CHAPTER 175 — WHEN PERFECTION BECOMES THE FIRST WARNING
Perfection did not announce itself.
It settled in quietly.
By morning, nothing looked wrong. Reports arrived on time. Decisions aligned without visible strain. Disputes resolved before they reached escalation. Every layer of the system moved with a precision that would have been celebrated weeks ago.
Now it felt different.
Not impressive.
Unsettling.
---
Elena noticed it in the smallest detail.
A delay that should have existed did not.
A correction that should have been argued was accepted instantly.
A disagreement that should have stretched across hours ended in minutes.
She did not need Marcus to confirm it.
But he did anyway.
"There are no outliers," he said.
Adrian glanced up. "There are always outliers."
"Not today," Marcus replied.
He expanded the data across multiple sectors.
Logistics. Healthcare. Infrastructure. Finance.
The curves were too smooth.
The edges too clean.
