67: Chapter 67 Rift Ranking Rules Repair Special Team

"A dungeon rift has appeared on the east side of the academy!"

"The pollution source is suspected to be a spillover from a No. 9 Forbidden Zone residual location!"

"Rift target locked—Rule Maintenance Special Class."

As soon as the Abyss Processing Bureau member said this, the entire old conference hall fell silent.

In the center of the review table, the four clauses of the Mutual Verification Contract were still suspended in mid-air.

The first clause had just been confirmed by Zhou Heng himself.

[Not to be redefined by occupation, bloodline, file, or sample number.]

Yet the next moment, the No. 9 Forbidden Zone residual location had come directly for the entire class.

Chen Ye's face fell instantly.

"Is this thing eavesdropping on the review?"

Shen Tingxue stood up, frost already congealing at her fingertips.

"It's not eavesdropping."

"It is following the definitions."

Lin Jin looked at the processing bureau member.

"Is the rift locking onto me, or the entire class?"

The member immediately looked at Gu Changye.

Gu Changye said in a deep voice, "Be specific."

The member reported quickly, "At the beginning, the pollution location point was indeed on Lin Jin."

"But three minutes ago, after the Mutual Verification Contract record was established at the review site, the target location expanded."

"The rift currently shows four compatible anchor points."

"Rule Maintenance Position: Lin Jin."

"Defense Position: Chen Ye."

"Containment Position: Shen Tingxue."

"Barrier Breaker Position: Zhou Heng."

"The target is not an individual, but a squad structure."

After hearing this, Chen Ye couldn't help but curse, "It really did call out our class by name!"

Zhou Heng's face turned livid.

Just moments ago, he had used the Mutual Verification Contract to stand up to Deputy Director Zhou Chengyue, intending to prove that he was not a tool for the Zhou Family.

Now, the No. 9 Forbidden Zone rift had included him as a "squad anchor point."

It felt like having just crawled out of one pit, only for another to open up beneath his feet.

Deputy Director Zhou Chengyue on the projection wall spoke immediately, "This is the reason I requested a review of the Mutual Verification Contract."

"After the contract was established, the pollution target expanded from Lin Jin to the entire squad."

"The facts have proven that this contract carries a collective pollution risk."

Zhou Heng looked sharply at the projection. "Shut up."

Deputy Director Zhou Chengyue's voice was calm. "Zhou Heng, stay calm."

"Now is not the time to be emotional."

"Dissolving the contract and isolating Lin Jin separately is the safest plan."

A flash of lightning sparked in Zhou Heng's eyes. "Your so-called safe plan is to hand over Lin Jin and extract the three of us?"

Deputy Director Zhou Chengyue said indifferently, "This is the standard principle for handling pollution sources."

"Prioritize cutting off the transmission chain."

Lin Jin suddenly laughed. This phrase was all too familiar.

In the final question of the 104 Incident, the experimental team contract said the same thing.

To ensure the survival of the team, cut off one node.

Now it was just using a real-world version of the same rhetoric.

Prioritize cutting off the transmission chain.

But the essence remained defining someone as a removable part.

In the center of the review table, the second clause of the Mutual Verification Contract lit up.

[No member shall be used as a sacrificial node for the team's survival.]

Chen Ye also stood up. "Don't give us that fancy talk."

"Cutting off the transmission chain, plainly speaking, just means pushing Lin Jin out."

Shen Tingxue said coldly, "And it might not even work."

Gu Changye nodded. "Correct."

He looked at the projection wall. "According to the Abyss Processing Bureau's detection, the rift has already locked onto the squad structure."

"Dissolving the contract might not eliminate the target; instead, it could allow the No. 9 Forbidden Zone residual to capture the members' identity gaps one by one."

Qin Shanhe sneered. "Vice Director Zhou, you are so eager to break up the team, it almost looks like you're helping No. 9 Forbidden Zone open the door."

Deputy Director Zhou Chengyue's gaze turned cold. "Dean Qin, please mind your phrasing."

"I am only stating facts."

Qin Shanhe stood up. "The fact is, a rift has already opened inside my academy."

"You at the Department of Education can continue sitting behind the projection arguing about definitions."

"But my students need to survive first."

After saying this, he looked at Gu Changye. "Rift level?"

Gu Changye replied, "Initially determined to be C-level, but because it involves a No. 9 Forbidden Zone residual location, the actual risk could reach B-level."

Chen Ye gasped. "B-level on the first day of school?"

Lin Jin looked at Gu Changye. "Can it be sealed?"

Gu Changye said in a deep voice, "It can be temporarily sealed, but the root cannot be contained."

"The rift was attracted by your squad structure."

"If we only seal it externally, it will continue to try to find an entrance."

"The most troublesome part is that it has appeared in the training area on the east side of the academy."

"There are freshmen there."

Shen Tingxue said immediately, "Have they been evacuated?"

"They have been evacuated."

Gu Changye paused. "But the rift is changing the rules of the training area."

"If it is not handled within ten minutes, the east training ground might be pulled into a temporary dungeon."

Chen Ye slapped his shield. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

Inspector Han Su said coldly, "The review is not yet complete."

"The Rule Maintenance Special Class is currently still under disputed supervision and cannot enter a No. 9 Forbidden Zone-related rift without authorization."

Lin Jin looked at him. "Then will you go in?"

Inspector Han Su frowned.

Gu Changye said directly, "The Abyss Processing Bureau can go in, but the efficiency might not be enough."

"This rift is locked onto the four of them."

"If an external team enters, it will be judged as non-target interference and may stimulate the rift to expand."

Qin Shanhe said in a deep voice, "Let them go."

Inspector Han Su immediately objected, "No."

"The contract they just established hasn't finished the review."

"Lin Jin's pollution erosion is at 43%."

"Zhou Heng's identity is unstable."

"Shen Tingxue has 104 ice-type residual associations."

"Chen Ye is just a D-level Shield Warrior."

"Letting this team enter a No. 9 Forbidden Zone rift is putting students at risk."

Upon hearing this, Chen Ye couldn't help but say, "I won't say anything about the first three."

"Why do you have to add 'just' when it gets to me?"

Gu Changye ignored his complaint and said directly, "Special circumstances."

"As the on-site commander of the Abyss Processing Bureau, I recommend that the Rule Maintenance Special Class enter the periphery of the rift as the target squad to cut off the anchor points."

Inspector Han Su looked at him. "Will you take responsibility?"

Gu Changye said coldly, "I will take responsibility for the Abyss Processing Bureau's part."

Qin Shanhe added, "The academy will take responsibility for the students' actions."

Everyone looked at the four of them, Lin Jin and his team.

Lin Jin did not answer immediately. He looked at Chen Ye.

Chen Ye gripped his shield, his face a bit pale, but he grinned.

"Don't look at me. If you all go in, I'm definitely going in."

Shen Tingxue nodded calmly. "I can."

Zhou Heng was silent for a second. Then, he raised his hand and pressed it against the Barrier Breaker Position badge on his chest.

"I am not doing this for you."

Lin Jin said, "I know."

Zhou Heng's face was cold. "I am doing this to prove that I am not anyone's barrier-breaking sample."

Lin Jin nodded. "That reason is enough."

The four clauses of the Mutual Verification Contract lit up simultaneously.

Seeing this, Gu Changye immediately said, "Supplement the review record."

"All members of the Rule Maintenance Special Class voluntarily enter the east side rift periphery for handling."

"Task nature: Abyss emergency collaboration under the academy's supervision."

"It shall not be rewritten post-facto as a Department of Education disposal experiment."

Inspector Han Su's face darkened slightly. This sentence effectively blocked a pit in advance.

If they succeeded, the Department of Education could not write the task off as an experiment they had arranged.

If something went wrong, it could not be simply classified as Lin Jin's unauthorized action.

The review record was automatically written.

[Temporary emergency task established]

[Task squad: Rule Maintenance Special Class]

[Supervision: Jiangcheng First Combat Academy, Abyss Processing Bureau]

[Department of Education participation recorded; does not possess on-site unilateral disposal rights]

Deputy Director Zhou Chengyue looked at this record and did not stop them again. He only looked at Zhou Heng.

"You will understand that the path to leaving the Zhou Family is not as easy as you think."

Zhou Heng did not look at him. He turned and followed Lin Jin.

When the four of them left the conference hall, night had already descended over the academy.

In the direction of the east training area, a pale white rift was suspended in mid-air.

It did not rotate like a normal dungeon entrance. Instead, it looked like a torn piece of paper.

There was no scenery inside the rift. Only a dense stream of white text.

[Rule Maintenance Position] [Defense Position] [Containment Position] [Barrier Breaker Position]

[Squad structure confirmed] [Analyzing Mutual Verification Contract] [Can be rewritten as Collective Sample Contract]

Chen Ye felt his scalp tingle. "It wants to change our Mutual Verification Contract into a Sample Contract?"

Lin Jin's eyes turned cold. "Yes. It's not here to kill us. It's here to steal our contract definition."

Shen Tingxue raised her hand, and frost stopped at the periphery of the rift. "The temperature has been swallowed. There are residual rules of the God System inside."

A Thunder Spear appeared in Zhou Heng's hand, and lightning sparked tiny flashes at the edge of the rift. "The outer shell is very hard. It's difficult to tear with normal barrier breaking."

Gu Changye led the Abyss Processing Bureau staff to set up a containment perimeter. "You only enter the periphery. The goal is not to clear the rift core. It is to cut off its rewriting of the Mutual Verification Contract."

Qin Shanhe stood at the back and said in a deep voice, "Remember. Don't win by fighting. Win by repairing."

Lin Jin took a deep breath and took out the rule correction wrench.

As soon as the wrench appeared, the stream of text inside the rift instantly boiled.

[Rule correction tool detected] [Target squad detected] [Starting course generation]

A course? The next second, a white plaque appeared at the edge of the rift. On the plaque, a line of text slowly generated.

[No. 9 Forbidden Zone Temporary Course: Sample Squad Adaptation Test]

Chen Ye's face darkened. "Class again?"

Shen Tingxue's voice was cold. "It is imitating the academy and the 104 Incident."

Zhou Heng gripped the Thunder Spear tightly. "Then let's smash it."

Lin Jin stared at the plaque. The Hand of Rules unfolded.

[Target: Rift course plaque] [Fault: Incorrectly defining the Mutual Verification squad as a sample squad] [Repair goal: Prevent course generation]

[Repair plan: Barrier Breaker Position tears open the shell, Containment Position freezes the text stream, Defense Position blocks counterattacks, Rule Maintenance Position corrects the definition]

The four people's badges lit up simultaneously. This time, Lin Jin did not need to explain.

Zhou Heng moved first. The Thunder Spear thrust out, accurately hitting the edge of the plaque. "Break!"

Crack! A fissure split open on the white plaque.

Shen Tingxue raised her hand, and frost seeped into the fissure, freezing the scrolling stream of text.

Chen Ye raised his shield and stepped forward, forcefully blocking the white chains spewing out of the rift. "Hurry!"

Lin Jin stepped forward, and the rule correction wrench slammed into the center of the plaque. "We are a Mutual Verification squad. Not a sample squad."

Bang! The plaque vibrated violently.

[Sample Squad Adaptation Test] The words flickered crazily. But they did not disappear.

Instead, a cold voice came from inside the rift.

[Mutual Verification Contract has exploitable structures] [Members act as anchor points for each other] [Can be converted into a collective recovery chain]

Lin Jin's wrist sank. It was right.

The Mutual Verification Contract could protect them, but it also created a connection between them. No. 9 Forbidden Zone residual had targeted exactly this.

Changing "mutual verification" into "mutual dragging." This was pollution.

Twisting a correct relationship into an incorrect purpose.

Lin Jin gritted his teeth, and the second strike of the wrench fell. "Mutual verification is not recovery. Anchor points are not chains."

[Correction progress: 36%]

The white chains surged. Chen Ye groaned, and his shield was dented inward.

Shen Tingxue's ice layer also showed cracks. Zhou Heng's Thunder Spear was stuck in the plaque's fissure, his arm numbed by the recoil.

"Lin Jin! Hurry!"

White text began to appear before Lin Jin's eyes.

[If you protect each other, you are bound to each other] [If you are bound to each other, you can be collectively recovered] [If collectively recovered, the squad survival rate increases]

This logic was extremely insidious. It deduced "protection" as "binding." Then it deduced "binding" as "recovery."

Finally, it even wrote out "squad survival rate increases." It was cut from the same cloth as that incorrect contract in the 104 Incident.

Lin Jin suddenly understood. The No. 9 Forbidden Zone residual did not generate this course out of thin air. It had read the 104 Incident.

It had read the Mutual Verification Contract they had just established. And then it attempted to create an upgraded version of an incorrect contract.

He said coldly, "Stop trying to scare us with survival rates. A team being alive does not mean everyone is tied together into a single object by you."

The third strike of the wrench fell. Bang!

The four clauses of the Mutual Verification Contract emerged simultaneously from the four people's badges, like four nails, pinning themselves onto the rift plaque.

[The contract does not bind obedience, it only binds mutual verification.] This clause was the brightest.

The white plaque finally began to crumble. [Sample Squad Adaptation Test] twisted into: [Mutual Verification Squad Pollution Interception Record]

Gu Changye shouted from outside the containment perimeter, "Rift stability is dropping! It's working!"

But just then, a white palm suddenly stretched out from the depths of the rift. That hand had no skin texture. Only countless tiny characters composed the palm surface.

It did not grab Lin Jin. Instead, it reached for the Barrier Breaker Position badge on Zhou Heng's chest.

[Barrier Breaker Position bloodline anchor detected] [Deputy Director Zhou Chengyue adaptation route residual] [Prioritize recovery of Barrier Breaker Position]

Zhou Heng's face changed drastically. The Thunder Spear was instantly bent by the white palm.

Chen Ye wanted to block it, but was pinned down by chains. Shen Tingxue was also restrained by the stream of text.

Lin Jin's eyes turned cold, and he raised the rule correction wrench, ready to strike. But the Hand of Rules instantly triggered an alarm.

[Warning: Current correction target is highly bound to Zhou Heng's identity definition] [Forced correction may damage Zhou Heng's occupational patterns]

Zhou Heng gritted his teeth. "Don't worry about me!"

Lin Jin said coldly, "Stop talking nonsense." He did not strike the hand. Instead, he looked at Zhou Heng.

"Remember that sentence from earlier." Zhou Heng was stunned. Lin Jin stared at him. "You are not a tool for the Zhou Family."

Zhou Heng's pupils constricted. The next second, the Mutual Verification Contract on his chest lit up.

Zhou Heng raised the Thunder Spear himself and thrust it toward the bloodline anchor line between the white palm and the badge.

"I am not Deputy Director Zhou Chengyue's adaptation residual. I am Zhou Heng."

The Thunder Spear exploded. The white palm was forcefully torn in half.

Lin Jin seized the opportunity, and the rule correction wrench fell.

"Barrier Breaker Position, does not inherit sample routes. Only undertakes squad duties."

Bang! The white palm was completely shattered.

Zhou Heng took half a step back, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth, but he stood his ground.

The rift plaque finally collapsed completely.

[Course generation failed] [Collective Sample Contract generation failed] [Mutual Verification Squad pollution interception successful]

The white rift over the east training area began to shrink.

Gu Changye immediately ordered, "Seal it!"

The Abyss Processing Bureau's six containment boxes opened simultaneously, and dark blue runes locked the edge of the rift.

Qin Shanhe also raised his hand, and the academy's array fell, pressing the last trace of white light back.

A few seconds later. The rift disappeared. The training area returned to the night.

Chen Ye sat down on the ground, gasping for air. "On this first day of school, can I apply for full marks in military training?"

No one answered him. Because a new prompt popped up before Lin Jin's eyes.

[Mutual Verification Squad pollution interception successful] [Rule Maintenance Special Class squad stability increased] [Hidden dungeon entrance residual detected]

[Dungeon Name: No. 9 Forbidden Zone Periphery · White Tower Training Ground] [Opening Condition: Within three days, all four members of the squad must be present]

[Hint: This dungeon contains Shen Qingshuang's ice-type containment residual coordinates]

Shen Tingxue looked up sharply. She had clearly sensed something too.

On the ground of the training area, amidst a patch of unmelted white frost, a line of text slowly emerged.

[Descendant of the Shen Family.] [Come to the White Tower.]