**Chapter 5 – The Ripple Begins**
**Mumbai – 6:48 PM, A Week Later**
The glow of twilight spilled into the cramped café, casting long shadows over the faces of the few still nursing cold coffee or chewing their evening snacks. Arjun Verma sat in the farthest booth, headphones on, eyes locked onto his laptop screen.
**GitHub Stars: 8.2K**
**Downloads (BrainLine Pro): 22,587**
He exhaled slowly. The growth was no longer linear—it was snowballing.
Just seven days ago, BrainLine Pro had gone live. And it hadn't taken long for the whispers to begin.
Reddit threads dissected his code.
Tech micro-bloggers praised the optimization engine.
A niche productivity channel on YouTube even posted a 12-minute demo calling it, *"A game-changer for personal time management."*
But something else came with the rise.
Scrutiny.
He sipped cold chai and refreshed his inbox.
**Subject: Clarification on Data Usage – BlogTech Forum**
**Subject: Interested in Interview – The Bombay Byte**
**Subject: Account Authentication Request – Developer License Team**
Arjun frowned.
That last one came from the local office of a major digital platform. It was a formality—one triggered when an app reached 20K+ downloads within two weeks. They needed ID proof to verify he wasn't a botnet or scam distributor.
He had no problem with that.
But it meant his shadow was now casting a shape.
---
**System World – Response Lab**
Inside his expanding realm, the knowledge infrastructure had grown sophisticated. Kar01 worked on redesigning modular architectures while Reh01 developed system prompts that mimicked casual voice behavior. Nav01 had begun researching neural AI overlays for emotion mapping.
But today, Arjun had a separate task.
He created a Crisis Simulation Room.
A place where he could feed real-world developments and let clones predict outcomes.
He input the media mentions, blog articles, and download data.
The clone team ran the models.
> Risk Projection: Minor media interest (Tier 3 outlets) = 62%
> Governmental Attention: Minimal (flagged for growth only)
> User Skepticism/Paranoia = Low (Codebase visible)
Still, Nav01 advised caution.
> "You are not invisible anymore."
"I know," Arjun replied. "But I'm not ready to be seen either."
---
**Real World – The First Mention**
The article dropped at midnight.
**"The Phantom Dev Behind BrainLine Pro – India's Most Mysterious AI App"**
Published on The Bombay Byte
It wasn't sensational. But it was curious.
They didn't know who he was. They had no image. Only speculation.
*"Some say he's a former Google intern. Others think he's part of an underground hacker collective. One unverified post even claims he's not a person but an AI himself."*
Arjun laughed aloud reading that.
But it wasn't all jokes. The article's author, a young journalist named Sanya Nair, had done her research. She referenced the app's source code decisions, quoted from forums, and even emailed him for a statement.
He ignored the request for now.
He didn't want attention.
He wanted control.
---
**System World – Hidden Fortress**
He created a new structure: a data obfuscation fortress. Its only goal was to simulate ways to hide the real identity of a developer, maintain legal compliance, and still operate under a pseudonym.
He called it **The Cloak Tower**.
Inside, Reh01 and Nav01 developed protocol chains using VPN structures, ID proxies, and decentralized code commits.
Arjun watched them work, deeply aware that the system world was no longer just for learning. It had become his shield.
But he needed to act fast.
---
**Real World – Café Return**
He returned to the same tech café the next morning. This time, the guy at the front desk gave him a strange look.
"Hey, you Arjun Verma?"
He froze. "Why?"
"Someone was asking. Said they're from a local tech magazine. Saw your name linked to a dev ID."
Arjun nodded casually. "Don't know him."
He walked straight out.
The ripple had begun.
And even small waves, if not managed, could become tsunamis.
---
**End of Chapter 5**