Chapter 8: The First Edit
1167 Words
1
**【10:07】**
The new area was a hall.
Large, square, about the size of a basketball court. The ceiling was high, lost in shadow. The walls were bare concrete, unpainted, unadorned. In the center of the floor was a single object: a podium, waist-high, with a screen embedded in its surface.
The crowd spread out, filling the hall. People looked around, whispered, waited.
Liam Cross walked to the podium and looked at the screen.
It was blank. Just a cursor blinking at the top left corner.
Then a message appeared:
**【——Editing Terminal. Available for authorized editors. Current editor detected: 1. Please proceed.**】**
Liam's heart rate ticked up.
An editing terminal. A physical interface for rule editing. The same function as the one on his phone, but with more capability—wider range, deeper access.
He touched the screen. A keyboard appeared.
And a prompt:
**【——Enter your edit. Scope: Any rule currently active in this dungeon. Change limit: One parameter per edit. Confirmation required: Yes. Approval pending: System review.**】**
Any rule in the dungeon. He could change anything.
Simon Xu appeared beside him, reading over his shoulder. **"This is it. The system's giving you direct access."**
Liam Cross didn't answer. His mind was racing.
He could change the survival points system. He could change the late arrival penalty. He could change the definition of "end of tunnel." He could potentially disable the chasing entity entirely.
But every edit would be reviewed. Every change would be logged. And every alteration would have consequences he couldn't predict.
He thought about Rule Zero, carved in the dark: **The dungeon exists to select. Not to punish.**
If the dungeon's purpose was selection, then editing wasn't cheating. It was part of the selection process. The system wasn't testing who could follow rules blindly. It was testing who could understand the rules well enough to change them.
He placed his hands on the keyboard and began to type.
## 2
He didn't change a rule. He changed something smaller—but more fundamental.
He changed the display format of the survival points.
Originally, each participant's survival points were only visible to themselves. A private number, hidden from others.
Liam Cross changed it so that survival points were publicly visible—displayed next to each person's name on the dungeon participant list.
His reasoning was simple: if everyone could see everyone else's points, it would create natural pressure. People with low points would be exposed. People with high points would be visible. Information asymmetry would collapse, and the crowd's behavior would become more predictable.
He typed:
**【——Edit: Participant survival points visibility. Change from: Private. Change to: Public (visible in dungeon participant list).】** Then he paused. He added one more line: **【——Exemption: The editor who makes this change retains the option to hide their own points.**】**
He pressed submit.
The system reviewed for three seconds.
**【——Edit approved. Change will take effect in 30 seconds. Participants will receive notification.**】**
Liam Cross stepped back from the podium.
Simon Xu looked at him. **"Public points? Why?"**
**"Because the real game isn't survival points. It's information. The more information everyone has, the more the system's hidden rules get exposed."**
**"But you gave yourself an exemption. You can hide your own points."**
Liam Cross looked at him. **"I need to. If I become a target, I can't edit anymore."**
## 3
Thirty seconds later, the change took effect.
Everyone's phone buzzed. The participant list updated, and beside each name, a number appeared. Survival points. Public.
Murmurs rippled through the crowd:
**"You have 92? I have 87."**
**"That guy has 100—still full—"**
**"Who edited this? Who made our points public?"**
The man in the suit looked at his phone, then at the crowd, then at Liam Cross standing by the podium. His eyes narrowed.
He walked over. **"You did this."**
Liam Cross didn't deny it. **"Yes."**
**"Why? You just made everyone's status public. Do you know what that does to morale?"**
**"I know exactly what it does. It creates accountability. When everyone can see everyone else's score, people think twice before acting selfishly. And people with low scores know they're being watched."**
The suit man's face reddened. **"You don't have the authority to make unilateral decisions for the group."**
**"The system gave me the authority. I'm using it."**
**"The system can take it away."**
Liam Cross looked at him steadily. **"Then let it."**
## 4
The confrontation was interrupted by a change in the hall.
The lights dimmed. The wall at the far end of the room began to shift—not dissolving like the tunnel wall, but sliding open, like a massive door being retracted into the ceiling.
Beyond the door was a corridor. Narrow. Dark. The walls lined with doors—dozens of doors, evenly spaced, each identical, each with a small screen beside it.
A system notification appeared:
**【——New phase: Selection Hall. Each participant must choose a door. Behind each door is a trial. Completion of the trial allows progression. Failure results in point deduction. Points reaching zero results in elimination. Choose wisely. Time limit: 5 minutes.**】**
The crowd stirred.
Doors. Trials. Choices. And a five-minute time limit.
Liam Cross walked toward the corridor. The doors stretched ahead, identical, impenetrable. The screens beside each door were blank—no information about what lay beyond.
He stopped at the first door. Touched the screen. It lit up:
**【——Door 1: Trial type: Logic. Difficulty: Adjustable. Recommended for participants with editing permissions.**】**
He let his hand fall.
The system was matching doors to capabilities. The first door was recommended for editors. Which meant every door was calibrated for a specific type of participant.
He looked at the other doors. The screens were still blank for him. But they might show different information to different people.
He turned to Simon Xu. **"Touch a door. See what it shows you."**
Simon Xu touched door 7. The screen lit up:
**【——Door 7: Trial type: Endurance. Difficulty: Adjustable. Recommended for participants with high physical resilience.**】**
**"Endurance,"** Simon Xu read. **"So the doors are personalized?"**
**"Looks like it. The system assesses you and assigns a trial type."**
**"Then how do we choose?"**
Liam Cross looked at the corridor, at the doors stretching into the distance.
**"We don't choose based on the trial type. We choose based on what we want to learn. Each trial is a lesson. Pick the lesson you need most."**
He turned back to door 1. Logic. Editing permissions.
He pressed the screen.
**【——Door 1 selected. Confirm?】**
He pressed confirm.
The door clicked and swung open, revealing a dark room beyond.
Liam Cross didn't hesitate. He stepped through.
(End of Chapter 8)
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