24: Chapter 24 Candidate Rating

After the red shoes' buckle was sealed into a temporary containment bag, the third floor of the Qinghe Road Old Commercial Building finally quieted down.

Lin Zhao stood at the end of the corridor, his clothes soaked with sweat. He was still gripping the wooden short stick borrowed temporarily for the mission, his knuckles white from the force. The grey-white fire patterns on the short stick had faded, leaving only a hint of residual warmth.

Xu Minglan crouched by the wall. After confirming that none of the four had obvious injuries, she packed the unused purification patches back into the first-aid kit. She had originally thought she could be calmer than the others, but when the red shoes mimicked a sick child's voice to call for help earlier, her fingers had indeed trembled.

Tang Zhiwei did not approach the containment bag; she simply stood at the stairwell and made two calls to confirm that the vehicles outside were not blocking the fire escape and that no ordinary people had been lured by the sounds. Her tone was steady while speaking, but she only realized her palms were covered in sweat after hanging up.

Zhou Yan stared at the spot where the red shoes had originally been. Although his face was pale, he still recorded the patterns on the soles, the direction of the water stains in the corridor, and the missing characters on the old children's clothing store sign.

This was not a pretty victory.

They had panicked, hesitated, and nearly been lured by the red shoes into the back room covered in photos of children's clothing. Lin Zhao had almost turned back, Xu Minglan had almost responded, and when Zhou Yan saw the dates on the files change, he had even had a momentary urge to tear up the entire page.

But the four Candidates did not flee.

They found the core, completed the containment, and did not lead the anomaly toward the ordinary people downstairs.

Shen Qinghe, Zhao Ye, and Bai Ya, the three Apprentices, had been providing backup on the periphery all along. Shen Qinghe analyzed the red shoes' sound-based induction rules, Zhao Ye suppressed the red cloth that suddenly swirled in the corridor, and Bai Ya identified the connection between the red shoes and the Old Object Chain markers from the traces of the Grey Net. They did not complete the mission for the Candidates, but they blocked the perimeter when the anomaly attempted to spread.

In the Xinhuo Hall, the mission record was projected onto the surface of the stone tablet.

Lu Chen did not appear before the Candidates. He stood deep in the hall, watching the entire mission review through the grey mist.

The anomaly core of the red shoes was not of high value, nor was it particularly dangerous, but it perfectly exposed a link that had to be filled after the organization's expansion: Candidates could not rely solely on verbal constraints, nor could they be dragged into the hall every time just to know what they could do.

They needed a low-privilege entry point, a way to view missions, contribution points, collaboration requests, and warning notifications.

"Zero, integrate the mission stone tablet, contribution records, exchange catalog, and Grey Net channels," Lu Chen said.

In the grey mist, Zero responded, "Requires binding to Mark of the Torch permissions."

"Use the mark as the entry point; do not create a physical device."

Lu Chen raised his hand, and a ring of dark gold fire patterns lit up deep within the Core of the Torch. Several modules were dismantled, reorganized, and compressed, finally forming a set of Xin Huo Interface that existed only within the mark's permissions.

It required no tokens or wristbands. Members only needed to press the Mark of the Torch on the inside of their wrists to unfold a virtual projection visible only to themselves. Cameras could not capture it, outsiders could not read it, and those with insufficient permissions could only see content corresponding to their level.

After Zero finished the test, the stone tablet opened notifications to everyone.

[Xin Huo Interface has been activated.]

[Current Permission: Candidate.]

[Available to view: Candidate missions, Candidate contribution points, collaboration requests, basic warnings, temporary equipment applications.]

[Ability Seed catalog: Details can be viewed; current status is 'conditions not met', cannot be exchanged.]

Lin Zhao lowered his head and pressed the faint fire mark on the inside of his wrist; a semi-transparent interface indeed floated before his eyes. It contained not just cold text, but also a personal evaluation of the red shoes mission.

[Candidate: Lin Zhao.]

[Mission Performance: Stable action, possesses potential for frontline suppression and personnel evacuation.]

[Risk Warning: Lacks experience in judging anomaly rules; not recommended to contact anomaly cores alone.]

After reading it, Lin Zhao's expression was not very good.

"Not recommended to contact anomaly cores alone" was glaring, yet accurate. If not for the grey message warning earlier, he would have already turned back.

What Xu Minglan saw were evaluations related to medical care.

[Candidate: Xu Minglan.]

[Mission Performance: Possesses awareness of injury assessment and contamination isolation.]

[Risk Warning: Currently lacks formal medical path abilities; cannot independently handle anomaly core contamination.]

She stared at "cannot independently handle" for a few seconds, then sighed in relief.

In medicine, the most feared thing is someone who half-understands performing surgery haphazardly. This is even more true for anomalies. The Xinhuo Council did not assume she could touch everything just because she was a doctor, which made her feel that this set of rules was at least not insane.

In Tang Zhiwei's interface, an additional item appeared: real-world resource logs. She saw that her actions earlier—arranging vehicles and confirming the movements of ordinary people outside the building—were classified as "logistics observation logs," with no ability rewards or extra privileges.

She smiled.

She actually preferred this cold, impersonal method of recording.

Zhou Yan saw the mark "Old Object data assessment valid." He read the lines twice, finally realizing that the data he had collected, which his colleagues dismissed as folklore and ghost stories, finally had a use here.

The four of them soon saw the Ability Seed catalog as well.

The catalog was not hidden from them. Each path had a name, role, initial effect, growth direction, suitable personnel, exchange conditions, and costs. Lin Zhao's eyes clearly paused when he saw the action-suppression type seeds; Xu Minglan's fingertips tightened slightly when she saw the purification-medical type seeds; Zhou Yan read the description for the Grey Net intelligence path almost three times.

But beneath every path, there was the same line of notification.

[Conditions not met: Requires Apprentice status, contribution points to meet the standard, and path suitability review passed.]

[Currently cannot be exchanged.]

This was more tantalizing than not being able to see it at all.

Zhao Ye stood to the side and said in a low voice, "Can see it, can't exchange it; it's quite torturous."

Bai Ya said indifferently, "Only with torture is there a goal. If it were given the moment you entered, it would be cheap instead."

Lin Zhao returned the temporary short stick to the grey fire trough in front of the stone tablet. The stick was swallowed by the grey mist, and the mission borrowing record was marked as returned.

He finally understood that there was a real threshold between Candidates and Apprentices.

Seeing Torch does not mean possessing Torch.

The last line of notification on the stone tablet seemed to set a boundary for all Candidates.

[Candidate evaluation complete.]

[Four Candidates have passed the preliminary inspection.]

[Candidate permissions opened; official Ability Seed exchange not opened.]

Deep in the grey mist, Lu Chen looked at this line, confirming there would be no further changes.

The Xinhuo Council could expand.

But power must never be distributed cheaply.

Looking at the words "cannot be exchanged," Lin Zhao instead suppressed that breath. He had seen temporary morale-boosting words before; the more beautifully they were phrased, the easier it was for them to get people killed when real danger struck. The Xinhuo Council laying out the conditions for them was equivalent to telling them clearly: You can pursue power, but you cannot pretend that you already possess it.

Xu Minglan also noticed the details beneath the catalog. Candidates could learn basic knowledge, apply for temporary mission equipment, and submit professional suggestions, but they could not override authority to handle anomaly cores based on personal judgment.

Tang Zhiwei immediately looked at the logistics permissions. She saw that items such as Safe House, vehicles, medical channels, and material procurement were all in the state of "resources can be submitted, pending review for activation," with not a single one allowing her to directly command official members.

Zhou Yan finally looked up at the stone tablet.

He had originally thought a mysterious organization would decide people's fates with a single sentence, but the Xinhuo Council had given him a set of conditions that were clear to the point of being cold and rigid.

To see deeper files, go complete missions.

To exchange Ability Seeds, go accumulate contributions.

To obtain equipment, first prove that you are qualified to hold that equipment.

The four Candidates did not speak again.

Standing in the grey mist, they saw clearly for the first time what was behind the door.

And for the first time, they knew clearly that they were still standing outside the door.