96: Chapter 96 A bill is not a debt; verify its authenticity first.

[White Tower First Floor Cost Bill]

[Settlement Target: Rule Maintenance Special Class]

[Bill Status: Deferred]

[The first cost will be delivered within seven days]

After the paper burned away, the ashes did not scatter.

They fell onto the floor of the training area and condensed into a ring of tiny, silver-gray words, like a bill stamp pressed directly into reality.

Chen Ye stared at the ring of ash, his face turning green.

"I finally get it now."

"The White Tower isn't a dungeon."

"It's a loan shark."

Zhou Heng gave him a cold look.

"That comparison is surprisingly accurate for once."

Shen Tingxue squatted down, wanting to seal the ashes with frost.

Lin Jin immediately spoke up:

"Don't touch it."

Shen Tingxue's hand froze mid-air.

"Is there a reaction?"

Lin Jin nodded.

The Hand of Rules had already expanded.

[Target: White Tower First Floor Cost Bill Remnants]

[Status: Delivering to Reality]

[Nature: Delayed Rule Claim]

[Glitch: Vaguely recording "White Tower First Floor Clearance Cost" as "Rule Maintenance Special Class Unpaid Bill"]

[Danger: If the bill is acknowledged as valid, it can randomly claim the abilities, qualifications, memories, pressure capacity, evacuation rights, and other costs of team members within seven days]

[Maintenance Recommendation: Do not destroy it directly. First audit the account, restrict permissions, and file a dispute]

Lin Jin read the prompts aloud.

When Chen Ye heard the words "randomly claim," he felt completely sick to his stomach.

"It's random too?"

"And abilities, qualifications, memories, and evacuation rights?"

"How is this a bill? This is a mugging list!"

Gu Changye had already led his people to the outer ring of the ashes.

After looking at the results on the Bureau's detector, his face also darkened.

"We can't seal it directly."

"The bill has already been delivered to the reality layer. Forcing a seal will be judged as a refusal to pay."

Qin Shanhe sneered.

"We've already cleared the first floor of the White Tower, and they still want to collect the debt."

"Lu Chengyuan really knows how to borrow a blade."

Inspector Han Su's Department of Education monitoring projection had not yet left.

Looking at the ring of ash, he said in a deep voice,

"Department of Education oversight seat Record: Even after Lu Chengyuan's residual final confirmation rights were rejected, he still delivered costs to reality through the White Tower's billing mechanism."

Zhou Heng looked at him.

"What's the use of recording it?"

Inspector Han Su said calmly,

"It is useful."

"At least Lu Chengyuan cannot frame this debt as something the Academy voluntarily took on."

Lin Jin nodded.

"First, we seize the definition."

He didn't touch the rule correction wrench.

The black patterns on the back of his hand were still throbbing, and Shen Tingxue's ice hadn't fully suppressed the backlash.

Using the rule correction wrench again now might bring a cost even faster than the bill.

Lin Jin walked to the outer ring of the ashes and squatted down.

"A bill is not a debt."

Chen Ye was taken aback.

"What do you mean?"

Lin Jin stared at the ring of silver-gray words.

"The White Tower says it's a bill."

"But bills must also be verified."

"What is owed, why it is owed, who signed it, who confirmed it, how it is settled, and whether it can be appealed—all of this must be clearly written."

Zhou Heng understood.

"It's deliberately omitting the details right now."

"Yes."

Shen Tingxue said coldly,

"As long as we acknowledge that the 'Rule Maintenance Special Class owes a cost to the White Tower,' it can fill in whatever it wants later."

"So we cannot acknowledge the debt."

Lin Jin reached out and took a stone tablet that had been sterilized by the Bureau, using it as a temporary writing board.

He didn't use the wrench; he only used chalk to write on the stone tablet.

[Bill Audit Application]

As the first line was written, the silver-gray ashes trembled slightly.

Lin Jin continued writing.

[First, the first floor of the White Tower has been completed according to the rules: the team forfeited the right to replace teammates, increased the difficulty, and cleared the floor with all members surviving.]

[Second, the actual rewards are evidence, clauses, coordinates, and rights of recourse, not immediate combat power gains, and do not constitute a gift from the White Tower.]

[Third, the team has refused to enter the second floor and should not bear the second floor's "Who Bears the Cost" thematic settlement.]

[Fourth, the residual external final confirmation rights attempted to force a delay in evacuation, which has been recorded by three parties as an unauthorized rewrite.]

[Fifth, the so-called cost bill must specify details and must not randomly claim team members' identities, qualifications, memories, evacuation rights, teammate relationships, or physical integrity.]

After he finished writing the fifth clause, the ashes began to churn.

A line of White Tower script floated up from the ashes.

[Clearing the White Tower always comes with a cost]

Lin Jin said coldly,

"There can be a cost."

"But you can't just leave it as a blank check."

Gu Changye immediately spoke up:

"The Abyss Processing Bureau supports the audit."

"Any rule claim delivered to the reality layer must clearly list the trigger source, the target of the claim, and the scope of risk."

Qin Shanhe chimed in:

"The Academy supports this."

"My students are not the White Tower's automatic debit accounts."

Chen Ye whispered:

"The Dean's analogy is also quite trendy."

Zhou Heng glanced at him.

"Shut up, don't interrupt."

Inspector Han Su was silent for a moment before saying:

"The Department of Education's oversight seat supports the audit."

"If the bill is related to Lu Chengyuan's unauthorized confirmation chain, the Department of Education will not recognize its unilateral validity."

As the three-party confirmation was established, the silver-gray ashes were finally suppressed by half.

But they did not disappear.

Instead, they rearranged into even smaller words.

[Cost Bill Status: In Dispute]

[Bill Audit Period: Seven Days]

[Within seven days, the White Tower may deliver the first cost itemization]

[The team may propose one rejection or adjustment after the itemization is delivered]

Chen Ye had just breathed a sigh of relief, but seeing the last line made him tense up again.

"Only once?"

"We can only reject it once?"

Lin Jin nodded.

"So we can't use it recklessly."

Shen Tingxue said:

"It turned random claims into itemized deliveries."

"At least it's temporarily restricted."

Zhou Heng said coldly:

"But it will still come within seven days."

Lin Jin looked at the line [Audit Period: Seven Days].

"It will come."

"And the first item will definitely target our most vulnerable spot."

Chen Ye silently looked down at his shield.

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?"

No one answered him.

Because everyone did.

Gu Changye had the Bureau seal the ashes, along with a layer of the floor, into a transparent rule box.

A new label was pasted on the outside of the box.

[White Tower First Floor Cost Bill Remnants]

[Status: Dispute Audit in Progress]

[Acknowledging unpaid debt is prohibited]

[Unilateral payment is prohibited]

[Private contact by any member is prohibited]

Once these lines were pasted on, everyone could finally breathe a slight sigh of relief.

But before they could fully relax, the medical team surrounded them.

Lin Jin was the first to be pushed down onto a examination chair.

Shen Tingxue stood nearby, staring at the testing crystal.

The black threads inside the crystal were a ring thicker than before he entered the tower.

The Medical Instructor frowned.

"Contamination erosion is at 49%."

"Mental load seriously exceeds the limit."

"The Rule Correction Tool must not be used again for a short period of time."

Chen Ye immediately said:

"Did you hear that?"

"Must not be used again."

Lin Jin looked at him.

"You're more proactive than the instructor."

Chen Ye replied righteously,

"Duties of the Protection Role."

Zhou Heng snorted.

"If he touches the wrench now, I authorize you to bash him unconscious with your shield."

Chen Ye thought about it seriously.

"My shield might not knock him out, but it can pin him down."

Lin Jin couldn't be bothered to argue with them.

Shen Tingxue's test results also came out quickly.

"low-temperature circuit overload."

"The Ice Key is stable, but there is residual resonance from Shen Qingshuang."

"For the next three days, reading information from the Ice Key alone is prohibited."

Shen Tingxue nodded.

"Understood."

Zhou Heng's examination took the longest.

A faint trace of old reconstruction resonance had appeared within the patterns of his Thunder Spear.

The Medical Instructor looked at the report, his brow furrowing deeper and deeper.

"The identity stability of the Barrier Breaker Position is higher than before entering the tower, but the old residual coordinates still exert a continuous pull on you."

Zhou Heng said coldly,

"I just won't make contact."

Lin Jin said,

"It's not about not making contact."

"It's that you cannot make contact alone."

Zhou Heng glanced at him.

"I know."

Chen Ye was tested last.

He originally thought he would have at most some shock damage to his shield.

But as soon as the testing crystal swept over the shield-shaped light fragment, it suddenly lit up.

The Medical Instructor frowned.

"Protection Role pressure record abnormal."

Chen Ye was startled.

"Me?"

"Aren't I doing great?"

"I'm way more normal than the three of them, right?"

Without a word, the Medical Instructor projected the report into the air.

[Protection Role Chen Ye]

[Class Rank: D]

[This White Tower pressure load: Exceeded class rank threshold by 187%]

[After the first floor of the White Tower rejected the S-Class Defense Sample, the protection deficit remained unsettled]

The smile froze on Chen Ye's face.

"Protection deficit?"

"What on earth is that?"

Lin Jin abruptly looked toward the sealed box.

The silver-gray ashes inside the box suddenly lit up with a speck of white light.

The bill that had just been marked as a disputed audit actually spat out a tiny gray slip ahead of schedule.

Gu Changye's face darkened.

"It's delivering the first itemized detail."

Outside the sealed box, white words slowly emerged.

[White Tower First Floor Cost Bill - First Itemized Trial Delivery]

[Target: Protection Role Chen Ye]

[Account: Protection deficit generated after the team rejected the S-Class Defense Sample]

[Payment Method: Within seven days, the Protection Role must bear one instance of damage "that should have been borne by a higher-compatibility sample"]

[If payment is refused, the damage will be transferred to a random teammate]

Looking at those lines of text, Chen Ye fell completely silent.

This time, he didn't joke around.

He didn't curse.

He only instinctively placed his hand on his shield.

Lin Jin's expression instantly turned freezing cold.

Frost formed at Shen Tingxue's fingertips.

Zhou Heng's Thunder Spear lit up directly.

But Chen Ye suddenly raised his hand, stopping them.

"Don't rush."

His voice was slightly hoarse, but relatively steady.

"It named me."

"This bill..."

He looked up at the gray slip.

"Let me read it clearly first."

On the very last line of the slip, even smaller words slowly emerged.

[Countdown: Seven Days]

[First Cost Event Generating]

[Event Name: When the Protection Role Is Absent]