The phone rebooted. Not into MIUI—but into a white screen. A warning: "The bootloader is unlocked. Your device is not safe." A mandatory 5-second pause.
"Add account to Mi Cloud and device before unlocking. Wait 168 hours to unlock."
Aarav looked at the unlocked phone. It was no longer a Xiaomi device. It was his .
Then: "Unlocked successfully."
He knew the cost. The phone wiped itself clean. All photos, contacts, WhatsApp chats—gone. But he had backed up. Smart boy.
This time, no error. A progress bar crawled from 0% to 100%. It took ninety seconds that felt like ninety years.
