186: Chapter 186 The First Silence

After Bai Ya finished vomiting blood, it was rare for Zhao Ye not to scold him.

Xu Minglan monitored his vital signs remotely, issuing a stern command for him to stop the Patrol Lamp immediately and close his eyes to rest.

Bai Ya agreed quickly with his mouth, but his hand remained resting on the Patrol Crow Lamp, his fingertips not moving an inch.

Zhao Ye's face was cold: "Touch it one more time, and I'll throw this lamp into the sea."

Bai Ya wiped the blood from his lips and glanced at him sideways: "You wouldn't hit the target."

"Try me."

Lu Chen did not interject.

His gaze fell upon the severed path to the distant sea within the Grey Net.

The break was too clean. There were no frayed edges from energy tearing, no black veins from pollution spreading; it was as smooth as if cut by a sharp blade, cleanly cut to a terrifying degree.

The opponent hadn't crudely shattered the crow shadow; they had caused the very act of "Patrol Lamp" to fail for an instant in that area.

To be able to make the lamp lose the meaning of "patrol."

This was more dangerous than simply shattering a hundred lamps.

Shen Qinghe placed the fate-reflecting bronze bell - fragment beside the break.

This time, the small bell finally vibrated slightly.

It didn't ring. It only vibrated.

Her face turned pale, and she raised a hand to press against the side of her ear.

Zhao Ye looked over: "What's wrong?"

"It took the sound away." Shen Qinghe's voice was a bit muffled, "It's not soundproofing, it's not noise cancellation... It's as if the bell ringing never happened at all."

The hall instantly fell silent.

Tang Zhiwei took a breath in the reality channel: "If this kind of rule were to fall upon the three-city fire map, what would happen to the Lamp-Keeping Zone?"

"Warnings would fail, Fire Beacons would lose accuracy, and the Spark Post Road would be unable to confirm nodes." Shen Qinghe paused, her tone becoming heavier, "The most troublesome part is—the Law-Suppressing Bell Shadow cannot ring."

Zhao Ye looked sharply at Lu Chen.

Lu Chen was still standing before the Fire Map, his fingertips hovering over the unformed bell shadow.

The bell shadow sank beneath the myriad lamps, like an ancient bell covered by muddy water. It wasn't that it couldn't ring; it was that once it rang, the bell tower in the distant sea would follow the sound to find them.

The enemy feared the bell. And they were also waiting for the bell. This was the most difficult part.

The matter of the old clock shop in Qinghe hadn't fully concluded when feedback from Liuqiao in Jiangbei followed.

Around the second anchor in Liuqiao, all warning bells failed simultaneously.

They weren't broken. It was that even though someone pressed them and the bell body vibrated, it was as if they had never been pressed at all, and not a single sound could be transmitted.

Chen Shi was responsible for time verification and was the first to discover the anomaly: "The thirteen-minute time difference here has disappeared."

Chen Jue had just prepared to set off for Liuqiao and was stunned upon hearing this: "Isn't it a good thing that it disappeared?"

Chen Shi's face was very grim: "It's not that the error is gone; it's that the reference is gone."

Before, when mobile phones were thirteen minutes slower than reality, it at least meant there was a gap between anomalous time and real time, and people could still distinguish which side was real. Now, the gap has been erased, and everyone is standing on the same sheet of paper without markings; they wouldn't even notice if they were dragged away one day.

Outside Liuqiao Old Station, several patrol personnel were talking when they suddenly stopped at the same time.

They hadn't heard a broadcast, nor had they been called away. They simply forgot why they were standing there.

The Fire Seal sticker on their wrists was quiet, not even emitting a hint of a warning.

When Lin Zhao received the news, he was still sitting and resting at the temporary point in the east of the city. He had just taken a sip of warm water when he heard the words "Liuqiao" and braced himself on the armrest to stand up.

Xu Minglan pressed down on his shoulder with considerable force.

"Sit down."

"I can go."

"If you go now, you'll only be transported back as a patient."

Lin Zhao wanted to retort, but the blister on the back of his hand accidentally brushed against the edge of the table, causing his eye to twitch sharply from the pain, and his Aura instantly deflated.

Chen Jue stood up from the side: "I'll go."

Xu Minglan looked at him.

Chen Jue stiffened his neck: "I won't enter the core area; I'll just bring people out and guard the perimeter."

Lin Zhao also looked up at him. This time, he didn't immediately say no.

Chen Jue was a bit annoyed by the gaze: "I know the rules. Pair up, don't respond to strange broadcasts, don't touch old items alone, don't pursue anomalies without authorization. I've memorized them better than you."

Xu Minglan threw a pack of new Fire Seal stickers to him.

"Take Zheng Xiang with you. He's careful and can cover for your oversights."

Chen Jue caught it and tucked it into his chest. "Got it."

He turned and walked away, then paused at the door without looking back. "Lin Zhao."

"Hmm?"

"Don't you really die here."

Lin Zhao was stunned for a moment, then smiled: "You too."

Chen Jue didn't respond and lifted the curtain to leave.

In Xinhuo Hall, Zero summarized the anomalies synchronized from the three cities into lines of text.

[Silent bell law is spreading.]

[Qinghe, Jiangbei, and Linhai anchor points are all affected.]

[Current recommendation: Avoid active bell ringing.]

Zhao Ye ground his molars: "Does that mean we can't use the one thing we have that best suppresses the rules?"

"Not for now." Shen Qinghe said.

Bai Ya leaned against the back of his chair, his face still pale, but he suddenly spoke: "It's not completely impossible."

Everyone looked at him.

"The opponent is waiting for the 'ring'." Bai Ya raised his eyes, the small black-feathered lamp swaying gently on his knee, "Then don't let it hear it."

Zhao Ye frowned: "Ring the bell silently?"

Bai Ya tugged at the corner of his mouth with his usual laziness: "Look, you can be smart once in a while."

Just as Zhao Ye was about to retort, Lu Chen raised his hand.

Deep within the Fire Map, the dormant Law-Suppressing Bell Shadow slowly floated up a fraction.

There was no bell sound. No vibration. Even the energy fluctuations were minimal.

Only an invisible ripple, centered on the Qinghe fire point, gently spread outward in a circle.

In the old clock shop in the east of the city, the clock hands that were about to turn again suddenly all jammed at once.

Outside Liuqiao Old Station, several patrol personnel with blank stares suddenly came back to their senses, looked at each other in confusion, and remembered their mission.

Under the Linhai Fire Beacon, Tide suddenly looked up—the background noise that had disappeared from the radio for a long time had returned.

Zero's notification popped up.

[Law-Suppressing Bell Shadow: Silent loading successful.]

[Duration: Extremely short.]

[Cannot be repeated.]

Lu Chen's fingertips paused slightly. The bell shadow deep within the Fire Map sank back beneath the myriad lamps.

In the direction of the distant sea, in that clock tower without a clock face, the person wearing white gloves slowly raised their head.

It did not hear the bell.

Lu Chen could feel that pressure.

In the past, every time the Law-Suppressing Bell Shadow appeared, it was Torch's trump card to stabilize the situation. Even if it was only for half a breath, it could make everyone believe that there was something heavier supporting the Fire Map behind the scenes. But now, there was an enemy starting to specifically target this half-breath. It might not be stronger than the bell shadow, but it knew how to wait, how to listen, and how to turn the sound of a bell into a rope that led the way in reverse.

You can't use the same trump card every time. Lu Chen knew this better than anyone.

So he didn't rush to ring the bell shadow. He watched the twinkling little flames in Qinghe, Jiangbei, and Linhai; he saw Lin Zhao still breathing, saw Chen Jue dragging people back while grumbling, and saw Tide using a flashlight under the lighthouse to calibrate the route over and over again.

If the bell cannot ring, Torch must not scatter. This was the answer that Clockless Shore was truly trying to force out.

This silent ripple couldn't be counted as a victory; it was just a probe. Like a thin needle reaching out into the darkness, it pricked a point and also told the opponent—someone is here.

When Lu Chen withdrew his hand, his fingertips were slightly numb. The more stable the Law-Suppressing Bell Shadow was, the more he could feel its heaviness. It was not a weapon that could be wielded casually; it was more like a city that hadn't been fully built yet. Every time it was used, the city walls had to withstand a real wind.

Bai Ya leaned against the back of his chair, watching the silent ripple spread across the Fire Map, and suddenly said in a low voice: "They are afraid that we will ring."

Zhao Ye: "So?"

"So from now on, don't just think about how to make it ring louder." Bai Ya closed his eyes, his voice very soft, "You also have to learn how not to ring."

Zhao Ye frowned upon hearing this, but didn't refute. He didn't like this kind of roundabout approach, but he also understood that the enemy had already started studying Torch; relying solely on brute force would sooner or later not be enough.

Shen Qinghe listened to them talk, her fingertips still pressed on the remaining pattern of the bronze bell. She didn't interrupt the two, just lowered her eyes to look at the small bell in her palm.

When the silent ripple fell just now, a very thin crack of light appeared on the inner wall of the bronze bell. It was very faint, almost invisible. But it had caught that ripple and also saw a circle of ripples rippling towards the distant sea.