95: Chapter 95 Withdrawal Qualification, Not Returning to the Supervisory Seat

[Warning: Residual external final confirmation authority forcibly connecting]

[Target: Real Reward Sealing Results]

[Rewrite Request: Suspension of evacuation eligibility]

The moment the silver confirmation chain pierced into the Reading Room, the three sealed chests that had already sunk into the ground were forcibly dragged back out.

The gray-gold seals on the surface of the chests flickered violently.

The first chest contained the list of the replaced.

The second chest contained Lin Shoushan's supplementary clauses and the right of recourse for the eligibility to return home.

The third chest contained the residual coordinates of Deputy Director Zhou Chengyue's original hesitation.

These items had only just been sealed, their ownership and reading boundaries newly defined.

Yet, Lu Chengyuan's hand reached in once again.

Chen Ye immediately raised his shield and rushed in front of the three chests.

"Again?"

"Is this old geezer never going to stop?!"

The silver confirmation chain slammed into the shield's surface.

Bang!

Chen Ye was knocked back half a step by the shockwave, the light shards on the edge of his shield emitting a harsh grinding sound.

He gritted his teeth and held his ground.

"It's not attacking people."

"It's trying to snatch the chests!"

Shen Tingxue raised her hand, and frost spread across the floor, freezing the part of the confirmation chain that had pierced the chests.

But this chain was different from a contamination chain.

It was like a procedure.

Like a signature.

Like an old, already stamped document.

The frost could only slow it down; it couldn't freeze it completely.

Zhou Heng thrust his Thunder Spear forward, pinning it to the junction where the confirmation chain connected to the Reading Room wall.

Lightning exploded.

The silver chain bent slightly before snapping taut again.

[Residual Final Confirmation Authority: High Priority]

[Evacuation Eligibility Suspension Request: Processing]

Lin Jin stared at the words "Evacuation Eligibility Suspended," his expression terrifyingly cold.

This wasn't simple delay.

After clearing the first floor, they were supposed to be eligible to evacuate with the real rewards.

Now, Lu Chengyuan wanted to suspend their evacuation eligibility.

"Suspended" sounded milder than "deprived."

But inside the White Tower, a suspension was equivalent to not being allowed to leave.

Not being allowed to leave meant keeping them trapped inside the tower.

And beyond the tower gate, the second floor was waiting.

[Second Floor Theme: Who Bears the Cost]

Lu Chengyuan didn't want them to die on the first floor.

He wanted to drag them into the second floor.

Lin Jin gripped the rule correction wrench, then immediately let go.

The black patterns on the back of his hand were still pulsing.

The piercing pain in his head hadn't subsided.

Shen Tingxue noticed his movement and immediately looked over.

"No."

"You can't use it anymore."

Zhou Heng also said coldly,

"If you strike this chain now, you'll break before the chain does."

Chen Ye shouted from behind his shield,

"Then hurry up and think of something else!"

Lin Jin took a deep breath, forcing himself not to look at the wrench.

He couldn't smash the source directly.

This had already been verified during their training.

When external higher authority forcibly connected, the priority was to repair the record's nature, not to cut off the source.

It was the same this time.

"Don't attack the chain."

Lin Jin said.

"Attack the record."

Chen Ye was stunned.

"What?"

Lin Jin looked at the silver text forming on the wall of the White Tower.

[Evacuation Eligibility Suspended]

"It wants to write this line into the first-floor clearance record."

"As long as this line stands, we can't leave."

"So first, prove that this isn't a confirmation."

"It's an unauthorized rewrite."

Zhou Heng understood immediately. Swiveling his Thunder Spear, he stopped attacking the base of the chain and instead pinned it right next to the silver text.

"Barrier Breaker Position Zhou Heng attests."

"The current squad has already refused to enter the second floor."

"The external confirmation chain must not rewrite this refusal into an evacuation suspension."

Shen Tingxue followed up,

"Lockdown Role Shen Tingxue attests."

"The real rewards have been sealed in accordance with the squad agreement."

"The sealed results do not require prior verification by the oversight seat."

Holding up his shield, Chen Ye's voice came from behind it:

"Protection Role Chen Ye attests!"

"We didn't apply to continue the challenge, nor did we request the oversight seat to inspect the rewards on our behalf."

"This chain broke in on its own!"

Lin Jin looked toward the Collateral Evidence Seat.

Teacher Xu Wenzhou's face was terrifyingly pale, but he immediately gripped the armrest.

"Witness Teacher Xu Wenzhou records."

"The first floor of the White Tower has already prompted that the squad may evacuate with the real rewards."

"All members of the squad have explicitly refused to enter the second floor."

"The residual external final confirmation authority forcibly connected during the post-evacuation phase, attempting to alter the clearance results."

A gray light glowed on the Collateral Evidence Seat.

[Witness Record: Established]

On the observer position, Deputy Director Zhou Chengyue's three layers of lockdown rings glowed simultaneously.

The silver confirmation chain was clearly trying to use his observer position to re-establish a foothold.

Cold sweat dripped from his forehead, but he raised his head, his voice deep and heavy.

"Observer Deputy Director Zhou Chengyue declares."

"I have not received any directives from Lu Chengyuan."

"I have not confirmed the evacuation suspension."

"I have not recommended entering the second floor."

"This confirmation chain does not constitute a factual reminder from the Observer."

The dark blue runes on the observer position lit up accordingly.

[Observer Self-Attestation: Established]

The silver chain shook violently.

As if dissatisfied with these testimonies.

More silver text surfaced on the wall of the Reading Room.

[The final confirmation authority may verify the sealed rewards]

[The rewards contain high-risk information]

[Regulatory verification prior to evacuation is reasonable]

Lin Jin sneered.

"Reasonable?"

"That's your favorite word."

He walked up to the wall. Instead of raising the wrench, he reached up and pressed his Special Assignment Class school badge.

"Maintenance Position Lin Jin attests."

"The Final Confirmation Group has already been established."

"Lu Chengyuan's off-site final confirmation authority has been rejected."

"The scope of the final confirmation only includes the tower entry list, contamination risks, and the Department of Education's non-interference declaration."

"The reading sequence and sealed results of the real rewards do not fall under the prior verification scope of the oversight seat."

The four badges lit up simultaneously.

The Mutual Verification Contract, the reward isolation agreement, the observer position isolation mark, the Collateral Evidence Seat records, and the Final Confirmation Group records pressed down layer by layer onto the silver text on the wall.

The silver text began to tremble.

[Evacuation Eligibility Suspended]

The words "Suspended" were the first to show cracks.

Just then, Gu Changye's voice came from the external blockade perimeter.

"The Abyss Processing Bureau confirms."

"The evacuation eligibility for the first floor of the White Tower falls under the clearance settlement authority."

"Under non-contamination overflow conditions, the regulatory party shall not forcibly suspend the squad's evacuation under the pretext of verifying rewards."

Qin Shanhe's voice sounded right after.

"The Academy confirms."

"The squad that entered the tower consists of students from Jiangcheng First Combat Academy."

"When students are permitted to evacuate by the first-floor rules, the Academy does not authorize the Department of Education to unilaterally extend their stay."

Finally, it was Inspector Han Su's voice.

His tone remained cold and stiff, yet it sounded exceptionally clear at this moment.

"The Department of Education's oversight seat confirms."

"Lu Chengyuan's off-site final confirmation authority for this instance has been rejected by the tripartite confirmation group."

"The Department of Education does not recognize his residual confirmation chain as having the authority for the current reward verification and evacuation suspension."

As those words fell, the silver confirmation chain shuddered violently.

Lin Jin seized the opportunity, reaching out to press against that line of text on the wall.

It wasn't the rule correction wrench.

It was a piece of chalk.

Without anyone realizing when, he was once again holding that broken piece of chalk he had brought from the old classroom.

Next to [Evacuation Eligibility Suspended], he wrote heavily:

[Unauthorized Rewrite Request]

"The suspension of evacuation eligibility is not a fact."

"It is an unauthorized rewrite of the first-floor clearance results by Lu Chengyuan's residual final confirmation authority after it was rejected."

"Current processing result—"

He paused for a fraction of a second, his voice steady.

"Rejected."

Boom!

The Reading Room wall shook violently.

Large swathes of the silver text peeled off.

[Evacuation Eligibility Suspended]

Was covered by the gray-gold record.

[Residual external final confirmation authority forcibly connecting]

[Target: Real Reward Sealing Results]

[Rewrite Request: Suspension of evacuation eligibility]

[Nature: Unauthorized Rewrite]

[Action: Rejected]

[Squad Evacuation Eligibility: Restored]

The silver confirmation chain let out a sharp, metallic screech as if snapping.

The three sealed chests sank back into the ground.

But this time, they did not disappear.

Instead, they transformed into three tiny seal marks, landing respectively on the outer rings of the four's Mutual Verification Contracts.

[Real Reward Sealing Results: Taken with the squad]

[Restriction: tripartite review still required for unsealing after leaving the tower]

Chen Ye finally couldn't hold on any longer and sank to one knee.

"Did we take them?"

Shen Tingxue checked her Ice Key and nodded.

"We took them."

Zhou Heng looked at his thunder nail.

"The third set of coordinates is also here."

Lin Jin looked down at his toolbox.

The grey screw glowed faintly.

The second item, the right of recourse, had also been taken out.

They didn't go to rescue Lin Shoushan immediately.

They didn't immediately integrate Deputy Director Zhou Chengyue's residual.

They didn't let Shen Qingshuang's residual take the observer position.

But they had taken the clues and the rights with them.

This time, the White Tower failed to turn the "rewards" into ropes to drag them down into the second floor.

At the end of the Reading Room, the evacuation door finally opened.

Outside was not the second floor.

But the night breeze of the Academy's eastern training area.

Seeing the real night sky, Chen Ye's eyes lit up.

"Let's go, let's go, let's go!"

"I get scared just looking at the chairs in this tower now."

Zhou Heng said coldly,

"Don't rush. Formation."

Chen Ye paused, then quickly realized.

"Right, moving together as teammates."

Shen Tingxue walked on the left, her Ice Key maintaining a low-temperature boundary.

Zhou Heng walked on the right, his Thunder Spear pinning down the edge of the evacuation passage.

Chen Ye gripped his shield once more, blocking the front.

Lin Jin stood slightly behind the center, holding his toolbox.

Deputy Director Zhou Chengyue slowly stood up from his observer position.

Teacher Xu Wenzhou also stood up from the Collateral Evidence Seat, his face pale.

The White Tower seemed to want to say something more.

The text on the wall churned for a moment, and in the end, only a single line was generated:

[First-floor clearance record generated]

[Evaluation: Exceptionally Complete]

Seeing these words, Chen Ye couldn't help but mutter,

"'Exceptionally complete' doesn't sound like a compliment."

Lin Jin said,

"To it, it isn't."

The six of them walked out of the evacuation door.

The night breeze brushed against their faces.

The pale phantom of the high tower above the Academy's eastern training area was slowly shrinking.

Outside the blockade line, Qin Shanhe, Gu Changye, Inspector Han Su's projection, along with a crowd of Academy instructors and Abyss Processing Bureau personnel, were all waiting.

The moment Lin Jin stepped out of the White Tower, his legs gave way.

Chen Ye was quick to catch and support him.

"I knew you were just holding it in."

Lin Jin gasped for breath.

"I didn't fall."

"Almost."

Shen Tingxue raised her hand, placing a thin layer of ice over the black patterns on the back of his hand.

"The contamination didn't erupt."

"But the strain is very high."

Gu Changye walked over quickly.

"Everyone, undergo testing."

Qin Shanhe stared at the outer rings of the Mutual Verification Contracts on their chests.

"Did you bring out all three sealed rewards?"

Lin Jin nodded.

"We brought them out."

Inspector Han Su's Department of Education monitoring projection lit up.

"According to the tripartite records, the real rewards from the first floor of the White Tower have been taken by the squad and will be temporarily sealed jointly by the Academy and the Abyss Processing Bureau. The Department of Education only retains the right to review the records."

Zhou Heng looked at him coldly.

"At least you're speaking like a human being this time."

Inspector Han Su did not object, only saying:

"I represent the oversight seat, not Lu Chengyuan."

These words caused the surrounding atmosphere to grow slightly heavy.

Because everyone knew that Lu Chengyuan would not let this slide.

Sure enough.

The next second, the White Tower phantom in the center of the training area, which had not yet completely dissipated, suddenly glowed with a silver light.

That was not the light of the first floor.

It was an echo left behind by the external Department of Education's highest authority.

Lu Chengyuan's voice echoed from deep within the tower's phantom.

"First floor fully cleared."

"Real rewards taken."

"Residual final confirmation authority rejected."

"Impressive."

His tone even carried a hint of a chuckle.

"Back then, Lin Shoushan wasn't as thorough as you."

Qin Shanhe said furiously,

"Lu Chengyuan!"

Gu Changye immediately ordered:

"Cut off the residual phantom of the tower!"

The Abyss Processing Bureau's runes pressed down on it.

Yet, before dissipating, Lu Chengyuan's voice still managed to leave one last sentence.

"Since you've taken the rewards..."

"...then you've also taken the bill for the first floor."

The White Tower phantom dissipated completely.

On the ground of the training area, however, an extra silver-gray slip of paper appeared.

The paper spontaneously combusted without fire, burning to reveal a line of words.

[White Tower First-Floor Cost Bill]

[Billing Target: Rule Maintenance Special Class]

[Bill Status: Deferred]

[The first installment of the cost will be delivered within seven days]

Looking at that line of words, Chen Ye felt completely numb.

"No way..."

"We cleared the floor and still owe a debt?"

Lin Jin stared at the ashes left by the burnt paper, his gaze gradually darkening.

The theme of the White Tower's second floor was: Who Bears the Cost.

They had refused to enter the second floor.

But the cost had not disappeared.

It was merely sent to reality by Lu Chengyuan through another method.