210: Chapter 211 This multiple-choice question cannot be decided by a single vote.

[National Class Transfer System underlying review: Should it continue to exist?]

[Option 1: Retain Career System]

[Option 2: Shut down Career System]

[Option 3: Transition to long-term manual maintenance and voluntary access mode]

Three options hovered in the center of the Old Awakening Hall.

There was no golden light.

No voice of the God Head.

Yet, it was more oppressive than the God Head.

Because this time, the question wasn't about who was saved, who was dragged away, or who quit a certain career.

It was about whether the entire world should continue to have a "Career System."

In the Qinghe County training station, Teacher Song Qing stared at the screen, her fingers frozen on the chalk.

A student asked in a low voice:

"Teacher, if it shuts down, does that mean I won't have to awaken in the future?"

Another student immediately countered:

"Then will my dad's Healer career be gone too?"

In the First Hospital, Fang Ning stared at the [Shut down Career System] option, her face turning pale.

Behind her, many devices in the ward were still connected to career-based auxiliary interfaces.

Not all lives could be switched to standard medical care immediately.

Over at Nanling Hospital, someone was almost crying as they shouted:

"You can't shut it down!"

"What will happen to the intensive care unit if it's shut down!"

Yet in the Beiyuan Mining Area, someone roared:

"Retain it? Still want to retain it?"

"This damn system trapped us in the career chain for a lifetime!"

"I want to press shutdown!"

At the Hai City Awakening Tower, Intern Liang Yu stood by the drainage ditch, holding a pancake bag work order.

She looked at the three options, her lips dry.

"Voluntary access sounds the best."

"But who will maintain it?"

"Who will pay for it?"

"Which place will have the final say in the future?"

No one could answer.

Just then, a new notification popped up at the bottom of the global interface.

[Underlying governance window too long]

[Please choose as soon as possible]

[Countdown: 180 seconds]

Chen Ye's expression changed.

"Another countdown?"

Cheng Du had only just laid down when the light outside his rest area immediately flashed red.

He cursed with his eyes closed.

"Who dares to wake me up?"

Lin Jin raised his hand and pressed down on the Mainframe.

"No one is calling you."

"This damn system is making noise on its own."

Cheng Du opened one eye, saw the screen, and his face instantly turned dark.

"Don't let anyone press it."

"These three options aren't defined."

Lin Jin had already grabbed the broadcast.

"Everyone!"

"Don't choose yet!"

"No one be in a rush to press Retain, Shutdown, or Voluntary!"

"This isn't a buzzer quiz!"

But the countdown was still running.

[162 seconds]

[If no valid choice is made, it will execute according to the highest stability plan]

[Current highest stability plan: Retain Career System]

The Beiyuan Mining Area immediately exploded.

"Why retain it without us choosing?"

"Isn't this still the old system?"

Someone at Nanling Hospital cried and raged:

"Then do you want us to press Shutdown now and watch patients die?"

The arguments squeezed into the Mainframe via work order no. 002, like a pile of tangled, tearing wires.

Lin Jin stared at the three buttons and suddenly asked:

"What does the Career System refer to?"

The underlying system paused for a moment.

[Career System: The collective term for national career awakening, career naming, ability interfaces, level assessment, career resume, and task and growth systems.]

"Collective term?"

Lin Jin sneered.

"That just means bundling a dozen things into one vote."

He wrote quickly on the Mainframe board:

[Career System includes at least:]

[1. Mandatory naming rights]

[2. Ability interfaces]

[3. Level assessment]

[4. Training suggestions]

[5. Existing career relationships]

[6. Basic career functions like medical, lighting, protection]

[7. Career resume and social identity]

[8. Awakening window]

[9. Exit and transfer mechanisms]

[10. Maintenance costs and governance rights]

He finished writing and looked up at the three options.

"Retain—retain which part?"

"Shutdown—shut down which part?"

"Voluntary access—who will access it, who will maintain it, and who will pay the price?"

[Countdown: 121 seconds]

The system replied coldly:

[Detailed rules can be formulated after selection.]

Lin Jin slammed a wrench against the edge of the console.

"Sign a blank contract first, then discuss the terms?"

Ye Guizhou's seal landed heavily.

[Blank selection invalid.]

Luo Wensheng immediately recorded:

[Unexplained selections shall not be considered valid governance authorization.]

He Zhibai added:

[Formulating costs after selection may lead to a backlash of consequences; minimum risks, maintenance plans, and exit channels must be disclosed first.]

Teacher Xu Wenzhou picked up work order no. 002 and walked to the newly emerged gold-gray definition.

[In an emergency, one may choose first and supplement the rules later.]

Lin Jin used a new tool to jam the definition line.

"Cut 'may choose first'."

Teacher Xu Wenzhou brought the blade down.

Snap!

The definition split open.

The countdown paused for a beat.

But the system quickly pushed back.

[Underlying vacancy will cause interface instability]

[Medical, rescue, protection, abyss sealing, and bypass stations may all be affected.]

Fang Ning connected immediately:

"Therefore, establish minimum maintenance first."

"It is not a vote to retain the entire Career System."

"It is to temporarily safeguard patients and basic interfaces."

Cheng Du also propped himself up, his voice hoarse:

"The scope of minimum maintenance must be set in stone."

"Medical lifelines, abyss sealing, bypass station pressure, safety load reduction for awakened abilities, and interface protection for the unawakened."

"Beyond this, you must not seize the opportunity to restore old master-end commands."

Lin Jin nodded and wrote on the Mainframe:

[Temporary Minimum Maintenance Status]

[Purpose: Prevent immediate casualties caused by underlying vacancy]

[Duration: Reviewed in segments according to the local review clock]

[Scope: Life support, abyss sealing, bypass station safety, safety load reduction for awakened abilities, interface safety protection for the unawakened]

[Prohibited: Mandatory career installation, central naming, level suppression, default retention of old powers, rejecting reviews on the grounds of maintenance.]

Qin Shanhe immediately broadcasted:

"This is not a vote to retain."

"This is to keep patients, students, and guard posts from dying before the discussion even begins."

Nanling Hospital responded first.

[Support temporary minimum maintenance]

[Does not represent support for retaining the entire Career System.]

Beiyuan Mining Area quickly replied:

[Acceptable to have safety load reduction for mining area interfaces]

[Does not represent acceptance of the career inheritance chain continuing to take effect.]

Teacher Song Qing from Qinghe County wrote:

[Unawakened interface protection is okay]

[Do not pre-assign children.]

Intern Liang Yu from Hai City added:

[Awakening Tower can remain on standby]

[Do not automatically assign careers.]

Receipts poured into the Mainframe one after another.

The countdown jumped from [89 seconds] to gray.

[Countdown paused]

[Temporary minimum maintenance application established.]

But the governance issues remained.

In the Old Awakening Hall, those three options did not disappear.

There was just a gray-white prompt next to them.

[Explanation period application in progress]

[Participation structure needs to be determined.]

The system immediately popped up a row of "Representative Seats."

[Awakened Representative]

[Unawakened Representative]

[Exited Representative]

[Non-career Representative]

[Victims of Career System Representative]

[Maintainer Representative.]

As soon as these seats appeared, many cities immediately began fighting for them.

The remaining nodes of the Department of Education applied for [Awakened Representative].

The Nanwu Battle Group applied for [High-Risk Career Representative].

The Chamber of Commerce applied for [Life Career Representative].

Several universities applied for [Unawakened Representative Evaluation Rights].

Someone even proposed that the Jiangcheng Temporary Maintenance Squad should occupy both the Maintainer Representative and the Victims of Career System Representative seats.

The system quickly generated a candidate list.

Lin Jin took one look, and his face sank.

"Stop."

He pointed at those representative seats.

"Representatives are not there to vote on behalf of others."

"Representatives are only responsible for raising issues that are easily overlooked."

Qin Shanhe nodded.

"The representative seats should be changed to questioning seats."

"No seat may bundle group answers."

Luo Wensheng wrote:

[Awakened Questioning Seat can raise issues of career maintenance, exit, labor, and risks.]

[Unawakened Questioning Seat can raise issues of the future, temporary non-decision, training, and protection.]

[Exited Questioning Seat can raise issues of life support, transition, and stigma.]

[Non-career Questioning Seat can raise issues of non-access, non-exclusion, and non-career survival.]

[Victims Questioning Seat can raise issues of accountability, compensation, and refusal to reuse old mechanisms.]

[Maintainer Questioning Seat can raise issues of costs, failures, downgrades, and handovers.]

Ye Guizhou stamped:

[Questioning seats received]

[No answering on behalf of others.]

He Zhibai added:

[The costs and speaking opportunities for each questioning seat must be public and cannot be monopolized by those with strong resources.]

Thirteen looked at the [Non-career Questioning Seat] and said coldly:

"Don't look at me."

Chen Ye had just wanted to look at him but immediately turned his head away.

Thirteen walked to the old calibration disk himself.

"I can ask questions."

"But I don't represent all non-career individuals."

"I can only ask: If I never choose a career in my entire life, can I not be treated as a missing page by the system?"

The system paused for a moment.

[Non-career status must be included in the explanation period issues.]

Zhao Jing stood in the crowd, and the young man who had just chosen [Temporarily Not Awakening] also raised his hand.

"I want to ask too."

"For those who choose not to awaken temporarily, how will they eat, go to school, and work?"

Xu Tian from Qinghe County wrote across the work order:

"If the child doesn't know now, can they just keep not knowing until later?"

Zhou Lan, the Healer from Nanling who applied to exit, wrote:

"After exiting the Healer career, will I be hated by all the patients' families for the rest of my life?"

An Old Miner in Beiyuan wrote:

"If we exit the Miner career, does our mining accident disability compensation still count?"

The questions became more and more numerous.

It was as chaotic as an argument.

But this time, no one treated the chaos as a failure.

Lin Jin looked at those questions and, on the contrary, breathed a sigh of relief.

Being able to ask meant that they were no longer being compressed into a single vote by the three buttons.

The draft for the explanation period was quickly formed.

[National Class Transfer System underlying review enters explanation period]

[The three initial options are not open for final confirmation yet]

[First, carry out issue splitting, risk disclosure, group questioning, local discussions, and pilot schemes]

[Maintain temporary minimum operation during the explanation period]

[Any individual may still continue their current career review: Continue, Exit, Transfer, Suspend]

[No organization may use the underlying review to force individual choices.]

In the Old Awakening Hall, those three buttons finally turned from "pressable" to gray.

Many people around the world breathed a sigh of relief at the same time.

But the moment the explanation period rules were written, a sound of an ancient click suddenly came from the very bottom of the calibration disk.

Like a drawer that had been sealed for a long time, it opened by itself.

The Old Calibrator's expression changed.

"There are old authorization files underneath."

Cheng Du stared at the Mainframe, his one eye suddenly narrowing.

On the screen, a golden file from twenty years ago slowly emerged.

[National Class Transfer System Retention Authorization]

[Time: After the first national awakening was completed]

[Authorization Result: Retain Career System]

[Voter Turnout: 100%]

[Approval Rate: 100%]

The entire Old Awakening Hall went instantly dead silent.

The golden file continued to unfold.

[Authorization Method: First acceptance of career naming]

[Judgment Logic: Accepting career = Agreeing to the long-term existence of the Career System]

[Authorizers: All first batch of awakened individuals.]

Rows and rows of names scrolled down like a waterfall.

At the very top, a familiar name was clearly written.

[Authorization Confirmer: Lin Shoushan]

Inside the treatment pod, Lin Shoushan opened his eyes abruptly.

The color drained from his face bit by bit.

"I never signed this."