In the first logic construction class—some froze, others were already planning their setup plan.
Fifth floor of the academic wing.
A room reserved for high-tier students: Cognitive Systems Lab.
Desks were arranged like a chessboard—
each square filled with a student.
No blackboard.
Just a wall of shifting data.
No lecture notes.
Only a stylus—and one question.
"If the world were a system," the instructor asked,
"would you see yourself as the input, the command line,
or the decision-making core?"
**
Elric didn't answer right away.
He waited.
Let the others move first.
The first hand came from a boy in the front row. He spoke fast:
"Input. Starting point of the chain.
I can affect the decision model."
"Reasonable," the instructor nodded.
A girl raised her hand next.
"Command line. Controlling output matters more than origin."
"Also valid."
The instructor's gaze swept across the room—
and stopped at Elric.
"And you, Elric?"
Elric looked at the initials glowing on his desk terminal.
He answered in soft tone.
"None of them."
The room stilled.
"The system itself isn't worth simulating."
"We should be constructing a new one."
The instructor blinked.
Then smiled, just a little.
"You're the first to challenge the prompt."
On the screen, his stylus drew a new node.
A new path lit up—
one labeled with Elric's ID.
And for the first time, the class followed something
that wasn't in the syllabus.
He didn't say much.
But he left a mark.
Not because of the answer—
but because he made the room adjust its frame.
**
Before the bell rang, the instructor added:
"Today's responses will be recorded into your cognitive structure logs."
"These logs will track your intellectual development across all evaluation phases."
No one reacted.
Just tapped their terminals closed.
Zhiheng leaned toward Elric.
"That answer of yours… kind of violated the system."
"They don't really like 'builders.'
They like obedient thinkers with shiny logic."
Elric didn't respond.
But his glance—slight, cool—was no longer guarded.
They weren't friends.
But in that moment,
a light flicked on.
**
Elsewhere.
A different screen.
A different world.
**
Mr. Zane sat behind a desk, fingers tapping on the desk.
A medical document lay open before him.
Overseas Psychiatric Ward – Official Death Certificate
Stamped.
Authenticated.
Cremation confirmed.
Beside him, Liu stood in silence.
"It's clean," Liu said.
Mr. Zane didn't look up.
"Clean doesn't matter.
Trust does."
"Has the report reached the mansion?"
"Circulated.
Story says: 'Self-harm on the road.
Fell onto the tracks. Case closed.'"
"Good."
He paused.
Picked up a pen.
Signed under Guardian Acknowledgement.
But he knew—
That signature didn't matter.
The real agreement
was made the moment Elric stepped through the school gates.
—
[Chapter Prologue]
He didn't come here to answer the question.
He came to break its borders.
And elsewhere—
the world had already started erasing him.