109: Chapter 109's source is not myself.

[Su Yan]

[Class Orientation: S-rank Gatekeeper]

[Status: Not Enrolled]

[Remarks: Received by White Tower First Floor]

After the White Shield Sample in the isolation pod said, "I might... also be an empty slot left by someone," the corridor fell silent for a long time.

The anger on Chen Ye's face hadn't fully receded, but he could no longer swear.

Just moments ago, he had almost had his name, bed, meal card, and training check-in stolen by this sample.

But now, what popped up on the sample's chest wasn't a replacement application.

It was a person's name.

Su Yan.

Twenty years ago.

Not enrolled.

Received by White Tower First Floor.

These words put together felt so heavy that they made it hard to breathe.

Qin Shanhe's face clearly changed.

Lin Jin saw it.

It wasn't simple surprise.

It was more like a corner of some sealed old list had suddenly been torn open before his eyes.

"Dean, do you know this name?"

Qin Shanhe was silent for a few seconds.

"I've heard of it."

Chen Ye immediately looked up.

"Does this person really exist?"

Qin Shanhe looked at the White Shield Sample in the isolation pod.

"Twenty years ago, Jiangcheng First Combat Academy expanded enrollment for a batch of students with special class orientations."

"That class originally had more people than those who were eventually registered."

"Some students passed the initial screening but never formally enrolled."

Zhou Heng frowned.

"The non-enrolled list?"

Qin Shanhe nodded.

"Yes."

"Only a very small portion was kept in the academy archives."

"More records were transferred by the Department of Education on the grounds of safety for old projects."

Inspector Han Su's inspection projection said in a deep voice:

"I will check the Department of Education archives."

Zhou Heng sneered.

"Can you find them?"

Inspector Han Su did not avoid the question.

"Not necessarily."

"But now that we have the White Tower sample source record as a clue, we can at least apply for a forced retrieval of the files."

Gu Changye looked at the White Shield Sample.

"The sample is now evidence."

"It cannot be reclaimed by the White Tower, nor can it be taken away by the Department of Education alone."

Standing inside the isolation pod, the White Shield Sample looked down at the record on his chest.

His fingers were no longer transparent.

But his overall state was still very unstable.

He was like an object that had just been fished out of a replacement process, having not yet learned how to stand in a position that was "not a substitute."

He asked:

"Who am I?"

The words were very soft.

Yet they brought about a deeper silence than any of his previous calm and detached curriculum statements.

Chen Ye opened his mouth, instinctively wanting to say, "You are the White Shield Sample."

But the words stopped at the tip of his tongue.

Because those words were too harsh.

So harsh that it felt like labeling someone all over again.

Lin Jin glanced at Chen Ye, then walked up to the isolation pod.

"We cannot directly answer who you are right now."

The White Shield Sample looked up.

Lin Jin continued,

"You are not Chen Ye."

"That is certain."

"And you cannot directly be called Su Yan either."

"That is also certain."

The silver light on the White Shield Sample's chest flashed gently.

"Why?"

Shen Tingxue said coldly,

"Because the source record is not the person themselves."

Zhou Heng chimed in,

"Having Su Yan's record on you doesn't mean you are Su Yan."

Chen Ye finally found his voice and said hoarsely,

"Just like how you took my protection function but can't be called Chen Ye."

"Even though you have Su Yan's record now, you can't directly be called Su Yan either."

The White Shield Sample fell silent.

He seemed to be processing this logic.

Lin Jin picked up a piece of chalk and wrote down a new definition on the outside of the isolation pod.

[Source Boundary]

[1. The White Shield Sample contains the source of Su Yan's record, but the White Shield Sample is not equal to Su Yan himself.]

[2. Before Su Yan's actual status is verified, his identity must not be represented by the White Shield Sample, White Tower records, or the Department of Education's old archives.]

[3. The White Shield Sample may be preserved as a clue and evidence sample related to Su Yan.]

[4. The White Shield Sample must not be added to the Rule Maintenance Special Class under Su Yan's name.]

[5. Searching for Su Yan's records is not equivalent to accepting the White Shield Sample into the team.]

After writing, Lin Jin looked at the White Shield Sample.

"Do you understand?"

The White Shield Sample took a few seconds before replying:

"I am not Chen Ye."

"And I cannot confirm that I am Su Yan."

"I can serve as an evidence sample to help find Su Yan's records."

Lin Jin nodded.

"For now, yes."

Chen Ye breathed a sigh of relief.

"This phrasing is fine."

But the White Shield Sample asked again,

"Then what am I called now?"

Chen Ye froze.

Previously, he had designated it as the "White Shield Sample" to stop it from stealing his name.

But now, when it asked this question, the tone had changed.

Chen Ye scratched his head, his expression a bit awkward.

"For now... you're still the White Shield Sample."

He paused and added,

"I'm not insulting you."

"It's an evidentiary name."

The White Shield Sample looked at him.

"Evidentiary name."

"Yeah."

Chen Ye cleared his hoarse throat.

"We'll talk about other things once we figure out what exactly you are."

As these words fell, the silver light on the White Shield Sample's chest stabilized slightly.

[Evidentiary Name: White Shield Sample]

[Status: Accepted]

The White Tower grey fire in the sealed box flashed.

[Detected that the sample's identity has not been accepted]

[Detected that the sample's distress call has not been converted into a replacement]

[Fourth pre-load path obstructed]

[Switching to source tracing]

Lin Jin's eyes darkened.

"It wants to lead this thread toward Su Yan."

Shen Tingxue said,

"Leading is fine."

"But we can't let it lead us by the nose."

Zhou Heng looked at Qin Shanhe.

"Where is the non-enrolled list?"

Qin Shanhe did not answer immediately. Instead, he raised his hand to open the academy's old archive system.

Gray directories expanded one by one in the air of the corridor.

A large number of pages among them showed as sealed.

Qin Shanhe typed in the name "Su Yan".

At first, the system didn't react.

A few seconds later, a line of prompt popped up on the archive screen.

[No such person found]

Chen Ye's face darkened.

"No such person found again?"

Lin Jin stared at the line of text.

"No, that's not right."

"It's not that there isn't one."

"The name has been moved."

He raised his hand and pointed to the edge of the archive.

There was an extremely faint white scratch there.

It looked as if a name had once existed there and was later scraped off entirely.

Qin Shanhe's face grew even darker as he directly used his Dean privileges.

[Applying to view the non-enrolled list from twenty years ago]

[Insufficient Privileges]

Qin Shanhe sneered.

"My own academy, and I have insufficient privileges?"

Inspector Han Su's projection simultaneously brought up the Department of Education's inspection interface.

[Education Bureau Inspection Seat applying to retrieve: Jiangcheng First Combat Academy's special class orientation non-enrolled list from twenty years ago]

[Archive Status: Sealed]

[Sealing Department: Special Career Development Division]

[Reason for Sealing: Related to outer project no. 9]

[Retrieval requires authorization from the Director]

Zhou Heng's voice was icy.

"Lu Chengyuan."

Inspector Han Su did not deny it.

"Yes."

Gu Changye looked at Lin Jin.

"Since we have the White Shield Sample's source records, we can follow the pollution evidence line."

Lin Jin nodded.

"But Lu Chengyuan will definitely drag his feet."

Chen Ye suddenly looked up.

"Can't the White Shield Sample read it itself?"

Everyone looked at the isolation pod.

The few lines of source records on the White Shield Sample's chest were still flashing slowly.

Lin Jin frowned.

"We can try."

"But we must establish boundaries first."

Shen Tingxue understood immediately.

"We can't let it admit to being Su Yan just to investigate Su Yan."

Zhou Heng added,

"And we can't let it take on Su Yan's identity just to preserve itself."

Lin Jin wrote on the outside of the isolation pod:

[Source Record Reading Boundary]

[Reading source records is solely for finding clues related to Su Yan.]

[Reading does not constitute identity inheritance.]

[Reading does not constitute team replacement.]

[Reading does not constitute the resurrection, replacement, clearing, or confirmed death of Su Yan himself.]

[If any prompts such as "accepting the sample will save Su Yan" occur during the reading process, abort immediately.]

The White Shield Sample looked down at his chest.

"I request to read the source records."

Lin Jin looked at Chen Ye.

Chen Ye was taken aback.

"Why are you looking at me?"

Lin Jin said,

"It is related to the source of the Protection Role."

"You are the person it is currently trying to replace."

"If you don't agree, we won't read it yet."

Chen Ye was silent for a moment.

He looked at the White Shield Sample in the isolation pod.

Then he looked at the line reading [Su Yan].

Finally, he gritted his teeth and said,

"Read it."

"But let me make one thing clear."

"I'm not giving up my spot to you."

"I just want to know how exactly Su Yan disappeared."

The White Shield Sample nodded.

"Confirmed."

In the next second, the silver light on his chest expanded, forming a fragmented projection.

It was a corridor in front of the White Tower entrance.

At the end of the corridor stood a youth.

The youth was not particularly tall. He had no shield in his hand, but instead held a long black handle that looked like a door bolt.

He looked back in a certain direction, his voice very muffled.

"I'm not entering the tower."

"I only came to close the door."

The projection flickered.

A white light surged.

A young man's voice rang out.

"If a Gatekeeper doesn't enter the gate, how can you prove you can guard it?"

Chen Ye suddenly frowned.

"This voice..."

Lin Jin's face turned cold.

"Lu Chengyuan."

The youth in the projection took half a step back.

"The admission notice said it was the academy entrance test."

"Not outer project no. 9."

"I'm a minor. I didn't sign any project agreement."

Once these words were spoken, everyone fell silent.

It was almost identical to the first line of Lin Shoushan's supplementary terms.

Minor.

Unsigned.

Unconsented.

In the next second, the door at the end of the White Tower corridor suddenly opened.

A pale hand stretched out from inside the door and grabbed the youth's door bolt.

The youth's expression changed drastically as he desperately pulled backward.

"I said, I'm not going in!"

"I guard the door, I don't become the door!"

At this point, the projection distorted violently.

The White Shield Sample let out a muffled groan, the silver light on his chest splitting open.

Gu Changye immediately ordered:

"Stabilize the isolation pod!"

Shen Tingxue pressed her Ice Line forward.

Zhou Heng pinned the edge of the projection with his Thunder Spear.

Lin Jin stared intently at the final frame.

On that White Tower door, a line of text was written.

[First Floor Entrance Stabilization Anchor Missing]

[Recommendation: Receive Gatekeeper]

Chen Ye's face turned deathly pale.

"Receive Gatekeeper..."

"It used Su Yan as a door?"

The projection on the White Shield Sample's chest shattered completely.

Amidst the shattered light, a final fragment of archive text fell out.

[Reason for Su Yan's Non-Enrollment: Voluntarily waived enrollment eligibility]

[Real Record: Gatekeeper Su Yan received by White Tower First Floor as entrance stabilization anchor]

[External Recorder: Lu Chengyuan]

Lin Jin's fingers clenched tighter and tighter.

Lu Chengyuan again.

From Deputy Director Zhou Chengyue's reconstruction, to Teacher Xu Wenzhou's ownership of testimony, to Shen Qingshuang's evacuation eligibility, to Lin Shoushan's eligibility to go home, and now to Su Yan's non-enrollment record.

The White Tower First Floor was never just a training ground.

It was the entrance where old projects swallowed people.

The White Shield Sample said in a low voice:

"In my protection model, there are fragments of the Gatekeeper."

"That's why I would perform a replacement."

"Because the White Tower said that once the Gatekeeper is empty, the Protection Role should be filled."

Chen Ye looked at him, his voice hoarse:

"That's what the White Tower said."

"Not what we said."

The grey fire in the sealed box suddenly lit up again.

This time it wasn't a bill breakdown.

Instead, it was an old prompt from the White Tower First Floor.

[Detected that the Gatekeeper Su Yan record has been read]

[First Floor hidden accounts unlocked]

[Non-enrolled list from twenty years ago: Opened]

Before anyone could react, the academy's old archive system suddenly turned its pages automatically.

A list with most of it scraped off slowly emerged.

The first line of the list:

[Su Yan — S-rank Gatekeeper — Received]

Second line:

[Blank]

[Blank]

Third line:

[Blank]

[Blank]

And the title of the list was more glaring than anyone could have imagined.

[White Tower First Floor Preliminary Reception List]

[Remarks: Those not formally enrolled are not counted in student casualties]