127: Chapter 127 List of Sacrifices

By the time Chen Fu's name was written into the sacrifice records at the entrance of the Qinghe No. 1 Safe House warehouse, it was already dark.

The Grey Net did not make those words very large.

It was just like Han Yue's name, engraved beneath the central stele, with the time, location, events involved, and items left behind clearly written beside it.

[ Chen Fu, Candidate. ]

[ Sacrificed in the Qinghe No. 1 Safe House reverse-stationing incident. ]

[ Contribution: Discovered the old logistics delivery chain, sealed the warehouse door yellow line, and ensured the evacuation of Safe House personnel. ]

Lin Zhao stood before the stele, watching for a long time.

He suddenly asked, "Do Candidates count as people of Torch?"

The hall fell silent.

Chen Fu had not exchanged for an Ability Seed, had no official seat, and had not been granted long-term equipment. He simply held a basic Fire Seal and did what he knew how to do.

Lu Chen sat on the high platform, looking at those words.

"If you die on a mission while holding a Torch Fire Seal, you count."

There was no further explanation.

Bai Ya leaned against a pillar and said in a low voice, "Don't write this rule too nicely."

Lu Chen looked at him.

Bai Ya said, "If it's written too nicely, some people will think it's worth dying for."

Lu Chen was silent for a moment.

"Then write it clearly."

The Grey Net subsequently added a note.

[ Sacrifice does not equal necessity. All similar risks must be reviewed to avoid losing members in the same way again. ]

This line was longer than the previous record, yet no one felt it was superfluous.

Tang Zhiwei did not enter the hall.

She stayed in reality to sort through Chen Fu's belongings. A work notebook, a keychain, gloves, a marker pen used until it was out of ink, and a takeout receipt folded inside the notebook.

The note read: "No cilantro, the kid won't eat it."

Tang Zhiwei stared at those words for a long time.

When Chen Fu's wife arrived, Tang Zhiwei did not say, "He was very brave." She simply handed over the keys and the work notebook, saying that Chen Fu had held the warehouse door, and everyone inside had gotten out.

Chen Fu's wife took the notebook, and her first words were, "Did he not reply to messages again?"

Tang Zhiwei's throat tightened.

"No."

"He never replies whenever he goes into the warehouse." The woman lowered her head and opened the work notebook to the last page, where Chen Fu had written a string of inventory numbers, and at the very bottom, there was half a sentence that hadn't been finished.

Wait for me to return...

There was nothing after that.

Tang Zhiwei saw those words, and her fingers slowly clenched. She once thought that the most important thing for logistics was ensuring the System remained orderly. Now she knew that no matter how clear the System was, it could not fill the void left by a person who could not come home.

Xu Minglan finished the observation with Luo Ping.

Luo Ping did not have his Candidate status restored, receiving only limited collaboration privileges. After handing over his black ticket, he volunteered to go to the settlement point to help move water, register people, and clean out containment boxes.

"I won't touch high-risk things," he said. "I'll do whatever you tell me to do."

Xu Minglan looked at him for a moment.

"Are you afraid?"

"Afraid," Luo Ping said quickly. "Scared to death."

"Then learn to be afraid first."

Luo Ping was stunned.

"Only by knowing fear will you call for help, and not hide away alone," Xu Minglan said.

Three new rules were added to the Safe House code after Chen Fu's sacrifice.

Candidates must not hold high-risk clues alone.

When involving memory loss, relative inducement, or route contamination, they must pair up.

If a "cannot evacuate" judgment arises, anyone has the right to apply to abandon the mission without having their contribution deducted for cowardice.

Chen Jue stood before the notice for a long time.

He said nothing, only saving Han Yue's paper and the photo of the warehouse keys left by Chen Fu into his own Fire Seal records.

That night, Bai Ya intercepted a partially burnt intercity ticket from behind the collapsed warehouse door.

Most of the ticket surface was covered in ash.

Only one line of the destination could be clearly seen.

[ Linhai · Reverse Elevator Entrance ]

Bai Ya sent the photo into the group chat.

"I'm right nearby."

On the Grey Net map, that weak Fire Beacon in Linhai, where no anchor point had yet been established, flickered faintly.

After Chen Fu's name entered the roll of sacrifice, the Safe House set up a small, non-public archive cabinet.

It did not contain weapons, nor did it contain high-risk sealed items.

It contained copies of real-world items left by the deceased, mission records, and family contact plans. Han Yue's notebook pages, the photo of Chen Fu's warehouse keys, and Liang Cheng's takeout order were all inside.

Zhou Yan was in charge of organizing it, and his fingers paused on Chen Fu's page for a long time.

"Should we put the takeout order in too?" he asked.

Tang Zhiwei nodded.

"Put it in."

"This doesn't count as mission evidence."

"I know."

Tang Zhiwei said, "But those who come after need to know that he was not just a key, nor was he just a forklift."

Zhou Yan did not ask again.

In the hall, Bai Ya looked at the note modified by Lu Chen and suddenly said, "This rule will be very troublesome."

"What's troublesome?" Zhao Ye asked.

"From now on, whenever someone dies, someone has to remember them," Bai Ya said. "The more clearly you remember, the harder it is to pretend it didn't happen."

Zhao Ye did not mock him.

"Then don't let people die in vain."

This sentence was very direct, sounding even a bit clumsy.

But no one laughed.

Chen Jue was helping Zheng Xiang move folding beds at the settlement point in reality. Halfway through, he suddenly asked, "When does a Candidate count as qualified?"

Zheng Xiang glanced at him, "You're asking me?"

"You've seen many people."

Zheng Xiang thought for a moment, "It's not when you dare to rush in."

"Then what is it?"

"It's when you know who needs you, who doesn't, and can still bring yourself back."

Chen Jue did not speak, continuing to move the beds.

When he laid the last bed flat, his movements were much gentler than usual.

On Gu Xingzhou's side, the explanation arranged for Chen Fu's family in reality was very restrained: A Safe House accident occurred, and Chen Fu died while assisting with the evacuation. There were no anomalies, no yellow lines, and no invisible car.

But Tang Zhiwei did not let this explanation be the whole story.

She left a separate letter for Chen Fu's wife, which did not mention the Core of the Torch or confidentiality terms, but only wrote that at the most dangerous moment, Chen Fu did not leave the driver's seat, and he got everyone out of the warehouse door.

After reading it, Chen Fu's wife did not ask any more questions. She folded the letter and tucked it into the work notebook.

"He always said that things in the warehouse couldn't be messy," she said. "If the kid left toys lying around, he would always tidy them up."

Tang Zhiwei gave a soft grunt of acknowledgment.

The woman looked up at her, "In the future, don't let others tidy up for him."

This sentence contained no blame, yet it left Tang Zhiwei unable to speak for a long time.

In the hall, Lu Chen wrote the new Candidate protection clauses into the rules: Real-world debts, family compensation, identity assistance, and the handover of personal effects formed during missions would all be borne by the organization and would not be deducted from the sacrifice's contribution.

This was not a favor.

It was a part of the burden Torch had to bear, since it had called people under its flame.

Before putting the Linhai ticket stub into the isolation box, Bai Ya glanced at Chen Fu's record. Afterward, he snapped the lid shut, not saying "I will get revenge." Because what Torch had to do next was not to say harsh words for anyone, but to ensure that the next ticket never made it through the door.