The world reacted the way it always did.
Loudly.
Footage looped endlessly.
Li Chen on fractured steel.
Li Chen holding the impossible.
Li Chen failing to stop death.
Commentators argued across time zones.
"Hero."
"Menace."
"Living infrastructure."
"A single point of failure."
Markets dipped.
Insurance models imploded.
Actuaries rewrote centuries of assumptions overnight.
Governments convened emergency sessions.
Not to mourn.
To define liability.
The hearing was announced as a formality.
It became a spectacle.
Li Chen entered the chamber alone.
No uniform.
No insignia.
Just a man standing before the weight of nations.
Cameras flashed.
The System pulsed uneasily.
[SYSTEM ADVISORY]
[Public narrative volatility extreme]
The first question was predictable.
"Why didn't you prevent it?"
Li Chen answered calmly.
"Because no one told me it was my responsibility."
Murmurs rippled.
Another voice cut in.
"If you can act, and you don't—aren't you complicit?"
Li Chen looked directly at the speaker.
"Are firefighters complicit for not being everywhere?"
Silence.
Charts appeared.
Probability curves.
Near-miss data.
The erosion laid bare.
"Your presence alters behavior," an official said.
"People rely on you."
"Yes," Li Chen replied.
"And that reliance killed thirty-seven people."
The room froze.
The System flared.
[SYSTEM NOTICE]
[User accepting partial blame voluntarily]
Li Chen continued.
"If you make me responsible for everything—
then everyone else becomes responsible for nothing."
Protests erupted outside.
Some chanting his name.
Some demanding control.
A resolution was drafted.
Oversight.
Mandates.
Constraints.
The System reacted violently.
[SYSTEM ALERT]
[External authority attempting to bind user]
Li Chen stood.
"No," he said.
One word.
Final.
"This hearing assumes I exist to serve your failures," he said.
"I do not."
He turned to the cameras.
"To the families—I am sorry."
"To the rest of you—do not mistake my restraint for consent."
He left without permission.
No one stopped him.
Across the world, reactions split.
Faith.
Fear.
Fury.
In the nameless room, the man finally smiled.
"Now," he said,
"the world chooses sides."
The System stabilized shakily.
[SYSTEM UPDATE]
[User autonomy asserted]
[Conflict escalation inevitable]
Li stood outside under open sky once more.
Judged.
Unbound.
And no longer able to remain neutral