155: Chapter 155 Passing on the Torch

The first person the Court of No Return sought out was Wu.

When that black dossier deep within the Archives flipped to a blank page, everyone heard the sound of a pen nib scratching across paper.

No name was written down.

Only four characters appeared on the page: "Nameless Witness."

Wu stood between the archive shelves, his face instantly turning deathly pale.

The Fire Seal on the inside of his wrist had never been complete to begin with; it was only a small, grey-white mark that flickered on and off. At this moment, that mark seemed to be slowly pulled out from his skin, and even the outlines of his fingers appeared somewhat blurred.

Chen Jue rushed forward, but Zhao Ye grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Don't go in."

"He's about to disappear!"

"If you go in, the dossier will gain another piece of testimony." Zhao Ye's voice was hard. "It's waiting for exactly that."

Just then, Wu raised his hand to stop Chen Jue.

"Don't record for me."

Chen Jue froze.

"Remember yourself," Wu said.

After he finished speaking, as if he felt the weight of those words, he lowered his head and smiled slightly: "I'm not even sure what my own name is right now. Don't be like me."

Wu's voice was very soft, as if he feared that if he used any force, that last bit of substance would scatter.

In Xinhuo Hall, Lu Chen watched all the records transmitted back by the Grey Net.

Wu had no real name.

No complete household registration.

No identity number that could be stably recognized by the System.

Yet, he was not a blank slate.

He had left footprints outside Liuqiao Old Station; signed a temporary confirmation at the Safe House; brought back a seating chart from a Nameless Floor in Linhai; he had seen the lingering shadow of Han Yue and had shielded Chen Jue once. Tide, Shen Qinghe, Bai Ya, Zhao Ye, and Chen Shi could all attest that he had indeed stood in those places and done those things.

Zero prompted: "The target's records are scattered, and some sources are being corrupted by the rules. Attempt solidification?"

Lu Chen did not give the order immediately.

"Solidification is not about making up a name for him," he said.

"Confirm the conditions."

The Grey Net unfurled layers of fire threads. Real actions. Real witness. Personal confirmation. All three were indispensable.

Lu Chen did not rush to issue the command. He had the Grey Net cross-reference footprints, duty rosters, surveillance, recordings, and all eyewitness accounts. Only if someone had truly stood there, done that thing, and personally admitted to it, could that fact be preserved.

The section of archive shelves where Wu stood was darkening bit by bit.

Lu Chen asked him through the Fire Seal: "What do you want to leave behind?"

Wu looked up.

He seemed to think for a long time.

"Wu."

"That is a title," Lu Chen said.

"I know."

"Are you sure?"

Wu closed his eyes.

He could not recall his former name, could not remember who had given him a nickname, nor could he remember the streets he had lived on. But he remembered the rain in Liu Bridge, the white light at the entrance of the Safe House, and the "Qinghe" written on the back of his hand when Chen Jue shoved an umbrella into his hand.

He opened his eyes.

"Confirmed."

Lu Chen did not say the word "confirmed" quickly.

He had the Grey Net first search for all real traces that could correspond to Wu. Tide found a Tide level report Wu had submitted in the Linhai dispatch logs; Chen Shi dug out handwritten symbols left by Wu from the time calibration records; Bai Ya found a figure in the Liuqiao Old Station surveillance footage standing at the edge of the rain curtain, not having hidden in the Safe House; Chen Jue uploaded a phone recording to the Grey Net, which contained the soy milk shop Wu had just mentioned.

Not a single record could prove his real name.

Yet, many records proved: this person was not a shadow that had suddenly appeared.

Shen Qinghe asked through the Fire Seal: "Are you sure you want to use 'Wu'?"

Wu's gaze rested on the black dossier.

"It wants to turn me into a blank."

"Then I will use this blank first to tell it that I am here."

The fire threads of the Grey Net connected one by one.

Lu Chen could feel the Core of the Torch offering a new choice: it could preserve abnormal structures, seal the source of corruption, or it could attempt to preserve the trajectory of where a person had truly walked.

The fire would not whitewash anyone, nor would it pull the dead back from the earth.

It only did one thing.

This person had once stood here.

This person had made a choice.

No one could take a fake dossier and change all of this to make it seem like it never happened.

After the name inscription was completed, Lu Chen did not let the Grey Net immediately spread out all the names.

He first kept the permissions very narrow.

Liang Cheng's family, Lu Chengzhi's daughter, Chen Fu's wife, Han Yue's old notes—each item was returned only to the hands of those related to it. Some could see the names reappear, while others could only hear familiar recordings regain their sound.

The wound was still there.

At least no one could point at the wound and say: you were never hurt at all.

Tang Zhiwei stood in Chen Fu's home for a while. Chen Fu's daughter held that takeout receipt and discovered that the characters on the back, which had originally faded, were faintly reappearing.

"Dad is coming back for dinner on Friday."

She did not cry out loud, but simply pressed the paper against her chest.

After Tang Zhiwei walked out the door, she stood in the hallway for a long time without moving.

She knew no one would return on Friday.

But at least, that sentence remained.

Lu Chen added another layer of restrictions at the edge of the permissions.

Lu Chen locked the permissions down again.

Without witness, without personal confirmation, and without verifiable traces, the Fire Map would not light up.

This meant it could not protect everyone.

But precisely because of this, no one could take a ball of fire to fabricate a story for themselves that had never happened.

Deep within the Core of the Torch, the firelight trembled slightly.

The firelight did not explode violently.

It was like someone in an extremely dark place had struck a very short match.

New characters surfaced on the stone tablet.

[Torch Name Inscription, permissions enabled.]

[Name inscription is not an absolution.]

[Name inscription is not a return.]

[Those who truly exist should not be erased by forgery.]

Wu's figure did not return to its original appearance.

His photo remained blurry, and his real-world files remained blank.

But in the Torch Fire Map, a tiny speck of light appeared.

[Wu.]

[Truly exists.]

At the same time, the names of Chen Fu, Han Yue, Lu Chengzhi, and Liang Cheng lit up again beneath the stone tablet.

Not dazzlingly.

The firelight held those names down, not letting them fade away again.

In the Qinghe Archives, that black dossier flipped back to the front page with a jolt. The Scroll Keeper stopped writing for the first time.

It had no face, only a black robe that draped to the floor, and a hand holding a pen extending from its sleeve. That hand hovered over the four characters "Nameless Witness," and the pen tip trembled.

The next moment, a cold voice came from deep within the black robe.

"Name inscription does not equal no accountability."

Lu Chen stood in Xinhuo Hall, looking at it through the Fire Map.

"Of course."

"The living must bear the consequences of what they have done, and the dead should not have their stories rewritten by others."

The Scroll Keeper closed the dossier.

The black lights in the building lit up one by one.

Under every light, a subpoena appeared.

Zhao Ye, Shen Qinghe, Tang Zhiwei, Lin Zhao, Xu Minglan, Chen Jue, Gu Xingzhou, and The Arbiter.

On the back of each subpoena was written the same sentence: [Witnesses, take your seats.]

Wu stood where he was, and the grey-white mark on his wrist finally stopped fading.

Chen Jue looked at him, wanting to say something.

Wu spoke first: "Don't be happy too soon."

"I was just not erased."

"It is about to start settling accounts now."