The room was brighter than Lin Chen expected.
Glass walls.
No shadows.
Everything visible.
The Hearing Begins
No gavel.
No announcement.
Just a screen lighting up.
International Medical Oversight Council — Review Session Initiated.
Faces appeared one by one.
None of them looked like doctors.
The First Question
A woman with silver hair leaned forward.
"Dr. Lin Chen," she said calmly,
"Do you believe any individual should possess unilateral medical authority across sovereign regions?"
The question wasn't hostile.
It was framed to be fatal.
System Prompt
[System Advisory: Reframe Authority as Temporary.]
[Suggested Language: 'Emergency-based intervention.']
Lin Chen didn't follow it.
His Answer
"I believe," Lin Chen said evenly,
"that authority emerges where responsibility is accepted."
A pause.
"If no one acts," he continued,
"then authority is already absent."
A Shift in the Room
Several members exchanged glances.
Not disagreement.
Calculation.
The Follow-Up
A man on the left spoke next.
"Are you claiming legitimacy above existing institutions?"
Lin Chen met the camera.
"No," he said.
"I am claiming outcomes above assumptions."
Data Without Display
He didn't show charts.
Didn't present slides.
He let the silence stretch.
Because silence made people uncomfortable.
System Log
[System Log: Public Stance — Non-Conformist.]
[Risk: Institutional Resistance — Rising.]
Lin Chen accepted it.
End of Chapter