The acknowledgment came with attachments.
Long ones.
The Fine Print
Lin Chen read slowly.
Not the headlines.
The footnotes.
Expanded reporting windows
Mandatory disclosure thresholds
Cross-regional audit triggers
Individually reasonable.
Collectively restrictive.
System Alert
[System Risk Analysis: Long-Term Constraint Accumulation.]
[Projected Effect: Decision Latency Increase — +23%.]
Not immediate.
But inevitable.
Dr. Hart's Warning
"They're not stopping you," Dr. Hart said quietly.
"They're slowing you."
Lin Chen nodded.
"Slowness costs lives too."
A Strategic Acceptance
He signed.
Not because he agreed—
But because refusal would freeze everything.
Sometimes movement mattered more than freedom.
The Hidden Clause
At the bottom.
One line.
Council reserves the right to suspend authority under exceptional review.
Exceptional.
Undefined.
System Log
[System Log: Authority Conditionality — Increased.]
[Long-Term Risk Flag — Active.]
For the first time, the system highlighted something it could not solve.
Time.
Lin Chen's Thought
Authority gained through crisis was fragile.
Maintained through structure.
But lost through delay.
The real battle was no longer public.
It was procedural.
End of Chapter