173: Chapter 174 The Second Cheng Du, Jiangcheng is Unknown

"Now."

"Who will be the second one?"

As the Abyss's voice fell, the Mainframe's handover rings all lit up.

Brass light rose from beneath Lin Jin's feet, like coils of rope winding up along his soles, knees, and waist.

[Qualified Repairman detected]

[Current candidate: Lin Jin]

[Establishing Mainframe custodial relationship]

Cheng Du grabbed Lin Jin's hand and roared, "Don't agree!"

Lin Jin hadn't even had time to agree.

The handover rings turned on their own.

The brass key was sucked into the hole, and an old-fashioned maintenance chair popped out from the control room floor.

Two interfaces extended from the back of the chair, one aimed at the spine, the other at the right arm.

It was exactly like the set on Cheng Du.

Only cleaner, and sharper.

The Abyss was very considerate.

It didn't force Lin Jin to sacrifice himself.

It simply pushed the "most qualified person" in front of the chair.

[Confirming successor]

[Lin Jin: Not of the Divine Seats]

[Lin Jin: No Abyss class]

[Lin Jin: No position shell]

[Lin Jin: Possesses maintenance status]

[Match degree: Highest]

The brass light tightened suddenly.

Half of Lin Jin's body was dragged toward the maintenance chair.

Chen Ye rushed up and hugged his waist.

"Highest my ass!"

"He's only eighteen!"

The interfaces were still closing in.

Shen Tingxue's Ice Line froze the chair legs, but as soon as the ice formed, a small seal rose from the bottom of the chair legs.

[Mainframe custodial equipment, freezing invalid]

The frost shattered.

Zhou Heng's Thunder Spear pierced the edge of the handover ring, and lightning exploded, but the ring only dimmed briefly before lighting up again.

[Handover cannot be interrupted]

[Interruption will cause the original custodian to disconnect]

Cheng Du's face went pale.

At the point where he was connected to the Mainframe, the charred tissue began to crack.

If he didn't hand over, he would be backlashed by the Mainframe.

If he did, Lin Jin would sit in that chair.

The Abyss wasn't giving a choice.

It was a replacement.

Lin Jin was dragged until his knees hit the chair legs, the pain making his vision go black.

But he didn't look at the chair.

He stared at the line of text below the handover ring.

[Successor must possess: A maintenance status that can be replaced by multiple people in reality]

"Can be replaced by multiple people..."

Lin Jin gritted his teeth and looked up.

"It wrote it itself; it shouldn't be one person."

The Abyss's voice was calm.

"Lin Jin's maintenance status can be inherited by others."

"He can hold the post first."

"And cultivate a successor later."

Cheng Du cursed loudly, "Bullshit!"

"That's what they told me back then too!"

"Hold on for a few days."

"Stabilize it first."

"Wait for the next one first!"

"It's been twenty years, where is the next one?!"

The spinal interface on the maintenance chair had already touched Lin Jin's back.

Thirteen suddenly rushed forward and stepped on the chair seat.

"He is not your transitional part."

The interface bypassed Thirteen and continued to reach toward Lin Jin.

[Non-matching object, do not interfere with the handover]

Thirteen's palm was cut by the brass light, but she still stepped on it firmly.

"I am not a part either."

"So I know what this thing wants to do."

Lin Jin raised his left hand, which hadn't been completely restrained, and slammed his rusty wrench against the handover ring.

Clang!

"Successor is not a name."

Clang!

"It's a maintenance status."

Clang!

"If the maintenance status can be replaced by multiple people, you can't lock one person first and then talk about replacement!"

The handover ring vibrated.

But it didn't let go.

Because it needed a "real-world successor object."

Not a slogan.

Not a concept.

It needed an object that could take over the Mainframe.

Qin Shanhe's broadcast suddenly rang out.

"Jiangcheng maintenance duty lesson one, open to everyone."

His voice spread across the black open space, the underground passages, The Hospital corridors, the temporary return application station, and also into the Mainframe control room.

"Those who just signed up for maintenance duty, listen up."

"This is not about you declaring a sacrifice."

"It's about you reporting which small part you can take on."

"If you don't know how, say you don't know."

"If you can learn, say you can learn."

"If you can serve for two hours, don't promise a lifetime."

The first voice came from the east bypass station.

Meng Huai's voice still carried the hoarseness of having just cried.

"I can guard Station No. 1 for four hours."

"I cannot guard it for a lifetime."

The second voice.

"I can connect temporary circuits, I can learn Mainframe power supply segmentation."

The third voice.

"I can Record the handover table."

The fourth voice was Fang Ning.

"I can monitor life support data."

The fifth voice was Luo Wensheng.

"I can save original sound anomaly Records."

Ye Guizhou raised his seal.

"I can register every handover, but I cannot agree to permanent service for anyone."

He Zhibai opened the ledger.

"I can calculate shift costs, rest costs, and training costs."

Tang Qi said in a low voice: "I can watch if mandatory orders have turned into 'You must stay'."

Su Yan also spoke: "I can watch if the door is secretly opened using the Mainframe."

More and more voices flooded into the control room.

It wasn't a neat oath.

It was chaotic, hesitant; some said they could only guard for half an hour, some admitted they were afraid, some misstated their names and reported them again.

But when these voices fell onto the handover ring, tiny dots of brass light began to emerge.

Not names.

Tasks.

[Power supply observation]

[Valve inspection]

[Life monitoring]

[Status stabilization]

[Record logging]

[Handover registration]

[Risk calculation]

[Mandatory order monitoring]

[Door gap observation]

The Mainframe handover ring hesitated for the first time.

It couldn't synthesize these people into "Lin Jin."

Nor could it say they didn't exist.

The Abyss's voice turned cold.

"Multi-person collaboration is not equal to Mainframe succession."

"The Mainframe requires core custodial duty."

Lin Jin's wrists were bleeding from the constriction of the brass light, but he still stared at the console.

"Then dismantle the core."

Cheng Du suddenly looked up.

"You want to dismantle the Mainframe core?"

"Not dismantle it away."

Lin Jin panted.

"Dismantle it into a duty station."

He finally understood why Cheng Du was locked in.

It wasn't because someone had to grow into the Mainframe.

It was because all functions were welded onto a single core seat.

Observation, judgment, load reduction, recording, alarming, handover—all pressed onto one person.

One person had to be omnipotent.

One person had to never sleep.

One person had to always be there.

This was the manufacturing method for a second Cheng Du.

"Old Cheng!"

"Are there minute hands under the core seat?"

Cheng Du endured the tearing pain of his connection point and looked down at where his body was connected.

"There are twelve."

"Six are active, six are useless."

"The useless ones aren't useless."

Lin Jin said.

"They're sealed."

He forced his restrained body to the side, and the rusty wrench barely reached the bottom of the core seat.

The first layer of the sealing plate was pried open.

Inside, sure enough, were twelve needle-like brass strips.

Six were glowing, connected to Cheng Du's body.

Six were tightly sealed with black resin.

The seal read:

[Auxiliary duty invalid]

[Mainframe responsibility cannot be shared]

Lin Jin chuckled.

"This again."

Chen Ye wedged his shield between the maintenance chair and Lin Jin's back, gritting his teeth, "Hurry up, my shield is about to be chewed through!"

Shen Tingxue changed her freezing to the interface, not freezing the chair, but only the inch of air behind Lin Jin, buying him half a second.

Zhou Heng's lightning pierced through the brass needles, making the six useless needles briefly visible.

Teacher Xu Wenzhou gripped 002.

"Cut the seal?"

Lin Jin nodded.

"Only cut 'Auxiliary invalid'."

"Don't cut the Mainframe alarm."

002 fell.

The black resin seal broke.

The six useless needles popped out, each pointing to one of six empty seats in the control room.

Old labels appeared on the empty seats.

[Observation]

[Record]

[Load reduction]

[Verification]

[Handover]

[Rest]

Cheng Du looked at those six words, his whole person looking as if struck by lightning.

"So there was a rest position."

"I didn't see it back then."

Lin Jin said in a low voice: "It's not that you didn't see it."

"It's that they didn't let you see it."

The brass light tightened again.

[Auxiliary positions restored]

[Core custodian still required]

"The core will be changed too."

Lin Jin extended the wrench toward the central core seat.

Cheng Du's face changed drastically.

"The core cannot be dismantled!"

"If you dismantle it wrong, the Mainframe will disconnect!"

"Then we won't dismantle it."

Lin Jin stared at the single palm print on the core seat.

"Change the single palm to a six-palm rotation."

"Material?"

Cheng Du gritted his teeth.

"Not enough brass rings."

Chen Ye immediately shouted:

"Dismantle the extra wires from Bypass Station No. 1?"

"No."

Lin Jin looked up.

"Bypass stations cannot be touched."

At this moment, Qin Shanhe's voice sounded.

"Use the shards of the Deans Seal."

The control room went silent.

Qin Shanhe was no longer the dean.

The Combat Academy had also been wiped away.

But the shards of the Deans Seal, which he had destroyed with his own hands, were still kept in the box of old items.

It wasn't power.

It was a piece of metal that was strong enough to withstand pressure and had witnessed the organization being dismantled.

"It used to be used to prove that one person represented the entire academy,"

Qin Shanhe said.

"Now melt it down."

"To prove that one person cannot represent everyone."

A few minutes later, the shards of the Deans Seal were transported into the control room.

Shen Tingxue controlled the temperature with ice, Zhou Heng melted the edges with lightning fire, Chen Ye used his shield surface to press the mold, and Lin Jin pressed the brass handover key onto the shards, hammering them into six curved palm rings.

With every hammer blow, the maintenance chair pushed forward an inch.

The clothes on Lin Jin's back were torn open by the interfaces, and blood flowed down his spine.

He didn't stop.

The first palm ring was fastened onto [Observation].

Fang Ning's voice cut in.

"I'll take the first shift of Observation, two hours."

The second ring was fastened onto [Record].

Luo Wensheng wrote down:

"Record first shift, I'll take it, but it can be handed over."

The third ring [Load reduction].

Zhou Heng placed his hand.

"I'll take half an hour, to train the next group."

The fourth ring [Verification].

He Zhibai placed his hand.

"I'll verify the accounts, but I won't bear all the accounts."

The fifth ring [Handover].

Ye Guizhou placed his hand after stamping.

"I only confirm that the handover happens, I won't sign for permanent service for anyone."

The sixth ring [Rest].

Everyone looked at this position.

Finally, it was Cheng Du himself who extended his still-movable hand and pressed it on.

"Rest first shift."

His voice was very low.

"I'll take it."

The Mainframe vibrated thunderously.

[Six-palm rotation structure established]

[Core custodial mode rewritten]

[Current Mainframe custodian: Jiangcheng Maintenance Team Round 1]

[Members can handover, can rest, can withdraw]

[Position is continuous, not locked to a single individual]

The brass light receded from Lin Jin's body.

The spinal interface of the maintenance chair stopped an inch behind his back, then slowly retracted.

The Abyss was silent for a long time.

Long enough for everyone to hear Cheng Du's heavy breathing.

Then, its cold prompt sounded in the control room.

[Manufacturing of a second Cheng Du failed]

Chen Ye sat down on the floor.

"That sounds really pleasing to the ear."

Lin Jin supported himself on the floor with the wrench; when he stood up, he almost fell, but was supported by Shen Tingxue.

Cheng Du looked at his connection point with the Mainframe.

The brass handover ring turned slowly.

The main interface that had trapped him for twenty years finally loosened by one notch.

It wasn't a complete separation.

But for the first time, there was loosening.

[Original custodian enters rest program]

[Estimated separation requires completion of the seventy-two bypass station rotation structure]

Cheng Du stared at that line of text and cursed.

This time the curse was very light.

As if afraid of cursing the text away.

The twelfth question in the sky finally stabilized.

[Machines harming people does not mean that destroying the machine with one button will result in cost-free safety.]

[People who rely on machines to live should not be shut down along with the machines.]

[Repairmans must not be manufactured into permanent organs.]

[The Mainframe and bypasses should establish a real-world maintenance team with partitioned load reduction, multi-person rotation, handover capability, rest capability, and withdrawal capability.]

[Must not create a second Cheng Du again.]

The seven-day exam paper above Jiangcheng did not disappear.

But the mandatory countdown was completely extinguished.

Of the seventy-two graduations, seventy-one were still unfinished.

But they no longer pointed to seventy-two cages.

Instead, they were seventy-two bypass stations that had to be repaired one by one by people.

Just when everyone thought they could finally catch their breath, a heavy heartbeat suddenly came from the direction of the heart pump cabin.

Thump.

The Mainframe screens all turned gold.

The gods heart, from which the handover key had just been pulled, actually slowly opened an eye behind the temporary mechanical valve.

That eye did not look at Cheng Du.

It did not look at Lin Shoushan.

It pierced through the Mainframe and looked straight at Lin Jin.

A line of golden text appeared.

[Mother of All Things heart check-valve stable]

[God Head still in system core]

[gods heart has confirmed Repairman no longer belongs to Divine Seats]

[Starting to re-match deity maintenance permissions]

Cheng Du's face changed suddenly.

"Disconnect quickly!"

But it was too late.

The rusty wrench in Lin Jin's hand suddenly became scalding hot.

It wasn't the black prompt of the Hand of Rules.

It was a golden commission from the deepest part of the Mother of All Things' heart.

[Commission updated]

[Target: God Head core]

[Fault: Deity still occupies the naming rights of the National Class Transfer System]

[Maintenance entrance: Opens after all seventy-two bypass stations are established]

[Estimated cost: The Repairman themselves will have their true name remembered by the deity]

The last line of text slowly burned into Lin Jin's palm.

[Lin Jin]

[She has started to remember you.]