87: Chapter 87. Corroborating evidence is not speaking on behalf of others.

[If the Witness cannot answer, the reading order for the White Tower's first-floor True Reward will default to using the erroneous record from twenty years ago.]

The line of text on the blackboard was like a needle, piercing directly into Teacher Xu Wenzhou's complexion.

He stood by the podium, fingers pressing against the corner of the desk, his knuckles turning white bit by bit.

Just as Chen Ye was about to speak, Lin Jin raised a hand to stop him.

"Don't rush him."

Chen Ye immediately shut his mouth.

Zhou Heng stared at Teacher Xu Wenzhou, his eyes very dark.

He, of course, wanted to know the answer.

In the first floor of the White Tower twenty years ago, who exactly did Teacher Xu Wenzhou read the first sentence of the True Reward for?

This question likely concerned Deputy Director Zhou Chengyue's self-reconstruction, Lu Chengyuan's confirmation chain, and whether the reward reading order would continue to follow the old error when they entered the White Tower now.

But the more critical it was, the less they could force it.

Teacher Xu Wenzhou was currently like a rusted screw.

Forcing it would only cause it to snap inside.

Shen Tingxue looked at his neck.

The silvery-gray sealing line that had faded there had emerged once again.

It was like a ring of extremely thin thread, strangling his throat.

Teacher Xu Wenzhou opened his mouth.

"I..."

The voice had barely emerged before it turned hoarse.

He seemed to want to say something, but was stuck by some old rule.

The blackboard began a countdown.

[Witness response time remaining: 60 seconds]

Chen Ye grew anxious.

"Another countdown?"

Lin Jin looked at the blackboard, his voice turning cold.

"Pause."

The blackboard ignored him.

[59 seconds]

Lin Jin did not take out the rule correction wrench.

The back of his hand was still numb, and his brain felt like it was stuffed with a lump of hot iron.

But not taking the wrench didn't mean he couldn't fix it.

He walked to the blackboard, picked up a piece of chalk, and wrote beside the countdown:

[Witness memory protection]

[Witness response shall not be at the cost of sealing backlash, identity punishment, or the transfer of responsibility for old projects.]

The blackboard paused for a moment.

The countdown was still running.

[53 seconds]

Lin Jin continued writing.

[The current question is for training verification, not a trial.]

[Teacher Xu Wenzhou only needs to state the facts of that year and will not bear automatic responsibility for the White Tower's old errors.]

This time, the countdown finally slowed down a little.

The sealing line on Teacher Xu Wenzhou's neck also seemed to loosen by half.

Qin Shanhe looked at Lin Jin and said in a low voice:

"You are padding the testimony with a safety layer."

Lin Jin did not turn back.

"If he thinks that opening his mouth will mean shouldering all the mistakes of that year, he will never be able to speak."

Teacher Xu Wenzhou was taken aback.

His eyes rimmed slightly red.

It wasn't grievance.

It was more like a memory that had been suppressed for twenty years was finally being slightly peeled away from the "evidence of crime" by someone.

Gu Changye's voice came from the communication talisman:

"Abyss Processing Bureau confirmed."

"Witness memory protection established."

"This response serves only as fact recovery and not as an immediate determination of responsibility."

Qin Shanhe also said:

"Academy confirmed."

The countdown on the blackboard stopped.

[Witness memory protection established]

[Please, Witness Teacher Xu Wenzhou, answer: In the White Tower's first-floor True Reward twenty years ago, who did you read the first sentence for?]

Teacher Xu Wenzhou slowly raised his head.

He looked at the vacant Witness chair in front of the small White Tower door.

That chair had no Observer permission marks.

Nor did it have any teammate badges.

It just had two characters written on it.

[Witness]

Lin Jin said:

"Sit on it."

Teacher Xu Wenzhou's expression changed.

"I cannot..."

"You can."

Lin Jin interrupted him.

"A Witness is not an Observer."

"Not a Regulatory Seat."

"Nor is it someone who signs on behalf of others."

"A Witness only proves what has happened."

Teacher Xu Wenzhou's Adam's apple bobbed.

"But back then..."

"Back then, someone turned the Witness into something else."

Lin Jin looked at him.

"So this time, we'll change it back first."

Chen Ye said in a low voice:

"That sounds a lot like 'fixing people'."

Zhou Heng said coldly:

"Shut up."

Chen Ye really shut up this time.

Teacher Xu Wenzhou walked step by step to that Witness chair.

With every step he took, some fragmented old images emerged beneath his feet.

The White Tower.

The first-floor hall.

Shattered lightning.

Frozen walls.

The back of young Lin Shoushan.

Shen Qingshuang's hand gripping a gun.

And Deputy Director Zhou Chengyue standing in a field of white light, his face pale, but his eyes colder than before.

The moment Teacher Xu Wenzhou sat down, the light in the old classroom changed.

It was as if everyone saw the reward room on the first floor of the White Tower twenty years ago.

That was a white room with no walls.

In the center of the room stood a table.

On the table lay a document.

The cover of the document read:

[First-floor True Reward reading record]

Seven people stood by the table.

Some faces were blurry.

Some faces were clear.

Young Lin Shoushan stood in the back, holding a wrench, his brows tightly furrowed.

Shen Qingshuang stood to his left, an ice-blue spear thrust into the ground, seemingly having just gone through a difficult lockdown.

Deputy Director Zhou Chengyue stood on the other side.

He looked much younger than now.

But his eyes no longer looked like those of a normal youth.

Too steady.

Too cold.

Like something had just been ground away from him.

Teacher Xu Wenzhou's voice came from the Witness chair, carrying a distinct tremor.

"Back then... the first floor had just ended."

"Deputy Director Zhou Chengyue had already accepted the Barrier Breaker Position reconstruction."

Zhou Heng's breathing hitched.

Teacher Xu Wenzhou continued:

"The White Tower gave the True Reward."

"The document required the first sentence to be read by the person with the lowest level of association."

"But that reward involved all team members."

"No one was completely unrelated."

In the image, young Teacher Xu Wenzhou stood by the table, his face even paler than now.

He looked at the document, hesitating to reach out.

At this moment, a man's voice rang out from outside the room.

It was not a team member.

It was Lu Chengyuan.

"Teacher Xu Wenzhou, you are the on-site Witness."

"You read the first sentence."

Young Teacher Xu Wenzhou looked up.

"Am I reading on behalf of the team?"

Lu Chengyuan's voice was very calm.

"No."

"Read on behalf of the Regulatory Seat."

In the old classroom, the air instantly turned cold.

Zhou Heng looked up abruptly.

Chen Ye cursed out loud.

"I knew it was him!"

Lin Jin watched the scene, his eyes darkening completely.

Teacher Xu Wenzhou sat in the Witness chair, his voice trembling.

"I didn't understand back then."

"I thought it was just procedure."

"Lu Chengyuan said the Regulatory Seat had the lowest association and was most suitable for reading the first sentence."

"He said I was the Witness, so reading on his behalf wouldn't count as team members making premature contact with the reward."

"I believed him."

Shen Tingxue said coldly:

"The Regulatory Seat does not have the lowest association."

"The Regulatory Seat is the one who wants the right of interpretation the most."

Teacher Xu Wenzhou closed his eyes.

"Yes."

He finally looked at the blackboard, as if he had exhausted all his strength.

"The White Tower's first-floor True Reward twenty years ago."

"The first sentence."

"I did not read it on behalf of Deputy Director Zhou Chengyue."

"Not on behalf of Lin Shoushan."

"Not on behalf of Shen Qingshuang."

"Nor on behalf of the team."

His voice was hoarse, but clear.

"I read it on behalf of Lu Chengyuan."

As these words fell, the blackboard vibrated violently.

[Witness response captured]

[Answer: Lu Chengyuan]

[Erroneous record from twenty years ago detected]

[Witness reading right usurped by Regulatory Seat]

[Right of interpretation for the first sentence of the True Reward abnormally transferred outward]

The Witness chair in front of the small White Tower door suddenly lit up with white light.

It was as if it wanted to write Teacher Xu Wenzhou back into the old record.

[Old record: Witness reading on behalf of Regulatory Seat, established]

[Current training suggestion: Continue using the old reading order]

Lin Jin immediately stepped forward.

"Not established."

He pressed the chalk heavily against the blackboard.

[The Witness does not possess the authority to read the first sentence of the reward on behalf of the Regulatory Seat.]

Shen Tingxue continued:

"The Regulatory Seat is not the party with the lowest association, but the party with a conflict of interest."

Zhou Heng said coldly:

"Lu Chengyuan is the external confirmer for Deputy Director Zhou Chengyue's self-reconstruction and cannot read the first sentence of rewards related to Deputy Director Zhou Chengyue."

Chen Ye also raised his shield and shouted:

"The Witness can only prove who read it, they cannot give the first sentence to someone outside!"

Four badges lit up simultaneously.

The Mutual Verification Contract, reward reading order, Observer position isolation mark, and testimony exit isolation protocol all pressed toward the blackboard.

Teacher Xu Wenzhou sat on the Witness chair, his face deathly pale.

But this time, he did not lower his head.

He raised his hand and wrote a line of text on the armrest of the Witness seat.

[Teacher Xu Wenzhou's supplementary testimony: Reading the first sentence on behalf of the Regulatory Seat twenty years ago was a misuse of the Witness's duties.]

[I did not understand the consequences at the time.]

[This reading should not grant Lu Chengyuan the right of interpretation over the White Tower's True Reward.]

After writing the last character, the silvery-gray sealing line on his neck tightened abruptly.

Teacher Xu Wenzhou let out a muffled grunt of pain.

Gu Changye immediately shouted:

"Record locked!"

Qin Shanhe raised his hand, and the Academy formation fell onto the Witness chair, protecting Teacher Xu Wenzhou's throat.

Lin Jin did not use the wrench.

He simply pushed the definition of the Witness that they had established earlier one step further.

"A Witness is not someone who speaks for others."

"A Witness only proves who once mistakenly took his mouth for someone else's."

Boom!

The white light shattered.

The old record on the blackboard was covered by a line of gray-gold text.

[Erroneous reading record from twenty years ago: Marked]

[Current White Tower first-floor True Reward reading order: Must not continue using the old record]

[Witness seat duty correction: Only proves the reading process, does not read the first sentence on behalf of any external seat]

[Current Witness: Teacher Xu Wenzhou]

[Permission: Prove]

[Prohibited: Reading on behalf of, confirming, interpreting]

In front of the small White Tower door, that Witness chair finally quieted down.

It no longer blocked the door.

Instead, it moved to the side of the small door.

Like a true record seat.

Teacher Xu Wenzhou sat on the chair, panting heavily.

His testimony completeness percentage flickered slowly on the edge of the blackboard.

[Teacher Xu Wenzhou's testimony completeness: 68% → 81%]

Chen Ye punched the air fiercely.

"It worked!"

Zhou Heng, however, was not happy.

He stared at the three characters "Lu Chengyuan" on the blackboard, his expression terrifyingly cold.

Twenty years ago, Deputy Director Zhou Chengyue self-reconstructed.

Lu Chengyuan confirmed.

Teacher Xu Wenzhou read the first sentence on his behalf.

The Regulatory Seat obtained the right of interpretation.

This chain was finally clear in one section.

But it was also one section more disgusting.

Shen Tingxue looked at Teacher Xu Wenzhou.

"Do you still remember the content of the first sentence?"

Teacher Xu Wenzhou's face turned pale.

His lips moved.

The blackboard lit up first.

[Witness seat restored]

[The content of the old True Reward's first sentence can be requested for preview]

[Warning: This content involves the first item on the list of those replaced twenty years ago]

The classroom was silent again.

The first item on the list of those replaced.

One of the True Rewards they had been wanting to enter the White Tower to get.

Now, unexpectedly, because of the restoration of the Witness seat, a corner of it had been revealed in advance.

Lin Jin did not immediately agree.

"According to the reward reading rules."

"The person with the deepest association cannot read the first sentence."

Zhou Heng stared at the blackboard, his voice low and hoarse.

"If it is related to Deputy Director Zhou Chengyue, I cannot read it."

Shen Tingxue also said:

"If it involves Shen Qingshuang, I cannot read it."

Lin Jin nodded.

"I won't read it either."

Everyone looked at Chen Ye simultaneously.

Chen Ye looked numb.

"Fine."

"It's me again."

He walked to the blackboard and took a deep breath.

"Read."

The blackboard slowly unfolded a line of old text.

As Chen Ye watched, his expression suddenly changed.

He did not read it out immediately.

Zhou Heng's hand clenched tightly.

"Who is written?"

Chen Ye's lips moved.

Finally, he read out that line of text with a somewhat dry voice.

"The list of those replaced on the first floor of the White Tower twenty years ago, the first item—"

He paused.

"Witness, Teacher Xu Wenzhou."

Teacher Xu Wenzhou looked up abruptly.

He froze on the Witness chair.

The blackboard continued to display the second half of the sentence.

[Content replaced: Ownership of testimony.]

[Recipient: Lu Chengyuan.]