[Floor: B2] [Time: 30 seconds before Round 1 Vote]
The air in the elevator had solidified, like glass on the verge of shattering. It lingered on Floor 2 for one second longer than Shen Yan had expected.
And in that one second, no one moved.
"He's lying," Shen said calmly, his voice cutting through the silence like a blade. He looked at the young man who had called himself "Lucien," expression unreadable. "His name isn't Lucien."
Heads turned. The air thickened, a wave of distrust and rising tension washing over everyone.
"Got proof?" the muscle-bound man snorted, smirking. "Or you just basing that on a gut feeling?"
"His hair is still wet. That means he was the last one brought in," Shen said quietly. "If his name really was Lucien, then why would the system only expose that he killed someone—but never confirmed his name?"
"So you're saying... he's what?"
"An Administrator."
The word dropped like a bomb. Silence devoured the elevator again.
"I suggest," Shen added, "we vote for him."
[Voting begins.] [Time Remaining: 30 seconds]
"Bold one, aren't ya," the muscular man muttered. He looked at the others. "I'll bite." He moved to the glowing virtual panel and pressed the button for Lucien. Others followed suit.
Only one person hesitated, her eyes flicking to Shen—and voted for him instead.
[Vote Results: Lucien - 6 votes Shen Yan - 1 vote Abstained - 1]
"I'm not the administrator!" Lucien screamed, voice frantic and broken like someone drowning in invisible water. "You've been tricked! You've been—"
[Eliminated: Challenger #3 - Lucien] [Identity: Normal Challenger]
A low chuckle from the muscular man. "You guessed wrong."
Shen said nothing. He watched as Lucien's body fragmented into digital dust, absorbed into a black crack that opened in the floor beneath them.
"The system said he killed before," Shen murmured. "But it never confirmed he wasn't a challenger. I had to test the room."
He lifted his gaze slightly. The silent woman on his left—she had reacted most strongly to the word "administrator."
[Round 1 vote completed. Time until next round: 180 seconds.]
But another voice echoed—not from the system. From within him.
---
[Shen Yan's Memory · Fragment 1]
It was New Year's Eve. Outside, fireworks painted the sky with color and thunder.
Inside the apartment, everything was quiet.
Eight-year-old Shen sat at the threshold of the front door, knees pulled to his chest, shirt two sizes too large. Dirty. Forgotten. His mother had been missing for three days. No one had called the police.
From inside the apartment, he heard glass breaking. A man's roar. Alcohol-soaked rage.
"You're nothing but a burden! Why are you even alive?!"
Then came the fists. Then came the boiling kettle—shattered on the floor, scalding his arm. Blisters the size of coins.
That night, he learned the world wasn't fair.
That night, watching fireworks alone, he whispered:
"Don't die. If you die, nothing changes."
---
The elevator began to descend again. Floor B3 was coming. And in Shen's eyes, a cold light burned brighter than ever.
He wasn't just watching for the next truth.
He was watching her.