Chapter 154: The Enclosed Illusion

Thelma Zane’s Perspective The cup in front of me was filled with steaming vegetable soup. Its surface shimmered with heat, the steam curling into the air as though it had just been poured. But the unsettling reality was that this cup of soup had remained untouched for at least ten hours. The steam continued to rise, disappearing into the air, but there was something unusual about it. I watched intently and realized the steam didn’t dissipate naturally. It behaved strangely—it would vanish mid-air and reappear almost instantly, as though skipping steps in its transformation. It was subtle at first, but the more I observed, the clearer it became. The steam didn’t follow the natural laws of physics. Instead, it seemed artificial, as though someone had programmed it to mimic reality poorly. It reminded me of a glitch in a game, where animations loop awkwardly or skip frames. A thought occurred to me, wild and unnerving. “Maybe we’re not blocked from the world,” I said slowl