Containment Stability: Increased]
Minh Truong sat back, eyes fixed on the screen.
He was still watching.
But the edges of the world were closing in.