Chapter 204
The Room That Keeps Counting
The counting script had run again at 22:18.
No one had enabled it.
Priya checked the hearing queue and found one new event:
counting_replay.
It appeared twice across two systems.
Both events pointed to room_shadow.
Elise replayed the old floor count discrepancies from chapter 164. Same function name.
At court, she asked for the live code dump.
The engineer hesitated, then shared one section.
The code made count only when witness identity was absent.
if no_witness then increment(continuity);
She asked if that was a valid legal mechanism.
No answer.
Bell stood by and read the code out loud as if to hold it responsible.
In the hallway outside, they saw security staff staring at wall monitors.
Priya photographed one and found a sticky note on its edge:
Don't let the room count without permission.
Elise asked if sticky notes were admissible.
No one answered.
She added one request:
Disable continuity counting until a named witness is bound.