126: Chapter 127 Six Seats Press the City, First Kill Those Who Prove Lin Jin

[Target of this recovery: Tool 002, Candidate Lin Jin—]

[And all witnesses who prove "Lin Jin is still Lin Jin."]

The moment the blood-red prompt pressed down, the entire academy lost all sound.

It wasn't silence.

It was that sound itself had been sucked away.

Chen Ye opened his mouth to curse. His throat was clearly vibrating, but not a single word came out.

Zhou Heng slammed his Thunder Spear into the ground, a blinding electric arc exploding from its tip, but the thunder was swallowed completely by the six black chairs.

A cold light cracked from the Ice Key in Shen Tingxue's hand, but as the ice spread, there was not even the slightest sound of frosting.

Six black chairs hung high in the night sky.

No gods sat upon them.

Yet each chair was like an invisible eye, looking down upon every class emblem in the academy.

The back of the first seat lit up.

[Record]

The second seat.

[Ruling]

The third seat.

[Replacement]

The fourth seat.

[Recovery]

The fifth seat.

[Correction]

The sixth seat.

[Continuation]

The seventh empty chair hung behind Lin Jin, the character for [Repair] on its back slowly opening like a rift waiting to swallow a person.

The black patterns that had just been resealed on Lin Jin's chest grew hot once again.

But this time, the The Six Seats did not grab him first.

The first black light fell toward Chen Ye.

[Witness One: Chen Ye]

[Testimony: Lin Jin is an independent individual]

[Disposal Method: Delete shared experiences]

Chen Ye's pupils contracted sharply.

The black light passed through his shield without leaving a wound.

But it felt as if a piece of his mind had been violently torn away.

The Abandoned Hospital.

Teaming up for the first time.

That shield Lin Jin had disdained for having "static."

The beatings they endured together, the White Tower they cursed together, and the countless times he had stood behind Lin Jin and said, "I'm here."

All the images began to fade.

Chen Ye swayed.

He looked at Lin Jin, a look of unfamiliarity surfacing in his eyes for the first time.

Lin Jin's heart sank abruptly.

"Chen Ye!"

Still, there was no sound.

What the The Six Seats sealed was not just speech.

They wanted the witnesses to lose the memories that could prove who he was.

Shen Tingxue reacted the fastest.

The Ice Key stabbed into the ground. Instead of attacking the sky, the frost instantly froze the shield-shaped shadow beneath Chen Ye's feet.

Within that shadow, the independent testimony he had actively left for Lin Jin was preserved.

[You are that bastard who entered the instance for the first time, tapped my shield with a broken wrench, and even complained about my shield having static.]

The frost sealed the testimony.

The unfamiliarity in Chen Ye's eyes paused for an instant.

Lin Jin rushed forward, striking the edge of Chen Ye's shield with his wrench.

Clang—

This sound finally rang out.

It was very soft.

Yet it was exactly the same as when they first met.

Chen Ye's body shook violently.

He looked down at the earliest dent left on the shield, his eyes gradually recovering their focus.

"You..."

The sound still could not carry.

But his lip movements were clear as day.

"You really did complain."

Lin Jin twitched the corner of his mouth.

In the next moment, the second black light fell toward Zhou Heng.

[Witness Two: Zhou Heng]

[Testimony: Lin Jin is not a replacement part]

[Disposal Method: Restore the predetermined inheritance path]

The air behind Zhou Heng split open violently.

A purple corridor, composed of the Zhou Family archives, the Thunder Spear class lineage, and Deputy Director Zhou Chengyue's old reconstruction records, pierced straight through his body.

At the end of the corridor was an inheritance seat that had been prepared for him long ago.

[Zhou Family Thunder Spear Successor]

[Deputy Director Zhou Chengyue Reconstruction Sequel]

[White Tower Barrier-Breaking Node]

Every identity was calling to him.

As long as Zhou Heng walked back onto that path, he would no longer be Lin Jin's witness.

He would only become a "pre-determined life."

The hand with which Zhou Heng held his spear stiffened for a brief moment.

His feet also began to retreat uncontrollably.

The old maintenance echo controlling Teacher Xu Wenzhou suddenly raised the 002 Wrench.

"Let me sever it."

"Sever the inheritance seat, and he can come back."

Lin Jin whipped his head around.

"Don't move!"

There was no sound.

But the old echo understood his lip movements.

"If we don't sever it now, he will be dragged away."

Yet Lin Jin stared fixedly at the 002 Wrench.

"Severing the position is easy."

"But after severing it, who will prove that Zhou Heng rejected it of his own accord?"

The 002 Wrench wasn't saving him.

It would only slice the connection apart in one blow.

But Lin Jin and the others hadn't come all this way just to cut off all their ties.

Zhou Heng was dragged half a step into the purple corridor.

Just then, Chen Ye violently flung his shield out.

The shield spun along the ground, slamming hard into the back of Zhou Heng's knees.

Zhou Heng was knocked off balance, his steps veering off the inheritance path.

Shen Tingxue's Ice Line took the opportunity to wrap around the Thunder Spear.

Lin Jin rushed in front of Zhou Heng and slapped the thunder nail, which sealed the "residual coordinates of hesitation," into his palm.

That was not an order.

It was not Deputy Director Zhou Chengyue's will.

It was the hesitation that truly belonged to Deputy Director Zhou Chengyue, which they had brought back from the White Tower First Floor.

For a person to hesitate...

...meant he had never fully agreed.

Lightning exploded in Zhou Heng's palm.

He raised his head, the rigidity in his eyes torn apart by rage.

The Thunder Spear swept across.

The purple corridor was cracked open by a single strike of his own spear.

He did not accept the 002 Wrench severing it for him.

He rejected going back himself.

The third black light fell immediately after.

The target: Shen Tingxue.

[Witness Three: Shen Tingxue]

[Testimony: Lin Jin must return to his own identity]

[Disposal Method: Freeze emotional connections, restore pure lockdown judgment]

Shen Tingxue's eyes instantly lost all warmth.

It was not her usual calmness.

It was a truly emotionless void.

The Ice Key rose from her palm, its blade turning toward Lin Jin.

The The Six Seats were turning her back into the most "qualified" Lockdown Role.

No trust.

No companions.

Only judging the source of pollution.

And the largest source of pollution at this moment was Lin Jin, who was locked on by the Rule Maintenance Seat.

[High-Risk Candidate]

[Immediate ice-sealing recommended]

The Ice Key stabbed directly toward Lin Jin's chest.

Zhou Heng wanted to stop it, but he was entangled by the remaining inheritance corridor.

Chen Ye had only just recovered his memory, and his body was still swaying.

Lin Jin did not retreat.

The Ice Key stopped an inch from his chest.

The cold air had already frozen and cracked his school uniform.

There was not the slightest ripple in Shen Tingxue's eyes.

Lin Jin simply raised his left hand.

He did not grab her wrist.

Instead, he placed his cracked F-Class Repairman school badge against the tip of the Ice Key.

On the inside of the school badge was the testimony she had left just moments ago.

[Including yourself.]

[So come back.]

The Ice Key pierced half an inch into the school badge.

Shen Tingxue's hand trembled slightly.

Lin Jin looked at her.

"You can lock me down."

His voice finally broke through the silence of the The Six Seats.

Intermittent, yet clear enough.

"But it has to be your judgment that I should be locked down."

"Not them judging for you."

The layer of absolute cold in the depths of Shen Tingxue's eyes cracked open.

The Ice Key suddenly deflected.

The blade grazed past Lin Jin's shoulder and stabbed fiercely into the empty seventh chair behind him.

Crack!

For the first time, the empty chair had been cracked by a direct strike.

Sound suddenly rushed back into the entire academy.

Chen Ye's very first words were an angry curse.

"Stealing memories, altering lives, freezing brains!"

"Is this your so-called rule maintenance?"

The six black chairs did not respond.

The fourth seat, [Recovery], lit up.

This time, it did not choose a single target.

The black light directly enveloped Teacher Xu Wenzhou and the 002 Wrench.

[Lost Tool Recovery]

[Attached Maintenance Echo Purge]

[Temporary Vessel Teacher Xu Wenzhou: No retention value]

The 002 Wrench vibrated frantically.

For the first time, panic appeared in the voice of the old maintenance echo.

"Lin Jin!"

"Catch the 002 Wrench!"

"If it gets recovered, your father will surely die!"

The 002 Wrench broke free from Teacher Xu Wenzhou's hands and flew toward Lin Jin.

At the same time, the six black chairs extended chains simultaneously.

Half pulled at the 002 Wrench.

The other half thrust toward Shen Tingxue, Zhou Heng, and Chen Ye.

As long as Lin Jin reached out to catch the tool, the identity anchors of the three witnesses would be dragged into the maintenance seats along with it.

This wasn't a choice between the tool and his teammates.

It was forcing him to use his teammates as the price for catching the 002 Wrench.

Teacher Xu Wenzhou fell to his knees.

His own consciousness finally completely suppressed the old echo.

"Lin Jin!"

"Don't catch it!"

"Destroy it!"

The old echo roared inside his body.

"You know Lin Shoushan only has forty-eight hours left!"

Teacher Xu Wenzhou clutched the 002 Wrench tightly with both hands, his flesh splitting from the vibrations.

"I know!"

"But Lin Shoushan hid it for twenty years!"

"Not so his son would sit on that chair again!"

The chains of the The Six Seats were already right before their eyes.

Lin Jin extended his left hand.

Everyone's expression changed.

But what he grabbed was not the 002 Wrench.

It was Teacher Xu Wenzhou's wrist.

"Chen Ye!"

"Here!"

The shield slammed down heavily, shielding both Teacher Xu Wenzhou and the 002 Wrench behind it.

"Zhou Heng!"

The Thunder Spear arced, pinning down the side nodes of the six recovery chains one after another.

"Shen Tingxue!"

The Ice Key was pulled out from the crack in the seventh chair, frost sealing all the way up to the sky along the Thunder Spear.

The three of them stood by Lin Jin's side once more.

Not as subordinates.

Not as a price.

They chose to stay of their own accord.

Lin Jin looked up at the The Six Seats.

"Don't you want to prove that I must return to my position?"

He took out the detached shard of the black approval stamp from his toolbox.

"Then let's first see if you even have the qualification to recover it."

The Hand of Rules landed on the shard.

This time, what he was repairing was not a tool.

It was the hidden recovery path between the The Six Seats and the approval stamp.

[Malfunction: Recovery process bypassed independent confirmation by the candidate]

[Exploitable Point: The approval stamp was once forcibly detached, and the recovery authority remains in a legacy connection state]

[Repair Plan: Return the recovery request along its original path to the initiator of the authority]

[Price: Worsening of right hand injury, temporary blindness of the Hand of Rules]

Lin Jin did not hesitate.

His injured right hand pressed onto the approval stamp for the first time.

Intense pain instantly shot through his arm.

Shen Tingxue's expression shifted.

"Lin Jin!"

"I have to use it this time."

Gritting his teeth, the grey-gold phantoms of his ordinary wrench and the rule correction wrench overlapped simultaneously.

He did not touch the 002 Wrench.

He only borrowed the 61% he already possessed.

"The recovery target was written wrong."

"You are the ones who should be returned."

The wrench twisted down.

The black approval stamp suddenly reversed.

The hanging chains of the The Six Seats all came to a halt.

In the next second, they swept back along their original paths!

The recording chains of the first seat wrapped back around the first seat.

The ruling chains of the second seat stabbed back into the second seat.

Replacement, recovery, correction, continuation—the six authorities clashed against each other simultaneously.

For the first time, a massive cracking sound echoed from the sky.

The six black chairs vibrated together.

Chen Ye stared up, dumbfounded.

"It really got sent back?"

But Zhou Heng said sharply:

"No!"

The The Six Seats did not collapse.

They were merely being forced to receive the recovery requests they had issued themselves.

A moment later, the sixth seat, [Continuation], suddenly lit up.

A voice completely different from the mechanical prompts came from behind the chair.

It was ancient.

Calm.

It even carried a hint of a smile.

"Not bad."

"The Seventh Candidate's first reverse-repair is a pass."

Lin Jin's expression changed dramatically.

This recovery was not a simple capture.

It was also a test.

The six black chairs slowly parted to the sides.

Behind them, a massive gate that had never appeared before was revealed.

There was no White Tower logo on the gate.

Only a boundless starry sky and countless worlds pierced by class icons.

From the crack of the gate, a pale finger gently reached out.

It did not descend toward Lin Jin.

Instead, it bypassed everyone and tapped the 002 Wrench in Teacher Xu Wenzhou's arms.

Crack.

A crack split open on the surface of the 002 Wrench.

The old maintenance echo hidden in the deepest depths of the wrench suddenly let out a shrill scream.

"It's not me!"

"I am not the first Maintenance Worker!"

"Lin Jin, don't believe my records—"

The crack exploded completely.

An identity nameplate that had been hidden for twenty years fell to the ground from inside the 002 Wrench.

[White Tower Legacy Project Chief Designer]

[Name: Lin Shoushan]

Everyone in the academy froze at the same time.

Lin Jin looked down at the nameplate.

And the real-time maintenance records of the basement level also changed at that very same moment.

[Current Reality Entrance Maintenance Worker: Lin Shoushan]

[Former Identity: White Tower Legacy Project Chief Designer]

[Note: He did not enter the White Tower by mistake]

[He is the person who built the White Tower with his own hands]