48: Chapter 48, the non-existent number 104, requires proof that it ever existed.

"As a Grade F Repairman, I specialize in repairing things that others say don't exist."

Lin Jin's words fell.

The entire corridor of the Forbidden Building went quiet for a moment.

The lightbulb in Classroom 101 swayed gently.

The blurry students in Classroom 103, who were answering questions, all turned their heads at once.

Teacher Xu Wenzhou at the door of 105 saw the gentle smile on his face fade little by little.

"Lin Jin."

He said softly:

"You think repairing a non-existent classroom is just about knocking a door into existence?"

Lin Jin looked at the blank wall.

"Of course not."

"The door is just the result."

"I have to prove that there was a door here once."

Teacher Xu Wenzhou's eyes narrowed slightly.

Lin Jin's words hit the crux of the matter.

The prompt given by the Hand of Rules was very clear:

[Current Fault: Record of existence completely erased]

Since the "record" was erased, he couldn't just repair the wall directly.

If he smashed the wall, he would only get a harder wall.

Because in the rules of the Forbidden Building, Classroom 104 had never existed.

To repair Classroom 104, he had to first find an anchor point that could prove Classroom 104 had existed.

Class schedule.

Doorplate.

Student roster.

At least one was needed.

Preferably all three.

Chen Ye felt his head swelling.

"So we aren't looking for a classroom right now."

"We're looking for evidence?"

Lin Jin nodded.

"Pretty much."

Shen Tingxue looked at the four doors: 101, 102, 103, and 105.

"If Classroom 104 was erased, the relevant traces wouldn't remain in the position of Classroom 104."

"They might have been scattered into other classrooms."

Lin Jin glanced at her.

"Right."

Teacher Xu Wenzhou suddenly smiled.

"You are indeed smarter than ordinary freshmen."

"But the smarter you are, the easier it is to die in the Forbidden Building."

Chen Ye raised his shield to block in front of Lin Jin.

"Can you change your lines?"

"Since last night, you've just been scaring people."

Teacher Xu Wenzhou said faintly:

"Because I have seen what happens to those who don't listen to advice."

Lin Jin ignored him.

He turned and walked toward Classroom 101.

The door to 101 was open.

It was empty inside.

The desks and chairs were neat.

The sentence was still written on the blackboard:

[Before maintenance, confirm if the fault exists.]

Lin Jin stood at the door without going in immediately.

Hand of Rules scan.

[Target: Classroom 101]

[Status: Safe]

[Function: Test Prompt Room]

[Note: This classroom will not attack actively]

Test prompt room.

This meant 101 was the place for them to understand the questions.

Lin Jin walked into the classroom.

Chen Ye and Shen Tingxue followed behind.

There was a smell of old chalk dust in the classroom.

Dust settled on the desktops.

Some blurry handwriting was carved on the edge of every desk.

Some had written names.

Some had written formulas.

Some had carved crookedly, "Must survive graduation."

Chen Ye saw those last few words, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

"The class atmosphere is quite hardcore."

Shen Tingxue didn't speak.

She walked to the wall and looked at the old class schedule posted in the back.

The class schedule had already yellowed.

It read:

[Rule Maintenance Basics]

[Lockdown Theory]

[Pollution Decomposition]

[Dungeon Accident Review]

[Practical Course: 104]

The last line.

The two characters "104" were covered by black smudges.

But because of the age, the ink had cracked, and the strokes could still be vaguely seen.

Lin Jin's eyes lit up.

"The first anchor point."

He didn't tear off the class schedule directly.

Instead, he used a wrench to gently press down on the edge.

[Target: Old Class Schedule]

[Status: Incomplete]

[Recorded Content: 104 Practical Course]

[Can be used as one of the existence anchor points]

Lin Jin carefully took down the class schedule, folded it, and put it away.

The moment the class schedule left the wall, the line on the blackboard suddenly changed.

[Confirmation One: 104 once existed as a Practical Course classroom.]

Chen Ye's eyes lit up.

"Effective!"

But the next second, a rhythmic recitation sound came from outside the classroom door.

"Question One."

"Please write down the number of a non-existent classroom."

"Question One."

"Please write down the number of a non-existent classroom."

The sound of the students in 103 grew louder and louder.

It was like they were urging them to answer.

Lin Jin knew there wasn't much time.

Every anchor point they found would make the "Erasure Rule" in the Forbidden Building notice them.

They had to complete it as soon as possible.

The three left 101.

The next target was 102, the Practical Equipment Room.

The door to 102 was locked.

An old-fashioned iron lock hung on the door handle.

Chen Ye raised his shield, wanting to smash it.

Lin Jin held him back.

"Don't."

"There's usually a registration for the equipment room."

"Smashing it might count as damaging public property."

Chen Ye had a complicated expression.

"Are you worried about losing merit points at a time like this?"

"It's not merit points."

Lin Jin looked at the lock.

"It's the rules."

Hand of Rules unfolded.

[Target: 102 Equipment Room Lock]

[Status: Locked]

[Fault: Key missing]

[Maintenance Plan: Apply for temporary opening as a Maintenance Worker]

[Success Rate: 88%]

Lin Jin stuck the old badge of Maintenance Worker 07 onto the lock.

The iron lock vibrated gently.

Click.

It opened.

Chen Ye was stunned.

"This badge is actually quite useful."

Lin Jin pushed open the door to 102.

It was piled with old desks, broken training dummies, snapped targets, and various discarded equipment.

There was a row of doorplates in the corner.

[101]

[102]

[103]

[105]

[106]

Only 104 was missing.

"None?"

Chen Ye frowned.

Lin Jin was not disappointed.

He walked to the doorplate rack and looked down at the ground.

The dust on the floor was thick.

But between the 103 and 105 doorplates, there was a rectangular light mark.

It was as if something had been placed there for a long time and then taken away.

Hand of Rules prompt appeared.

[Missing trace detected]

[Target: Doorplate storage position]

[Missing item: 104 doorplate]

[Can be used as one of the existence anchor points]

Chen Ye looked at the light mark.

"The thing is gone, can a trace count?"

Lin Jin nodded.

"Sometimes, the gap proves its existence better than the thing itself."

Shen Tingxue walked to the other side of the equipment room.

"There's a roster cabinet here."

She pulled open a rusty drawer.

Inside was a stack of old training registration forms.

The first few were blank.

One in the middle, however, had been burned away for the most part.

Only the title at the top remained.

[Rule Maintenance Special Class Practical Grouping Form]

The names below were burned away by fire.

Only a few residual characters remained.

[Lin...]

[Shen Qing...]

[Xu... Zhou]

Seeing the last name, the three fell silent at the same time.

Chen Ye cursed in a low voice:

"Teacher Xu Wenzhou was also in the last batch?"

Shen Tingxue stared at that remaining form.

"He wasn't lying."

Lin Jin's gaze stopped on [Lin...].

Lin Shoushan.

Without a doubt.

This form was likely the grouping form before the last batch entered the 104 Practical Course.

Hand of Rules refreshed.

[Target: Practical Grouping Remaining Form]

[Recorded Content: 104 Practical Course Participants]

[Can be used as one of the existence anchor points]

The second one.

No, along with the missing doorplate trace, that already counted as two and a half.

But it still wasn't enough.

For Classroom 104 to be repaired, there needed to be at least three complete anchor points: "Location, Purpose, Personnel."

The class schedule proved the purpose.

The doorplate trace proved the location.

The grouping form proved the personnel.

Now only the last key was missing:

Why it was erased.

Lin Jin put away the remaining grouping form.

Just at this moment, all the training dummies in the 102 Equipment Room suddenly turned their heads.

The wooden heads made a creaking sound.

They had no faces.

Only blurry contours carved out.

Then, all the dummies raised their hands at the same time, pointing behind Lin Jin.

Chen Ye looked back abruptly.

He saw outside the 102 door.

Teacher Xu Wenzhou at the door of 105 was gone.

Replacing him was the door to Classroom 103, which had opened completely.

Those blurry students all stood up.

Everyone held a test paper in their hands.

Only one sentence was at the very top of the test paper:

[Please answer the questions.]

They began to walk out of the classroom.

One step.

One step.

Closing in on 102.

Chen Ye raised his shield to block the doorway.

"Looks like they don't want us to keep searching."

Shen Tingxue raised her hand, and frost spread along the ground.

"It's not them."

"It's the Forbidden Building collecting the papers."

Lin Jin's eyes sank.

If they were forced to answer, they would be dragged into the fake classroom.

They had to avoid it.

"Go to 105."

Chen Ye was stunned for a moment.

"Go to Teacher Xu Wenzhou's side?"

"He was standing at the door of 105 just now."

Lin Jin said.

"That means there is something in 105 he doesn't want us to see."

The three rushed out of 102.

The 103 students immediately quickened their pace.

They didn't run, but they seemed to be pushed forward by some rule, sliding forward.

Still repeating in their mouths:

"Please answer the questions."

"Please answer the questions."

"Please answer the questions."

Shen Tingxue pressed a palm against the wall.

The frost instantly erected a thin ice wall, temporarily blocking the door of 103.

Chen Ye used his shield to knock away two approaching student shadows.

The three quickly rushed to the door of 105.

The door was open.

It wasn't a classroom inside.

But an old office.

A sign was hung on the wall:

[Rule Maintenance Special Class Temporary Office]

On the desk was an open meeting record.

Lin Jin walked over.

The first page of the meeting record read:

[Resolution on Erasing the Existence Record of Classroom 104]

Chen Ye gasped.

"Was it really erased by people?"

Lin Jin turned to the next page.

There were a few lines of text on it.

[A major accident occurred in the 104 Practical Course.]

[Participating students: Lin Shoushan, Shen Qingshuang, Teacher Xu Wenzhou, and four others.]

[Accident result: One missing, three polluted, two dead, one file abnormal.]

[Decided by all surviving teachers of the Rule Maintenance Special Class: Erase the existence record of Classroom 104 to prevent the accident from repeating.]

Lin Jin's gaze stopped on the last sentence.

Prevent the accident from repeating.

In other words, 104 was not hidden by enemies.

It was erased by the academy, or the Rule Maintenance Special Class itself.

Teacher Xu Wenzhou's words, "Some things disappear because they must disappear," were not entirely false.

Chen Ye's expression was complicated.

"Then are we still repairing it?"

Shen Tingxue also looked at Lin Jin.

This question was heavy.

If the disappearance of 104 was a seal to prevent the accident from repeating, repairing it might really release danger.

But the entrance test requirement was to repair it.

This meant that Qin Shanhe might want Lin Jin to face the accident from back then.

Lin Jin looked at the meeting record.

Hand of Rules prompt appeared.

[Core anchor point detected]

[Reason for 104 non-existence: Active erasure]

[Fault nature updated]

[Current fault: Seal aging, incorrect erasure affecting the structure of the Forbidden Building]

[Note: 104's continued non-existence has caused the testing rules of the Forbidden Building to distort]

Lin Jin understood.

Erasing 104 back then was to seal the accident.

But twenty years had passed, and the seal was aging.

The "non-existence" of 104 itself began to affect the entire Forbidden Building.

So the current maintenance goal was not simply to restore 104 to its original state.

But to correct the erroneous erasure.

Let it exist again in the correct way.

Not to release the accident.

But to let the sealed accident enter a controllable record.

Lin Jin closed the meeting record.

"Repair."

Chen Ye asked:

"Are you sure?"

Lin Jin nodded.

"Not to open 104 completely."

"It's to repair 104 from 'non-existent' to 'sealed existence'."

"Let it admit it once existed, but without repeating the accident."

Shen Tingxue nodded gently.

"Only then can we continue to investigate the truth."

Just at this moment.

Handwriting from Teacher Xu Wenzhou suddenly appeared on the blackboard of the 105 office.

[You will regret it.]

Lin Jin raised his wrench.

"Regret is better than pretending not to know."

He placed the four anchor points—class schedule, doorplate missing record, grouping remaining form, and meeting record—in front of the blank wall in the corridor.

Hand of Rules fully unfolded.

[Existence anchor points collected]

[Purpose: 104 Practical Course Classroom]

[Location: Between 103 and 105]

[Personnel: Last batch of practical group]

[Reason for erasure: Accident sealing]

[Maintenance plan: Rebuild 104 sealing door]

[Success Rate: 71%]

The wall began to vibrate.

The 103 student shadows frantically slammed into the ice wall.

The lights in the entire corridor flickered.

Lin Jin gripped the wrench and smashed it hard into the center of the blank wall.

Thud!

A crack appeared on the wall.

Thud!

The second time.

A rusty doorplate slowly emerged from the wall.

[104]

Thud!

The third time.

A classroom door wrapped in black sealing tape appeared before everyone.

[Maintenance Complete]

[Classroom 104: Sealed Existence]

[First test passed]

Chen Ye was just about to cheer when a slight sound suddenly came from inside the 104 door.

Click.

Behind the sealing tape.

Someone knocked on the door gently.

Then, a young man's voice came from inside.

"Who is outside?"

"Is the... practical course... over?"