177: Chapter 178 God paves the way for the child; Lin Jin first removes the road sign.

【Future Path Unified Optimization】

【Target: All minor individuals】

【Fault Description: Free growth leads to career waste】

【Maintenance Plan: Pre-lock optimal career, optimal school, optimal family relations】

When the golden light paved the streets of Jiangcheng, a path appeared beneath the feet of every child.

Straight.

Clean.

No potholes.

No forks in the road either.

At the end of the path hung the "best future" calculated by the God Head for them.

Outside First Hospital, a young father who had just saved his child watched helplessly as a golden road lit up beneath his five-year-old daughter's feet.

At the end of the road, it was written:

【Optimal Career: A-Class Healing Support】

【Optimal School: Provincial Sacred Healing Preparatory Academy】

【Optimal Guardianship Adjustment: Transfer to high-level medical professional family】

The girl lifted her foot in a daze.

It wasn't that she wanted to walk.

It was that her feet were being dragged by the road.

"Daddy?"

The man rushed over to hug her but was repelled by the edge of the road.

【Low-suitability family hinders future optimization】

【Recommendation: Separation】

The girl started to cry.

As soon as she cried, another line of text popped up above her head.

【Emotional dependency too high】

【Need to reduce ties to original family】

Similar scenes appeared throughout the city.

Some people had paths beneath their feet pointing toward the combat preparatory camp.

Some were judged to need to leave their current parents.

Some hadn't even awakened yet, but their careers had already been set in stone.

A boy who liked to draw had his crayons snapped by the golden light, and at the end of his future path, it was written:

【Optimal Career: Mechanical Constructor】

【Inefficient Interest: Eliminate】

A girl had just said she didn't want to go to the key class, and the shadow behind her was stretched by the path, like a rope tightening around her ankles.

【Resisting optimal path】

【Judgment: Immature choice】

The cradle door that had just closed in Jiangcheng had turned into an even larger road.

This time, the God wasn't snatching infants.

It was snatching the future.

In the Mainframe control room, alarms were layered one after another.

【Minor path lock rate: 12%】

【Forking paths disappearing】

【Career pre-assessment interface taken over by God Head】

Lin Jin stared at the screen, the wound on his palm still bleeding.

"Where is the source?"

Cheng Du gritted his teeth as he looked at the circuitry.

"Education files, the Class Awakening Hall, family guardianship Records, the academy pre-admission system—they've all been strung together by the God Head."

"It's not pushing the path from one location."

"It has connected all the 'for your own good' systems into one pipe."

Qin Shanhe's voice, suppressing anger, came through the broadcast.

"All children, do not move forward yet."

"If you can sit down, then sit down."

"Parents, teachers, medical staff, do not pull on the children's limbs."

"Speak, report the facts, report what the child wants to do right now."

But many children could no longer stop.

The golden road was not an illusion.

It was rewriting the space beneath their feet.

Outside the temporary classroom, Gu Xinghe was dragged stumbling by a golden road.

He had once been targeted by the Divine Seats and almost became one of the vessels for The Six Seats.

Now, the path beneath his feet was brighter than anyone else's.

【Optimal Career: Divine Seats Record Candidate】

【Optimal School: God Head Core Preparatory Domain】

【Optimal Relationship: Sever from original family, connect to system direct management】

Gu Xinghe gritted his teeth and pulled his foot half an inch out of the road.

The next second, golden book pages extended from both sides of the road, slamming onto his knees like textbooks.

【Deviating from optimal path】

【Execute correction】

He fell to the ground.

Several old students nearby wanted to rush over to save him but were blocked by their own future paths.

At the end of one person's road, it was written:

【Optimal Use: Abyss Bypass Long-term Watch】

【Recommendation: Cancel rest】

Qin Shanhe's face turned ashen.

"It's even locking people in the bypass stations again."

Lin Jin grabbed the No. 001 work badge and pressed it against the console.

"Open sub-work order."

Luo Wensheng wrote quickly:

【Sub-work order: Minor future path lock obstruction】

He Zhibai added:

【Risk: Optimal future used as justification for depriving current choices, family relationships, and the right to trial and error】

Ye Guizhou stamped it:

【Obstruction application received】

【Must not be considered as deciding the future for minors】

Lin Jin looked at the line "Must not be considered as deciding the future for minors" and suddenly paused.

"We cannot choose another path for them."

Shen Tingxue understood immediately.

"So we can't change the golden road into a path we think is good."

"Correct."

Lin Jin stared at the children in the screen being dragged along.

"We have to make the road stop first."

"Not by giving them an answer."

"But by giving the forks back."

Cheng Du cursed:

"Easier said than done, the fork interfaces have been wiped by it!"

"Then we create temporary fork signs first."

Lin Jin looked up and broadcast to the whole city:

"Everyone listen up!"

"Don't ask the children what they want to become in the future."

"Ask about now."

"Do you want to stop now?"

"Does it hurt now?"

"Do you want to take a different step now?"

"As long as the child can express a current choice, write it down."

"For those who cannot express it, protect them using their physical state and care Records."

Qin Shanhe continued:

"Teachers, parents, medical staff, get chalk, tape, rope, cardboard."

"Draw a temporary edge line next to the golden road."

"Write four words—"

"Can be postponed."

Outside First Hospital, that young father tremblingly took white tape from the Nurse station and stuck a small, crooked square next to his daughter's feet.

He no longer held the child and pulled hard, just knelt in front of her.

"Taotao."

"Do you want to stop for a moment now?"

The girl was crying, her face covered in tears.

"Yes."

The father immediately wrote this sentence on the cardboard.

【Taotao wants to stop for a moment now】

Fang Ning stamped it with The Hospital's temporary Record seal.

【Current intention Record: Established】

The dragging force of the golden road suddenly paused.

The girl's foot pulled out of the road surface a little.

Not far away, the boy who liked to draw picked up his broken crayons and cried, saying:

"I want to finish drawing this bird now."

His mother no longer shouted "Drawing is useless."

She knelt beside the golden road, helped him piece the crayons together, and drew a crooked little fork on the ground.

【Want to finish drawing now】

The words "Inefficient Interest: Eliminate" on the golden road flickered twice and cracked open.

Temporary forks were drawn in one place after another.

Some children said they wanted to drink water now.

Some said they were scared now.

Some said they wanted to go home.

Some said they didn't know.

When Lin Jin heard "I don't know," he shouted immediately:

"Record it even if they don't know!"

"'I don't know' is not an invalid answer!"

Luo Wensheng wrote down:

【Minor's current expression includes: Want, Don't want, Scared, Don't know, Not answering for now.】

Ye Guizhou stamped:

【Current expression received】

【Does not constitute a permanent career choice】

He Zhibai quickly added to the ledger:

【Trial and error, pausing, and going back on a decision generate education and care costs, which shall be borne publicly and must not be calculated as deprivation of the right to choose】

The golden road's advancement speed began to drop.

But the God Head core immediately counterattacked.

【Current expression insufficient to resist long-term optimal】

【Minor's choice is short-sighted】

【Must be planned by a mature system】

All the golden roads suddenly rose, turning into suspended tracks.

The children were lifted off the ground.

The temporary tape, chalk lines, and cardboard forks were all left on the ground, unable to reach their feet.

Chen Ye roared, raised his shield, and charged toward the track Gu Xinghe was on.

The shield hit the golden road, sending sparks flying.

"This thing is really sturdy!"

Zhou Heng's Thunder Spear pierced under the track, lightning spreading along the golden road, forcibly making that section of Gu Xinghe's road stop for half a second.

Shen Tingxue's Ice Line wrapped around Gu Xinghe's ankle, not pulling him, just freezing that piece of road beneath his feet.

"Lin Jin!"

"Half a second!"

Lin Jin lay under the console and finally touched the shunt of the God Head path interface.

It didn't treat each child as a person.

It only treated them as four types of data.

【Potential】

【Risk】

【Resources】

【Compliance】

All the forks were deleted because it compressed the future into a single "maximum yield path."

"It has no 'now'."

Lin Jin said.

"Only results."

Cheng Du understood immediately.

"Plug in the current status line!"

"Material?"

"Hospital vital signs, family care, classroom choices, personal Records."

Lin Jin dismantled the shunt while shouting:

"Connect all the children's current status into the future path!"

"Not the future goal."

"It's what's happening right now!"

Fang Ning immediately connected the newborn monitoring data to the sub-work order.

Qin Shanhe had the temporary classrooms report each child's current location and current intention.

Luo Wensheng recorded the original audio.

Ye Guizhou registered receipt.

He Zhibai wrote "Current care cost" into the public ledger.

Su Yan stood beneath the golden roads, staring at the disappearing forks, and weakly raised his hand.

"I can see the road seams."

He pointed beneath Gu Xinghe's feet.

"There."

Lin Jin followed the location he pointed to and found an extremely thin grayish-white line in the console circuitry.

It had originally been pressed under the golden shunt.

The label only had two words.

【Present】

This line was too thin.

So thin that all previous systems were too lazy to use it.

Because the present changes.

It will cry, be tired, regret, be hungry, say it doesn't know.

It is unstable.

So the God Head pressed it to the very bottom.

Lin Jin used a wrench to pry up the shunt.

"Zhou Heng!"

The Thunder Spear pierced in synchronously.

"Shen Tingxue!"

The Ice Line froze the golden track.

"Chen Ye!"

The shield withstood the recoil.

"Thirteen!"

Thirteen grabbed the golden road of Gu Xinghe's "Divine Seats Record Candidate" directly and forcibly pried open a gap with his palm.

"Quick."

Lin Jin connected the 【Present】 line into the No. 001 work badge.

The work badge became scorching hot.

All the temporary fork signs in the city lit up simultaneously.

【Want to stop now】

【Don't know now】

【Want to go home now】

【Want to finish drawing now】

【Don't want to be taken away now】

【Need care now】

These sentences, so short they were almost childish, crashed into the God Head path system one by one.

They were not grand.

Not perfect.

And there was no optimal yield.

But no matter how long the future was, it had to be walked through from the present.

The golden suspended tracks began to descend.

The children's feet touched the ground again.

Gu Xinghe lay on the ground, panting heavily.

The road beneath his feet leading to "Divine Seats Record Candidate" did not disappear completely, but a small, crooked patch of open ground appeared next to it.

On it was written:

【Not going today】

Gu Xinghe stared at those five words and suddenly smiled.

"This is good."

"Very useful."

In the sky, the first crack finally appeared on the God Head side work order.

【Long-term optimal path cannot cover current expression】

【Future lock failed】

New temporary rules were written into the files of all minors in Jiangcheng.

【Minors can have an undetermined future.】

【Current expression, physical state, care relationships, learning process, and the right to go back on a decision shall all take precedence over the system's optimal path.】

【No career, school, or family relationship shall be locked in advance due to predicted yield.】

【Helping growth does not equal replacing growth.】

The golden roads retreated underground one by one.

They did not all disappear.

Some roads were still there.

Recommendations, planning, suggestions—they could exist.

But they no longer sealed off the forks.

Children could stop.

Could take a detour.

Could say they didn't know.

Or could say it tomorrow.

In the Mainframe control room, Lin Jin released the wrench, his fingers already shaking too much to hold anything.

Cheng Du said in a low voice:

"This hurdle is passed."

But Lin Jin did not relax.

Because on the screen, the God Head's counter-work order had not ended.

After a moment of silence, it changed to a new page.

This time, it did not point to infants.

It did not point to children.

Instead, it pointed to all adults in the city.

【Minor path lock failed】

【Reason: Adults continuously interfere with divine planning】

【Switching plan: Repair adult judgment bias】

【Fault Description: Adults possess too much regret, trauma, erroneous experience, and irrational protective desire】

【Maintenance Plan: Clear failed choices from adult memories】

Above Jiangcheng, all memories of past regrets lit up with golden light at this moment.

The Abandoned Hospital, the White Tower, The Seventh Seat, and the father's back suddenly flashed before Lin Jin's eyes.

The God Head said gently:

"Children will walk randomly."

"It is because adults remember too many mistakes."

"Then let us do it for you—"

"Forget the pain."