The next day, 07:30, Changzheng High School.
I didn't go to the Skills Class classroom. Chen Lan summoned me directly to the academic affairs office. Today she wasn't wearing her athletic gear, but a formal black suit. The Administration badge on her chest was polished to a mirror shine, like a miniature dagger.
"No classes for you today." She handed me a new schedule. "Your chemistry, physics, and English classes are all canceled."
"Why?"
"Because the teachers are all sick." She said. "Cause: exposure to Scarlet's rule text. Their sync rates all exceeded 10%. They've been placed on mandatory leave."
"So she's now targeting ordinary people directly?"
"Not targeting. 'Issuing questions.'" She said. "She's filtering for people who can answer this question. Answer correctly, advance to her next round. Answer wrong, become her 'teaching case.'"
She pushed a list toward me: "These are the students who can still attend class today. Seventeen total. You'll take the 'Special Skills Graduation Exam.' The venue isn't at school—it's inside a Rift Zone."
"What Rift Zone?"
"C-7 level, 'Concept Classroom.'" She said. "Built personally by Scarlet, simulating Changzheng High School's 1998 Old campus. What you need to do: survive three hours inside, and answer question 52."
"Three hours?"
"Correct." She checked her watch. "Exam starts at 08:00. Thirty minutes remaining. Your teammates are standing by on the rooftop. They won't enter the exam venue, but they'll lock onto your coordinates."
"What if I die inside?"
"Then you graduate." She said. "Scarlet's definition of graduation means 'graduating from reality'—becoming a concept."
---
08:00, Old campus sports field.
Seventeen students stood in a line—all top performers from Skills Class. Li Ming, Wang Fang, Liu Hao were all present. Today they weren't wearing school uniforms, but Administration-issued black training gear, with temporary ID tags on their left chests.
"Lin Jin, B-07 Squad probationary member." Chen Lan introduced me. "Your temporary captain."
"Probationary?" Liu Hao protested. "Why him?"
"Because he's the only one who ever scored perfect on Scarlet's exam." Chen Lan said. "Any of you want to challenge that, you can withdraw now."
No one withdrew.
"Excellent." She snapped her fingers. A door materialized at the center of the sports field—wooden, engraved with the 1998 school emblem. "Remember three things after entering: First, trust no one. Second, answer no questions. Third, don't use real names."
"Why?"
"Because Scarlet's exam reads minds." She said. "Every thought you have, she'll change the rules to match."
The door opened, revealing thick darkness like ink.
One by one, the seventeen of us walked through. I was last. Before stepping across the threshold, Chen Lan pulled me aside and gave me a new HB Pencil.
"The real deal." She said. "Your original one is already marked by Scarlet. Use this new one. Don't let her read you."
I accepted it. The barrel was smooth—no crack, no name.
"Remember." She lowered her voice. "The answer to question 52 isn't 'Spatial Authority's weakness.' It's 'Spatial Authority's holder.'"
"What does that mean?"
"It means." She said, "What Scarlet wants is Shen Xingyao's weakness."
---
08:17, Concept Classroom interior.
We stood in a 1998 chemistry laboratory—outdated equipment, unwashed beakers on test tube racks, an old version of the periodic table on the wall where element 112 was still Uub.
The seventeen students transformed into seventeen copies of me.
Not metaphorically—physically. Each of their faces began blurring, then re-solidifying into my appearance, even the school uniform identical.
"What the fuck!" Li Ming—now with my face—screamed. "Why did I turn into Lin Jin?"
"Rule number one." I said. "Scarlet is eliminating individual differences, turning everyone into the same 'test-taker.'"
"How do we tell who's who then?"
"You can't." I said. "But you don't need to. There's only one exam question. Answer correctly, everyone passes. Answer wrong, everyone dies."
Golden text materialized on the blackboard:
[Question 52: Please write the weakness of Spatial Authority]
[Time Limit: Three hours]
[Tools: Any]
[Rules: No copying, no communication, no blank answers]
"'Any'?" Liu Hao (my face) asked. "Can we use abilities?"
"You can." I said. "But first you need to know what your ability is."
As soon as I spoke, all seventeen "me's" raised their hands simultaneously. Different lights glowed in their palms.
Li Ming's palm held silver—Spatial Mark. Wang Fang's held gold—War Authority. Liu Hao's held gray—Deconstruction Authority. The others had Protection, Deduction, Narrative... each Authority different, but all at level one, like newly awakened seedlings.
"Scarlet is simulating." I said. "She's simulating seventeen Authority holders, making us compete to see who answers first."
"Don't you win hands down then?" Li Ming said. "Your sync rate is 40%. We can't even reach 5%."
"No." I shook my head. "Here, sync rate is useless. This place tests 'understanding,' not 'power.'"
I walked to the blackboard and wrote with the 2B pencil:
[Spatial Authority's weakness: Space itself]
The characters were black—not graphite black, but they glowed harshly against the blackboard.
[Incorrect Answer]
Golden text appeared, marking a bright red X.
"Why wrong?" I asked.
[Too vague] The text replied. [Spatial Authority is the sovereign of space. How could space be its weakness?]
"Because space has boundaries." I said. "All Authorities have boundaries. Spatial Authority's greatest boundary is 'can only exist within space.'"
"What does that mean?"
"It means." I wrote a second line with the 2B pencil: [If battle occurs in a 'non-space' conceptual zone, Spatial Authority becomes ineffective]
[Still incorrect] The golden characters brightened. [A non-space conceptual zone does not exist]
"It does exist." I said. "Scarlet is here right now."
"What?"
"Scarlet's War Authority can tear space, creating 'non-space' voids. In those voids, Spatial Authority cannot deploy because there's nowhere to deploy."
[Answer approaching] This time the text didn't X it out. [But wrong. A void is not a weakness; it's a trap]
"Why a trap?"
[Because Shen Xingyao would use marks to anchor the void, turning the void into her space]
"So the weakness isn't space, but the marks?"
[Approaching]
"Then what's the weakness of the marks?"
[The weakness of the marks is the marker]
The golden characters finally revealed their true intent:
[The real question 52: Please write Shen Xingyao's weakness]
---
08:45, outside the exam venue.
Shen Xingyao stood on the teaching building rooftop, her silver-white pupils constricting to pinpoints.
"She's targeting me." She said. "The question is a smokescreen. The goal is to extract my weakness."
"You can't answer." Gu Yan said. "If you do, Scarlet will strike immediately."
"If I don't answer, Lin Jin dies." She said. "Seventeen people are inside. Sixteen are Scarlet's puppets. Only Lin Jin is real. If he can't answer, the puppets will tear him apart."
"Then force the venue open." Tang Lan's Oscillating blade was already drawn. "Whatever Concept Classroom—one slash."
"Impossible." White Gloves said. "Force an opening, and the seventeen students' brains get shredded by rules. They'll become vegetables."
"So what then?"
"Let Lin Jin answer." Shen Xingyao said. "But not my weakness—Scarlet's weakness."
"Does Scarlet have a weakness?"
"Yes." She said. "Her weakness is the same as the first question's answer—she needs an audience."
"War Authority needs soldiers. Narrative Authority needs readers. She needs 'proof of existence.'"
"Without us watching her, she has no power."
"So we withdraw." She ordered. "Everyone, evacuate the Old campus. Stand by three kilometers away."
"What about Lin Jin?"
"He stays." She said. "Alone, he is the entire audience."
"What does that mean?"
"It means." She smiled like ice cracking. "Make Scarlet think we've abandoned him. Only then will she let her guard down and reveal a flaw."
"What flaw?"
"Arrogance." She said. "She'll think she's won."
"Then what?"
"Then Lin Jin will tell her—" She paused. "That her audience has only ever been herself."
---
09:00, inside the exam venue.
The seventeen puppets had surrounded me. Their faces were still mine, but their eyes were Scarlet's—golden, like starving wolves.
"Can't answer?" They spoke in unison. "Then die."
They lunged. Their hands became golden blades.
I didn't dodge. I just raised the crackless 2B pencil and wrote on the blackboard:
[No Audience Here]
The characters were black as ink, but the moment they landed, a mirror surface appeared on the blackboard, reflecting Scarlet's face.
That face was furious, twisted, screaming.
Because in the mirror, she was alone.
"Your war needs soldiers." I said. "Your narrative needs readers. But your arrogance only needs yourself."
"Therefore, your weakness is loneliness."
[Correct Answer]
The golden characters appeared one final time, then shattered into light.
The seventeen puppets collapsed simultaneously, reverting to normal students.
Li Ming woke, looking at me blankly. "Lin Jin? What happened to me?"
"You graduated." I said. "From Scarlet's school."
---
09:30, Old campus rooftop.
Shen Xingyao stood alone, holding the feedback data from the seventeenth mark.
"Scarlet's main body—locked." She said. "At..."
She paused, looking at me.
"Inside your next workbook."
"What?"
"Specialized derivative training, set sixteen, question 51—Spatial Authority's weakness."
I wrote the answer: It can only exist where there is "waiting."
That answer transformed into a mark, captured by the seventeenth mark and reverse-traced to lock onto Scarlet's main body.
"So where is she now..."
"Writing question 52." Shen Xingyao said. "About Spatial Authority's weakness."
She smiled—a rare smile, like ice cracking:
"She wants to test me."
"Then let her test." I said. "I'll set the question for her. Specialized derivative training, set seventeen: Find Scarlet's Arrogance Value."
"The answer?"
"Infinity."
---
She turned toward the helicopter. "Return to headquarters. Scarlet's first probe—we won."
"But there will be a second?"
"Yes." She said. "Question 53 won't be issued by her personally. She'll have someone else do it."
"Who?"
"Your teacher." She said. "Chen Lan."
I froze.
"Chen Lan is Administration personnel, not Scarlet's."
"But Scarlet can make her set the question." Shen Xingyao said. "Because Chen Lan's past is also a story."
"What story?"
"The story of Scarlet Christmas." She said. "Back then, she was one of Scarlet's candidate apostles."
The helicopter took off. I looked back at the Old campus.
A line of golden text materialized on the teaching building:
[26 days until Gaokao]
[Next exam, you invigilate]