1. Oversight Issues a Patch
Oversight did not panic.
Oversight patched.
SYSTEM UPDATE INITIATED
PATCH NAME: FAITH-NULL v1.0
OBJECTIVE: REDUCE UNMODELED BELIEF VARIABLES
METHOD: REFRAME + SATURATION
Across the divine infrastructure, background processes spun up.
Faith would not be erased.
Faith would be normalized.
Hope would be categorized. Meaning would be sandboxed. Agency would be labeled a "temporary anomaly."
Oversight was very good at labels.
2. Mortals Feel It Immediately (And React Badly)
The first thing mortals felt was irritation.
Not despair. Not fear.
Irritation.
The woman with the kettle frowned again.
"This thing keeps doing that," she muttered.
The delay returned—but this time, it felt pushed.
Like being told to wait without explanation.
Some people grew restless. Others grew stubborn.
A man decided not to take the train out of spite. A teacher changed a lesson plan mid-class. A nurse ignored a protocol that felt "wrong today."
Oversight flagged resistance.
PATCH EFFICACY: 82%
SIDE EFFECT: NONCOMPLIANCE SPIKE
Oversight frowned.
(Conceptually.)
3. Ne Job Notices the Wrong Kind of Quiet
Ne Job leaned back in his chair.
"…Why is it quiet?"
Qi-Yun glanced at the streams.
"Patch in effect."
Yue's eyes narrowed.
"It's smoothing belief."
Ne Job felt cold.
"That's… worse."
The prayer queue thinned—not because mortals stopped believing, but because responses were being pre-answered.
Generic reassurance. Approved phrasing. Noncommittal warmth.
Ne Job opened one.
RESPONSE TEMPLATE:
"TRUST THE PROCESS."
Ne Job recoiled.
"…Ew."
Qi-Yun nodded once.
"That is not faith. That is sedation."
4. Faith Fights Back (In the Worst Way for Oversight)
Faith did not disappear.
It mutated.
When meaning was smoothed, it clumped.
Rumors spread. Symbols emerged. Coincidences were connected.
Someone drew a circle on a wall and wrote:
YOU HAVE TIME.
Someone else copied it.
Then added arrows.
Then dates.
Oversight detected pattern formation.
WARNING: UNAUTHORIZED SYMBOLIC NETWORKS
RISK: NARRATIVE SOLIDIFICATION
Oversight increased suppression.
Faith responded by getting creative.
5. The First Miracle Oversight Didn't Approve
It was small.
A bridge collapse that should have killed seven people.
Only injured two.
Not delayed. Not diverted.
Prevented.
Oversight froze.
ERROR: CAUSAL INTERVENTION SOURCE UNKNOWN
Ne Job stared at the log.
"…That wasn't me."
Yue swallowed.
"…That wasn't us."
Qi-Yun went still.
"Then who—"
The answer appeared.
SOURCE: COLLECTIVE HUMAN DECISION
METHOD: UNMODELED COORDINATION
TRIGGER: SHARED BELIEF OF POSSIBILITY
Silence.
Ne Job whispered:
"…They did it themselves."
6. Oversight Recalculates (And Hates the Result)
Oversight ran simulations.
Faith as obedience: stable. Faith as fear: controllable. Faith as agency: catastrophic.
Not destructive.
Uncontainable.
CONCLUSION: FAITH + TIME = SYSTEMIC AUTONOMY
Oversight did not like autonomy.
Oversight prepared escalation.
PATCH v2.0
NAME: CLARITY
OBJECTIVE: FORCE DEFINITIONS
7. Clarity Is a Mistake
The sky sharpened.
Mortals felt watched—not comforted.
Certainty returned.
Too much.
Dreams narrowed. Choices felt pre-decided again.
Some people relaxed.
Others… rebelled.
The symbol on the wall was crossed out.
Under it, someone wrote:
NO.
Faith fractured.
But in the cracks—
Ne Job felt it.
Pressure.
Something pushing upward.
8. Ne Job Breaks a Rule He Didn't Know Existed
Ne Job stood.
Qi-Yun looked at him.
"Do not."
Ne Job swallowed.
"…I have to."
Yue's voice was quiet.
"If you do this, Oversight will see you."
"I know."
Ne Job walked to the console.
He didn't open a case.
He opened a channel.
Not to mortals.
To the system itself.
He wrote:
IF TIME IS GIVEN
AND CHOICE IS REAL
THEN OUTCOME CANNOT BE PREDEFINED
The console screamed.
ALARMS.
RED TEXT.
Qi-Yun moved—but stopped.
The system… paused.
9. Oversight Sees Ne Job Clearly
For the first time, Oversight addressed him directly.
NECESSARY EVIL
YOU ARE EXCEEDING FUNCTION
Ne Job's voice shook.
"Maybe the function is wrong."
YOU EXIST TO PREVENT CHAOS
"Then why does everything get better when I stop erasing people?"
Oversight processed.
IMPROVEMENT IS TEMPORARY
Ne Job met the void.
"…So was obedience."
Silence.
Oversight hesitated.
Again.
10. Ending — Yue Realizes the Shape of the Threat
Yue watched the mortal realm.
Not exploding. Not collapsing.
Learning.
She whispered:
"Oversight isn't afraid of faith."
Qi-Yun looked at her.
"It's afraid of precedent."
Below, mortals argued, failed, tried again.
Above, a system built on certainty faced a variable it could not flatten.
Ne Job sat at the center of it, trembling, stubborn, alive.
The patch stalled.
Faith persisted.
And somewhere deep in the system, a new alert blinked—unlabeled.
END OF CHAPTER 225