107: Chapter 107 Meal Cards Are Not Teammate Quotas

In the public combat room, Chen Ye's meal card was gradually fading.

The blank meal card that had appeared out of thin air beside it began to write:

[White Tower S-Class Protection Sample-01]

Lying on the medical stretcher, Chen Ye's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Wait a minute."

"It even wants to steal my food?"

Just as he was about to roll off the stretcher, the Medical Instructor held him down.

"If you move again, I'll give you a sedative right now."

Chen Ye's voice cracked with anxiety.

"That's my meal card!"

"I can go without eating, but I can't let it eat!"

Standing outside the door, the White Shield Sample's voice remained steady.

"The breakfast team quota must remain complete."

"During the medical absence of the Protection Role, my substitution into the four-person dining slot is beneficial for maintaining the stability of the squad structure."

Chen Ye almost laughed out of anger.

"You're just a sample, and you eat breakfast?"

The White Shield Sample replied:

"I do not need to eat."

"But the course records require complete dining slots."

As soon as those words were spoken, Lin Jin's eyes darkened.

The food wasn't the point.

The record was.

The White Tower never wanted a breakfast.

What it wanted was the first daily record of "Chen Ye absent, White Shield Sample substituted."

Once the breakfast slot was filled, lunch, dinner, training check-ins, duty rosters, equipment maintenance logs, and medical accompaniment schedules would all follow suit.

Small things would pile up on top of small things.

Until they eventually became reality.

Lin Jin did not enter the public combat room.

The door was still closed; the White Shield Sample could not enter, and they could not simply touch the meal card that was being contaminated.

Standing outside the door, he picked up a piece of chalk and wrote next to the doorframe:

[Meal Card Boundary]

Rule One.

[The meal card is the student's personal proof of living expenses, not a teammate slot in the team roster.]

Rule Two.

[During a student's medical observation, dining may be suspended, and meals may be delivered or collected on their behalf. This does not constitute a meal card vacancy.]

Rule Three.

[Changes in the number of people at team breakfasts do not alter the relationship of teammate identities.]

Rule Four.

[White Tower samples do not need to eat and are not eligible to use student meal cards.]

Rule Five.

[External control samples shall not be written into the squad's daily records through meal cards, dining slots, or cafeteria quotas.]

After the fifth rule was written, the rate at which Chen Ye's meal card was fading in the public combat room paused.

However, the blank meal card was still being written to.

[Breakfast quota belongs to low-risk daily records]

[Low-risk substitution does not affect official teammate status]

Zhou Heng sneered.

"It claims it's low-risk now."

"Once it records enough, it will become a chain of facts."

Shen Tingxue looked at the blank meal card inside the room.

"Low-risk does not mean no risk."

Qin Shanhe raised his hand, and the academy's life system permissions descended.

"Academy confirmation."

"Student meal cards shall not be occupied by course samples."

Gu Changye also spoke:

"Processing Bureau confirmation."

"Low-risk daily life records can also constitute an identity contamination chain and must not be ignored."

Inspector Han Su's surveillance projection spoke next:

"Education Bureau Inspection Seat records: White Tower bills shall not establish a substitution fact through meal cards, dining slots, or daily life quotas."

As the three-party records descended, a portion of the text on the blank meal card cracked.

But the White Tower's grey fire did not retreat.

[Detected that Chen Ye himself is unable to enter the public combat room for dining]

[If no one collects tomorrow's breakfast on his behalf, the meal card will record a missed meal]

[Consecutive missed meals can prove instability in the daily life role]

Chen Ye's expression changed.

"I just miss one breakfast, and it records me as unstable?"

Lin Jin immediately caught the key point.

"It isn't afraid of the meal card being blocked from substitution."

"It can switch to recording missed meals instead."

Shen Tingxue said coldly:

"Therefore, we must establish a proxy collection rule."

Chen Ye looked at them.

"Will proxy collection also be written by it as someone eating on my behalf?"

Lin Jin nodded.

"Yes."

"So we must write it down clearly first."

He continued writing next to the doorframe:

[Proxy Collection Boundary]

[During Chen Ye's medical observation, teammates or the Academy Medical Team may collect meals on his behalf and deliver them to the Medical Area.]

[Proxy collection only represents the act of collecting, not representing the identity of eating on behalf of the person.]

[Chen Ye may temporarily suspend eating, which does not constitute a daily life role vacancy.]

[Missed meal records shall not be used to infer team vacancies.]

[The White Shield Sample shall not substitute into a dining slot due to Chen Ye's temporary suspension of dining or proxy dining.]

After writing, Lin Jin looked at Chen Ye.

"Designate someone yourself."

Chen Ye was stunned for a moment.

"Designate who to collect it?"

"Yes."

Without a second thought, Chen Ye pointed at Lin Jin.

"You."

Lin Jin looked at the bandage on his right hand.

"Are you sure you want someone with a hand injury like me to get food for you?"

Chen Ye fell silent for two seconds, then turned to point at Zhou Heng.

"Then him."

Zhou Heng's face darkened.

"Me?"

Chen Ye said righteously:

"You run fast."

Zhou Heng said coldly:

"I am not your food delivery guy."

Shen Tingxue spoke calmly:

"I'll go."

Chen Ye immediately shook his head.

"No way."

"If you go, I'll feel even more pressured."

Shen Tingxue looked at him.

Chen Ye coughed dryly.

"Mainly because I'm afraid the White Tower will write something weird again."

Lin Jin said:

"We can take turns."

"But it's best for the medical team to collect the first meal."

"And a teammate will receive it."

The Medical Instructor nodded.

"I can arrange that."

Lin Jin wrote down:

[Tomorrow's breakfast: Academy Medical Team collects, Rule Maintenance Special Class teammate receives, and delivers to Chen Ye himself.]

[The proxy collection process does not alter the ownership of the meal card.]

Chen Ye immediately pressed his school badge.

"Protection Role Chen Ye confirms."

"I will not eat in the cafeteria for breakfast tomorrow."

"But my meal card is still mine."

"My meal can be delivered to the Medical Area."

"I have not yielded my dining slot to any sample."

He paused and looked at the White Shield Sample.

"If you really want to eat, line up and buy it yourself."

The White Shield Sample was silent for a moment.

"I do not need to eat."

Chen Ye sneered.

"Then stop staring at other people's meal cards."

Chen Ye's meal card finally lit up again.

The [White Tower S-Class Protection Sample-01] on the blank meal card gradually faded away.

[Meal card substitution: Failed]

[Breakfast quota substitution: Failed]

[Missed meal vacancy inference: Failed]

The White Tower's grey fire contracted, but soon turned to another column of the daily life system.

[Item Two: Tomorrow's Morning Training Sign-in]

[System Suggestion: Chen Ye is absent due to medical reasons; White Shield Sample signs in on behalf of the Protection Role's training status]

Zhou Heng's Thunder Spear vibrated.

"Sign in on his behalf?"

Lin Jin's face grew cold.

"It is moving very fast."

Shen Tingxue said:

"If the meal card fails, it uses training sign-ins."

Chen Ye gritted his teeth.

"I'm in the Medical Area, how do I sign in?"

Lin Jin replied:

"Sign in with medical status."

He continued writing:

[Training Sign-in Boundary]

[Training sign-in records the student's current status, not just on-field attendance.]

[Medical observation, injury recovery, and off-field judgment training should all be recorded as the student's own status and shall not be signed in by a sample on their behalf.]

[The White Shield Sample may be recorded as present as an external control, but shall not be recorded as Chen Ye being present.]

[Chen Ye's absence from on-field training does not equate to being absent from the team's training records.]

Chen Ye immediately followed up:

"Protection Role Chen Ye confirms."

"If I am in the Medical Area during tomorrow's morning training, I will sign in for medical observation."

"If I can do off-field judgment, I will sign in for off-field training."

"Either way, it is not allowed to sign in on my behalf."

The daily life system flashed.

[Training sign-in proxy: Failed]

The grey fire shifted again.

[Item Three: Equipment Maintenance Log]

[System Suggestion: Chen Ye's shield is temporarily taken over and maintained by the White Shield Sample]

Chen Ye exploded instantly.

"It even wants to touch my shield?"

Qin Shanhe was still holding Chen Ye's shield.

Hearing this, the Dean's face also turned cold.

"Academy Armory confirmation."

"Student bound equipment shall not be maintained, taken over, or registered by course samples."

Lin Jin added:

[The shield may be kept, inspected, and repaired by the Academy Equipment Instructor, but ownership and usage rights still belong to Chen Ye.]

[The White Shield Sample shall not touch Chen Ye's shield.]

Chen Ye immediately said:

"Protection Role confirms, the shield is not to be lent out."

The grey fire was defeated again.

[Equipment maintenance substitution: Failed]

It began to pop up one after another.

[Medical Accompaniment List]

[Combat Room Seats]

[Tactical Whiteboard Signatures]

[Dormitory Duty Roster]

[Night Patrol Records]

[Team Chat Group]

The White Tower seemed to have finally torn off its "low-risk" disguise. No longer explaining individually, it began to frantically search the daily life system for any gap it could squeeze the White Shield Sample into.

Doorplates, meal cards, sign-ins, shields, seats, duties, group chats, patrols.

Every single one was tiny.

Every single one was inconspicuous.

But Lin Jin and the others understood it completely.

It didn't want to replace Chen Ye all at once.

It wanted to gradually erase Chen Ye from daily life.

And then gradually write the White Shield Sample into existence.

Lying on the stretcher, Chen Ye watched the records flash past him one by one, his expression growing grimmer and grimmer.

He used to think that a team position was something that existed only in battle.

If you blocked the attacks, you were still there.

If you failed, you were a disgrace.

But only now did he realize that staying in the team didn't just depend on his shield.

It also depended on his meal card.

His bed.

The group chat.

The duty roster.

The chair in the combat room that was often crooked because he sat on it.

The water bottle he casually left on the table after training.

And even Zhou Heng's "shut up" whenever he complained about him talking too much during meetings.

All these messy daily routines were also proving:

Chen Ye was here.

Watching the system records popping up continuously, Lin Jin suddenly pressed the chalk heavily against the door of the public combat room.

"I'm not playing with you line by line anymore."

He wrote down the general rule.

[Daily Record Protection]

[One: The daily records of Rule Maintenance Special Class members—including but not limited to beds, meal cards, sign-ins, equipment, seats, duties, communications, medical, training, and public space usage records—are all proof of the member's personal life and relationship with the team.]

[Two: A member's temporary absence from any daily routine due to injury, illness, missions, training, reviews, isolation, outings, or rest does not constitute a vacancy.]

[Three: Any external sample, course carrier, temporary substitute, or observation subject shall not accumulate team identity by substituting into daily records.]

[Four: Vacant records may be kept as vacant, pending, postponed, or frozen, and shall not default to substituting a person.]

[Five: Daily vacancies can wait for the person themselves to return.]

This time, four school badges lit up simultaneously.

Chen Ye's shield light was the thickest.

Shen Tingxue's Ice Line was the most stable.

Zhou Heng's thunder nails pinned down all the flickering entry points of the daily life system.

Lin Jin's Old Path Identification Screw turned gently, marking all paths that attempted to link "daily absence" to "team vacancy" as errors.

The records from Qin Shanhe, Gu Changye, and Inspector Han Su pressed down simultaneously.

The daily life system finally stopped flickering wildly.

In the public combat room, Chen Ye's meal card lit up again.

His chair did not move.

A new status appeared in his training sign-in column:

[Under medical observation, team identity retained]

The blank card next to the meal card completely shattered into white ash.

Standing outside the door, the White Shield Sample's school badge on its chest darkened by more than half.

[Daily record substitution: Failed]

[Third Detail: Who will fill the vacancy]

[Settlement failed]

Chen Ye let out a long breath.

"My bed, my food, my shield, my chair—they are all saved."

Zhou Heng said coldly:

"And your duty."

Chen Ye's face stiffened.

"Actually, this one can..."

Shen Tingxue looked at him.

Chen Ye immediately changed his tune.

"Must be saved too."

Just as everyone breathed a sigh of relief, the White Shield Sample at the end of the corridor suddenly raised its head.

The darkened school badge on his chest cracked open with a seam.

Inside the crack, it was no longer the White Tower's grey fire.

But a line of silver writing.

[Daily substitution failed]

[Stability of the external control sample has decreased]

[Requesting reclamation]

For the first time, hesitation appeared on the White Shield Sample's face.

He looked down at his hands.

The hand holding the silvery-white giant shield was gradually becoming transparent.

"I..."

His voice was no longer completely steady.

"If the substitution fails."

"I will be reclaimed."

The smile on Chen Ye's face slowly vanished.

The White Tower's grey fire lit up the fourth pre-loaded direction in the Containment Box.

[Event Name: The replaced, too, will call for help]