The Threshold Between Humanity and Technology

Chapter 17: The Selector

The system's prompt tone blared on:

[Current survivors: 21.][Data updated: Screening mechanism restructuring in progress.]

The hall fell deathly silent in an instant.

"21?"

"Wait a second… this can't… be our number, right?"

The words hung in the air like a nail driven firm. Ji Yuan's brows furrowed slightly, as if wracking his brain to recall something.

Xie Chuan murmured beside him, "There were sixteen of us originally, plus seven from that group—shouldn't that be twenty-three? Even if two are dead… it still adds up to twenty-one."

"Yeah, the numbers check out," someone chimed in. But Lu Xu spoke softly, his voice cutting through the murmur:

"Wrong."

Everyone turned to him. Lu Xu stared down at the system's monitor, his tone steady and calm:

"We all assumed the system was announcing the total for our group alone. But it never once said—not from the very start—that we were the only ones."

"These twenty-one are all the living in the entire system right now. Which means it's not that the original count dropped to twenty-one… someone was replaced."

Lu Xu lifted his head, his voice still calm yet carrying an unshakable weight:

"We are not the only group."

The words hit the air like a boulder cast into a still lake, sending ripples spreading in every direction.

Cui Xun's head shot up. Shen Zheng's eyes darkened.

Ji Yuan stood to his feet, his voice low: "You mean… the system's observing in batches? Rotating our groups?"

"It's not a possibility—it's all but certain," Lu Xu replied flatly.

"We know exactly who the dead are. But some of the twenty-one the system's showing… might not even be from our group at all."

Then the system's prompt cut through the silence abruptly, as if pre-programmed to do so.

[Individual ID: Lu Xu][Behavioral Impact Level adjusting][Observation Level upgraded to: Level 3]

Crack!

A beam of cold, stark white spotlight slammed onto him without warning. He stood in the center of the glow, laid bare like a subject on an operating table—no hiding, no cover.

The air all but froze that second. Some stumbled back in a panic; others ducked their heads instinctively, averting their gaze from the light.

"Another… another one's been upgraded?!"

"He just said something… and now he's being targeted."

One person spoke in a daze, as if only just grasping the meaning of the spotlight: "Is the system… warning us?"

"His Observation Level's upgraded just like Lu Zhibai's?"

"What if… anyone close to them gets targeted too?"

Panic spread through the air like a rising tide. No one dared utter a word, but every single person inched back, putting distance between themselves and the two in the light.

Eyes darted restlessly—some to Lu Zhibai, others to the glowing red dot hovering above their heads.

In a quiet corner, Shen Zheng whispered: "Fascinating."

Cui Xun muttered beside him: "The system doesn't like smart people."

Shen Zheng's gaze locked on Lu Xu in the spotlight, sharp as a blade: "No. It's afraid of leaders."

Xie Chuan leaned in close to Ji Yuan, his voice a hush: "It's over. The lighthouses are a pair—one left, one right… both lit up now."

Yi Ran also stared at Lu Xu, her voice soft as a breeze: "Are you… going to be okay?"

But Lu Xu just stood there, motionless. He looked up at the spotlight above him, then glanced back at Lu Zhibai.

His lips twitched slightly, and he said:

"We might… be getting more people here."

The words sent the room into an uproar all over again.

Panic laced every voice: "You mean… people from other groups are going to be thrown in here too?"

"Are we going to be merged into a single group?"

"Does getting close to them mean the system will lock onto you?"

Voices clashed and overlapped, a chaotic jumble. More people pulled away on instinct, putting even more distance between themselves and Lu Zhibai and Lu Xu.

As doubt and fear washed over everyone, Lu Zhibai remained silent. She stood there, her eyes calm and unblinking as she stared at the red light above her head.

She said nothing, her fingers rubbing her palm unconsciously. She'd already pieced together the chain of reasoning—but she couldn't speak it aloud.

It wasn't that she couldn't. It was that the time wasn't right. She whispered the words to herself, slow and deliberate, in the quiet of her mind:

"What the system fears is being deciphered."

"What it wants to keep is obedience."

"What it's trying to stop is unity."

She opened her eyes, watching as her spotlight and Lu Xu's crossed in the air, forming a single coordinate line—and a faint flicker of a smile tugged at her lips.

The system was screening for its cores.

But she knew better than to move now. To speak up would only have her labeled a core disruptor.

She murmured under her breath, so quiet no one could hear:

"Wait for the next piece of the puzzle to fall."

Because she knew this was not the time to pry open the system's heart.

[End of Chapter Seventeen]