# CHAPTER 3: AUDIT MODE AND THE FIRST SACRIFICE
The "Selection" did not begin with a speech. It began with a chime—a sound so clean and digital that it made Su Lan's teeth ache.
[EVENT TRIGGERED: THE TRIAL OF THE FIVE ELEMENTS.]
[OBJECTIVE: IDENTIFY THE PROTAGONIST. ELIMINATE THE FILLER.]
As the chime faded, the fifty identical disciples snapped into motion. It wasn't a natural movement; it was a collective jerk, as if fifty marionettes had been pulled by the same string. They began to march toward the center of the courtyard, their footsteps hitting the jade floor in a thunderous, perfect unison that sent a vibration up Su Lan's spine.
"Junior Sister," Elder Kan said, his voice regaining its boom. "As the Arbiter of Tone, you must observe. The Heavens will choose the worthy. The rest... will be recycled."
Recycled. The word sat in Su Lan's stomach like cold lead.
She looked at the disciples. They were being funneled into a massive stone archway that pulsed with a sickening, neon-green light. This was the 'Trial.' In any other novel, this would be the part where the hero shows off his hidden talent. But Su Lan saw the truth.
"System," she whispered. "Audit Mode. Show me the wireframes."
[AUDIT MODE ACTIVATED.]
[INK DROP COST: 2 PER MINUTE.]
[CURRENT BALANCE: 12 DROPS.]
The world flickered. The beautiful jade courtyard vanished, replaced by a grid of glowing blue lines. The disciples were no longer boys; they were skeletons of white light. Most of them were thin, flickering things—assets with barely enough data to hold a shape.
But Sa-Su-Ke... Sa-Su-Ke was different. His wireframe was dense, complex, and glowing with a stubborn, dark purple light. He was "High-Resolution." He was expensive.
"System, what happens to the ones who fail?"
[REPLY: LOW-VALUE ASSETS ARE DELETED TO FREE UP CACHE FOR THE TOURNAMENT ARC. THEIR DATA WILL BE HARVESTED FOR PARTICLE EFFECTS AND BACKGROUND MIST.]
Su Lan felt her breath hitch. "They aren't just leaving the sect. They're being *erased*."
She looked at the line of identical boys marching toward the archway. In the middle of the pack was Fan. At this stage of the story, he was still a "Filler Asset." His wireframe was flickering. He was scheduled for deletion.
"Not on my watch," Su Lan hissed.
She pulled out her Red Pen. The world slowed down. The "Audit Mode" allowed her to see the script as it was being written in real-time. Above the archway, a line of text floated in the air: *'The weak shall fall, their names forgotten as the path to glory opens.'*
"Too edgy. 0/10," Su Lan muttered.
She reached up with her pen and slashed through the word **'fall'**.
[EDIT: CHANGE 'FALL' TO 'FIND A PURPOSE'.]
[COST: 5 INK DROPS.]
[NEW BALANCE: 7 DROPS.]
The text shimmered and changed. *'The weak shall find a purpose...'*
The green light of the archway flickered. Instead of a meat-grinder for data, the portal suddenly softened into a warm, golden glow.
Fan, who had been marching toward his own deletion with glazed eyes, suddenly tripped. The 'tripping' wasn't in the script. It was a glitch—a purpose. He fell out of the line, stumbling toward a side door that led to the kitchens.
[SYSTEM ALERT: ASSET 'FAN' HAS DIVERTED FROM PRIMARY PATH.]
[REASON: UNEXPECTED EDITORIAL INTERVENTION.]
[RESULT: ASSET 'FAN' HAS BEEN RECLASSIFIED AS 'RECURRING SIDE CHARACTER'.]
Su Lan exhaled, her knees feeling weak. She had just saved a soul by changing a verb.
"You did that," a voice whispered.
Su Lan turned. Sa-Su-Ke was standing right behind her. He hadn't entered the portal. He was resisting the "Scripted Pull" of the event, his feet braced against the grid-lines of the world. He was looking at the air where the red text had just vanished.
"You changed the rules," Sa-Su-Ke said, his voice thick with wonder and terror. "You touched the sky and it listened."
"I just fixed a typo, Sa-Su-Ke," Su Lan said, shutting her pen. "But listen to me. This 'Trial' isn't what you think it is. Don't let the light take your shape. Stay sharp. Stay real."
Sa-Su-Ke looked at the archway, then back at Su Lan. He reached out, his hand hovering near her sleeve, not quite touching her. "If the world is a lie, Su Lan... then you are the only truth I have left."
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: PROTAGONIST AFFECTION RISING.]
[CRINGE LEVEL: 5% (HONESTY DETECTED).]
[INK DROP BALANCE: 7.]
Su Lan watched him walk into the portal—not as a puppet, but as a man who knew he was being watched. She had seven drops left, a looming debt, and a protagonist who was falling in love with his editor.
"This is going to be a long book," she whispered to the empty, grid-lined sky.