The flight back from the old campus was silent.
Zhou Fang lay in the helicopter's rear seat. The golden Corrosion marks on his chest had faded to a muddy brown, like an ugly birthmark. His eyes were closed, breathing steady, but his fingers kept twitching involuntarily—a side effect of nervous system contamination from War Authority. The doctor said it might last a month.
"Stop faking it." Tang Lan kicked him. "I know you're awake."
Zhou Fang opened his eyes with a bitter smile. "It hurts, sis."
"If it hurts, stop playing tough." She tossed him a pack of protein powder. "Supplies. Mix it yourself."
"Thanks." He took it but didn't move, just clutched it. "Did you all hear Imitation's last words—'Scarlet will kill you'?"
"We heard." Gu Yan's tablet was still running data, lines of causality推演 scrolling across the screen. "Scarlet's threat level fluctuates between 0-100. Currently stable at 87. Above 90, she'll act personally."
"So what about us now?"
"88." Gu Yan adjusted his glasses. "Because you're not dead."
"If I die, does it hit 90?"
"If you die, the threat level drops to zero." He said, "Because if the target doesn't exist, the threat doesn't exist."
"That's fucking scientific." Zhou Fang cursed, then turned to me. "Homework bro, how'd you come up with that 'rewrite the concept of entry' trick?"
"Imitation told me." I said, "She said the Script needed sacrifices, so I changed the definition of 'sacrifice.'"
"Just like that?"
"Just like that." I said, "She wanted me to be the author, so I became the grader. Authors can't change papers, but graders can change questions."
Shen Xingyao sat in the cockpit, never looking back. The helicopter flew over the city, the setting sun gilding her profile gold, but within the gold ran silver, like metal melting.
"The seventeenth mark brought back data." She finally spoke, her voice shredded by rotor noise. "Three sync rate fluctuations were detected inside the lab."
"Three?" I froze. "I only sensed Imitation."
"The other two were hidden in the rule layer." Gu Yan's tablet switched to a new interface—a three-dimensional cutaway of the lab. "One fluctuation frequency matches War Authority. It's Erosion's fragment. The other..."
He paused, swiping on the screen to enlarge a waveform in a certain area. "The other is Scarlet's 'signature.'"
"Signature?"
"Every Authority holder leaves a unique frequency imprint when rewriting rules." He said, "Scarlet's imprint is a three-segment waveform, like a heartbeat, but with 0.3-second intervals between segments—indicating her War Authority needs to 'charge up.'"
"She attacked?"
"No." He said, "She just 'looked' once."
Just one look gave Imitation War Labyrinth. Just one look reactivated Zhou Fang's Corrosion. Just one look turned the entire old campus lab from "nonexistent" to "existent."
"She's closer than we imagined." Shen Xingyao said, "And farther."
"What does that mean?"
"It means her physical body is deep in the Rift Zone, but her gaze has already covered this city." White Gloves emerged from the shadows—same Tang suit, same purple cigarette. "Imitation wasn't her pen, it was her 'eyes.' She watched you through Imitation."
"Watched me?"
"Yes." He said, "Watching how you rewrite rules, how you tear up Scripts, how you turn war into an exam."
"Then what?"
"Then she'll write a better Script." He exhaled a smoke ring that froze in the air into a line of text:
[27 days until Gaokao]
"This is a countdown." He said, "27 days later, she'll close the net."
"What kind of net?"
"A net for you." He said, "Your Existence is the perfect 'narrative core' for her. Embedding you into her War Authority allows her to rewrite the very concept of 'war' itself."
"War would no longer be war—it becomes an exam. A game. A play."
"And she would be the sole director."
---
After the helicopter landed, Shen Xingyao didn't let me return to the dorm. She dragged me straight to the medical department.
"Full body scan." She told the doctor. "Focus on mental contamination."
"I wasn't contaminated." I said.
"You look like it." She stood with arms crossed. "You actually dared to tear up Scarlet's Script and rewrite rules in front of her face. That's not bravery—it's suicide."
"It wasn't to her face." I corrected. "It was indirect, through Imitation."
"Indirect is still enough to die ten times over." She snorted. "You don't leave the medical department before the report comes out. Specialized derivative training, write it here."
"There's no desk here."
"There is." She pulled over a mobile hospital bed. "This is your desk."
I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but I had no choice. I sat down and pulled out my workbook.
The doctor ran instruments over my body. My sync rate was stable at 40.3%, other indicators normal. But when scanning my right hand, the instrument suddenly screamed.
"The pen." The doctor said. "Your HB Pencil's energy concentration is off the charts."
The pencil lay on the table. The crack had deepened another inch. Silver-white light flowed through it like capillaries.
"This isn't an ordinary HB Pencil." The doctor said. "It's an 'existential item'—equivalent to half a Rift Zone core."
"I know."
"And you still use it?"
"If I don't, I'm not Lin Jin anymore."
The doctor froze, glancing between me and Shen Xingyao.
"Let him use it." She said. "Not using it makes him more dangerous."
The doctor shook his head and wrote on the report: [Mental Contamination: Mild. Recommend isolated observation.]
"Isolation?" I looked up. "For how long?"
"27 days." The doctor said. "Just in time for Gaokao."
"No." Shen Xingyao snatched the report and tore it. "He must attend school tomorrow."
"Attend school? In his condition..."
"His condition only remains stable at school." She said. "School is Scarlet's simulator. Inside it, she won't act recklessly."
The doctor fell silent, conceding to her judgment.
Shen Xingyao turned to leave, but paused at the door. "Finish specialized training set sixteen. More than three wrong answers, and you don't sleep tonight."
"Fine."
She left. The doctor left. Only me, a hospital bed, an HB Pencil, and a workbook remained.
Question 16 was implicit function derivation. I calculated it three times, getting three answers—identical to set fifteen.
Next to the third answer, I wrote a small note with my HB Pencil:
[Scarlet, I've memorized your Script]
The characters glowed silver-white, then flashed.
Golden text suddenly seeped through the workbook's paper:
[Memorized it well. Tomorrow I'll test you on dictation]
[One wrong character, one person dies]
---
The next day, 07:00, Changzheng High School.
I didn't return to my regular class. I went straight to the Skills Class classroom.
Chen Lan was already at the lectern, holding a stack of exam papers.
"Today's graduation exam." She said. "Five Basic Systems, theory + practical. 100 points total, 60 to pass."
"What about those who fail?"
"Those who fail will see things they shouldn't." She adjusted her glasses. "Like Rift Zones."
My heart tightened.
"Don't worry." She said. "The exam venue has rule shielding. Scarlet can't get in."
"And if she forces her way in?"
"If she forces her way in, the venue explodes." She said. "Killing all examinees, including you."
She distributed the papers. First question:
[War Authority's core talent is: A. Devouring B. Tearing C. Narrative D. All of the above]
I chose D.
The moment my pen touched down, the pencil tip broke.
Not physically broken—it was ruled "nonexistent" on the rule level. My HB Pencil was judged a "contraband item" in this exam venue.
"Forgot to mention." Chen Lan walked over. "Exam venue rules prohibit Rift Zone items."
She handed me a new pencil—a regular 2B, Chinese brand.
"Use this." She said. "Ordinary people's exams use ordinary pens."
I took it. The barrel was ice-cold, without cracks, without light.
First question, I chose D.
But when the nib touched paper, it automatically became C.
[War Authority's core talent is: C. Narrative]
"What is this?"
"Exam venue rule number two." Chen Lan said. "Correct answers are designated by Scarlet."
"Then what's the point of the exam?"
"To test whether you dare to change them." She said. "Those who dare, graduate."
I threw away the 2B pencil and pulled out my own HB Pencil. The crack had reached the nib.
I used it to scratch out C and write:
[War Authority's core talent is: Lin Jin's HB Pencil]
The characters were silver-white, like knives.
The exam venue began to shake. Rules were clashing.
Chen Lan smiled: "Congratulations, Lin Jin. In five years, you're the first student to cheat on the graduation exam."
"Cheating?"
"No." She collected the exam paper. "Perfect score."
She glanced at her watch: "Exam concluded. You've graduated. But remember—your diploma wasn't issued by the Administration. It was issued by Scarlet."
"What does that mean?"
"It means." She said, "From today on, you're officially her 'students,' her readers, and characters in her story."
She closed the door. Only me, Li Ming, Wang Fang, Liu Hao, and others remained in the exam venue.
They looked at me. Golden blood threads in their pupils had connected into a solid sheet.
"Lin Jin." Li Ming said. "Can I borrow your pencil? I want to write a story too."
"I want to write too." Wang Fang said.
"I want to write a love story between me and Teacher Gu." Liu Hao said.
They surrounded me like fans waiting for autographs.
I retreated to the lectern, raising my HB Pencil.
[Exam venue rule: No lending]
The moment the characters glowed, everyone stopped.
But they didn't give up. They just smiled—smiling like Imitation, like Accountant, like Teacher Zhang.
"Lend it for a bit." They said. "Just a bit."
"Once we've copied your story, we'll become you."
I realized the graduation exam wasn't the end. It was the beginning.
Scarlet's 27-day countdown wasn't for Gaokao. It was for "assimilation."
In 27 days, every student in the school would become "Lin Jin."
And the real me would become the story.