26: Chapter 26 Testing with Old Objects

When the crying face copper coin appeared on Chengbei Second-hand Street, Shen Qinghe's Mark of the Torch heated up a step earlier.

That was not a summoning, but a warning.

She was sitting in the car looking through the red shoes task records when a sharp, prickling pain suddenly came from the inside of her wrist.

After pressing on the mark, the Xin Huo Interface unfolded before her eyes, and task prompts floated out from the interface.

[Low-level Task: crying face copper coin.]

[Task Type: Old Object Chain testing, contamination source confirmation.]

[Recommended Members: Shen Qinghe, Zhao Ye, Bai Ya.]

[Can Request Candidate Assistance: Lin Zhao, Xu Minglan, Zhou Yan.]

[Reminder: Candidates can only request temporary equipment, to be returned after the task ends.]

When Shen Qinghe saw the last line, her heart felt steadier.

Only when permissions are clear can responsibilities be clear.

Candidates cannot yet possess official abilities, nor can they hold Torch equipment long-term.

They can participate because the Xinhuo Council needs to observe their performance under secondary pressure, not to let them mistakenly believe they have already become Transcendents.

When Zhao Ye arrived, he was already wearing his standard-issue jacket.

The dark jacket looked like an ordinary windbreaker; only the inner lining's dark patterns would light up when the mark heated up.

He held a basic evil-breaking short staff in his hand; the staff body was heavier than the one he had borrowed temporarily before, and the fire patterns were more stable.

"Do I not need to return the staff this time?" Shen Qinghe glanced at him.

Zhao Ye grinned: "I spent the contribution points, so of course I have the right to use it. The ownership belongs to the organization; Zero emphasized this sentence three times."

Bai Ya walked over from the street corner, his fingertips holding a thin sheet of Grey Net recording paper.

It was not ordinary paper; the edges had very faint grey fire patterns, capable of preserving abnormal traces for a short time without being easily tampered with by low-level contamination.

"Someone has made a move upstream of the Old Goods Street again," Bai Ya said. "The crying face copper coin didn't flow out naturally; someone put it on the stall."

The Candidates assisting in this task were Lin Zhao, Xu Minglan, and Zhou Yan.

Tang Zhiwei did not arrive at the scene; she submitted applications for vehicles and temporary settlement points through the mark projection, and the permission interface displayed "Candidate Logistics Collaboration".

Lin Zhao received the evil-breaking short staff and basic protective talisman temporarily borrowed for the task.

The grey fire patterns on his staff were fainter than the one Zhao Ye had, and the interface note was very clear: return after the task ends, do not carry privately.

Xu Minglan received a temporary contamination isolation box and purification patches, while Zhou Yan received an Old Object archive bag and a temporary trace marking pen.

When the group approached the stall, the crying sound had already begun to spread.

The copper coin lay in the middle of a pile of old keys and copper buttons, its edges black, and water vapor seemed to condense in the coin's hole.

The stall owner crouched in the corner, clutching his head and crying until he couldn't catch his breath, repeatedly chanting the name of his long-deceased mother.

More and more people gathered around; some took out their phones, others wanted to reach out and touch it.

Shen Qinghe's Fire Observer Seed truly played its role for the first time.

She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, the traces around the copper coin divided into two layers in her vision.

One layer was the sorrowful memories of ordinary people, which, after being hooked by the crying sound, spread outward like water mist; the other layer was finer, like a hooked thread, trying to burrow into the ears of the onlookers.

"Do not listen to it cry," Shen Qinghe whispered. "The crying is not an emotion; it is a hook."

Zhao Ye stepped forward, holding the evil-breaking short staff horizontally in front of him, the lining of his standard-issue jacket glowing slightly.

He did not directly smash the copper coin but first blocked an old man who wanted to get close.

The Evil Suppressor Seed made his body more stable when contacting the edge of the contamination; the crying could still enter his ears, but it was suppressed by the fire in his mark, not immediately dragging him into memories.

"Lin Zhao, evacuate the crowd on the left. Do not let them look at the coin hole," Zhao Ye said.

Lin Zhao acted quickly.

He did not rely on his temporary equipment to approach the core of the anomaly but followed the task assignment to lead the onlookers towards the convenience store.

Some were dissatisfied, but he only used the phrase "Gas leak, do not come near" to control the situation.

Xu Minglan crouched beside the stall owner, not rushing to wake him up.

She stuck a purification patch on the stall owner's wrist pulse to stabilize his rapid breathing first, then used an isolation cloth to block the direction of the copper coin.

Zhou Yan looked at the patterns on the edge of the copper coin, his face becoming paler and paler.

"Mourning money," he whispered. "It is recorded in local chronicles; it was originally funeral money, said to speak for the dead. But this one is not an antique; its rust color is too new, as if someone intentionally made it look old."

Bai Ya brought the Grey Net recording paper to within three feet of the copper coin, and three traces of transfer immediately appeared on the paper's surface.

"Old Object Chain," he said. "At least three layers of middlemen, and the last layer has been obscured."

The copper coin suddenly let out a clearer cry.

This time, it called out Zhao Ye's name.

Zhao Ye's hand gripping the staff tightened.

Shen Qinghe immediately said: "Do not respond."

Zhao Ye gritted his teeth, but his feet did not retreat.

He used the evil-breaking short staff to press down on the edge of the wooden box next to the copper coin, separating it from other old objects.

Bai Ya took the opportunity to mark the traces, and Shen Qinghe unfolded the containment bag, with grey fire lighting up around the rim of the bag.

The copper coin vibrated like a living thing, and black water seeped out from the coin hole.

Xu Minglan looked up: "The stall owner's breathing has stabilized, but if we drag this out, something will go wrong."

Zhao Ye slammed the short staff down.

Shen Qinghe did not hesitate; she used rubber tongs to grab the copper coin and pushed it into the containment bag.

The moment the bag closed, the crying was abruptly cut off.

The street corner returned to its noisy state.

After Lin Zhao led away the last two onlookers, he turned back to look at the containment bag.

His forehead was covered in sweat, and the temporary short staff in his hand was still gripped very tightly.

Zhao Ye patted his shoulder.

"Well done."

Lin Zhao looked down at his temporary equipment, then glanced at the standard-issue short staff in Zhao Ye's hand.

The gap was obvious.

But this time, he was not anxious.

Because he had already seen that route in the mark projection and also saw what he was still missing.

After the task ended, the Grey Net settlement did not pop up immediately.

On Bai Ya's recording paper, there was still one residual line that had not burned off.

That line was very thin, like a black thread dragged out by the crying of the copper coin, bypassing the stall, the Old Goods Street, and the marks of the three layers of middlemen, finally pointing to a deeper place.

Shen Qinghe did not rush to put away the containment bag.

She submitted all the field rules, Candidate work divisions, and anomaly manifestations through the mark projection.

Zhao Ye was responsible for close-range suppression, Bai Ya for Old Object Chain tracking; Lin Zhao was only responsible for evacuation and outer perimeter blocking, Xu Minglan only for vital signs and temporary isolation, and Zhou Yan only for data comparison.

Everyone's position was recorded very clearly.

This was not distrust, but protection.

Candidates do not have Ability Seeds, lack long-term standard-issue equipment, and do not have enough contamination contact records.

Letting them stand in the appropriate position was more important than letting them push themselves too hard.

Just as the on-site recording and containment were completed, another task record was transmitted back to the Grey Net from two streets away.

Tang Zhiwei did not enter the core area of the Old Goods Street, but she had completed vehicle dispatch, the activation of temporary settlement points, and on-site cleanup plans.

The chaos left behind after ordinary people are affected by an anomaly does not automatically disappear just because the copper coin is put into the box.

Lu Chen watched the two records unfold side by side deep within the Xinhuo Hall.

On the left was anomaly containment, and on the right was reality cleanup.

The former determined whether the contamination would continue to spread, and the latter determined whether ordinary people would push matters into greater trouble due to panic, videos, police reports, and injuries.

The Grey Net finally compressed that residual line into a blurred symbol.

Like an elongated Longevity Pattern.

Lu Chen did not pursue it immediately.

He first fixed his gaze on the logistics record on the right.

What the Xinhuo Council had to face was not just the anomaly itself, but also the realistic aftermath left behind after the anomaly.