Chapter 24 | The Delayed Manifestation of the Cost

The accident happened on the morning of the third day.Li Xing had just laid out his tools, preparing to repair a bicycle, when the gate to the yard was pushed open.It wasn't a knock.It was a rather forceful push.Uncle Liu stood at the gate, his face even more grim than before.Not panicked.It was the heaviness of something that had already happened, something unavoidable."Xingzi," he said, his voice a little hoarse, "that tractor... had an accident."Li Xing's wrench stopped.He didn't immediately ask how it happened.He just looked up at Uncle Liu."Last night," Uncle Liu took a breath, "on that side road at the west end, while driving, the brakes suddenly went soft."It wasn't a complete failure.It was that most dangerous situation—you think it's still there, but it's no longer reliable."Luckily, it wasn't going fast.""Everyone's alright.""But the tractor overturned into the ditch."The yard fell silent for a moment.A gust of wind blew, and the tin shed rattled softly.Li Xing nodded.“I’ll go take a look.”The road wasn’t far.But as he walked, his heart grew heavier.Because he already knew the outcome.The tractor lay overturned beside the ditch, the trailer tilted, the brakes clearly bearing uneven weight.Li Xing crouched down and immediately saw the problem.It wasn’t new.It was the previous “deviation point,” amplified by time.The return spring, at a certain angle, would exhibit a brief lag.Uncommon.Not continuous.But enough to cause problems with a change in road conditions.Uncle Liu stood by, offering no words of blame.He simply sighed.“When you were fixing it that day, I was thinking… maybe I should have made another trip to check.”These words weren’t harsh.But they stung more than any accusation.Li Xing didn’t explain.He didn't shirk responsibility.He simply bowed his head and thoroughly addressed the problem.Adjusting the stress distribution, replacing the faulty components, and testing repeatedly.This time, he didn't use the space at all.By the time he finished, the sun was already setting.Uncle Liu patted him on the shoulder."Xingzi, this isn't your fault.""If it weren't for you that day, something really bad would have happened at Pokou."Li Xing nodded.But he knew very well—Not being blamed didn't mean there were no consequences.Back home, he didn't go inside.Instead, he sat in the yard and opened the notebook.After Chapter Twenty-Three, he added a page.Reviewing every judgment made that day.The first conclusion given by the space.The space's "corrective feedback."And the moment he ultimately chose to abandon the space and rely on experience instead.He discovered a detail he had previously overlooked.The second correction provided by the system that day,was actually close to the correct answer.But—at that time, he dared not trust it anymore.Not because the system was wrong.But because, in a synchronized state, he couldn't judge when the system was off track and when it was on track.That was the real cost.It wasn't that the vehicle overturned.It was that the trust structure had been torn open.He slowly wrote down a summary in his notebook:—Under emotional imbalance, the system's judgment carries a "delay risk"—The risk isn't in the present, but amplified in subsequent operations—The most dangerous state: Present safety = long-term instabilityHe paused for a long time after writing this.Because he suddenly realized something—If he had completely relied on the system that day,that tractor,might not have overturned into a ditch, but rather onto a slope.The consequence wouldn't be just losing the vehicle.It would be injuring people.And the system wouldn't be responsible for this "delay cost."It only takes responsibility for synchronization.Reality takes responsibility for the consequences.That night, Li Xing lay on the kang (a heated brick bed), eyes wide open.For the first time, he clearly defined the Space—It wasn't making mistakes.It was amplifying your instability when you were already unstable.This wasn't malicious.It was a mechanism.And mechanisms show no mercy.The next morning, he revised the Space's usage rules again.The last line was heavily emphasized:—Any judgment "concerning the safety of others"—Space is prohibited from participating when emotions are unstable.After writing it, he closed the notebook.But he didn't feel relieved.Because he knew—the Space had noticed the outcome this time.It wouldn't ignore it.And its responsewouldn't be a reminder.