Red was no longer a god. He was just an angry bird. And for the first time since the update, that was enough.

“Stop spending,†he croaked, his voice echoing from his wooden hut. “The Dinero is not a resource. It is a glitch . Every coin you spend to skip a puzzle, every gem you use to revive, you tear another hole in the fabric of Rio.â€

“Infinite Dinero,†the modders whispered on forgotten forums. “The Final Version.â€

With a soft chime , the counter rolled backward. 999,999,999… 0. The gold pixels faded. The steel girders returned to breakable wood. The marmosets chattered in confusion as their health bars dropped to normal.

Red looked at his golden feathers. He looked at the empty void. He remembered the first time he broke a real cage in Rio—the splintering wood, the satisfying pop of a monkey’s banana bomb, the feeling of earning a victory.