110: Chapter 110 Those who are not enrolled in school are also considered victims.

[White Tower First Floor Preliminary Intake List]

[Remarks: Unenrolled individuals are not counted in student casualties]

This title was like a blunt knife, hanging right before everyone's eyes.

Chen Ye had still been staring at the White Shield Sample, but upon hearing the words "not counted in student casualties," his expression instantly soured.

"What does that mean?"

"Someone gets taken in by the White Tower, and just because they haven't enrolled yet, they don't count as a student casualty?"

No one answered immediately.

Because these words were too cold.

So cold that even the White Tower's mechanical malice seemed like a stamped administrative record.

Su Yan.

S-class Gatekeeper.

Unenrolled.

Already taken in by the White Tower First Floor.

Not counted in student casualties.

This didn't mean there were no casualties.

It meant the casualties had been moved outside the scope of statistics.

Qin Shanhe stared at the list, his face terrifyingly grim.

"Twenty years ago, the Academy received a case closure notice from the Department of Education."

"It stated that the Special Career Orientation Expansion Recruitment Plan resulted in zero deaths of formally enrolled students."

Zhou Heng sneered.

"Because they never let them formally enroll in the first place."

Qin Shanhe did not refute this.

This was far heavier than any refutation.

Gu Changye's voice grew cold as well.

"The Abyss Processing Bureau didn't receive any contamination casualty reports for these students back then."

"If these people were taken in by the White Tower First Floor but never entered into any casualty records, then it was a cover-up by the old project."

Inspector Han Su's surveillance projection remained silent for a long time.

He looked at the list's title, his voice stiffer than before.

"Education Bureau Inspection Seat records."

"Not being formally enrolled does not mean the fact of harm can be dismissed."

"If unenrolled individuals are contacted by the old project during the enrollment process of the Department of Education or the Academy, their personal safety remains protected."

Chen Ye glanced at Inspector Han Su.

"You're actually speaking like a human being for once."

Inspector Han Su ignored him.

Lin Jin walked up to the list.

He didn't touch the blank lines immediately.

Because these blanks, much like Su Yan, were very likely people who had been swallowed by the White Tower and then erased from the archival system.

He picked up a piece of chalk and wrote beside the list:

[Unenrolled Protection Boundary]

Article One.

[Not being formally enrolled does not equate to being unprotected.]

Article Two.

[Admission notices, preliminary screening tests, career orientation assessments, and preparatory enrollment guidance must not be disguised by the old project as voluntary entry into the White Tower.]

Article Three.

[Minors and those who have not signed project documents must not be deemed as samples of outer project no. 9.]

Article Four.

["Not counted in student casualties" is merely an erroneous statistical metric and must not be used to deny the fact of harm.]

Article Five.

[Those taken in by the White Tower must first be registered as suspected victims, and must not be registered as voluntarily forfeiting their admission qualifications.]

As he wrote the fifth article, the list shuddered violently.

The White Tower's grey fire surged inside the containment box.

[Unenrolled individuals do not belong to the Academy's student body]

[The Academy has no right of recourse]

Lin Jin sneered.

"Does the Department of Education have the right, then?"

The grey fire paused for a fraction of a second.

Lin Jin continued writing:

[If the White Tower takes in unenrolled individuals using the authority of the Department of Education's old project, the Department of Education bears the responsibility of explanation.]

The grey fire shuddered again.

[Those who have not signed project documents are not project participants]

[The Department of Education has no obligation of recourse]

Chen Ye laughed out of sheer anger.

"Incredible."

"If they're students, they say the project handles it."

"If they're not in the project, they say the Academy has no jurisdiction."

Shen Tingxue said coldly:

"So what it wants isn't categorization."

"It's to ensure that no one is responsible for any category."

Lin Jin nodded and wrote down another article:

[Unenrolled, unsigned, and unarchived do not constitute a lack of responsibility.]

[Their disappearances, intakes, casualties, and remnants must all be entered into the tripartite recourse records.]

Qin Shanhe raised his hand, and the Academy's imprint fell upon these boundaries.

"The Academy confirms."

"For all who have passed the preliminary admission screening of the Jiangcheng First Combat Academy and received guidance or testing notices, the Academy recognizes their protective relationship as preparatory students."

Gu Changye immediately followed:

"The Abyss Processing Bureau confirms."

"For all who are taken in or go missing within the White Tower, Outer No. 9, or Rule Instances, the Processing Bureau retains the right of recourse for contamination harm."

Inspector Han Su spoke last:

"The Education Bureau Inspection Seat confirms."

"All unenrolled lists sealed by the Special Career Development Division must be subject to inspection and file retrieval."

As the tripartite confirmation fell into place, the [not counted in student casualties] on the list's title began to turn grey.

The White Tower seemed to want to struggle, but the White Shield Sample suddenly raised its head inside the isolation chamber.

"Su Yan said."

Everyone looked at him.

The silver light on the White Shield Sample's chest slowly lit up, its voice still somewhat stuttering.

"He said he received the Academy's enrollment guidance."

"He said he wasn't a project sample."

"He said he only came to take the test."

"He said..."

The White Shield Sample paused.

"If he didn't make it back, someone should tell his mother that he didn't give up on enrollment of his own accord."

The corridor fell silent for a moment.

Chen Ye's expression changed.

"He still has family?"

The White Shield Sample lowered its head, silver light flickering.

"Records are incomplete."

"Only a form of address: Mother."

Lin Jin's fingers slowly clenched.

The White Tower recorded Su Yan as voluntarily forfeiting his admission qualifications.

The Department of Education sealed him into the unenrolled list.

The Academy had no formal student record for him.

The Processing Bureau had no casualty reports.

Thus, his mother had likely only waited for a cold, clinical notification:

The child had given up on enrollment.

Or perhaps, no notification at all.

Chen Ye cursed under his breath.

This time, no one interrupted him.

Lin Jin added beside the list:

[Su Yan Record Remark: He had explicitly denied voluntarily entering the White Tower and denied his status as a project sample.]

[Su Yan's cause of disappearance must no longer be written as voluntarily forfeiting admission qualifications.]

[The notification of his family and subsequent recourse should be reopened.]

The Su Yan record on the White Shield Sample's chest glowed slightly.

[Su Yan Entry Correction Clue Generated]

[Status: Suspected to have been taken in by the White Tower First Floor]

[Identity: Preparatory Student Protected Object]

[Target of Recourse: White Tower First Floor Entrance Stabilization Anchor]

Looking at these words, Chen Ye suddenly asked:

"If Su Yan's remnants are found in the future, what will happen to you?"

The White Shield Sample fell silent.

Lin Jin answered for him.

"I don't know."

"But one thing must be written clearly first."

He wrote outside the isolation chamber again:

[Su Yan Recourse Boundary]

[Searching for Su Yan does not equate to erasing the current evidentiary status of the White Shield Sample.]

[Preserving the White Shield Sample does not equate to confirming Su Yan's death or resurrection.]

[If Su Yan himself has remnants, his will must be independently verified.]

[The White Shield Sample must not speak on behalf of Su Yan himself.]

The White Shield Sample stared at those words and only spoke after a long time:

"Accepted."

The first line on the list finally stabilized.

[Su Yan — S-class Gatekeeper — Suspected to have been taken in by the White Tower First Floor — Entrance Stabilization Anchor]

[Remarks: Must not be written as voluntarily forfeiting admission]

Once the first line was set, the remaining blank lines suddenly began to seep grey light.

Chen Ye instinctively held his breath.

"Is it opening?"

Zhou Heng gripped his Thunder Spear.

"Don't get too close."

Shen Tingxue's Ice Line fell upon the edges of the list, first sealing any sounds or residual shadows that might burst out.

Lin Jin looked at the White Shield Sample.

"How much can you read?"

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

"After the Su Yan entry stabilized, other source interfaces briefly opened."

"I can only read what is related to the first floor."

"Reading this might trigger the source of the White Tower's bill."

Lin Jin's eyes flickered.

"The source of the bill?"

Gu Changye immediately asked:

"Isn't the White Tower First Floor's cost bill the White Tower's rules themselves?"

The White Shield Sample shook its head.

"Records show: the billing mechanism comes from a certain class fragment within the first floor's intake list."

Chen Ye's face fell.

"What does that mean?"

Shen Tingxue's voice grew colder.

"In other words, the debt we are currently being hounded for might have also been made from some unenrolled student."

The silver light on the White Shield Sample's chest shone brighter.

The second line of the blank list finally revealed a faint outline.

[He Zhibai — A-class Cost Accountant — Status: Taken In]

[Remarks: Prototype of the Second Floor Cost Bill]

Everyone's hearts sank simultaneously.

Cost Accountant.

Bill prototype.

The grey fire in the containment box flared up violently, as if provoked by this name.

[Detected that the name of the bill's source has been read]

[White Tower First Floor Cost Bill stability has decreased]

[Do not continue recourse]

Lin Jin stared at the line [He Zhibai], his voice as heavy as iron.

"So the bill isn't something the White Tower was born with."

"It's because you took in an unenrolled student and turned them into a ledger."

The grey fire surged frantically.

[The cost bill is the White Tower's clearance settlement rule]

[Must not be personified]

Yet, as if drawn by some force, the White Shield Sample continued to read out fragments intermittently.

"He Zhibai."

"Sixteen years old."

"Class tendency, A-class Cost Accountant."

"Preliminary ability assessment: Capable of calculating rule exchange costs."

"Guidance record: Participated in the Academy's tuition waiver test."

Chen Ye suddenly looked up.

"Tuition waiver test?"

The White Shield Sample continued reading:

"Actual intake record: White Tower First Floor Settlement Room."

"Remarks: This sample is suitable for cost quantification, bill generation, and deferred claims."

Lin Jin's gaze turned completely cold.

A sixteen-year-old student.

Came to participate in the Academy's tuition waiver test.

Only to end up taken in by the White Tower and turned into the prototype of the cost bill.

The bills they had desperately rejected over the past few days were likely not the operation of cold, unfeeling rules.

But rather, a child named He Zhibai, trapped inside the White Tower's Settlement Room, keeping accounts for the White Tower, entry by entry.

Just then, the grey fire in the containment box suddenly stopped surging.

It quieted down.

Then, from the depths of the flames, a very soft, extremely exhausted boy's voice drifted out.

"Stop rejecting them..."

"Every time you reject one, I have to calculate it all over again."

"It really... hurts."