248: Chapter 249 Money can also become a throne; who gets it first isn't up to the liquidation process.

[Rest assured.]

[We will no longer classify people as assets.]

[We will only decide who gets the money first.]

When the Credit Liquidation Officer said these words, its tone could even be described as polite.

Yet in the Old Awakening Hall, not a single person relaxed.

Because they all understood.

Not writing people down as assets was only the first layer.

The second layer was holding onto the money.

Whoever got the money first could live a little longer.

Whoever got the money later had to wait.

Whoever was not given money would slowly vanish from the ledgers.

The Clearing House's black seal fell, and all temporary accounts in Luochuan were connected simultaneously.

[Luochuan Disaster Prevention Bridging Account]

[Shiqiao Elementary School Temporary Classroom Subsidy]

[West Dike Resettlement Area Dry Goods Procurement]

[Old Pump Station Parts Payment]

[Ordinary Holder Medical Expense Floor Guarantee]

[Unemployed Supplementary Registration Assistance Fund]

[Retreating Person Transitional Resettlement Fund]

[Discarded Page Survivor Medical Restoration Fund]

Stream after stream of capital, like black water lines, were drawn from all over the city into the Clearing House hall.

The Credit Liquidation Officer raised its hand, and the ledger opened automatically.

[Sorting Principle: Global Credit Stability Priority]

[First Priority: Prevent the Spread of Systemic Defaults]

[Second Priority: Maintain Services Capable of Generating Public Output]

[Third Priority: Ensure Basic Operations of High-Credit Entities]

[Fourth Priority: Postpone Low-Credit, No-Credit, and Unassessable Subjects]

In the Shiqiao Elementary School auditorium, Guo He's expression changed instantly.

"What does unassessable subject mean?"

The liquidation officer replied gently:

[Those lacking stable occupational Records, credit Records, family asset Records, long-term payment Records, and occupational contribution Records.]

[For example: Wuye populations, temporary relief recipients, discarded page survivors, exit reviewers, and those temporarily not awakening.]

Beside A-Lu's non-professional birth page, the newly established basic classroom subsidy suddenly turned grey by one notch.

[Payment Postponed]

He Chunlian's leg treatment referral payment was also marked as:

[Waiting for Subsequent Sorting]

Liang Yan's discarded page edge-sealing potion payment changed from [Issued Today] to [Depending on Funding Situation Within Three Days].

Zhou Lan's transitional living fund after exiting was stamped with:

[Non-productive expenditure, postponed]

Zhao Jing's temporary non-awakening explanatory class subsidy was also lowered.

[Can be delayed]

The liquidation officer did not say they were unimportant.

It only said:

Later.

Wait a moment.

Funding stability is a priority.

Output is a priority.

High-credit entities are a priority.

Chen Ye punched the shield.

"Isn't this still excluding people?"

"It's just changing 'people are worthless' to 'not giving money first'!"

The liquidation officer said calmly:

[Funds are limited, sorting is inevitable.]

He Zhibai looked at that set of sorting, his expression terrifyingly cold.

"Sorting is naturally inevitable."

"But you put credit stability before life and the bottom line."

The liquidation officer replied:

[If the credit system collapses, it will affect more lives.]

As soon as these words came out, many channels fell silent.

Because it was not entirely unreasonable.

If the disaster prevention fund collapsed, the pump station would lack parts.

If ordinary holders lost everything, the elderly would be cut off from their medicine.

If school subsidies were cut off, classes could not go on.

If the city's credit collapsed, no one would supply materials on credit anymore.

Money is not a god.

Yet it can make people choke each other by the throat.

Lin Jin walked to the center of the Clearing House hall.

"Therefore, the sorting must be dismantled."

He pressed his new tool onto the black ledger.

"First, life urgency."

"Second, basic bottom line."

"Third, preventing disaster expansion."

"Fourth, continuity of public services."

"Fifth, protection of ordinary misled individuals."

"Sixth, minimum operational retention of responsible parties."

"Seventh, default liquidation."

The liquidation officer corrected immediately.

[Default liquidation should be higher than individual bottom lines, otherwise credit will lose its constraints.]

"Wrong."

He Zhibai wrote down with a stroke:

[Credit is not meant to keep the ledger alive.]

[Credit is meant to allow people to continue trading, cooperating, and living.]

[When credit sorting requires sacrificing basic survival bottom lines, the sorting itself needs suspension and repair.]

Ye Guizhou stamped:

[Fund sorting dispute received]

Luo Wensheng recorded:

[The flow of money will change people's consequences, and fund sorting is included in the scope of suspension and repair.]

The liquidation officer paused for the first time.

[The right of suspension and repair applies to maintenance and rules, not to financial liquidation.]

Guo He directly raised her chalk.

"It applies."

She wrote on the Shiqiao Elementary School blackboard:

[Shiqiao Elementary School Guo He corroborating evidence: Clearing sorting causes Wuye children's classroom subsidies to be postponed, affecting the bottom line of education. Applying for suspension and repair.]

Over in Wuye City, Zhong Minglin's wooden seal fell.

[Wuye City corroborating evidence: Care and medical payments are placed after credit sorting, affecting basic services. Applying for suspension and repair.]

Shi Nan struck the present sign of the Dead Water Well.

[Discarded page survivor corroborating evidence: Postponing edge-sealing potions may cause secondary fusion. Applying for suspension and repair.]

Zhou Lan also spoke:

"Postponing the transitional funds for evacuees will force people back to their original occupations."

"Applying for suspension and repair."

Suspension and repair requests slammed into the Clearing House one by one.

The black-robed liquidation officers raised their heads in unison.

They showed no anger, only opening their ledgers simultaneously.

[If everything is a priority, nothing is a priority.]

Lin Jin said:

"It's not that everything is a priority."

"It's drawing a bottom-line firewall first."

He Zhibai wrote quickly:

[Fund Bottom-Line Firewall]

[1. First aid, life-saving drugs, pollution edge-sealing, disaster refuge, basic child care, basic drinking water and food, and minimum medical referrals shall not be postponed due to credit sorting.]

[2. The portion of the evacuee transitional fund that maintains basic survival shall not be postponed until they are forced to return to their original occupations.]

[3. Unemployed, Wuye, discarded page, and temporarily non-awakened states shall not lower the payment priority of basic services.]

[4. Default liquidation, responsible party redemptions, high-yield profits, expansion projects, promotional projects, and vocational reserve training projects shall not crowd out the bottom-line firewall.]

[5. Sorting outside the bottom line requires public reasons and can be locally suspended and repaired.]

The liquidation officer calculated rapidly.

[The bottom-line firewall will reduce funds available for credit stability.]

"Then reduce them."

Lin Jin looked at it.

"Credit stability cannot rely on delaying life-saving money."

Teacher Xu Wenzhou raised 002.

The old definition floated out from the black ledger.

[Credit stability takes priority over bottom-line expenditures]

[Basic services for low-credit entities can be postponed]

[Non-productive survival expenditures can yield to systemic liquidation]

The blade fell.

Clack!

The three definitions were slashed apart.

The black ledger shuddered violently, and many capital flows were forcibly diverted.

Liang Yan's edge-sealing potion payment returned to [Issued Today].

He Chunlian's leg referral payment restored [Basic Medical Channel].

A-Lu's classroom subsidy was no longer ranked "After Credit Evaluation".

Zhou Lan's transitional living fund was split into two parts:

[Basic survival: Inside the firewall]

[Additional career transition training: Public sorting]

Old Pump Station parts payments continued to be maintained at a high position.

The Luochuan old lady's medical expense floor guarantee also remained inside the firewall.

Meanwhile, the final payment for the Vocational Association's new building, commendation activity funds, reserve training publicity fees, and related account profit redemptions were all pushed to the bottom.

The lights in the Clearing House hall dimmed by half.

[Fund Bottom-Line Firewall Effective]

[Impact: Credit stabilization speed decreases]

[Notice: External investor confidence decreases]

Chen Ye sneered.

"Decreasing confidence is still better than people being cut off from medicine."

The liquidation officer looked at Chen Ye.

[If investors withdraw, future public construction funds will be insufficient.]

He Zhibai said:

"Then remake public construction into public accounts."

"Stop disguising it as buying people's future returns."

The liquidation officer did not reply.

It turned to another direction.

[If fund sorting is left to local suspension and repair, it may lead to local favoritism.]

Liang Fu suddenly spoke.

"It will."

Everyone was slightly stunned.

Liang Fu was standing on the West Dike; the rain had grown a bit lighter, but the exhaustion on his face had not diminished.

"Luochuan locally will also be biased."

"I used to rank the Vocational Association too far ahead."

"Teacher Guo might rank the school too far ahead."

"The resettlement area will feel it is the most urgent."

"The pump station will also feel it cannot stop."

Guo He was silent for a moment.

"Therefore, it must be made public."

She wrote on the blackboard:

[Luochuan Fund Sorting Public Wall]

[Every expenditure within the bottom-line firewall: specify the target, reason, time, and cessation conditions.]

[Sorting outside the firewall: opposition is allowed, review is allowed.]

[Related parties shall not rank themselves first alone.]

Meng Jianqiu coughed on the stretcher.

"Who sorts the pump station's money?"

Liang Fu said:

"The pump station, resettlement area, school, resident holders, unemployed representatives, and external corroborating witnesses will look at it together."

The old lady joined in:

"Can I look too?"

Guo He said:

"You can."

The old lady whispered:

"I don't understand accounts."

He Zhibai said:

"Even if you don't understand, you can ask: why is this payment later than medicine, why is that payment earlier than beds."

The old lady thought about it.

"Then I will ask."

Luochuan local work orders generated a new module.

[Fund Public Wall]

[Bottom-Line Firewall]

[Local Sorting Hearing]

[External Corroborating Evidence]

[Sunset Review: Three Days]

The Clearing House did not stop them again.

But it began to act on a larger scale.

[Fund bottom-line firewall requests detected from multiple locations]

[If all are executed, the vocational credit system will enter demotion]

[Shall the Jiangcheng Maintenance Team uniformly approve the firewall scope?]

Just as Chen Ye was about to curse, Lin Jin had already spoken.

"No."

"Jiangcheng will not approve."

The liquidation officer asked:

[Without unified approval, the scopes are inconsistent.]

"They can be inconsistent."

Lin Jin said.

"Luochuan has floods, Nanling has pollution, Beiyuan has mine collapses, and Wuye City has drainage."

"The bottom line must be public, have corroborating evidence, be capable of suspension and repair, and does not need Jiangcheng to stamp a general seal."

Luo Wensheng recorded:

[The fund bottom-line firewall can be established locally, requiring public texts, participation of affected persons, external corroborating evidence, and sunset reviews.]

[The Jiangcheng Maintenance Team provides templates and does not possess approval authority.]

Ye Guizhou stamped.

[Template assistance does not equal central approval]

The liquidation officers fell silent for a moment and re-sorted.

[Jiangcheng unified approval failed]

[Switching to the Credit Clearing House standard model]

He Zhibai's gaze turned cold.

"It still wants to take the template back."

The black seal lit up again.

[Clearing House standard model:]

[Bottom-line expenditure evaluation must refer to the object's credit recovery potential]

[Give priority to protecting subjects who can restore taxation, vocational services, and public contributions]

In the Shiqiao Elementary School auditorium, Lin Xiaokui was stunned for a moment.

"Recovery potential?"

Over on A-Lu's side, a dazzling prompt popped up beside his non-professional birth page.

[Credit recovery potential: Low]

Liang Yan's page:

[Short-term public contribution: Low]

Zhou Lan's exit page:

[Vocational service recovery potential: Inducible]

Zhao Jing's temporary non-awakening page:

[Future contribution uncertain]

The Clearing House's voice became polite again.

[Bottom-line firewall acceptable.]

[But inside the firewall, sorting is also needed.]

[Recommended allocation based on credit recovery potential.]

In the Old Awakening Hall, everyone's heart sank simultaneously.

It took a step back.

And buried blades inside the bottom line once more.

Lin Jin looked at that line of [Credit recovery potential] and suddenly chuckled.

The smile was very cold.

"So your so-called liquidation—"

"Ultimately still asks whether a person will be worth money in the future."

The Clearing House did not deny it.

[Resources are limited; long-term returns must be considered.]

Lin Jin raised his new tool.

"Then chop off long-term return priority."

But before he could bring it down, the Luochuan old lady suddenly spoke.

"Wait."

Everyone paused.

The old lady's voice was very soft, yet very clear.

"I am old."

"According to this thing, is my credit recovery potential also low?"

The Clearing House paused for a moment.

[Yes.]

The old lady let out a chuckle.

"Then my medicine should also be ranked at the back?"

[If the model is strictly executed, yes.]

In the Shiqiao Elementary School auditorium, the children stopped talking.

The old lady continued:

"Then I understand."

"This model doesn't just bully children."

"It bullies everyone who temporarily cannot settle their accounts."

She lit up her financial holder page and slowly wrote a line:

[I apply to suspend and repair the credit recovery potential sorting.]

[Reason: Being old, sick, young, just rescued, currently exiting, or not knowing yet does not mean one deserves to live a little less.]

Ye Guizhou's seal sound fell heavily.

[Suspension and repair received]

In an instant, many pages across Luochuan, Wuye City, Dead Water Well, Nanling Hospital, and Qinghe County classrooms lit up simultaneously.

The elderly.

Children.

Patients.

Evacuees.

Those temporarily not awakening.

Discarded page survivors.

Low-tier professionals.

For the first time, they were not evaluated separately.

Instead, they used the exact same sentence to pin down the exact same model.

Teacher Xu Wenzhou raised his blade.

Lin Jin jammed his new tool against the black seal.

[Bottom-line expenditures sorted by credit recovery potential]

Before the blade fell, an icy prompt suddenly came from the deepest part of the Clearing House.

[Warning: This definition is the core of the vocational credit system.]

[If severed, all personal credit scores will lose their occupational contribution calibration.]

[Do you wish to continue?]

He Zhibai's expression changed drastically.

"Personal credit scores?"

The next second, a string of unfamiliar scores lit up around the edges of everyone's pages.

Lin Xiaokui: 37.

A-Lu: 0.

Liang Yan: 12.

Zhou Lan: 44, and falling.

Zhao Jing: Uncertain, provisionally counted as 25.

Chen Ye: 61.

Shen Tingxue: 91, under load reduction observation.

Lin Jin: Unassessable, extremely high risk.

The Clearing House's voice finally ceased to be gentle.

[Funds, medical care, education, transit, loans, positions, relief, and supplementary registration all refer to vocational credit scores.]

[What you are going to slash is not just a sorting rule.]

[It is the entire credit order of the mortal world.]