223: Chapter 224 The career page grew into my heart, don't ask if it can still be used.

The alarm at the bottom of the Dead Water Well did not ring from the Mainframe.

It came from the mud.

Rings of grayish-black ripples spread outward from the deepest part, as if something inside was striking a buried bell.

[Shi Nan's teammate: Career page rotted into the heart]

[Application: Do not restore, do not subside, just want to know if he can still live]

[System suggestion: Abandon rescue to prevent the spread of waste page contamination]

When these three lines of text floated up, Shi Nan's expression changed instantly.

He had just been rescued not long ago, and the remnant page on his shoulder was still pressed with a grayish-white border, but he abruptly rushed to the well's edge.

"Not a teammate."

His voice was hoarse.

"His name is Liang Yan."

"He knows how to repair lamps, remember paths, and hang fluorite bottles in the highest places when everyone else cannot sleep."

"Don't call him by 'Career page rotted into the heart'."

Ye Guizhou's seal fell almost simultaneously.

[Liang Yan's personal name received]

[It is forbidden to substitute the name with injury condition, waste page status, or contamination level]

Deep within the Dead Water Well, the presence lamp representing Liang Yan was so faint it was almost invisible.

Chen Ye leaned over the edge of the floating bridge and heard a very soft knock from below.

Dong.

Only once.

Like a person exhausting all their strength to tell the outside: I am still here.

Fang Ning's voice connected from Nanling Hospital, holding steady.

"First confirm vital signs, no discussing the career."

"Respiration, heartbeat, bleeding, conscious response."

Shi Nan placed the water-listening bamboo tube into the mud's edge and tapped his fingers twice.

After a long pause below, it replied once.

His eye sockets instantly turned red.

"Conscious."

"But very weak."

The system added coldly:

[Career page remnant is synchronized with heart rhythm]

[If stripped, mortality rate is extremely high]

[If retained, contamination spread rate is extremely high]

[Original career can be restored to temporarily stabilize the life interface]

[Original career: Beacon Life-Illuminator]

Chen Ye was stunned for a moment.

"Beacon Life-Illuminator? Sounds like a career that saves people."

Shi Nan suddenly turned his head to look at him.

"It used to be."

"Later, it wasn't."

Liang Yan's old Record automatically floated above the waste page mud.

[Beacon Life-Illuminator: Mark survival paths for targets within disasters, abysses, and containment zones]

The next line was rewritten by a black line.

[Position expansion: Prioritize marking survival routes for high-level professionals, command posts, and resource-value units]

[Low-priority targets can be ignored]

[Execution deviation: Once]

[Refusal to correct: Three times]

[Handling: Career page anomaly, subsidence]

Shi Nan's fingers trembled as they pressed onto that Record.

"The year of the collapse zone, he shone his lamp for over a dozen children."

"The system told him to shine it on S-rank guards and commanders first."

"He didn't."

"Two high-level professionals died that time, and nine children survived."

"Later they said he neglected his duty, said his lamp was unclean, and said his career page needed to be recalled and rewritten."

"He would rather smash the lamp than light the way for them again."

Another knock came from the bottom of the well.

Dong.

Very light, yet as if confirming: That's right.

Lin Jin looked at that Record, his fingers slowly tightening around the new tool.

"So restoring the original career now means pressing him back onto that lamp holder."

Fang Ning immediately said:

"It cannot be restored."

The system retorted:

[Not restored, life interface unstable]

[Forced rescue will endanger the surroundings]

Shen Tingxue had just unloaded ninety percent of her public cooldown, her face still pale, yet she walked to the well's edge.

She did not deploy the Ice Phoenix, only condensing a wisp of cold fog at her fingertips.

"I can lower the temperature for a short time, without taking over the main stabilization."

Zhou Heng raised his spear.

"I can cut off external summons without touching his heartbeat."

Chen Ye pressed the broken shield to the front of the floating bridge.

"I'll shoulder the mud waves, but I'll retreat if I can't hold on."

Shisan said in a cold voice:

"Write things clearly this time; don't rescue halfway only to turn him into a tool again."

Lin Jin nodded and looked at Shi Nan.

"Ask him."

Shi Nan leaned back down by the bamboo tube, his voice trembling.

"A-Yan, can you hear me?"

"Above is asking you."

"Do you want to restore the Beacon Life-Illuminator?"

There was a long pause at the bottom of the well.

Dong.

Once.

Shi Nan closed his eyes briefly.

"Once is no."

"Do you want to forcibly tear off that page on your heart?"

Dong.

Still once.

"Do you want to live first?"

This time, it knocked three times from below.

Dong, dong, dong.

No one spoke beside the Dead Water Well.

Only the sound of water and Shi Nan's suppressed breathing.

Ye Guizhou stamped:

[Liang Yan's current willingness: Do not restore original career, do not forcibly tear career page, live first]

Luo Wensheng recorded:

[Personal willingness translated via companion's agreed knocks, confirmation to be supplemented after life stabilizes]

He Zhibai wrote:

[Confirmation and medical costs generated by inability to express directly shall be borne publicly; it shall not be deemed as having no willingness]

Lin Jin inserted the new tool into the well wall.

The old definition floated up from the mud.

[Continuous response of career page = Life interface stable]

[Beacon Life-Illuminator = Must mark survival routes for high-priority targets]

[Refusal to mark = Career dereliction of duty]

He did not cut the first line immediately.

Fang Ning had said that Liang Yan's life right now was intertwined with that rotted page; to crudely sever it was to pull out his life.

Lin Jin pressed the tool onto the second line.

"Cut the command first, not the heartbeat."

Teacher Xu Wenzhou's 002 came down, the blade shaving off only the four characters "high priority".

Crack.

The phantom of the old lighthouse abruptly rose from the mud.

A broken lamp hung over Liang Yan's blurred chest, its light piercing the black mud and forcibly sweeping outward beyond the well.

Many human figures floated within the light.

[Current rescue requires path]

[Current Wuye City requires guidance]

[Current bottom-layer review requires lighthouse sample]

[Recommendation to restore Liang Yan's function]

Shi Nan roared:

"He won't shine it!"

The system remained cold and rigid.

[His ability can save more people]

As soon as this sentence came out, everyone sank a little.

Because it was too familiar.

"Can save more people", so the Healer cannot quit.

"Can seal more mouths", so the Ice Phoenix cannot rest.

"Can end failure", so Gu Changye must hold the blade.

"Can light the path of survival", so Liang Yan's heart could also be used as lamp oil.

Lin Jin raised his head, staring at the broken lamp.

"If it can save people, it should first learn not to eat people."

He jammed the second slot of the new tool into the edge of the lamp's shadow.

Shen Tingxue's low temperature landed only on the outer ring of the waste page, slowing it down.

Zhou Heng's current of thunder flowed along the well wall, not touching Liang Yan's body, only cutting off external summons.

Chen Ye withstood the mud waves, his broken shield emitting a harsh cracking sound.

Shisan stood on the floating raft, pressing a Wuye City wooden plaque to the end of the rope.

The wooden plaque read:

[Liang Yan, currently present, not acting as a lamp holder]

Shi Nan pressed his muddy handprint onto it.

"I corroborate."

"He said before, he'd rather the lamp go out than light people according to rank again."

Ye Guizhou stamped.

[Corroboration received]

Luo Wensheng added:

[Liang Yan's refusal to make unfair marks does not constitute career dereliction of duty]

He Zhibai wrote:

[Subsidence caused by refusal of unfair orders enters the accountability ledger]

The phantom of the broken lamp shook violently, and a suppressed groan of pain came from the bottom of the well.

Fang Ning anxiously said:

"Enough! You cannot touch the root of the heart anymore!"

Lin Jin stopped immediately.

"Change to border sealing."

"Make that page shut up, but temporarily keep it in the body's trauma."

Fang Ning quickly provided the procedure:

[Career page remnant: Functional invalidation]

[Living tissue: Retained]

[Old command: Severed]

[Contamination spread: Isolated]

[Personal willingness: Do not restore, do not forcibly tear, live first]

Teacher Xu Wenzhou glanced at Lin Jin.

Lin Jin nodded.

002 fell once more.

This time it was not a severance.

It was shaving an extremely narrow boundary along the gap between the remnant page and the heart.

The grayish-white light descended along the rope.

The light of the broken lamp dimmed inch by inch.

The mud waves at the bottom of the well, like a beast whose teeth had been pulled, were still rolling, but could no longer force the command back into Liang Yan's heart.

Finally, the system's write-back changed.

[Liang Yan]

[Status: Alive]

[Original career page: Beacon Life-Illuminator remnant, temporary invalidation border sealing completed]

[Career function: Not restored]

[Heart risk: High, continuous medical monitoring required]

[Personal willingness: Pending supplementary confirmation]

[Rescue status: Can be slowly transferred, forced stripping prohibited]

Shi Nan knelt entirely on the floating bridge, his forehead pressed against the wooden board.

"A-Yan."

After a long while below, it replied once.

Dong.

Half an hour later, Liang Yan was carried up.

He was so thin he had almost no weight, his chest wrapped in a grayish-white border, and the remnant page was still there, but it no longer glowed.

His eyes opened a crack, and seeing Shi Nan, his first sentence was so light it seemed about to scatter.

"Has the lamp... gone out?"

Shi Nan nodded hard.

"It's out."

Liang Yan closed his eyes, tears sliding from the corners of his eyes into the mud.

"That's good."

On the second baseline trial operation page, the first case was generated.

[High-fusion career page safe exit evaluation case one: Liang Yan]

[Principles: Do not restore, do not forcibly tear, preserve life first, functional invalidation, phased confirmation of willingness]

[Conclusion: The safe exit baseline has not yet been established, but the process can be established]

But immediately following, the global queue surged.

[High-fusion individuals with career pages and basic functions of body, family, post, and city: 9.42 million]

[Original system suggestion: No exit allowed]

[New process request: Item-by-item evaluation]

Cheng Du remained silent in front of the Mainframe for a long time.

"Nine million four hundred and twenty thousand."

"This isn't just saving one Liang Yan."

"This is the final ledger after the whole world turned people into parts."

The fourth page of the proposal turned, floating up a new warning.

[Before the second baseline is established, any vote to "voluntarily retain the Career System" is not entirely voluntary.]

[Because many people do not want to retain it.]

[They just don't have a safe path to leave yet.]

At the same instant, Gu Changye's window automatically expanded.

[Terminal Processor: High-fusion career]

[Fusion objects: Abyss wrap-up, failure line sealing, abnormal termination authority]

[If turning away, one must answer the core question:]

[Can a person who only knows how to end things no longer be sent by the world to end everything?]

Under the cold lights of the Abyss Processing Bureau, Gu Changye raised his eyes.

He smiled slightly.

"This question."

"I've been waiting for a long time."