Stories for The People by The People

Chapter 1: The Perfect Citizen Elias Carter lived his life by the numbers—meticulously, intentionally. In a world where every interaction, decision, and even thought (or so it felt) was monitored and rated, he had learned the rules better than most. His Social Credit Score, displayed in shimmering digits on a holo-chip embedded in his wrist, never dipped below 900. This score granted him access to a life of privilege: luxury housing with views over the glassy high-rises of the city, priority appointments at medical facilities, express lanes in transit hubs, and unrestricted travel permissions others could only dream of. It was a life designed for perfection, as long as one stayed compliant. “Control your score, and you control your future,” his father had always said. Elias grew up hearing the wisdom, absorbing the lesson. His father had once dropped below 700 after a misunderstanding involving an overdue payment. It had taken months of painstaking effort to repair the damage, and Eli...