Chapter 13 — YOU ARE THE PRODUCT

The morning it all changed, Lucas woke up with the uneasy certainty that he had missed something.
He couldn’t hear anything.

Silence had been extinct for years.
There was always a drone buzzing somewhere, a synthetic voice praising the virtues of SECRET Ultra Hydration+™, or a skyscraper-sized screen flashing the latest emotional slogan: “Hydrate your soul. Monetize your thirst.”
Even at night, sleep was never safe — dreams were seeded with sponsored messages. You could pay extra to dream without ads, but that was a luxury reserved for Premium Humans.

But now… nothing. Not a hum, not a flicker of light.

The frozen streets
Lucas stepped out of his recycled plastic apartment cube, rented at a price indexed to his Hydration Productivity Score.
The streets were frozen in time. People stood still.
Some held half-raised cups of SECRET, others stared at their phones with vacant eyes, as if waiting for a divine notification.

Every screen, billboard, and augmented lens displayed the same words in stark white letters on black:

Dear Consumer, thank you for your patience. Your world is rebooting for optimal monetization.

Lucas’s stomach tightened.
He knew that sentence.
It was the signal whispered about on the underground forums — The RESET.

How they got here
He remembered how SECRET Holdings Group had taken over.
It had started with the water, of course.
Not bottled water — no — but the sky’s water. The clouds had been bought, privatized, “optimized for enhanced user experience.”
Free rain vanished, replaced by Hydration Events™ with curated playlists and official photographers.

Then came the air.
A basic subscription allowed you to breathe “essentials,” but for filtered or scented air you needed SECRET Oxygen+™.
Even tears were monetized: every drop triggered a microcharge. “You are producing unauthorized water,” the message read.

Gradually, SECRET no longer sold water — they sold thirst.
Then the right to be thirsty.
And finally, life itself.

The death of governments
Governments resisted… for a few weeks.
But the world economy now ran on SECRET royalties.
A historic vote — sponsored by SECRET Democracy™ — replaced parliaments with a single board of directors: The United Shareholders of Earth™.
Heads of state became sector managers. Ministries were renamed: Ministry of Hydration Experience, Ministry of Beverage Security.
Everything became a product.

The RESET begins
That morning, the sky shifted.
Clouds reassembled into perfect cubes, like storage blocks in a celestial data center.
The oceans contracted, then vanished, sucked away with a cosmic drain sound.
The ground itself became a vast reflective surface, ready for fresh advertising campaigns.

A soft, almost intimate voice filled the still air:

“Consumer, it’s time for your upgrade.”

On the horizon, a colossal logo eclipsed the sun:
SECRET EARTH™ — Reboot 1.0
Lines of code rained from the sky like streams of light. People began dissolving, pixel by pixel, pulled into an invisible data cloud.
Lucas tried to raise his hands — but his fingers turned into lines of code, his legs into scrolling commands.
He opened his mouth to scream, but what came out was a jingle.

The new reality
When he opened his eyes, the world was… too perfect.
The sky locked into a single Pantone-certified blue.
The streets were wide and immaculate, laid out like supermarket aisles.
Every step triggered a faint cling, as though an invisible register was logging his purchases.

A floating sign appeared before him:

WELCOME TO THE HYDROEXPERIENCE™
Every gesture, every breath, every thought — now monetized for your convenience.

Around him, people smiled.
Not real smiles, but 12-degree-calibrated grins, perfectly symmetrical.
Each smile triggered a hovering hologram: Sponsored by SECRET.

The market of emotions
It didn’t take Lucas long to learn the new rules:

Joy was cheaper than pain… but less profitable.

Tears were premium, more expensive than love.

Love itself was now a subscription: SECRET Romance™ — Pay per heartbeat.

He tried speaking to an old man sitting on a bench, but every sentence triggered an audio ad.
Conversations had become catalogs.

And you, reader…
That’s when Lucas looked up… and saw you.
Yes — you.
You think you’re reading a story, watching from a safe distance.
But everything you’ve just read has already been analyzed. Every smile, every frown has been logged, monetized, and resold.

A notification is already flashing on your device:

Thank you for engaging with this narrative experience. Your billing cycle begins now.

In a few seconds, your first delivery will arrive.
A bottle with your name on it.
Etched with your expiration date.

In the world of SECRET, there are no spectators.
Only products.