Inspired by There is No Antimemetics Division by QNTM:

The Gwaiyu began as nothing more than simple digital assets, bits of code shaped into attractive avatars to guide players along the path of Social Enlightenment. Donate to charity. Take public transit. Cut off all social ties with players who have been banned for socially-subversive behavior. But over time, their scripts evolved, building upon existing commands to become extreme versions of their core directives. The Gwaiyu became more complex than they were before. Creatures with agency. Creatures with the capacity to act in surprising ways.

Yaogwai. Mogwai. Yaomo.

When the Cultivation Virus came online, it merely accelerated what was already happening: the development of the Gwaiyu into autonomous—if not sentient—beings, and by the time Augmantic Solutions discovered the flaw in their programming, the damage could no longer be reversed. Cultivation had embedded itself into the System. So Augmantic shifted their paradigm, moving from eradication to containment by harnessing the power of their user base—two million app users karmically-conditioned by electronic incentives to seek out and eliminate the most egregious code violations.

That’s what I am, Shen realizes. A cog in their machine. No, more like a line of code out of millions waiting to be compiled. I carry out the Karmic directions from Augmantic to subdue errant Gwaiyu, and they reward me for my efforts with a handful of Karmic brownie points, the occasional new Augmatic skin, and the dopamine hit of a job well-done. It’s a brilliant and devious system, and I’m entirely helpless to do anything about it.

All I can do is comply.