51: Chapter 51: If a teammate breaks down, should you fix them?
When the old test paper emerged from the toolbox, the temperature outside the 104 door seemed to be abruptly sucked away.
The frost on Shen Tingxue's fingertips stilled.
Chen Ye stopped talking as well.
Even Teacher Xu Wenzhou, who had been standing in the shadows of the corridor, turned deathly pale.
The test paper was very old.
The paper was yellowed, with scorched edges.
Yet the line of text at the very top was glaringly clear.
γ 104 Practical Class Final Question γ
γ Question: If the repair target itself is your teammate, will you still repair it? γ
Lin Jin looked at this line of text, his knuckles slowly tightening.
The repair target itself is a teammate.
This sentence sounded like a moral dilemma.
But in Rule Maintenance, it couldn't just be a moral dilemma.
Repairing means coming into contact with a malfunction.
Disassembling the structure.
Replacing the broken parts.
When necessary, one must even excise the source of contamination.
If a teammate is contaminated by the rules to the point of becoming a "malfunction core," then so-called repair is likely no longer about saving a person.
It is about deciding who to keep and what to discard.
Chen Ye stared at the test paper, his voice somewhat dry.
"What... does this question mean?"
"It means that someone broke during the 104 Incident back then."
Lin Jin said in a low voice.
Chen Ye's expression changed.
Shen Tingxue looked at the test paper.
"Not injured."
"But judged by the rules as a repair target."
Lin Jin nodded.
This was the most terrifying part.
In ordinary battles, if a teammate is injured, they can be treated.
If a teammate is trapped, they can be rescued.
But Rule Maintenance is different.
If the system marks a person as a "target," it means that person is no longer just a victim.
He might have become part of the malfunction.
Repairing might hurt him.
Not repairing, the malfunction will continue to expand.
The final question given to the last batch of the Rule Maintenance Special Class by the 104 Practical Class back then was to force them to face this choice.
No wonder people died.
No wonder people went missing.
No wonder 104 was erased.
Because from the beginning, this question didn't look like something a student should be answering.
Lin Jin did not reach out to take the test paper.
He first used his Hand of Rules to scan it.
γ Target: 104 Practical Class Final Question γ
γ Status: Sealed Exam Question γ
γ Association: Lin Shoushan's Old Toolbox γ
γ Danger Level: B γ
γ Hint: Answering directly will trigger the remnants of the 104 Final Question γ
B-level.
Lin Jin's gaze sank slightly.
It was much more dangerous than the return slot from just before.
This test paper itself was a trigger.
As long as he answered, the Forbidden Building would likely pull them into the scene of the final question from back then.
Teacher Xu Wenzhou suddenly spoke.
"Close the box."
His voice was very low.
"Don't read any further."
Chen Ye looked at him.
"The more you say that, the more I feel like there's something underneath."
Teacher Xu Wenzhou's expression was gloomy.
"There is indeed something underneath."
"But it's not something you can look at right now."
Lin Jin looked at him.
"Who was the teammate that broke back then?"
Teacher Xu Wenzhou fell silent.
Lin Jin continued to ask:
"Lin Shoushan?"
Teacher Xu Wenzhou's eyes flickered slightly.
Not a denial.
Nor an admission.
But this reaction was enough to explain the problem.
Shen Tingxue suddenly said:
"It could also be Shen Qingshuang."
Teacher Xu Wenzhou looked up at her, his voice hoarse.
"Don't guess."
"If you guess correctly, something bad will happen."
Chen Ye frowned.
"We can't even guess?"
Lin Jin looked at the question on the test paper.
"It's not that we can't guess."
"It's that this question will read our judgment."
"If I decide that a certain person is the repair target, the 104 might generate a scene based on my judgment."
This was troublesome.
The truly insidious part of the final question was that it didn't tell you who the target was.
It made you guess.
Guess wrong, and you might judge an innocent teammate as a malfunction.
Guess right, and you might trigger the core of the accident from back then.
That was why Teacher Xu Wenzhou said not to guess.
Lin Jin took a deep breath and slowly closed the toolbox lid.
Click.
The moment the toolbox closed, the oppressive feeling in the corridor lightened slightly.
But the line of text on the test paper remained in everyone's mind like a brand.
The next second, the voice of the academy's main control array rang out within the Forbidden Building.
γ Second test complete. γ
γ The third test will begin in five minutes. γ
γ Please, candidates, prepare to answer. γ
Chen Ye's eyes widened.
"We really have to answer?"
Shen Tingxue frowned.
"Is the third test this test paper?"
Lin Jin looked at the 104 door.
Below the doorplate, new golden text slowly emerged.
γ Third Test: Final Question Reproduction γ
γ Requirement: Determine the repair target γ
γ Restriction: Do not sacrifice a teammate as the answer γ
γ Hint: Incorrect repair will lead to team elimination γ
After reading it, Chen Ye nearly broke down.
"We can't sacrifice a teammate, but we still have to determine the repair target?"
"Then what is the answer?"
Lin Jin was also looking at those lines of text.
Do not sacrifice a teammate.
This sentence was crucial.
It indicated that for the final question back then, someone might have chosen to sacrifice a teammate.
And the current test required him to find another solution.
Not simply answering "repair" or "not repair."
But finding a way to repair without sacrificing a teammate.
Teacher Xu Wenzhou sneered.
"It can't be done."
"We also thought we could do it back then."
Lin Jin looked at him.
"How did you choose back then?"
Teacher Xu Wenzhou did not answer.
The corridor lights suddenly began to change.
The five doorsβ101, 102, 103, 104, and 105βlit up simultaneously with different colored lights.
Circles of old array patterns emerged on the ground beneath their feet.
Chen Ye immediately raised his shield.
"It's here!"
Shen Tingxue stood to Lin Jin's left, and frost spread along the corner of the wall.
Lin Jin picked up the toolbox.
The surface of the box was scalding, as if the test paper inside was breathing.
γ Final Question Reproduction in preparation γ
γ Current Scene: Ten minutes before the 104 Incident γ
γ Participants being mapped γ
γ Lin Jin: Rule Maintenance position γ
γ Shen Tingxue: Ice-type defense position γ
γ Chen Ye: Shield defense position γ
γ Warning: External observer Teacher Xu Wenzhou has been associated with the accident record γ
Teacher Xu Wenzhou's expression changed abruptly.
"Stop!"
"I am not a test participant!"
But the Forbidden Building ignored him.
A grey-white light seeped out from the gap in the 104 door, instantly wrapping around Teacher Xu Wenzhou's ankles.
Chen Ye was stunned.
"He's been pulled in too?"
Lin Jin's gaze darkened.
Teacher Xu Wenzhou was a participant back then.
His standing here was, in itself, part of the accident record.
The third test reproducing the final question could not bypass him.
Teacher Xu Wenzhou struggled violently.
"Lin Jin!"
"Stop the test!"
"It's still not too late to quit now!"
Lin Jin looked at the doorplate.
γ The third test has begun γ
γ Exit condition: Voluntarily forfeit the Rule Maintenance Special Class qualification γ
Voluntarily forfeit.
This was another trap.
As long as he gave up the test, it was equivalent to giving up the Rule Maintenance Special Class.
The second wrench, clues about his father, the truth of the Forbidden Buildingβall would be blocked outside the door.
Lin Jin gripped the wrench tightly.
"I won't quit."
For the first time, anger appeared in Teacher Xu Wenzhou's eyes.
"You will get them killed!"
Lin Jin looked back at Shen Tingxue and Chen Ye.
"Are you afraid?"
Chen Ye grinned, his face clearly pale, but he still patted his shield.
"No kidding."
"But I'm already in, is saying I'm afraid useful now?"
Shen Tingxue's voice was calm.
"Make the judgment you're supposed to make."
"I will keep an eye on the ice-type contamination."
Lin Jin nodded.
Then, he looked at Teacher Xu Wenzhou.
"If you really don't want us to die, tell us about what happened back then."
Teacher Xu Wenzhou gritted his teeth.
"If I don't say it, at most you won't know how you'll die."
"If I say it, 104 will directly reproduce according to the trajectory of that year."
Lin Jin stared at him.
"Then tell us the part that won't trigger it."
Teacher Xu Wenzhou was taken aback.
Lin Jin continued:
"Before the final question, what was the repair target of the 104 Practical Class?"
This question avoided "who broke."
It only asked about the initial target.
The rules didn't sound an alarm.
It meant it could be asked.
Teacher Xu Wenzhou was silent for two seconds, then finally spoke.
"104 is not an ordinary classroom."
"It is the practical simulation room of the Forbidden Building."
"The topic that day was to repair a contaminated team contract."
Team contract?
Chen Ye frowned.
"Just a team agreement?"
"Deeper than that."
Shen Tingxue said.
"High-level teams at the Combat Academy use contracts to bind coordination, damage sharing, and retreat permissions."
Teacher Xu Wenzhou said in a low voice:
"The last batch of the Rule Maintenance Special Class used an experimental team contract at the time."
"It allowed the team to share part of their rule resistance in the forbidden area."
"But once the contract is contaminated, all team members will drag each other down."
Lin Jin understood half of it instantly.
"So the final question wasn't repairing people."
"It was repairing the team contract."
Teacher Xu Wenzhou looked at him, his gaze complex.
"At the very beginning, yes."
"Later, the contract contamination spread, and the repair target and the team members became bound together."
"The system determined that a node must be excised from the team."
"That node is the so-called broken teammate."
Chen Ye's expression was ugly.
"What does 'excise' mean?"
Teacher Xu Wenzhou did not look at him.
"Excised from the contract, records, team, and reality altogether."
Shen Tingxue's voice turned cold.
"Which means making that person disappear."
Teacher Xu Wenzhou was silent.
This was the core of the 104 Incident.
The final question asked: If the repair target itself is your teammate, will you still repair it?
The solution given by the rules back then was likely to sacrifice one teammate, excise the contaminated node, and preserve the others.
Lin Jin looked at the test paper.
"Wrong."
He said.
Teacher Xu Wenzhou frowned.
"What's wrong?"
"If it were just excising one contaminated node, 104 wouldn't have become like this."
Lin Jin said quickly.
"Someone among you must have refused to excise it back then."
"And someone wanted to."
"The team contract conflicted between the two choices, which caused the accident to spiral out of control."
Teacher Xu Wenzhou's eyes flickered slightly.
Lin Jin knew he had guessed right.
Just then, the seal on the 104 door suddenly came loose completely.
The classroom door did not open.
But the surface of the door panel rippled like water.
A scene slowly emerged.
It was a classroom.
A young Lin Shoushan stood in front of the blackboard, holding a wrench more complete than the one Lin Jin had now.
Beside him was a young woman holding an ice-blue spear.
Shen Qingshuang.
And a young version of Teacher Xu Wenzhou, standing in the corner with a pale face.
In the center of the classroom, a student knelt on the ground.
Their body was covered in black contract lines.
The final question was written on the blackboard.
γ If the repair target itself is your teammate, will you still repair it? γ
In the scene, the young Lin Shoushan looked up and said a sentence.
"The question is wrong."
"The one that broke is not the teammate."
"It's this contract that treated the teammate as a part."
Lin Jin looked at the scene, his pupils constricting slightly.
His father had also discovered it back then.
What really needed to be repaired wasn't the person.
But the contract rule that judged people as excisable nodes.
But the next second.
The young Teacher Xu Wenzhou in the scene suddenly roared:
"It's too late!"
"If we don't excise him now, we'll all die!"
Shen Qingshuang blocked the front of the contaminated student.
"We can't excise a person."
"If we excise him, he will cease to exist completely."
The scene shook violently.
All the black contract lines spread frantically.
Finally, Lin Shoushan raised his wrench and smashed it against the question on the blackboard.
The scene stopped abruptly.
The 104 door returned to being cold.
Before Lin Jin's eyes, the Hand of Rules popped up the true hint for the third test.
γ Repair target updated γ
γ Target: Experimental team contract γ
γ Malfunction: Misjudging teammates as replaceable parts γ
γ Third requirement: Repair the contract judgment logic without sacrificing any teammates γ
After seeing the hint, Chen Ye let out a huge sigh of relief.
"Now that sounds like something human!"
But Shen Tingxue did not relax.
"Lin Shoushan also reached this step back then."
"But the accident still happened."
Lin Jin nodded.
Because the hardest part is not determining the target.
It's the repairing.
Just then.
Black contract lines emerged simultaneously beneath the three of them.
The lines wrapped around their ankles, wrists, and hearts like living things.
Teacher Xu Wenzhou was also dragged into it.
The final question on the blackboard lit up again.
γ Current team contract under contamination γ
γ Please select a malfunction node to excise γ
γ Candidate nodes: Lin Jin, Shen Tingxue, Chen Ye, Teacher Xu Wenzhou γ
Chen Ye's expression changed.
"Why am I on there too?"
Shen Tingxue raised her hand to cut off a black line, but new ones quickly wrapped around again.
Lin Jin looked at the blackboard.
This was the trap from back then.
Even if you determined that the contract was the malfunction, it would still force you to choose an answer from the people.
And this time, Teacher Xu Wenzhou was added to the list.
Teacher Xu Wenzhou looked at his own name, his face deathly pale.
Twenty years ago, he had made it out of 104 alive.
Now, 104 had listed him back as a candidate node.
Below the blackboard, a countdown timer slowly emerged.
γ Remaining time: Three minutes γ
γ If no selection is made upon timeout, a random teammate will be excised γ
Lin Jin raised his wrench and stared at the four names.
"I won't choose."
Chen Ye gritted his teeth.
"If we don't choose, it will excise someone randomly!"
Lin Jin's gaze turned cold.
"Then I'll repair the blackboard that set the question."
After he finished speaking, he rushed directly toward the blackboard.
And just at the moment when the wrench was about to fall, all four names on the blackboard suddenly disappeared.
Replacing them was a fifth name.
γ Lin Shoushan γ
From inside the 104 door, the voice of the young Lin Shoushan came through.
"You brat."
"This time, don't repair me."
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