154: Chapter 155 Ten minutes later, Jiangcheng no longer had a combat academy.

[Replacement Processing Area: Jiangcheng Combat Academy]

[Lives Within Area: 12763]

[Reality Erasure Countdown: 09:59]

The moment the numbers appeared, a piece of the sky outside the Archives Tower went missing.

It wasn't getting dark.

Rather, the direction where the Jiangcheng Combat Academy stood had been circled by a grayish-white frame.

The frame spanned across the teaching area, dormitory area, training grounds, and the back hill.

All the buildings within the frame lost their color simultaneously.

The walls were still there.

The people were still there too.

But whether by the naked eye, city maps, or surveillance equipment, it became impossible to confirm exactly where they were located.

Qin Shanhe stood in the center of the academy square.

The floor tiles beneath his feet had turned translucent.

He looked up at the countdown, not asking Gu Changye why he had signed the Abyss Career, nor waiting for the Department of Education to issue an evacuation order.

He grabbed the academy's broadcast system directly.

"Everyone, listen up."

"The academy will disappear in ten minutes."

The square fell into instant silence.

Immediately after, countless windows opened simultaneously.

Some gasped in shock, some rushed out of classrooms, and others instinctively looked toward the administration building, waiting for the dean to provide a unified route.

Qin Shanhe looked at those gazes and only said one sentence:

"Don't wait for my arrangements."

"Instructors, take whoever you see with you."

"Students, evacuate via the nearest exit."

"Logistics, tear down the perimeter walls; training teams, open up paths; medical teams, set up stations along the way."

"Whoever knows which path is fastest, take that one."

"If anyone falls behind, bring them along."

He paused for a second.

"Today, there is no dean."

"There are only 12,763 people who need to get out alive."

As the broadcast ended, every part of the academy moved simultaneously.

A training instructor punched the east perimeter wall, causing it to collapse.

Earth-type students compressed the rubble into a slope.

Wind-type professionals set up ziplines from the top of the dormitory buildings.

Non-combat logistics staff opened seventeen maintenance passages that were usually sealed, dragging out warehouse carts, medical beds, and school buses.

The crowd did not squeeze toward the main gate.

They scattered in all directions through walls, windows, underground utility tunnels, and breaches in the training grounds.

[Countdown: 08:47]

At the top of the Archives Tower, Lin Jin stared at the life count on the academy map.

[Lives Within Area: 12763]

Not a single one missing.

In the communicator, Chen Ye was listening to the academy's evacuation broadcast.

"People are already running out."

"Why isn't the number changing?"

Inspector Han Su plunged his long sword into the ground and pulled up the Abyss contract signed by Gu Changye.

The full terms unfolded on the blade.

[Permanently close one Abyss entrance]

[Cost: A region of equivalent scale in reality will be judged as having been processed]

[Area processing targets include: land, buildings, organizational relationships, and registered lives within the area]

Shen Tingxue's gaze turned cold.

"It doesn't count only if people are inside."

"People registered at the academy are still considered processing targets even if they run out."

Student enrollment Records.

Teacher employment Records.

Logistics files.

Occupancy Records for temporarily placed personnel.

The Abyss treated the entire academy as a completed project ready to be archived and destroyed.

As long as their names were still listed under the academy, running outside the city was useless.

"Go back first."

Lin Jin grabbed the black main line left behind after the collapse of the Record Seat.

The passage they came through was disappearing.

The Record Seat was already dead, and this line could only sustain one more teleportation at most.

Zhou Heng thrust his Thunder Spear into the main line.

Purple lightning traced along the Archives Tower, piercing straight toward the academy.

"Everyone, get close!"

Chen Ye raised his shield to protect everyone.

Shen Tingxue's Ice Line coiled around Lin Jin, Teacher Xu Wenzhou, Thirteen, and Inspector Han Su.

However, Inspector Han Su did not enter.

"I'm staying."

Lin Jin looked back.

Inspector Han Su gripped his long sword, his left arm still slightly translucent.

"Although the Record Seat is dead, the carrying relationships within the Archives Tower haven't been fully released."

"If I leave, the remaining people might be settled by the blade again."

"Don't make the decision for me this time."

Lin Jin glanced at him.

"Don't swing the blade a second time."

Inspector Han Su did not promise.

He only said:

"Save the academy first."

The lightning exploded.

The five of them were thrown directly from the top of the Archives Tower by the main line.

When they landed again, they were already on the academy's training grounds.

People were running everywhere.

The buildings were fading.

Some desks and chairs that hadn't been taken in time were now just blurry outlines.

After landing, Zhou Heng glanced at the time.

[07:16]

Lin Jin immediately connected to Qin Shanhe.

"People running out is useless."

"The Abyss is processing the academy's registration relationships."

There was a half-second silence on the other end of the broadcast.

Qin Shanhe asked:

"Dissolve student enrollment and employment?"

"Ordinary dissolution won't be in time."

Teacher Xu Wenzhou said.

"Besides, the Department of Education's master files are still there; even if the academy deletes local Records, the system can still trace them."

Qin Shanhe did not hesitate.

"Then don't dissolve individuals."

"Dissolve the academy."

Every instructor in the communication channel heard it.

Someone couldn't help but ask:

"What do you mean?"

Qin Shanhe stood in front of the burned-down administration building.

The deans seat had already been burned by his own hands.

The remaining half of the Deans Seal left only a pool of solidified metal.

"The Abyss wants to process Jiangcheng Combat Academy."

"Then give the academy to it."

"People do not belong to the school."

"The school can be gone, but the people must remain."

An elderly instructor's voice trembled.

"But the academy's master files, enrollment qualifications, training instances, decades of equipment..."

"Burn them."

Qin Shanhe said.

"Dismantle what can be dismantled."

"Leave what cannot be taken for it."

"From now on, all personnel are transferred to independent refugees."

"All classes are dissolved."

"All positions are terminated."

"Jiangcheng Combat Academy ceases operations."

The entire communication channel went completely silent.

This wasn't a temporary school closure.

It was actively dismantling all the foundations for the existence of a Combat Academy.

No enrollment Records.

No classes.

No dean.

No instructor positions.

There was no guarantee that they could regain their operating license after the crisis ended.

Yet Qin Shanhe had already walked into the archives room.

He carried out the very first register from when the academy was founded and threw it into the fire left by the deans seat.

The flames flared up instantly.

"Burn the files!"

The order spread.

Instructors from all departments rushed into the offices, moving student registers, position lists, and assessment Records to the square.

It wasn't to burn away the students' experiences.

Important grades and personal profiles had already been returned to the individuals beforehand.

What was being burned was the academy's declaration of ownership over these people.

[So-and-so, affiliated with Jiangcheng Combat Academy]

[So-and-so, managed by the academy]

[So-and-so, shall obey the academy's position arrangements]

Page after page of paper turned to ash.

In the training pods, logistics personnel used cutting machines to remove the academy emblem.

On top of the dormitory buildings, the metal sign with the school's name was struck down by the Thunder Spear.

Chen Ye rushed to the main gate and smashed the stone tablet engraved with "Jiangcheng Combat Academy" with his shield.

The stone tablet crashed down.

He stepped on the rubble and shouted:

"What are you all looking at?"

"Remember the road, not the walls!"

"If we rebuild in the future, if anyone dares to say they can't find their dormitory, I'll be the first to laugh at them!"

The students around him, who had been red-eyed, were actually made to laugh by his scolding.

After laughing, they continued to run.

Shen Tingxue stood in the broadcast control room, freezing the last line of the academy's unified command.

From this moment on, the broadcast could only transmit information and could no longer issue commands with positional authority.

Zhou Heng led people to dismantle the Career certification doors of the training grounds.

Teacher Xu Wenzhou placed 002 horizontally in front of the academy's master files.

"Only cut the organizational relationships."

"Do not cut the memories of teachers and students."

The black iron wrench fell.

That massive chain of belonging between the academy and all its personnel snapped from the middle.

[Jiangcheng Combat Academy members: 12763]

The number dropped sharply.

[9610]

[5427]

[1836]

Finally, it stopped at:

[Area registered lives: 1]

Lin Jin stared at that number.

"Who else hasn't been dissolved?"

The system did not display a name.

It only marked a red dot in the center of the academy map.

The administration building.

Qin Shanhe.

Chen Ye rushed into the ruins.

"Boss Qin, why are you still counted inside?"

Qin Shanhe stood by the fire.

His ordinary jacket had been burned with several holes.

There was no dean's emblem on his chest.

Nor were there any positional connections.

After Lin Jin arrived, he immediately saw the foundation stone of the school that had not yet been burned under his feet.

Carved on the stone was the oath left by the first dean.

[During the existence of the academy, one person must bear the final responsibility]

Qin Shanhe was not left behind by the deans seat.

It was that he himself still had not let go of the final responsibility.

As long as the academy had one second left, he believed someone must stay until the end.

[Countdown: 03:02]

"You get out."

Lin Jin said.

"The foundation stone needs to be manually destroyed."

Qin Shanhe raised his foot and stepped on the stone.

"If I leave, the academy's processing state will seek a new person in charge."

"Then we'll smash it together."

Lin Jin crouched down to check the mechanical fasteners around the foundation stone.

There was no rule prompt.

He could only use the wrench to remove them one by one.

The first bolt was locked tight by decades of rust.

The second one was connected to the academy's underground energy pipe below.

If smashed directly, the entire training area would explode prematurely.

Qin Shanhe watched the countdown.

"It's too late."

"Then stop talking nonsense."

Lin Jin changed his angle and pressed the wrench onto the nut.

Chen Ye knelt down and wedged the edge of his shield against the foundation stone.

Zhou Heng sent an extremely thin stream of lightning into the bolt to burn away the internal rust.

Shen Tingxue froze the energy pipe to prevent heat from conducting further.

The four of them exerted force simultaneously.

Click!

The first bolt popped out.

[01:41]

The second one.

The third one.

Outside the academy, 12,762 people had all evacuated from the grayish-white frame.

They did not leave.

Everyone stood outside the boundary, watching the school buildings lose their color bit by bit.

No one called for the dean.

They were calling for Qin Shanhe.

"Qin Shanhe!"

"Come out!"

The voices pierced through the disappearing perimeter walls.

Qin Shanhe looked down at the foundation stone.

The last bolt still wouldn't loosen.

It had been driven in by the first dean himself.

There was no mechanical slot.

Only a single sentence.

[If the academy falls, the one responsible shall be buried with it]

Lin Jin raised the chipped wrench.

"The school has no right to make anyone be buried with it."

A hammer blow fell.

Stone chips flew.

The second hammer blow.

The oath cracked.

When the third hammer blow fell, Qin Shanhe also raised his foot and stomped heavily on the words "buried with it".

Boom!

The foundation stone shattered completely.

[Final responsibility relationship dissolved]

[Area registered lives: 0]

Chen Ye hoisted Qin Shanhe onto his shoulder.

The five of them rushed toward the boundary.

[00:12]

The teaching buildings behind them began to collapse silently.

It wasn't a collapse.

It was as if they were being erased layer by layer from reality by an invisible eraser.

[00:07]

Shen Tingxue paved an ice path.

Zhou Heng's Thunder Spear blasted open the last section of the fading perimeter wall ahead.

[00:03]

Chen Ye leaped across the grayish-white boundary while carrying Qin Shanhe.

Lin Jin was the last to step across.

[00:00]

The entire Jiangcheng Combat Academy disappeared.

No explosion.

No ruins.

For several kilometers, only a terrifyingly flat black open space remained.

Dormitories, teaching buildings, training pods, the classroom where they had argued countless times—all gone.

12,763 people stood at the edge of the open space.

Not a single one missing.

Qin Shanhe got down from Chen Ye's shoulder and looked at the former academy.

After a long while, he exhaled.

"Find a place to hold classes tomorrow."

Chen Ye glared at him.

"The academy is gone, and you still want to hold classes?"

"The people are still here."

Qin Shanhe said.

"Why shouldn't we hold classes?"

First, someone in the crowd laughed.

Subsequently, the laughter grew louder and louder.

Someone wiped away tears, saying the cafeteria finally didn't need to be saved.

Some started calculating how many textbooks they could still take away.

Other instructors were already discussing borrowing the city defense square to use as a temporary training ground.

The Abyss had taken away a region.

But it failed to judge the people in the academy as finished products together with it.

Just as Lin Jin was about to let go of the wrench, the black ground beneath his feet suddenly shook.

A crack slowly opened from the center of the open space.

After the academy disappeared, the deeper structure that had originally been pressed down by the underground training grounds was exposed.

It was an ancient staircase extending downward.

On both sides of the staircase hung thousands of black school emblems that had never appeared in the modern Career System.

On the stone door at the very top, a line of text older than the academy's founding time was carved.

[The First Failed Experiment of Universal Class Transfer Containment School]

[Number of students enrolled: 12763]

The smile on Chen Ye's face froze.

The number of people just rescued was exactly the same as the number of students enrolled in the containment school twenty years ago.

From behind the stone door, the orderly sound of a class bell rang out.

The voice within the Abyss laughed softly.

"Thank you all."

"For helping me with the academy that was pressing on top of the classroom—"

"Dismantle it cleanly."