121: Chapter 122 Seventy-nine meters, separated by three years of life and death

"Lin Jin."

"Don't come down."

"Lu Chengyuan is right next to me."

As the voice from deep within the darkness fell, the stairwell of the basement first floor seemed to have its breath choked.

Lin Jin stood before the first step, not moving.

But his left hand, holding the rusty wrench, tightened, the rust digging into his palm and bringing a very real pain.

Three years.

He had heard the recordings his father left behind, read the supplementary clauses his father wrote, seen the maintenance afterimages in The Hospital, and been lured countless times by the White Tower using Lin Shoushan's voice.

But never once had it been as close as now.

Seventy-nine meters.

The distance given by the Hand of Rules was only seventy-nine meters.

Chen Ye's voice was still hoarse as he lowered it to ask,

"Is it real?"

Shen Tingxue did not answer, her Ice Key already hovering in her palm.

"Verify the voice first."

Zhou Heng held his Thunder Spear horizontally across the entrance of the stairs, preventing whatever was below from suddenly rushing up.

Lin Jin raised his wrench and gently tapped the stair railing three times.

Clang, clang, clang.

A pause.

Then two more taps.

This was the secret code Lin Shoushan used to use when fixing the home's electrical circuits.

Three long and two short meant there was electricity inside, don't touch.

The darkness fell silent for two seconds.

Then, the sound of metal tapping rang out again.

Two taps.

A pause.

One tap.

Lin Jin's breathing suddenly skipped a beat.

This was the response.

When he was a child, he always resented his father for not letting him get close, so he would secretly tap the code in reverse.

Two short and one long meant—I know, but I'm going to look anyway.

The man in the darkness cursed in a low voice.

"Stinky brat."

"You still remember after all these years."

Chen Ye's eyes turned red instantly.

"Uncle Lin?"

Lin Jin still did not take a step.

The Hand of Rules could only prove that Lin Shoushan's living maintenance echo existed below, but it couldn't prove that the voice hadn't been intercepted.

He stared into the depths of the stairs.

"When I was ten, what of yours did I dismantle and break?"

Silence in the darkness for half a second.

"It wasn't you who dismantled it."

"I was the one who broke the water heater while trying to fix it. Afraid your mother would scold me, I stuffed a screwdriver into your schoolbag."

The corner of Lin Jin's mouth twitched uncontrollably.

This incident was something no archive would ever record.

Lin Shoushan's voice deepened again.

"Finished verifying now?"

"Now that you've verified, get lost."

A white light suddenly lit up at the bottom of the stairs.

It was not an illumination light.

It was silver text embedded into the steps.

[Reality General Ledger Entrance Maintenance Handover Passage]

[Current Maintenance Worker: Lin Shoushan]

[Candidate Successor: Lin Jin]

[For every step the Candidate Successor descends, the handover completion increases by one level]

The text on the first step had already lit up with a faint glow.

As long as Lin Jin stepped down, the succession would begin.

Chen Ye gasped.

"I knew there was a trap with these stairs."

"This isn't letting us go down; it's forcing Lin Jin to take over."

Shen Tingxue looked into the darkness.

"Why did Uncle Lin become the current Maintenance Worker?"

There was no answer from below.

Another man's voice rang out.

Calm, clear, carrying a familiar chill.

"Because for these past three years, he has been maintaining the Reality General Ledger Entrance."

Lu Chengyuan.

His voice was not projected, with no overlapping remote echoes.

He was truly down there.

"The White Tower Second Floor and the Department of Education's reality permissions overlap, which was originally unstable."

"After Lin Shoushan entered the General Ledger Room, he voluntarily became the maintenance anchor."

"Without him, the General Ledger would have already connected to reality three years ago."

Lin Jin said coldly,

"Voluntarily?"

Lu Chengyuan chuckled softly.

"At least that's what the signing records say."

A loud metallic crash echoed from the darkness.

It sounded like Lin Shoushan had violently smashed something with his wrench.

"Fucking bullshit."

Chen Ye couldn't help but whisper,

"Uncle Lin's cursing has more kick than mine."

Zhou Heng glanced at him.

"That's not the point."

The silver text on the stairs continued to extend.

[Current Maintenance Worker status declining]

[It is recommended that the Candidate Successor complete the handover as soon as possible]

[Once the handover is complete, Lin Shoushan can be relieved of his maintenance duties]

Lu Chengyuan said,

"Lin Jin, haven't you always wanted him to return?"

"Walk down."

"Take over the entrance."

"And he can leave."

Lin Jin stared at the stairs and suddenly asked,

"After I take over, what about me?"

Lu Chengyuan's tone was flat.

"You will stay."

"It's very fair."

"One returns, one stays."

Chen Ye raised his shield.

"Fair, my ass."

Shen Tingxue stared at both sides of the steps.

"Not being able to step on the stairs doesn't mean we can't go down."

Zhou Heng had already seen the structure on the walls.

"Seventy-nine meters, thirteen turns."

"I'll create the fulcrums."

The Thunder Spear flew from his hand.

Instead of stabbing the stairs, it nailed into the right wall.

The Buffer Barrier-Breaking Nail lit up, and lightning expanded on the wall to form the first foothold.

Shen Tingxue raised her hand, and the Ice Line extended downward from the end of the Thunder Spear.

She did not lay out a complete ice bridge, but only condensed separate thin ice steps.

Chen Ye turned his shield sideways, wedging it in the middle of the stairwell.

"Lin Jin, step on the shield."

"Don't step on the stairs."

Lin Jin did not hesitate.

The four of them bypassed the first step.

Zhou Heng created the fulcrums, Shen Tingxue built the path, Chen Ye stabilized the weight with his shield, and Lin Jin was responsible for identifying the hidden handover lines on the wall.

They weren't walking down the stairs.

They were literally building a new path above the stairs.

Lu Chengyuan did not stop them.

He just stood below, watching quietly.

"You are very good at refusing."

"But refusal cannot solve all problems."

"Lin Shoushan can no longer hold on."

The further down they went, the clearer the metallic tapping became.

Along with heavy panting.

As the final thin ice step formed, Lin Jin finally saw the basement level.

It was no ordinary basement.

It was a white, circular space embedded at the bottom of the Archives Tower.

Tens of thousands of silver threads passed through the walls, connecting the academy archives, the Department of Education's permissions, and the sealed records of the Abyss Processing Bureau.

In the center of the space stood a massive, ten-meter-tall grayish-white door.

Behind the crack of the door, countless ledger pages were flipping.

Lin Shoushan knelt right in front of the door.

Most of his hair had turned white, his maintenance uniform was so torn that its original color was barely recognizable, his left shoulder was pierced by a silver chain, and his right hand clutched a wrench, tightening the loosening bolts on the door over and over again.

Next to his left leg lay a pool of completely dried blood.

But he was still alive.

Truly alive.

The moment Lin Jin landed, he felt as if he were nailed to the spot.

Lin Shoushan raised his head.

Separated by three years and seventy-nine meters, the father and son finally truly looked at each other.

Lin Shoushan's eyes reddened slightly.

Yet his first words were:

"You've grown taller."

His gaze fell upon Lin Jin's bandaged right hand, and his face instantly darkened.

"What did you do to your hand again?"

Lin Jin's throat tightened.

Out of all the words he had prepared countless times, only one sentence remained in the end.

"You're still alive."

Lin Shoushan twitched the corner of his mouth.

"For now."

Lu Chengyuan stood right by his side.

Still immaculately dressed, without even a speck of dust on his shoes.

Compared to Lin Shoushan, he was so clean that he looked as if he didn't belong here at all.

Lin Jin raised his wrench.

"Let him go."

Lu Chengyuan shook his head.

"It's not me who has him locked up."

"It's the Cost General Ledger Room."

"Every crack he has repaired over these three years has already become a part of the entrance."

"Unless someone takes over, the moment he leaves, the door will open."

Lin Shoushan sneered.

"He makes it sound so real."

"Stinky brat, don't listen to him."

Lu Chengyuan raised his hand.

The silver threads on the door instantly lit up.

One of them crossed the space, heading straight for Lin Jin's right hand.

[Homologous Rule Maintenance path detected]

[Succession process initiated]

The silver thread was as fast as a flash of light.

Shen Tingxue slashed horizontally with her Ice Key, but it only froze it for an instant.

Zhou Heng's Thunder Spear stabbed in an arc into the side of the silver thread, throwing it off course by half an inch.

Chen Ye slammed his shield directly in front of Lin Jin.

The silver thread collided with the shield's surface; instead of exploding, it turned into a line of text and burrowed behind the shield.

[The previous Maintenance Worker is unable to continue working]

[The successor shall assume the duties]

"Assume my ass!"

Chen Ye gritted his teeth and held his ground.

Lin Shoushan suddenly raised his wrench and smashed it hard against the bottom-left corner of the giant door.

Bang!

The silver thread shook violently.

"Lin Jin!"

"The handover requires two confirmations!"

"The predecessor surrenders, and the successor accepts!"

"He can only forge one!"

Lin Jin understood instantly.

Lu Chengyuan held the authority of the Signing Room, the Records Room, and the General Ledger Room, allowing him to forge one side's confirmation.

But he could not simultaneously forge the independent wills of two people.

Lin Shoushan roared with all his might,

"Lin Shoushan does not agree to surrender his maintenance duties!"

Lin Jin tightened his grip on the wrench with his left hand.

"Lin Jin does not agree to accept!"

The voices of father and son fell simultaneously.

The silver threads in front of the giant door snapped with a loud bang.

For the first time, Lu Chengyuan's expression changed.

Zhou Heng seized the opportunity, thrusting his Thunder Spear forward violently.

Shen Tingxue's ice rushed along the lightning toward Lu Chengyuan's feet.

Chen Ye charged with his shield, blasting aside the remaining silver threads.

But Lu Chengyuan did not dodge.

The Thunder Spear passed right through his chest.

The frost also passed through his body.

His figure, like a thin sheet of paper layered over reality, swayed backward slightly before returning to its complete state.

Not a projection.

Yet he was not a normal person either.

Lin Shoushan suddenly threw a black iron token toward Lin Jin.

"Take it!"

Lin Jin caught it with his left hand.

There was only a single line of serial number on the iron token.

[Reality General Ledger Entrance Maintenance Record: 0001]

"Don't try to save me here."

Lin Shoushan gasped heavily.

"Go investigate Lu Chengyuan."

"Don't investigate what he is doing now."

"Investigate when he died."

Lin Jin's pupils shrank sharply.

Lu Chengyuan's gaze turned completely cold.

"Lin Shoushan."

"You talk too much."

The sound of flipping ledger pages behind the giant door suddenly surged.

The entire basement level began to collapse.

Gu Changye shouted sternly:

"Retreat!"

But before retreating, Lin Jin fully locked the Hand of Rules onto Lu Chengyuan for the first time.

Grayish-white prompts flashed violently before his eyes.

[Target: Lu Chengyuan]

[Current Identity: Director of the Department of Education's Special Career Development Division]

[Status: Settled]

[Time of Death: Twenty years ago]

[Current Form of Existence—]

The final line slowly unfolded.

[White Tower Old Project · Regulatory Position Proxy Shell]

Lin Jin raised his head.

Lu Chengyuan stood before the churning ledger pages, all traces of a smile gone from his face.

And on the white wall behind him, a death certificate from twenty years ago was slowly seeping through.

[Deceased: Lu Chengyuan]

[Place of Death: White Tower First Floor]

[Recipient of Remains: Lu Chengyuan himself]