Chapter 292
The handle inside the door was disassembled into 3 steps
Qin Lan did not touch the controller immediately.
She first had everyone step back half a meter, then inserted only a short probe into the crack in the door. The tip of the probe touched the metal wheel on the inside of the third compartment, and the wheel teeth automatically turned towards Lin Wangchuan's position.
"It's looking for the most suitable person."
"It's not about finding the operator," Xu Wangshu corrected, "it's about finding the person who can be accounted for all the consequences."
The probe continued inward. The metal wheel turned back towards the scrapped Jade Rabbit, then jumped to Luo Xu, and then to Lin Jibai. Each time it stopped, a corresponding reason appeared on the door frame: old post, maintenance chain, first observer, inherited fingerprint.
All four reasons are true.
Neither should be used as a notice of sacrifice.
Lin Jibai flipped the task board to a blank page and wrote three lines: Cancel, Keep, Confirm. Then he left an exit field after each line.
"Can the physical connection be disconnected?"
Qin Lan observed for a long time: "The controller itself cannot be disassembled, as doing so will trigger a self-recovery mechanism. The motion source can be disassembled."
She connected the remaining pawl in the second compartment, the return capsule's counterweight wheel, and the severed arm of the Yutu rover into an external transmission system. The handle inside the door was still driven by the inner gear, but the gear's rotation required three different actions to occur simultaneously. The first came from the outer mechanical counterweight, the second from the offline pulse from the Seven Cities narrowband, and the third from a manual anti-reverse plate next to the handle inside the door.
The third part is the most troublesome.
Something must be inside the door to hold the anti-reverse plate until the interface returns to zero.
"Jade Rabbit is fine." The narrator typed out the code.
Qin Lan shook her head: "The anti-retrograde patch requires continuous pressure, at least forty-five minutes. Your body only has eighteen minutes of battery left, and even the mechanical claw joints can't hold on."
"Lin Wangchuan is fine." Lin Wangchuan wrote with his palm, the handwriting crooked.
Lin Jibai pressed his hand down before he finished reading.
"Once you go in, you won't come back."
Lin Wangchuan wrote very slowly: I have already come back.
These words almost dragged Lin Jibai back into his old memories. Remote-controlled cars, old work clothes, and exhibition hall light strips flashed through his mind, but it was all as if they were seen through a layer of frosted glass. He knew he should be in pain, and in fact he was, but pain couldn't make choices for his father, much less agree to death for him.
Xu Wangshu recorded that sentence as "the person expresses his will", and immediately added a restriction: "current body temperature is low, oxygen supply is insufficient, and information is incomplete, so this does not constitute a final confirmation of execution."
The protesters at Nantianmen protested: "The recorder has no right to deny that he sacrificed his life."
"I have no right to turn myself into a plug for loopholes in the rules," Xu Wangshu said.
Zhou Heng suddenly smiled.
"You have finally encountered the problems of the human world itself. The old Heavenly Court liked sacrifices, not because it was cruel, but because the human world loved to push those who were willing to sacrifice themselves to the forefront."
Lu Chen's bowstring trembled, almost snapping shut.
"Don't talk like you've never used it before."
"Of course I've used it," Zhou Heng admitted, "because it's easy to use."
This acknowledgment caused a new log entry to appear at the bottom of seat zero. Twelve years ago, in the final plan to disconnect the South Gate, four maintenance workers had indeed volunteered to stay on duty. The system ultimately only retained one of their applications; the other three were recorded as "witnesses." That one person later became the first record of load-bearing capacity.
Once you voluntarily pass through the system's screening process, you become solely responsible.
Luo Xu turned pale after reading the diary.
Therefore, the last slot cannot accept any individual applications.
The first confirmer beeped softly in the evidence box. It wasn't a word, just the rubbing of old gears. Luo Xu didn't ask if it agreed, simply labeling the sound as "Device activity, meaning unknown."
Lin Jibai looked at the door stop.
"If you can't let one person hold you down, then the pressure shouldn't come from one person."
Qin Lan looked up.
Inside the door are broken metal wires from an old load-bearing cable; outside is the Lin Wangchuan insulation support frame; and the Yutu rabbit also has a broken arm that cannot exert force on its own. None of the three can press independently, but if made into a mechanical lock, once tightened, the pressure comes from springs and gears, rather than continuous compression.
The problem is that the person tightening the mechanical lock has to reach in to get through the door.
Lin Jibai looked down at his right hand. Stability was 18. Below 20, his finger projections would become intermittent, and his real body would experience a blank feeling.
"I can fit one hand in."
"No," Qin Lan said.
"I'm not going in to stay." Lin Jibai pushed the exit button to her. "I'm only responsible for tightening it up, thirty seconds. When the time is up, whether it works or not, you pull me back."
Qin Lan did not agree immediately. She took out a timer and wrote down three hard restrictions: forced retrieval after 28 seconds; forced retrieval if stability is below 16; forced retrieval if the hand loses sensation.
Lin signed it in vain.
It's not about passion, nor is it a slogan of trust.
It's about locking your impulses into a compartment where someone else can stop them.
The handle inside the South Heavenly Gate emitted a low hum.
The third square did not find a single person to take responsibility for it for the first time.