The fourth night ended without sleep.
Not because they were ordered awake.
Because no one trusted rest.
Li Chen lay still in his bunk.
Eyes open.
Breathing slow.
Around him, the barracks hummed with tension.
Whispers cut short.
Boots shifted.
Someone was always watching someone else.
The aggressive candidate—Mason—didn't look away.
He stared like he was memorizing a target.
Li Chen felt it.
Not as threat.
As inevitability.
Morning drills began without briefing.
No cadence.
No warm-up.
Just movement.
Run.
Stop.
Lift.
Drop.
Repeat.
The instructors watched differently now.
Not like teachers.
Like referees waiting for a foul.
The System ran projections.
[SYSTEM PHASE II — FRACTURE PROBABILITY]
[Social cohesion risk: CRITICAL]
[Primary catalyst: Individual aggression]
[Recommendation: Preemptive intervention]
Li Chen denied it.
"No," he whispered.
The System paused.
The accident happened fast.
Too fast to be accidental.
A rope slipped during a tower descent.
A knot failed.
Mason fell.
Not far.
Far enough.
Time slowed.
Li Chen calculated outcomes instantly.
Impact velocity.
Spinal angle.
Survivability: unacceptable.
He moved.
Not fast.
Precise.
One step.
Then another.
Sand erupted underfoot.
He caught Mason mid-fall.
The force should have shattered bone.
It didn't.
Everyone saw it.
The silence after was absolute.
Li Chen set Mason down gently.
The rope snapped the rest of the way.
Too late to hide.
Too late to pretend.
Mason stared at him.
Fear stripped bare.
"You—"
Li Chen said nothing.
Instructors shouted.
Medics rushed.
Cameras zoomed.
Data spiked.
Command alerts flared.
Grant swore softly from the perimeter.
The System surged.
[SYSTEM PHASE II — VIOLATION REGISTERED]
[Exposure: CONFIRMED]
[Initiating damage control]
Li Chen straightened.
He did not run.
Did not apologize.
Did not explain.
One instructor whispered, "That's not possible."
Li Chen met his eyes.
"It was necessary," he said calmly.
Command cut the feeds.
Too late.
Copies already existed.
That night, Li Chen was removed from the barracks.
Not restrained.
Escorted.
Grant walked with him.
"Did you mean to?" Grant asked quietly.
Li Chen shook his head.
"I chose the least damaging truth," he replied.
Grant closed his eyes.
The fracture had occurred.
Not in bone.
Not in protocol.
But in the story they told themselves.
And tomorrow—
—the world would hear it crack.