It began as a mundane domestic rescue mission: a search for a rogue LEGO piece that had vanished into the dusty void beneath the heavy oak bookshelf. That “no man’s land” is usually reserved for lost coins and forgotten dust bunnies, but as I reached into the shadows with a pencil, I expected the sharp, familiar jab of plastic. Instead, my fingertips brushed against something entirely alien. It was lumpy, strangely textured, and possessed a dry, brittle crunch that sent an immediate jolt of alarm through my system. In the split second of discovery, my mind spiraled through the worst-case...
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