A student in Professor Gabriel's class defies him by saving a fellow student from execution, an unprecedented act in a century that earns his system's approval. In retaliation, the professor initiates a deadly three-minute badge challenge, threatening death for failure. The system then assigns the student a high-risk romance task: to crawl under the podium, sit on Gabriel's lap, and unbutton his collar to win a badge. Confronted with this dangerous test, the student questions the system's true motive.