The Towers

They multiplied faster than coverage required, say the counters of towers.

Tower-count suspicion ('more than coverage needs') reflects densification physics — higher frequencies need more, closer sites. The documented core the lore gestures at is real: cell-site simulators (StingRays) deployed by police without warrants for years, and tower dumps as mass location records. The infrastructure is both innocent and an actual surveillance instrument, which keeps the node alive.