The Threshold Between Humanity and Technology

Chapter 18: The Interaction Target

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The system's prompt faded, and an unnatural hush fell over the air.

Everyone had thought this round of "elevation" was the end—until the metal door that should have stayed sealed creaked open a crack silently.

A cold gust rushed in. And with it, six unfamiliar figures.

Clad in identical blue garments, their eyes blank and faces haggard, they stared around the room as if they'd just fled from the dark.

A murmur of suppressed chatter erupted in an instant.

"New people?"

"Is this… another group?"

"We just had twenty-one of us. The system never said there'd be outsiders…"

The six stared back at the crowd, a mix of wariness and panic in their eyes. A young man among them muttered under his breath:

"Why are there more people… weren't we the last group?"

"Their state is off," Lu Xu spoke up, his voice low. "They just went through a selection round."

Ji Yuan's eyes sharpened in realization. "The system unlocked another chamber."

"You mean… we're not the only group?" Xie Chuan exclaimed.

"That explains it," Lu Zhibai said softly. "Why the system never once mentioned the word 'zone'."

"We were never the whole lot."

She paused, her gaze sweeping over the newcomers.

"We're just one of many."

Just then, the system's emotionless prompt blared out again:

[Current Individuals in Space: 27.][Space Threshold Reached.][Initiating Master Isolation Protocol.]

Every breath caught. Then they saw it—

A translucent light wall descended silently from the ceiling, splitting the room into a grid of square sections.

As the wall slid down, someone barely avoided being split in two, stumbling back with a jolt;Another cried out, "Wait!" and lunged forward, only to collide with the blue light and be thrown back by a jolt of electricity;Lu Zhibai and Lu Xu were forced into the very center square, sealed off together.

Trapped within the faint blue glow, they could not move an inch.

Eyes met between those inside the isolation pod and those outside, and in that moment, the hush was so thick it felt even the system had stopped breathing.

"D*mn it, what the hell…" Xie Chuan rushed forward to pull them free, only to be thrown back by another crackling barrier of electricity.

The system's voice continued:

[Identification Successful: High-Value Individual IDs Locked.][Current High-Level Observation Individuals: Lu Zhibai, Lu Xu.][Transferred to Master Isolation Zone.][Observation Mode Switched: In-Depth Interactive Behavior Tracking Initiated.]

"Interactive observation?" Ji Yuan muttered the words, his face darkening.

"It's not just monitoring… it's trying to study the way we interact with each other."

"This isn't surveillance," Yi Ran added quietly. "It's an experiment."

The second the light wall slammed down, screams split the silence;Some were thrown flying, crashing to the floor, and before they could react, they began slamming their fists against the blue barrier;"Let me out of here!" someone shrieked, their voice cracking.

The blue light wall wrapped around them like rippling water, cutting them off from the outside world.

Lu Zhibai stood in the center, still as a statue, her features calm, the system's cold camera reflected in her eyes.

She glanced at the six newcomers, then at the reactions of the others outside the light wall, and said in a low voice:

"This is the second round of grouping."

Lu Xu nodded, his voice steady as ever. "It won't let this round go to waste."

His tone dropped, cold and sharp, as he went on: "Most likely, it wants to watch how we interact."

Lu Zhibai replied, "Analysis is next. We're the control group now."

A girl among the newcomers shrank back, her voice trembling: "Is this… the second round for us? Then what was our 'clearance' before?"

Lu Xu paid her no mind, continuing his train of thought: "Our group will be the reference subject."

"It doesn't want us to act. It wants us to be watched."

Their eyes met, the air between them heavy with gravity.

Outside, a young man stared dumbly at the two in the light wall, his throat tight as he forced out a sentence:

"…Don't you think they don't look trapped?" No one spoke, but the tension in the air spiked sharply.

"They're not the test subjects."

"We are."

Outside the light wall, Shen Zheng and Cui Xun glanced at the isolation pod. Shen Zheng narrowed his eyes, a slow, intrigued smile spreading across his face.

"So that's how it is," he murmured. "You finally deign to show yourself to the system, Lu Zhibai."

He turned to Cui Xun.

"It'd be stranger if someone like her wasn't singled out."

In a corner, panic had already set in among the six newcomers: "Did we… did we walk into the wrong place?"

"Why are there so many people here? Who is everyone staring at?"

"Who are those two…?"

Their gazes drifted, unbidden, to the two figures in the blue glow.

"Who are they? Are they… with the system?"

Xie Chuan let out a cold laugh. "If you believe that, you're as good as dead."

Lu Zhibai paid no one any mind. She simply looked up, and blinked calmly at the camera above.

She had never been more lucid than in this moment. This was not a game, nor a level to clear.

She was a creature thrown into a glass cage, to be watched, recorded, and analyzed.

Every move she made was nothing more than experimental data—labeled, standardized, dehumanized.

She had never craved to tear a system apart as much as she did now. In that instant, she was no longer a passive player.

She was the center of the coordinates, the reference source, the disruptor about to pry open a crack in the system's facade.

Her gaze locked on the cold, unblinking eye above her, her voice as light as a feather yet as sharp as a blade:

"You're watching me?"

"Then watch closely. Don't miss a single second."

[End of Chapter Eighteen]