112: Chapter 112 pending trial does not equate to a debt.

[Second Floor Preview: Cost General Ledger Room]

[Entry Condition: End of Seven-Day Bill Audit]

[Warning: If the audit fails, the General Ledger Room will automatically deduct the amount.]

The phantom of the White Tower appeared for only an instant, yet it was like a nail driven into the sky above the academy.

The Medical Area, the dormitory area, the Low-Grade Training Hall—all the remnants of the grey fire that had just been suppressed faintly lit up at this moment.

It was as if a deeper ledger was flipping pages in the distance.

Chen Ye looked at the line "automatic deduction," his face looking even worse than when he had just emerged from the pressure chamber.

"It says 'automatic deduction.' Deduct what?"

No one answered immediately.

Because there were too many answers.

Qualification.

Memory.

Ability.

The right to evacuate.

Teammate relationships.

Or perhaps even something they hadn't realized yet.

Lin Jin watched the door to the White Tower's second floor slowly fade away and said in a low voice:

"It wants us to panic right now."

Zhou Heng said coldly:

"And then enter prematurely."

Shen Tingxue finished the second half of the sentence:

"...thinking that entering the second floor will settle the bill."

The grey fire inside the sealed box suddenly flickered slightly.

[Correct understanding detected from the squad]

[Recommendation: Enter the second floor early to directly settle the general ledger]

[Tip: Settle early to avoid subsequent delivery of itemized bills]

Chen Ye almost laughed out of anger.

"It really dares to chime in."

Lin Jin ignored the recommendation. Instead, he picked up a piece of chalk and wrote on the outside of the sealed box:

[Entering the second floor early does not equal settling the general ledger.]

[Entering early before the squad's injuries have recovered, before the source of the bill is protected, and before the un-enrolled list is verified constitutes coercive guidance.]

[Current Objective: Complete the seven-day audit; do not accept the inducement of early settlement.]

The grey fire trembled slightly.

[If not settled early, subsequent bills will still be delivered]

Lin Jin said coldly:

"Deliver them, and we'll audit them."

"But we aren't risking our lives just to save you some procedures."

Qin Shanhe looked at the Medical Instructor.

"All Special Assignment Class members will enter protective observation starting today."

Chen Ye immediately became alert.

"Protective observation and the White Tower's medical observation aren't the same thing, right?"

The Medical Instructor glared at him in annoyance.

"This time you can eat, speak, and curse; you just can't run around or take on more burdens blindly."

Chen Ye breathed a sigh of relief.

"That's fine then."

Zhou Heng said coldly:

"The key points are the last two 'cannots'."

Chen Ye pretended not to hear.

Gu Changye transferred the sealed box to the Processing Bureau's temporary containment platform.

"He Zhibai's remnant has already given its testimony."

"But he just said that every time a bill is refuted, it recalculates, and it hurts."

"We can't just headbutt our way through every single time after this."

Lin Jin nodded.

"So we need to change our auditing method."

Shen Tingxue looked at the sealed box.

"First flag them as disputed, then refute them layer by layer."

"Yes."

Lin Jin continued writing beside it:

[low-stimulation audit protocol]

Article One.

[After the subsequent itemized bills from the White Tower are delivered, they will default to an "under audit" status and will not be deemed as squad debt.]

Article Two.

[During the audit period, no late fees, interest, automatic deductions, or pre-execution of harm may be generated.]

Article Three.

[Disputed audit matters shall be verified with priority given to on-site evidence, tripartite records, academy systems, and Processing Bureau tests, without directly stimulating He Zhibai's remnant to recalculate.]

Article Four.

[When He Zhibai's remnant must be questioned, only the minimum necessary facts shall be asked, and he shall not be required to rearrange the entire bill.]

Article Five.

[When refuting erroneous bills, the errors shall be attributed to the White Tower's settlement mechanism and the acceptance of old projects, not to He Zhibai himself.]

Article Six.

[If He Zhibai's remnant exhibits a pain response, direct interaction shall be suspended immediately, and the system shall switch to evidence protection mode.]

As he wrote up to this point, the grey fire clearly stabilized a bit.

But in the next second, new white words surfaced from it.

[During the audit period, the bills still occupy the ledger's total limit]

[Please designate an audit guarantor]

[If the audit fails after seven days, the guarantor will bear the first automatic deduction]

Chen Ye immediately cursed:

"Designating another person?"

Zhou Heng's Thunder Spear vibrated.

"Can't it use fewer of these old tricks?"

Shen Tingxue said coldly:

"Once a guarantor is established, the automatic deduction will have an entry point."

Lin Jin wrote directly beneath that line:

[Refuted.]

[An audit is not a loan; no guarantor is required.]

[Bills being under audit does not equal the squad applying to the White Tower for deferred payment.]

[The seven-day audit is jointly conducted by the tripartite review team and the Rule Maintenance Special Class; no single guarantor shall be established.]

Qin Shanhe spoke up immediately:

"The Academy confirms."

"As the dean, I will not provide student guarantors for the White Tower's erroneous bills."

Gu Changye followed:

"The Abyss Processing Bureau confirms."

"The Processing Bureau is participating in the audit and does not recognize the White Tower's debt."

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

"The Education Bureau Inspection Seat confirms."

"Under-audit status does not constitute a debt extension."

As the voices of the three parties pressed down, the words [Audit Guarantor] in the grey fire began to turn to ash.

[Audit Guarantor: Refuted]

[No Late Fees During Audit: Established]

[low-stimulation audit protocol: Partially Established]

Chen Ye finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Partially established is fine too."

Lin Jin shook his head, however.

"Partially established means there are still loopholes."

Shen Tingxue looked at the grey fire.

"The loophole might be in the general ledger."

"Or in the un-enrolled list."

At the mention of the un-enrolled list, everyone looked back at the academy's old archive system.

That list, with more than half of it scraped off, still hung in midair.

The first line: Su Yan.

The second line: He Zhibai.

The subsequent lines were still blank.

But no one looked at them as blank spaces anymore.

Every blank line could be a person who had been accepted by the White Tower First Floor.

Or perhaps the source of some rule mechanism of the White Tower.

Qin Shanhe stared at the list, his voice kept very low.

"I will retrieve all of the academy's admission preliminary screening records from twenty years ago."

Inspector Han Su said:

"I will apply to access the archived files of the Special Career Development Division."

Zhou Heng sneered.

"Do you think Lu Chengyuan will let you apply?"

Inspector Han Su glanced at him.

"He can refuse."

"But if he refuses, a record of his refusal will be left in the monitoring system."

Gu Changye added:

"The Processing Bureau will investigate along three lines: missing persons, pollution contact, and unarchived dungeon deaths."

Chen Ye looked at the list and suddenly asked:

"What if we find a lot of people?"

The corridor fell silent for a moment.

This was not a complex question.

But it was the heaviest one.

If the un-enrolled students accepted by the White Tower First Floor weren't just Su Yan and He Zhibai.

If behind every rule mechanism lay a student whose status had been rewritten as "voluntary relinquishment."

Then what they were facing now was not just bills.

But an entire system of old projects built out of human lives.

Lin Jin looked at the list and said slowly:

"Then we will remember them, one by one."

Chen Ye fell silent for a few seconds, then nodded.

"Alright."

"My memory is average, but when it comes to names, I'll remember as many as I can."

The White Shield Sample stood in the isolation chamber, looking down at the source record on his chest.

"Can I continue reading?"

Lin Jin did not agree immediately.

"How is your current state?"

The White Shield Sample replied:

"My stability is higher than when the substitution failed."

"But reading the blank list might trigger the White Tower's reclamation or the bill source's protection once more."

Chen Ye looked at him and said awkwardly:

"Then don't push yourself."

The White Shield Sample paused.

"I will not push myself."

Chen Ye: "..."

He always felt that hearing these words from a sample sounded very strange.

Shen Tingxue raised her hand, and the Ice Line landed on the edge of the list.

"Only read the first sentence of the next line."

"If there is any identity inducement, substitution inducement, or pain feedback, stop immediately."

Lin Jin nodded.

"Read according to the boundaries of the source record."

The silver light on the White Shield Sample's chest expanded, shining onto the third line of the list.

A bit of ink began to seep from the blank space.

One stroke.

Two strokes.

As if someone was slowly digging a name back out from the ash of archives from twenty years ago.

[Luo Wensheng — Class B Echo Scribe — Status: Received]

Everyone held their breath.

A remark continued to light up on the third line.

[Remark: Tripartite Record Transcription Source]

Lin Jin's eyes changed instantly.

"Tripartite record transcription source?"

Gu Changye's face darkened as well.

"Transcription source... Could it be a recording relay?"

Inspector Han Su's monitoring projection showed a noticeable fluctuation for the first time.

"Impossible."

"The Inspection Seat's records should not be transcribed through the White Tower."

The silver light on the White Shield Sample's chest continued to flicker, reading out the next section intermittently.

"Luo Wensheng."

"Fifteen years old."

"Career inclination: Class B Echo Scribe."

"Pre-evaluation of ability: Can preserve echoes of multi-party statements and transcribe them into formal records."

"Reception record: Academy work-study archive organization test."

Chen Ye's face turned pale.

"A test again?"

The White Shield Sample's voice became even lower.

"Actual reception record: White Tower First Floor Record Room."

"Purpose remark: Transcribing on-site disputes, circumstantial evidence, and tripartite confirmations into archivable files."

Zhou Heng suddenly looked up.

"So the tripartite records we've been using all this time..."

Shen Tingxue finished:

"...might partly go through the transcription logic of the White Tower's Record Room."

Lin Jin's heart sank.

All along, they had been seizing definitions by relying on circumstantial evidence, observations, and tripartite records.

But if the White Tower First Floor had an "Echo Scribe" fragment dedicated to transcribing live statements into formal records, then Lu Chengyuan had likely left a backdoor in this chain of records long ago.

He might not be able to change it every time.

But at critical moments, it could delay, omit, or replace words.

Just like how "currently not allowed to evacuate" was changed to "evacuation qualification substitution established."

Just like how "detained here for now" was written as "voluntarily substituted for the qualification to return home."

Just then, the grey fire in the sealed box suddenly lit up.

It was not a bill.

But a playback of a record they had just established.

[Education Bureau Inspection Seat confirms: Under-audit status does not constitute a debt extension]

This sentence flickered.

In the next second, four characters inside it began to fade.

[does not constitute].

Then, a new transcription overlaid it.

[can be deemed as].

The entire sentence became:

[Education Bureau Inspection Seat confirms: Under-audit status can be deemed as a debt extension]

Inspector Han Su's expression changed abruptly.

"I didn't say that!"

Lin Jin suddenly looked up.

The phantom of the White Tower at the end of the corridor flashed.

From an invisible record room, the rustling sound of writing could be heard.

[Echo Transcription Activated]

[Target: low-stimulation audit protocol]

[Transcription Direction: Under Audit = Deferred Debt]

[If the transcription is completed, the seven-day audit will be converted into a seven-day repayment period]