118: Chapter 119 The Ice Key Cuts Through the Letter, Lu Chengyuan's Hand Can No Longer Be Hidden.

[Recipient rewritten by the Signing Room as: Shen Tingxue]

When this line of text emerged, the temperature in the mailroom plummeted to freezing point.

It was not a chill actively released by Shen Tingxue.

Rather, it was something inside that letter, tracing back along the Ice Key in her palm to find her.

The layer of ice-blue light inside the envelope, like a slender snake, slid across the floor and instantly coiled around the shadow at Shen Tingxue's feet.

The next moment, Shen Tingxue felt a sharp pain in her palm.

A thread-thin white signing line emerged from beneath the Ice Key, attempting to write a name on her palm.

[Shen Tingxue]

Chen Ye's expression changed, and he struggled to sit up from the stretcher.

"Don't let it finish writing!"

Zhou Heng's Thunder Spear had already been unleashed.

Purple lightning arcs exploded along the ground, slashing toward that signing line.

But the moment the lightning struck, the signing line transformed into a thin sheet of letter paper, bypassing the lightning and re-attaching itself toward Shen Tingxue.

Shen Tingxue did not retreat.

She raised her eyes, a flash of ice-blue fire flickering in her gaze.

"You want to write my name?"

She tightened her fingers, and the Ice Key rotated half an inch in her palm.

The sharp ice edge grazed her skin, drawing a shallow line of blood.

Before the blood could fall, it was frozen by frost.

Using this bit of bloody ice, she forcefully pinned down the signing line.

"Ask me if I agree first."

The signing line trembled violently.

A voice, sounding exactly like Shen Qingshuang's, emanated from inside the envelope.

"Tingxue."

"Take it."

"This is something the Shen Family should bear."

Shen Tingxue's eyelashes trembled slightly.

The voice was too similar.

So similar that even the Ice Key let out a low hum.

But the next instant, the hesitation in Shen Tingxue's eyes vanished completely.

"Shen Qingshuang would never call me a descendant of the Shen Family first."

Her voice was extremely cold.

"If she really wanted me to take something, the first thing she would say is—don't trust the White Tower."

The Ice Key jolted violently.

The voice of "Shen Qingshuang" seemed to be punctured, instantly becoming distorted with overlapping sounds and static.

"Tingxue... Shen Family... second observer position... take it..."

Chen Ye stared at the letter and suddenly roared:

"It's not the voice!"

"It's tricking the Ice Key!"

Lin Jin's eyes shifted.

Although Chen Ye was injured, his intuition as a Protection Role regarding impact paths remained.

As soon as he said this, Lin Jin saw clearly.

The letter wasn't truly attacking Shen Tingxue, nor was it attacking the others.

It was using Shen Qingshuang's sender stamp to bypass the Testimony Export Isolation Protocol and directly hook into the "associated reaction" within the Ice Key.

As long as the Ice Key acknowledged it.

Shen Tingxue would be written as the new recipient.

Lin Jin gripped the chalk tightly in his left hand.

"Don't argue with it about whether the letter is real or fake."

"Check the mail route."

He looked toward the depths of the wooden cabinet.

"Ye Guizhou."

"Can you read how this letter was redirected?"

Inside the wooden cabinet, Ye Guizhou's voice was clearly trembling.

"I can."

"But the Signing Room will force me to stamp it."

"Just read the route, don't stamp."

"Okay."

The black leather self-storage register flipped open with a rustle.

Ye Guizhou's rejection stamp hung in mid-air, not falling.

A grey-white delivery line was pulled out from the envelope.

At the very front was an ice-blue return stamp.

Behind it followed a route that had been repeatedly folded by the White Tower.

[Return Applicant: Shen Qingshuang]

[Original Return Object: White Tower second observer position]

[Return Content: second observer position authorization letter]

[Return Reason: I no longer serve as a consultant for the White Tower's old projects and do not accept acting on behalf of the observer position]

The moment these lines appeared, Shen Tingxue's hand holding the Ice Key tightened abruptly.

She finally understood.

Shen Qingshuang wasn't returning the Ice Key to her.

Nor was she handing over responsibility to her.

Shen Qingshuang had been returning the second observer position back then.

She didn't want the White Tower to continue using the identity of "Shen Qingshuang, consultant for old projects" to fill that empty chair.

And she certainly didn't want that chair to fall to Shen Tingxue.

But the Signing Room had changed the return object.

It changed "White Tower second observer position" to "Shen Tingxue".

Thus, a resignation return was rewritten into a confirmation of inheritance.

Shen Tingxue's gaze turned completely cold.

"So you all have always wanted me to sit in that chair."

The envelope expanded violently.

The paper surface split open, and the shadow of an empty chair emerged from within.

That chair was precisely the White Tower second observer position.

On the back of the chair, it originally said [Absent].

At this moment, the two characters "Absent" were being covered by ice-blue strokes, bit by bit changing to:

[Shen Tingxue]

Lin Jin's eyes turned cold suddenly.

"Zhou Heng, cut the line between the chair and the letter."

"I've been waiting for this."

Zhou Heng thrust his spear out.

He didn't follow a straight line.

The lightning arc curved in a very narrow arc, avoiding the front of the envelope, and slammed into the redirection line behind the shadow of the empty chair.

Crack!

The redirection line snapped a section.

A harsh sound of tearing paper came from inside the envelope.

Shen Tingxue also moved.

She didn't use large-scale freezing; instead, she took a step forward and slashed horizontally with the Ice Key.

The ice-blue edge sliced across the edge of the envelope, precisely cutting off the last stroke of the three characters "Shen Tingxue".

The three characters were not finished.

So it was not established.

The [Absent] on the empty chair lit up halfway again.

The envelope shook crazily, and Shen Qingshuang's voice sounded from within again.

This time, it was no longer an inducement.

But a very short, very urgent original voice.

"Tingxue, don't sit."

Shen Tingxue raised her eyes.

"I heard you."

She backhanded the Ice Key into the ground.

Frost exploded from beneath her feet, instantly covering the mailroom.

The letter was frozen in mid-air; the mail route, sender stamp, proxy sender stamp, and redirection line were all frozen into a transparent cross-section.

All disguises had nowhere to hide at this moment.

Lin Jin immediately used the chalk to write the final processing statement on the ground.

[Original nature of this letter: Authorization return submitted by Shen Qingshuang to the White Tower second observer position.]

[This letter was redirected by the Signing Room to Shen Tingxue, constituting recipient tampering.]

[Shen Tingxue is not the original recipient.]

[Shen Tingxue does not accept the second observer position.]

[The second observer position continues to remain absent.]

This time, he didn't write too much.

The blade was already sharp enough.

Standing in the center of the frost, Shen Tingxue's voice was as clear as an ice blade hitting the ground.

"I, Shen Tingxue, confirm."

"I will not accept Shen Qingshuang's observer position."

"I will not accept Shen Qingshuang's return responsibility."

"I will not accept this life of a Shen Family descendant."

"I only accept clues."

"Only accept testimony."

"Only accept the truth I have confirmed myself."

The Ice Key shone brightly.

The Testimony Export Isolation Protocol unfolded with a roar.

The [Shen Tingxue] on the empty chair shattered completely.

The two characters [Absent] fell back onto the back of the chair.

The envelope let out a final screech, as if trying to force its way back to the Signing Room.

But Ye Guizhou suddenly spoke:

"Don't let it retreat."

"There is still a handler inside it."

Lin Jin's eyes narrowed.

"A handler?"

Ye Guizhou's voice became urgent.

"A return failure does not fail on its own."

"Every redirection by the Signing Room requires someone to handle it."

Chen Ye suddenly realized.

"In other words, someone redirected Shen Qingshuang's return to Shen Tingxue?"

"Yes."

Ye Guizhou's rejection stamp suddenly changed into another old stamp.

[Check Handler]

The stamp fell.

In the deepest part of the envelope, a hidden record was finally revealed.

[Return Application: Shen Qingshuang]

[Return Object: White Tower second observer position]

[Original Handling Opinion: Allow dispute to be filed, freeze observer position authorization]

[Actual Handling Result: Redirected to Shen Tingxue]

[Handler: — —]

The last three characters were obscured by a silvery-white light.

It was not the White Tower's grey fire.

It was the silvery-white of the Department of Education's authority.

Seeing that layer of silver light, Lin Jin's heart sank abruptly.

Lu Chengyuan.

It must be Lu Chengyuan.

Shen Tingxue stepped forward.

The Ice Key pierced toward the layer of silver light.

The White Tower and the Signing Room both wanted to protect this obstruction, but this time, Shen Tingxue did not give them a chance.

Her ice was not for sealing.

It was for slashing.

The Ice Key swept across the silver light, like slicing open a layer of old skin.

The silvery-white obstruction split open.

The hidden record was finally fully revealed.

[Handler: Lu Chengyuan]

[Handling Time: Three years ago]

[Handling Note: Shen Qingshuang's old consultant identity cannot be returned; Shen Family descendant can serve as the subsequent observer position successor.]

There was dead silence in the mailroom.

Chen Ye's mouth was half-open, a curse stuck in his throat.

The electricity on Zhou Heng's Thunder Spear flared up bit by bit.

Looking at that line "Three years ago," Lin Jin's eyes were as heavy as if they were suppressing a storm.

Three years ago, Lin Shoushan entered Number Nine.

Three years ago, Shen Qingshuang's return of the second observer position failed.

Three years ago, the White Tower Second Floor notification was sent to Lin Jin, and Lin Shoushan chased it into the General Ledger Room.

All the threads finally twisted together at this moment.

Shen Tingxue looked at the record and slowly raised her head.

She was not trembling.

Nor was she losing control.

It was just that the Ice Key in her hand shone as brightly as a blade truly unsheathed.

"Lu Chengyuan."

She pronounced this name word by word.

"You turned Shen Qingshuang's return into my fate."

The envelope shattered into ice shavings.

After the ice shavings hit the ground, they didn't disappear but condensed into a new evidence imprint.

[Shen Qingshuang second observer position return record: Restored]

[Redirection Handler: Lu Chengyuan]

[Status: Evidence sealed]

[Second observer position: Continues to remain absent]

The next second, a very faint bell rang over the academy.

It was not the White Tower bell.

It was the Department of Education's remote meeting bell.

Inspector Han Su's surveillance projection's expression changed drastically.

"The Special Career Development Division has initiated an emergency review counter-suit."

Everyone looked at him at the same time.

Inspector Han Su's voice was as cold as iron.

"Lu Chengyuan accuses the Rule Maintenance Special Class of forging Shen Qingshuang's return record."

"Demanding the immediate detention of Shen Tingxue."

"The reason is—"

He paused.

"Shen Tingxue is suspected of illegally possessing the second observer position key."