176: Chapter 176 The Lamp-less Envoy

The moment the faint light of the Patrol Crow Lamp completely faded, Bai Ya fell into a deep sleep for four hours.

He had been forced into it by Tang Zhiwei.

She clicked the temporary office door locked, shoved the key into her workwear pocket, and said through the door panel with a voice devoid of emotion: "If you dare to climb out the window and run, I will send your overtime records for the past half month to Lu Chen."

Bai Ya slumped against the back of his chair, his eyelids feeling as heavy as lead, and even blinking caused a stinging pain in his eye sockets.

"Your methods of threat are becoming increasingly simple."

Her cold voice came from outside the door: "Simple, but effective."

As it turned out, it was indeed effective.

When he opened his eyes again, the sky outside the window was already dawning. Thick sea fog smeared against the glass, soaking the morning sun into an old copper coin submerged in brine—dim, yellowed, and devoid of any warmth.

He pushed himself upright against the armrests. The Patrol Crow Lamp in his palm was warmly hot, like a living creature imbued with body heat, rubbing against his skin, clearly urging him: Don't play dead, the work isn't finished yet.

He cursed under his breath.

Just as he pulled the door open and walked out, he ran into Zhao Ye, who was leaning against the wall in the corridor, gnawing on a bun.

Zhao Ye glanced up at him: "Awake?"

"What are you doing standing here?"

"Tang Zhiwei's orders. She said if you woke up looking as ghastly as a dead man, I should knock you out and send you back to sleep."

Bai Ya's gaze fell on the bun in his hand: "Are you going to throw that at me?"

Zhao Ye thought about it seriously for two seconds: "I'd use my fists first; the bun shouldn't be wasted."

For once, Bai Ya didn't retort.

His gaze crossed the corridor and landed in the shadows at the far end.

A crow shadow was crouching there.

It was greyish-white and translucent, like a phantom image formed by mixing firelight and feathers. It made not a sound, yet it branded the status of the fire points in the three cities into Bai Ya's consciousness, bit by bit, along an invisible link.

Qinghe, stable.

Jiangbei, stable.

Linhai North Shore settlement, slight traces of black salt remaining.

Off the coast of the Old Lighthouse, an unlit marking has appeared.

Bai Ya's brow furrowed sharply.

"An unlit marking?"

Zhao Ye stuffed the last bite of the bun into his mouth and swallowed it without even chewing: "Again?"

"Not again." Bai Ya stepped toward the stairwell. "It has always been there."

On the tidal flats outside the Linhai Old Lighthouse, a section of stone steps had appeared out of thin air after the Tide receded.

The steps extended down along the seabed, half-submerged in blackened seawater, with crooked lines of small characters carved into the stone edges, as if gouged out with fingernails.

[The Light-Lighter, illuminates the road.]

[The Lamp-less, guards the shore.]

[The Wrong-Lighter, draws the Tide.]

Tide was crouching on the dry ground beside the stone steps, holding a piece of chalk and drawing three or four Tide lines on the concrete. Her fingertips hovered half an inch above the stone surface, but she ultimately didn't dare to touch it, instead repeatedly comparing it with her naked eye and the Tide data in her hands.

"This isn't the structure of a modern pier," she said in a very low voice, "nor does it look like any remaining components from the Old Port District. It's as if... it grew out of somewhere else."

Space Venerable held up a rangefinder, his face long: "Don't use 'as if'. It did grow out. When I measured it last night, this was still a flat beach; fifteen steps sprouted up overnight. Do you have any idea how disrespectful this is to professional standards for surveyors?"

Zhao Ye glanced at him sideways: "Does an abnormal phenomenon have to file a construction application with you?"

Space Venerable looked pained: "At least it should follow the regulations."

Bai Ya didn't smile.

His gaze passed over the steps and fixed firmly on the bottom one.

Someone was standing there.

Clad in a heavy black raincoat, the brim of its hat pulled extremely low, its entire face was buried in the shadows. Water was constantly dripping from the hem of the raincoat, yet the surrounding sky was clear, without a single drop of rain. It held an extinguished old storm lantern in its hand, the glass shade filled with a thick layer of coarse, gritty black salt.

Tide subconsciously held her breath, her voice pressed so low it was almost inaudible: "Who is that?"

The figure slowly raised its head. There was no face beneath the brim, only a blank void, which, when blown by the sea breeze, seemed to fray at the edges like mist.

"The Guardian of the Shore greets the Patrol Lamp bearer."

Its voice was like tidal water grinding repeatedly against a reef; it was heavily textured with grit, scraping against one's eardrums until they felt itchy and congested.

Bai Ya raised his hand to adjust his cuffs, and the Patrol Crow Lamp in his palm suddenly flared with a faint light. Several greyish-Bai Ya shadows landed silently, perching respectively on the railing, a streetlight pole, and the blockade warning sign, instantly linking the surrounding fire points into a closed loop.

Zhao Ye stepped forward, his Suppression Domain descending silently. The churning black water at the edge of the stone steps halted abruptly, as if frozen for half a second.

The Lamp-less Emissary stood where it was, unmoving. It just "looked" at Bai Ya that way, its blank face revealing no emotion.

"You have lit a lamp that should not have been lit."

Bai Ya scoffed: "The hand of the Black Shore is overreaching."

"The lamp illuminates the road, and the road leads the people. Every place you illuminate will become a direction for the Black Shore to return."

"So I shouldn't light it?"

"Those outside the shore remain outside the shore, and those within the shore guard within the shore. If the lamp does not shine, the Tide does not move."

Bai Ya suddenly laughed. It wasn't a lighthearted laugh, but a cold sneer born of extreme anger.

"Deputy Captain He Yuan guarded that lamp until his death, and now you come to tell me that if I don't light the lamp, everything will be fine?"

There was not a ripple of emotion on the Lamp-less Emissary's blank face.

"He lit the wrong one."

The chill in Zhao Ye's eyes sank instantly. The surrounding air turned cold abruptly, and even the sea breeze seemed to freeze in mid-air.

Bai Ya spoke first, his voice steady: "Don't move."

He stared at the Lamp-less Emissary below the stone steps, his speech slower than usual, yet filled with certainty.

"You didn't come here to fight."

The Lamp-less Emissary lifted the extinguished lamp in its hand. The black salt inside the shade suddenly began to flow, slowly coalescing into three clear lines of text.

[three-city fire map, marking complete.]

[Patrol Lamp bearer, path confirmed.]

[Fire Keeper, awaiting guidance.]

Tide's face turned pale in an instant. It hadn't come to stop Bai Ya from lighting the lamp at all. It had followed the trajectory of the lamp-lighting to confirm the connection path of the Torch—it had come to scout the location.

From the moment the Patrol Crow Lamp lit up, it had followed the trajectory of the crow shadows, feeling its way to the boundaries of the three-city fire map.

The temperature in Bai Ya's palm rose sharply.

Within the light of the Patrol Crow Lamp, one crow shadow was being bitten firmly by invisible black water, flapping its wings and struggling.

He didn't cut off the connection immediately. Instead, suppressing the stinging pain of the backlash, he forced that crow shadow to probe one inch further forward.

The Lamp-less Emissary jerked its head up.

Bai Ya chuckled softly, his voice very light: "You found me."

"But did you forget—" "Crows will return to the nest."

As soon as he finished speaking, the crow shadow entangled by the black water exploded, turning into a fine, greyish-white spark. The spark didn't float upward; instead, it fell straight toward the sea surface, diving headlong into the depths of the black water. Beneath the murky water, a hidden tidal line was instantly illuminated, extending from beneath the Lamp-less Emissary's feet toward the inland.

Bai Ya flicked his fingertips, marking the coordinates into the Grey Net.

"Found it."

"They didn't come from the distant sea."

"They have hidden a second shore beneath Linhai."

At the very bottom of the stone steps, the Lamp-less Emissary took a step back for the first time.

The firelight at the top of the Old Lighthouse, without a breeze, flickered slightly.

Far away in Xinhuo Hall, Lu Chen suddenly opened his eyes. Beneath the massive three-city fire map, a grey-black hidden line slowly emerged. Outside the fire points of the three cities—Qinghe, Jiangbei, and Linhai—there was another unnamed shore, submerged in a place invisible to everyone.

The moment the Lamp-less Emissary appeared, all ordinary people in the vicinity were evacuated beyond the second blockade line. Yet, even with two cordons separating them, some people still craned their necks to look toward this side. People have always been like this; the more dangerous something is, the more they want to see it, as if seeing it with their own eyes would lighten the fear in their hearts. The field agents sent by Gu Xingzhou shouted themselves hoarse trying to persuade them to leave, yet people still crowded up to ask if they could take a photo.

Tide felt her anger flaring and raised her hand, wanting to throw the Tide gauge in her hand at them. Jiaoyue reached out to stop her, then turned and confiscated the device of a young man who was livestreaming with his phone. The young man's eyes turned red with anxiety, shouting that it was his personal property. Jiaoyue swept a cold glance at him: "Your life is also your own; do you want to throw that away too?" The young man instantly shut his mouth.

The moment the Lamp-less Emissary spoke, all the lamp shadows around the lighthouse were stretched thin and distorted. Bai Ya clearly felt the Patrol Crow Lamp in his palm tighten abruptly, like a startled and furious bird, its feathers bristling all over. It wasn't fear. It was disgust. That disgust was straightforward and intense, like fire encountering water-soaked firewood, like a bird seeing a broken wing, like a lamp flame encountering a wick extinguished by human hands.

The fire in Zhao Ye's heart had long since reached his throat. When he heard the words "lit the wrong lamp," his Suppression Domain had already sunk to his feet, ready to be smashed down at any moment. But he forcibly restrained himself. It wasn't that his temper had improved; it was that he finally understood—some enemies are just waiting for you to strike first. As long as you move a fraction when you shouldn't, it can turn your fist into its guiding beacon.

When he forced the crow shadow to probe that extra inch forward just now, Bai Ya hadn't been confident. The Patrol Crow Lamp was not yet fully stabilized, the fire path was still drifting, and the backlash could come crashing down on him at any moment. But he had to take this gamble. The Black Shore had always been hiding behind the sea level, reaching out to probe like it was separated by a black curtain, always hiding its true face. Now that the Lamp-less Emissary had finally extended its hand into the open, if he couldn't take a fierce bite out of it, he wouldn't even be able to look at himself in the mirror.