62: Chapter 62 The Woman Outside the Door: A Guarantee

Knock.

Knock.

Knock.

The three knocks seemed to nail the entire old classroom back to twenty years ago.

The woman's voice outside the door was very calm.

"Teacher Xu Wenzhou."

"This testimony."

"You had better not say it."

In front of the podium, Teacher Xu Wenzhou's face instantly lost all color.

The silver-gray gagging line around his neck suddenly tightened.

It was as if an invisible hand was choking his throat across the span of years.

Chen Ye, who was sitting by the door holding his shield, immediately stood up.

"Who's out there?"

No one answered him.

The woman outside the door continued,

"According to the confidentiality regulations of the Department of Education's Special Career Development Division, personnel related to the 104 Incident are not allowed to supplement unrecorded testimony without authorization."

"Teacher Xu Wenzhou."

"Please reconfirm."

"What you just said were all false memories after losing emotional control."

Teacher Xu Wenzhou opened his mouth.

He clearly had no intention of responding.

But the silver line in his throat seemed to come alive, forcing him to speak.

"I..."

Lin Jin spoke up immediately,

"Don't answer."

Shen Tingxue raised her hand, and frost instantly covered the area around the witness stand, suppressing Teacher Xu Wenzhou's emotional fluctuations.

The veins on Teacher Xu Wenzhou's temples throbbed.

The word "I" was stuck in his throat, and he stubbornly refrained from continuing.

On the blackboard, the chalk automatically wrote new prompts.

[Detected echo of external gag order]

[Source: Department of Education's old inquiry process]

[Effect: Induce witness to retract testimony]

[Warning: Do not open the door]

[Warning: Do not let the witness repeat "false memories"]

Hearing "Do not open the door," Chen Ye immediately propped his shield in front of the door.

"Understood."

"No matter who knocks, we won't open it."

Zhou Heng's face was grim.

His gaze was still fixed on those lines on the blackboard.

[Deputy Director Zhou Chengyue]

[Rule Maintenance Special Class Barrier Breaker Position from twenty years ago]

[Current Identity: Deputy Director of the Department of Education's Special Career Development Division]

[Relation: Zhou Heng's second uncle]

Ever since these words appeared, he felt as if he were nailed to his seat by an invisible thorn.

Now, the woman outside the door was trying to stop Teacher Xu Wenzhou from speaking further.

The more they tried to stop it, the more it proved that the subsequent testimony was far from simple.

Lin Jin walked over to the door, not getting too close.

Hand of Rules unfolded.

[Target: Old Classroom Door]

[Current Attachment: Echo of the Department of Education's Inquiry Room]

[Disguise Status: Someone is outside the door]

[True Status: Materialized gag order]

[Danger Level: C]

A materialized gag order.

In other words, there might not actually be a woman standing outside.

It could just be a voice left behind from an inquiry room twenty years ago.

An order written into the testimony process.

It wasn't designed to attack.

It was only responsible for making the witness shut up.

Lin Jin stared at the door.

"You're not a person."

The outside fell silent for a second.

The woman's voice rang out again.

"Student Lin Jin."

"You are interfering with the Department of Education's lawful inquiry process."

Lin Jin smiled.

"This is a class meeting."

"Not an inquiry room."

The woman's voice remained calm.

"The testimony of the 104 Incident belongs to the Department of Education's inquiry archives."

"The academy classroom has no authority to retrieve it."

Lin Jin looked up at the blackboard.

A line of words immediately appeared on the blackboard.

[The First Class Meeting of the Rule Maintenance Special Class]

[Current Task: Confirm Homeroom Teacher's credibility]

[Classroom Testimony Restoration Process has been established]

Lin Jin picked up the rule correction wrench and tapped it lightly against the door.

"Look."

"The blackboard says we have the authority."

The door vibrated slightly.

"The blackboard is not the Department of Education."

The voice outside grew slightly colder.

Lin Jin nodded.

"True."

"So it is much better suited to record this class than you."

Chen Ye couldn't help but whisper,

"I like the sound of that."

The woman outside didn't argue with Lin Jin any further.

She turned her attention back to Teacher Xu Wenzhou.

"Teacher Xu Wenzhou."

"Please confirm."

"Lin Shoushan's entry into No. 9 Forbidden Zone was his own voluntary application."

"You have never witnessed any external coercion."

"You have never seen Deputy Director Zhou Chengyue contact him privately."

The moment these words were spoken,

the temperature in the entire classroom instantly changed.

Zhou Heng snapped his head up.

Lin Jin also narrowed his eyes.

This gag order outside the door was too impatient.

Before Teacher Xu Wenzhou could even speak, it had already exposed a portion of what it wanted to suppress.

Lin Jin looked back at Teacher Xu Wenzhou.

"Before Lin Shoushan entered No. 9 Forbidden Zone, did he meet Deputy Director Zhou Chengyue?"

The silver line on Teacher Xu Wenzhou's throat instantly tightened.

He doubled over as if being violently yanked.

Shen Tingxue's frost immediately spread, stabilizing the witness stand.

Chen Ye held his shield firmly against the door.

Because from the other side of the door, a force began to push inward.

Not to open the door,

but to redefine this classroom as an inquiry room.

Zhou Heng's face was pale, and lightning crackled in his palm.

Lin Jin looked at him.

"Barrier Breaker Position."

Zhou Heng gritted his teeth.

"You want me to break my second uncle's gag order?"

Lin Jin looked at him.

"I want you to break a gag order that's keeping you from knowing the truth."

Zhou Heng stared intently at the door.

The woman's voice outside the door rang out once more.

"Student Zhou Heng."

"You should not get involved in this matter."

"Deputy Director Zhou Chengyue is an elder of your family."

"He has invested a massive amount of resources into your career planning."

"If you back out now, the Department of Education can reinstate your eligibility for the Elite Combat Class."

Zhou Heng's eyes shook violently.

Chen Ye cursed immediately,

"Whoa, they're even poaching on the spot?"

Shen Tingxue said coldly,

"It knows exactly what everyone wants to hear."

Lin Jin didn't rush Zhou Heng.

Because this strike had to be thrust by Zhou Heng himself.

If he wasn't willing, his lightning-element barrier breaking would only be a mere formality.

Zhou Heng lowered his head and fell silent for a few seconds.

Then, he suddenly let out a laugh.

It was a very cold laugh.

"Reinstate my eligibility for the Elite Combat Class?"

"Do you guys think that I, Zhou Heng, am only fit to have my entire life arranged for me?"

He raised his hand.

Lightning condensed in his palm into a slender Thunder Spear.

"I'll break it."

"Not for Lin Jin."

"But to hear clearly what on earth you all are hiding from me."

The Thunder Spear thrust forward.

Not at the door,

but at the invisible gagged sound leaking from the crack of the door.

Crack!

A section of the silver-gray gagging line exploded.

Teacher Xu Wenzhou snapped his head up, finally catching half a breath from the suffocation.

Lin Jin asked immediately,

"Three years ago, before Lin Shoushan entered No. 9 Forbidden Zone, who did he meet?"

Teacher Xu Wenzhou coughed a few times, his voice incredibly hoarse.

"Deputy Director Zhou Chengyue."

Zhou Heng's fingers tightened.

The lightning almost spiraled out of control.

Teacher Xu Wenzhou continued,

"Three years ago, an abnormal fluctuation occurred in the main wreckage of No. 9 Forbidden Zone."

"The Department of Education needed a maintenance position that could access underlying rule faults."

"They found Lin Shoushan."

Lin Jin's gaze grew cold.

"Why did my father agree?"

Teacher Xu Wenzhou glanced at him.

"Because Deputy Director Zhou Chengyue brought an evaluation form."

"About you."

The classroom fell silent once more.

Lin Jin didn't say a word.

But Chen Ye's face changed.

"Lin Jin was only fifteen back then, right?"

Teacher Xu Wenzhou nodded.

"Fifteen years old."

"Pre-awakening occupational tendency assessment."

"The evaluation results showed that you had an extremely high probability of awakening a Rule Maintenance adaptation path."

"The Department of Education's designation number for you was—"

The gagging line on his throat suddenly surged.

This time, even Shen Tingxue's frost was shattered back a layer.

The woman's voice outside the door suddenly turned freezing cold.

"Teacher Xu Wenzhou."

"Stop."

Lin Jin looked at Zhou Heng.

Zhou Heng's face was pale, but he raised his Thunder Spear once more.

"Break!"

The lightning struck down.

Crack!

The gagged sound shattered.

Teacher Xu Wenzhou practically choked through blood to spit out that designation.

"Second-generation Maintenance Sample."

The depths of Lin Jin's eyes turned completely cold.

Second-generation Maintenance Sample.

So three years ago, he was already on their list.

His father's so-called "voluntary entry into No. 9 Forbidden Zone" was not purely voluntary at all.

It was a transaction.

It was a threat.

Someone had put the fifteen-year-old Lin Jin on the table to force Lin Shoushan to make a choice.

Teacher Xu Wenzhou's voice trembled.

"Deputy Director Zhou Chengyue told Lin Shoushan that if he refused to enter No. 9 Forbidden Zone, the Department of Education would take custody of you early."

"The reason given was to prevent a Rule Maintenance adapter from losing control."

"At the same time, he also showed Lin Shoushan another wreckage echo."

Shen Tingxue looked up.

"Shen Qingshuang?"

Teacher Xu Wenzhou nodded.

"Deputy Director Zhou Chengyue said that Shen Qingshuang had not completely disappeared."

"Her ice-element seal remnants were trapped deep within the main wreckage of No. 9 Forbidden Zone."

"Only Lin Shoushan could locate her."

Shen Tingxue's fingers slowly tightened.

Frost cracked into fine lines on the tabletop.

Lin Jin closed his eyes.

He had finally pieced it together.

His father going into No. 9 Forbidden Zone wasn't just for the truth of the world.

It was also to protect him.

To confirm whether Shen Qingshuang was still alive.

And even more so, to obtain the real evidence of the Department of Education and the God System project.

The woman's voice outside the door completely lost its calm.

"This testimony is unrecorded."

"This testimony is invalid."

"This testimony must be destroyed."

The door panel suddenly bulged inward.

Chen Ye roared, holding his shield firmly against it.

"You say destroy and it gets destroyed?"

"Did you ask the door first?!"

On the blackboard, the testimony completeness began to tick up rapidly.

[Teacher Xu Wenzhou's Testimony Completeness: 43%]

[57%]

[68%]

[Unfinished Testimony II Completed]

[Lin Shoushan met Deputy Director Zhou Chengyue before entering No. 9 Forbidden Zone]

[Reason: Lin Jin's pre-awakening evaluation was listed as a Second-generation Maintenance Sample by the Department of Education; Shen Qingshuang's remnants are suspected to be deep within the main wreckage of No. 9 Forbidden Zone]

The gag order outside the door began to crack and shatter.

But just as it was about to dissipate, the woman suddenly said:

"Zhou Heng."

"Do you think you are an exception?"

Zhou Heng's expression changed.

The voice outside said in a low tone:

"The lightning-element Barrier Breaker Position."

"Was never the glory of the Zhou Family."

"It is an adaptation path that Deputy Director Zhou Chengyue brought back from the 104 Incident."

"You are also a specimen."

Zhou Heng stood up abruptly.

"Shut up!"

Lightning exploded with a roar.

The silver-gray gag order on the classroom door was completely pierced through by a single strike.

Bang!

The voice outside the door vanished.

The old classroom fell silent once more.

Zhou Heng stood in place, his chest heaving violently.

Chen Ye looked at him, wanting to say something, but ultimately kept his mouth shut.

Lin Jin didn't mock him either.

Because this time, it was Zhou Heng's turn to be redefined from a "genius" into a "specimen."

He had only just tasted that feeling himself.

The words on the blackboard slowly shifted.

[Homeroom Teacher's Credibility Restoration Progress: 68%]

[Classroom Task Completed]

[Prompt: Zhou Heng's identity definition is at risk of contamination]

Zhou Heng looked up at those words, his face extremely unsightly.

"I am not a specimen."

Lin Jin looked at him.

"Then remember those words."

"In the future, whoever defines you like that, repair them."

Zhou Heng remained silent.

Just then, the phone in his pocket suddenly vibrated.

There was clearly no signal inside the Forbidden Building.

Yet the screen lit up.

The caller ID showed only two words.

[Second Uncle]

Zhou Heng stared at the screen, his face turning pale bit by bit.

The phone connected automatically.

A steady man's voice came from inside.

"Zhou Heng."

"Stay away from Lin Jin."

"He will break you through his 'repairs'."