Chapter 288
Number 0 was never on the list
After the button was pressed, the zeroth verification seat began to sink.
Zhou Heng, along with his oxygen supply tube, was dragged deeper into the South Heavenly Gate by the Name Layer. The seven records that had just been separated quickly rolled back, attempting to cover his body again.
Qin Lan did not cut off the oxygen supply.
"Guanzi will take him away!" Luo Xu shouted.
"The oxygen supply was the treatment he just received, and it won't be automatically canceled because of his escape." Qin Lan held onto the reel. "But it's only twelve meters long, and it will stop at the end."
She completely separated life support from the pursuit. The oxygen supply could continue, but the control over the Tian Shu (a vital energy center) had to be severed.
Lu Chengong stared at the area below seat number zero. The control lines of the Nine Suns fragments were following Zhou Heng's movements; as long as the seat base was severed, he would lose his defensive array.
"There are three records at the back," he said.
One belonged to the sanitation worker who went missing in the accident, another to the unregistered experimental fetus, and the last contained only half a fingerprint. No matter which one was targeted, the red light would burn through them first.
Zhou Heng laughed behind his mask: "You wouldn't dare."
07 The narrator manipulated the Jade Rabbit to suddenly climb onto the oxygen supply pipe.
It received no orders. Its single mechanical eye scanned the reel, the seat, and the three records before using its remaining leg to grip the cable and slide towards Seat Zero.
"What is it going to do?" Qin Lan asked.
Xu Wangshu read the code that Yutu had just written: "Request to enter the verification seat as a mobile fault source, without carrying Lin Wangchuan's identity, and not accepting automatic backup."
Zhou Heng can predict the fate of every person, but it is difficult for him to predict the fate of a subject who has no fixed identity and has just lost most of his old habits.
Yutu climbed to the edge of seat number zero and deliberately connected the last remaining active node to the seat's diagnostic port.
Nantianmen immediately reported an error: Repairman 07 detected.
The next second, I contradicted myself: the target has no name.
The next second, the first confirmer issued a "no" from the evidence box, indicating that the system could not complete the evidence using the Luo Xu template.
Seat number zero got stuck halfway through.
Zhou Heng reached out to pull the Jade Rabbit. The narrator, 07, didn't dodge but instead proactively severed the mechanical left arm. The severed arm remained at the diagnostic port, continuing to create contradictions, while the fuselage slid back to the outside along the oxygen supply pipe.
It's missing a part again.
However, this allowed Zhou Heng to leave the cover of more than 6,000 records for the first time, and be fully exposed to the low temperature on the far side of the moon.
Qin Lan locked the oxygen supply reel. The mask continued to supply air, but the seat could no longer sink.
Xu Wangshu questioned Zhou Heng item by item: "Do you admit that you are the user of the zeroth verification seat?"
"I refuse to answer."
"The logbook refuses to answer. Do you agree to the release of the seat's most recent control log?"
"reject."
"Record denied. Should we halt the nine-day attack?"
"reject."
Every refusal is retained, but no new permissions are granted to him.
Zhou Heng finally snapped: "You wrote down my words, but then did nothing about them. What kind of respect for choices is that?"
"Respect is not obedience," Lin Jibai said. "You can decide your own body and your own words, but you can't decide whose head the red light falls on."
The ninth fragment suddenly changed direction and pointed at Zhou Heng himself.
The source of the command overlaps with the object being verified. According to the old rules, No. Zero was not on the list and could not have the weapon permissions of the participants; however, Zhou Heng's true body had been seen by the Ninth Day, and he was no longer a pure verifier outside the list.
Nantianmen asked him to choose: to be verified as a person present, or to continue being deleted as a node without body rules.
The anger on Zhou Heng's face disappeared.
This was the choice between two options he was most familiar with, and now it had fallen on his shoulders.
"I won't choose either of them," he said.
"No selection was made; verification will be accepted by default."
The red light began to heat up.
Lin Jibai rushed to the broken string: "Save him."
Lu Chenggong glanced at him.
"Save lives, don't return guns."
The two broken strings stretched out again, forming a polarizing frame. The crimson light grazed Zhou Heng's shoulder, burning through the main control line behind Seat Zero, but it didn't touch the three records.
Nine days later, control was instantly severed.
Zhou Heng survived.
And the spot he had kept hidden on the list for twelve years was completely gone.