Frustrated, Leo opened the Connector’s dashboard. It displayed a clean, optimistic interface: “All services operational. 2.3 GB cached.” The lie was so placid it felt like gaslighting.

He right-clicked the folder. “Free up space.” The command was meant to evict the local placeholder, forcing a fresh download. He clicked. The little blue icon on the folder flickered—first white, then grey, then back to blue. But the file remained a ghost. The Connector had shown him a reflection, not the file.

The answer was my workflow , Leo thought bitterly.

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