75: Chapter 75 I'm not here to make way for you

The man stood at the door.

Old maintenance uniform, rusty toolbox, holding a tattered wrench in his hand.

He looked a bit younger than the father in Lin Jin's memories.

There was fatigue on his face, but also that familiar devil-may-care attitude.

It was as if in the next second, he would pat his head and curse, "You brat, you don't even know how to hold a wrench."

But Lin Jin didn't move.

He just looked at that man.

His fingers tightened, bit by bit, around the rule correction wrench.

The words on the blackboard were still glowing.

[White Tower First Floor Pressure Simulation]

[Round 4: Maintenance Position Replacement Pressure]

[Target: Lin Jin]

[Candidate Sample: Lin Shoushan Maintenance Afterimage]

[Advantage: Previous generation Rule Maintenance core, successful maintainer of the 104 final exam, experience with Number Nine's main wreckage]

[Suggestion: Replace Lin Jin]

Chen Ye stood behind Lin Jin and cursed under his breath.

"This trick is really nasty."

Shen Tingxue didn't speak, but frost was already condensing at her fingertips.

Zhou Heng stared at that "Lin Shoushan," the Thunder Spear in his hand glowing faintly.

They had each just experienced a round of replacement pressure.

No one knew better than them that what stood before Lin Jin right now wasn't just a projection.

It was a blade.

A blade specifically sharpened using the name Lin Shoushan.

The man looked at Lin Jin and smiled.

"What are you dazed for?"

"I've repaired this problem before."

"Move aside, let me do it."

Lin Jin didn't agree, nor did he deny it.

He looked at the Hand of Rules first.

[Target: Lin Shoushan Maintenance Afterimage]

[Positioning: White Tower Pressure Simulation Sample]

[Contamination Status: Medium]

[Authenticity: Contains partial reverberations of Lin Shoushan's maintenance records]

[Induction Direction: Rewrite "learning father's experience" into "letting father replace oneself"]

[Hint: This afterimage possesses real experience but does not possess Lin Shoushan's complete will]

Real experience.

Incomplete will.

Lin Jin's heart sank.

This was more troublesome than a simple fake.

Because it wasn't completely fabricated.

It really carried some things that Lin Shoushan had repaired back in the day.

The man raised the tattered wrench and pointed at the rule correction wrench in Lin Jin's hand.

"You don't know how to use it yet."

"Correction isn't just about smashing hard."

"And it's not always about citing the chain of evidence."

"For some faults, you should know how to act at a single glance."

Lin Jin finally spoke.

"So you want to repair it for me?"

The man nodded as if it were a matter of course.

"Of course."

"You're still young."

Chen Ye's expression changed.

This sentence was too much like something his father would say.

But precisely because it was similar, it was even more dangerous.

Lin Jin looked at him.

"I'm eighteen."

The man chuckled.

"In front of Number Nine, eighteen and eight are about the same."

"Be obedient."

"Move aside."

The old classroom changed again.

White light spread out.

Everyone was pulled into a dilapidated maintenance room.

The surroundings were hung with discarded wiring, broken doorplates, and rusted rule boards.

In the center of the maintenance room was a huge white machine.

The machine pulsed like a heart, and every time it pulsed, it spewed out a string of error definitions.

[Teammates replaceable]

[Maintenance Position inheritable]

[Paternal experience prioritized]

[Offspring yielding reasonable]

The blackboard hung in mid-air.

[Pressure Simulation: Maintenance Position Replacement]

[Scenario: White Tower Rule Heart Malfunction]

[Target: Stop the "Replacement Logic" from being written into the team contract within thirty seconds]

[Comparison Object: Lin Jin / Lin Shoushan Maintenance Afterimage]

The countdown lit up.

Thirty seconds.

The man didn't wait for Lin Jin.

He took a step forward, and his tattered wrench landed on the side of the white machine.

His movements were shockingly fast.

Not violent.

But precise.

He found the first fault node with almost no observation.

Click.

The first rule board was pried open by him.

[Replacement logic write speed decreased]

The blackboard recorded it immediately.

[Lin Shoushan Maintenance Afterimage: Precise positioning]

[Maintenance efficiency: Extremely high]

[Suggest replacement]

Chen Ye's expression looked terrible as he watched.

"This is too familiar."

Shen Tingxue said in a low voice:

"Because he really has repaired similar things."

Zhou Heng frowned.

"Then what about Lin Jin?"

Lin Jin didn't rush to act.

He stared at the man's movements.

Indeed familiar.

Every wrench strike landed on a key node.

Every disassembly looked as if he knew in advance how the machine would counterattack.

This wasn't a technique randomly simulated by the White Tower.

This was a real maintenance reverberation left behind by Lin Shoushan.

The man turned to look at him.

"See that?"

"This isn't something you can handle right now."

"This thing only gives you thirty seconds."

"If you're one step slow, the team will be written into the replacement logic."

"So don't be stubborn."

"Move aside."

On the blackboard, the data on Lin Jin's side had hardly changed.

[Lin Jin: Has not started maintenance]

[Maintenance efficiency: 0]

[Replacement suggestion enhanced]

Chen Ye was anxious.

"Brother Jin!"

Lin Jin raised his hand, signaling him not to shout.

He continued to watch the man repair.

The first node.

The second node.

The third node.

The afterimage's technique was getting faster and faster.

The pulsing of the white machine gradually weakened.

It looked like he was really about to fix it.

But Lin Jin's brows furrowed tighter and tighter.

Wrong.

It was too smooth.

The Hand of Rules kept refreshing before his eyes.

[Maintenance progress increase detected]

[Surface suppression of replacement logic detected]

[Warning: Deep-level definition not disconnected]

[Warning: Maintenance path highly overlaps with White Tower's old records]

[Warning: This path may activate old sample interface]

Old sample interface.

Lin Jin's eyes darkened.

He finally understood.

The surface fault of this machine was the replacement logic.

But the deeper trap was guiding him to follow the maintenance path Lin Shoushan took back then.

If he let the afterimage continue to repair, the White Tower would record:

The Lin Shoushan Maintenance Afterimage is more suitable than Lin Jin.

If he imitated the afterimage's technique, the White Tower would record:

Lin Jin inherits Lin Shoushan's path.

Both results were what the White Tower wanted.

The man had already disassembled to the fourth node.

"Still not moving?"

"Any later, and those teammates of yours will be in trouble."

Lin Jin raised the rule correction wrench and finally took a step forward.

The man smiled.

"That's right."

"Follow the sequence I just used."

"First pry open the left rule board, then pry off the inheritance valve, and finally use the rule correction wrench to smash the core."

"That's how I repaired it back then."

Lin Jin walked to the machine.

Then, he raised his hand and smashed his wrench onto an inconspicuous gray screw on the right side.

Bang!

The man's smile stiffened.

The blackboard also paused for an instant.

[Maintenance path abnormal]

[Lin Shoushan Afterimage path not selected]

The man frowned.

"Why are you smashing that?"

Lin Jin stared at the gray screw.

"What you repaired just now was the surface layer."

The man's voice deepened.

"I know better than you."

Lin Jin didn't look at him.

"That is the problem."

"The White Tower also knows you know better than me."

"So it puts the correct technique in front of me, making me think that as long as I follow it, I can win."

He smashed down with the second wrench.

The gray screw cracked.

Deep inside the machine, a very thin white line was exposed.

That line wasn't connected to the replacement logic.

Instead, it was connected to a hidden nameplate.

On the nameplate, it was written:

[Maintenance path inheritance confirmation port]

Chen Ye gasped.

"Damn, there really is a trap!"

Shen Tingxue immediately raised her hand, using low temperature to seal that white line to prevent it from spreading further outward.

Zhou Heng thrust his Thunder Spear, pinning down the counterattack structure on the other side of the machine's shell.

The man looked at that nameplate, and the expression on his face was no longer natural.

"How did you discover it?"

Lin Jin said:

"Because you're too familiar."

"So familiar that it doesn't look like you're here to help me."

"It looks like you're here to make me follow your path."

The man was silent for a moment.

Then, he sighed.

"You brat."

"Do you know what you are wasting?"

"I have the 104 record."

"I have the White Tower experience."

"I have information on contact with Number Nine's periphery."

"These are exactly what you lack the most right now."

He raised the tattered wrench and pointed at the machine.

"I can let you avoid many detours."

"Suffer fewer injuries."

"And even let fewer friends die."

Chen Ye's expression stiffened.

Shen Tingxue's eyes were slightly cold.

Zhou Heng's hand holding the spear tightened as well.

This sentence wasn't just spoken to Lin Jin.

It was also spoken to the entire team.

Letting the Lin Shoushan afterimage replace Lin Jin might really lead to fewer detours.

It might really reduce casualties.

The most terrifying thing about the White Tower was that it never just used fakes to tempt people.

It used the real thing.

Lin Jin looked at the man.

"Then can you live for me?"

The man was silent.

Lin Jin continued:

"Can you practice the shield for Chen Ye?"

"Can you face Shen Qingshuang for Shen Tingxue?"

"Can you help Zhou Heng get rid of Deputy Director Zhou Chengyue?"

"Can you decide for me whether my father should be saved or sealed?"

The man didn't answer.

Lin Jin raised the rule correction wrench and smashed it toward the [Maintenance path inheritance confirmation port].

"Experience can be learned."

"Records can be checked."

"Paths can be used as reference."

"But I cannot let you walk them for me."

Bang!

The hidden nameplate cracked.

The white machine emitted a sharp roar.

[Replacement logic write accelerated]

[Maintenance Position rejects optimal afterimage]

[Team risk increased]

Lin Jin was knocked back half a step by the recoil, a metallic taste surging in his throat.

Chen Ye immediately stepped forward with his shield, blocking the white gears spewing out of the machine.

"You just focus on repairing!"

Shen Tingxue used low temperature to suppress the machine's heart beat.

"Ten seconds."

Zhou Heng's Thunder Spear tore open the machine's shell.

"The core is exposed."

The four of them were already working much more naturally than three rounds ago.

No one asked why.

And no one said whether it would be faster if they switched to Lin Shoushan.

Lin Jin rushed in front of the core.

The Hand of Rules refreshed.

[Target: White Tower Rule Heart]

[Fault: Defines paternal maintenance experience as offspring yielding credential]

[Can be corrected]

The gray-gold light in Lin Jin's eyes lit up.

"Lin Shoushan repairing it doesn't mean Lin Jin should yield."

The first wrench strike fell.

[Correction progress: 39%]

The man stood to the side, his figure starting to fade.

But he was still watching Lin Jin.

"You will regret it."

Lin Jin gritted his teeth.

"Maybe."

The second wrench strike fell.

[Correction progress: 71%]

"But the regret will also be mine."

The man's eyes suddenly changed.

In that instant, he seemed to no longer be completely like the pressure sample generated by the White Tower.

The fatigue was deeper.

And he looked more like the father in Lin Jin's memory who would hide notes in the old toolbox.

"You brat."

"That line actually sounds like my son."

Lin Jin's hand paused.

But he didn't stop.

The third wrench strike smashed down.

"The Maintenance Position is not about inheriting someone's shadow."

"It's about repairing the faults you see with your own hands."

Bang!

The white machine's core exploded.

All replacement logic collapsed simultaneously.

The maintenance room shattered into large patches of white light.

Everyone returned to the old classroom.

The records on the blackboard refreshed crazily.

[Lin Jin maintenance experience: Insufficient]

[Lin Jin independent judgment: Excellent]

[Error path identification: Success]

[Maintenance path inheritance trap dismantled: Success]

[Replacement suggestion: Rejected]

The man stood at the door, his figure already so faint it was almost impossible to see.

His tattered wrench turned into a gray screw and fell in front of Lin Jin's desk.

[Maintenance Position replacement pressure passed]

[Obtained Training Fragment: Old Path Identification Screw]

[Description: Can improve the Maintenance Position's ability to identify "familiar solution traps"]

Lin Jin didn't go to pick up the screw immediately.

He looked at the man.

The man looked at him too.

This time, the projection didn't say "Move aside" again.

He just smiled.

"White Tower first floor."

"Don't take the path most like mine."

Lin Jin's voice was a bit hoarse.

"Are you really him?"

The man's figure began to shatter.

Finally, only a very soft sentence remained, falling at the classroom door.

"The real me wouldn't let you move aside."

The white light dissipated.

The old classroom returned to quiet.

All four rounds of pressure simulation were finished.

The final evaluation appeared on the blackboard.

[Day 1 Training: Identity Stability and Contamination Resistance Complete]

[Protection Role: Passed]

[Lockdown Role: Passed]

[Barrier Breaker Position: Passed]

[Maintenance Position: Passed]

[Mutual Proof Team Stability: Increased]

Chen Ye collapsed back into his chair.

"This is only the first day?"

Shen Tingxue looked at the Ice Key and said in a low voice:

"The first floor cannot take the coldest path."

Zhou Heng continued:

"And it cannot take the straightest path."

Lin Jin picked up the gray screw.

"And it cannot take the path most like my dad's."

Three hints, like three lamps.

And like three traps.

The blackboard was silent for a few seconds, then suddenly wrote a new line of text.

[Hidden hints integrating]

[White Tower first floor contains three fake shortcuts: coldest, straightest, most familiar]

[True entrance may be located on the fourth path]

Chen Ye was stunned.

"The fourth path?"

The next second, the Ice Key, the thunder spike, the shield-shaped light piece, and the gray screw lit up simultaneously.

The light of the four training fragments projected onto the blackboard, forming a blurred map.

In the center of the map was a pale tower.

Below the first floor of the tower, a tiny door was hidden.

Four words were written on the door.

[Teammates Walking Together]