27: Chapter 27 The Real Logistics Line

When Tang Zhiwei received the feedback from the Grey Net, her car was still parked two alleys away from Old Goods Street.

She had not participated in the on-site containment of the crying face copper coin, nor had she approached that old coin that could make people collapse and weep.

Yet, in her mark projection, three dispatch records had all turned to completed status: activation of the temporary evacuation point, follow-up placement of the stall owner, and marking of monitoring blind spots in Old Goods Street.

This was her position in this mission.

Shen Qinghe and the others handled the anomaly core, Zhao Ye and Lin Zhao blocked the front line, Bai Ya and Zhou Yan pursued the traces of the Old Object Chain, and Xu Minglan stabilized those affected.

What Tang Zhiwei had to do was ensure that after these people withdrew from the scene, they would not be dragged back down by the trivialities, exposure, and panic of reality.

She was not a Torch Apprentice, nor did she have an Ability Seed.

In the mark projection interface, she could see a lot of content, but she could not redeem abilities, nor could she claim standard-issue equipment.

The Ability Seed catalog unfolded clearly before her eyes: logistics type, medical type, investigation type, action type—each item had its positioning, initial effects, and growth direction.

But beneath every item was written the same status.

"Conditions not met, cannot redeem."

Tang Zhiwei felt no dissatisfaction.

On the contrary, she felt this restriction was reassuring.

If an organization could even bypass power with money, then sooner or later, it would be dragged into the mud by money.

The Xinhuo Council did not give her privileges just because she could coordinate cars, housing, and funds, which showed that it had a higher order.

What she could truly do was suppress the chaos on the reality level.

After the crying face copper coin was contained, the stall owner needed a reasonable explanation, the videos captured by onlookers needed to be drowned out by noise, the two people at the street corner affected by the crying needed to be sent home, and other items on the old goods stall needed to be temporarily sealed for a reason.

Putting the anomaly core into the box was only half of the mission.

After the mission was completed, Tang Zhiwei did not wait for praise, but instead submitted a document through the mark projection.

"Application for Reality Logistics Support."

"Can provide: three Safe Houses, six ordinary vehicles, one temporary storage facility, two private medical channels, and an injured personnel placement project under the foundation's name."

"Restriction statement: Do not exchange resources for Ability Seeds, do not request source essence permissions, and do not bypass Torch audits."

This application did not immediately appear before the members.

Deep in Xinhuo Hall, Lu Chen saw it first.

He expanded the document item by item, confirming the usage, risks, and potential exposure points of each reality resource.

The location of the Safe Houses could not be too close to the Tang family's core assets, otherwise it would bind the Xinhuo Council and Tang Zhiwei's real identity too tightly; medical channels could be used, but the scope of those who knew must be limited; a fund pool could be established, but it could not let contribution points become the shadow of real money.

"Zero, generate a draft for the logistics resource pool," Lu Chen said.

In the grey fog, the modules took shape one by one.

"Logistics Resource Pool: Level 1 Draft."

"Usage: mission vehicles, temporary placement, Safe House maintenance, procurement of ordinary supplies, transfer of injured personnel, and aftermath handling of pollution scenes."

"Prohibited: redeeming Ability Seeds, purchasing high-level permissions, contacting source essence, and interfering with member promotions."

"Resource providers receive logistics contribution records, which are not equivalent to extraordinary abilities."

After Lu Chen confirmed it, the draft was fed back to Tang Zhiwei through the mark projection.

"Candidate Logistics Collaborator permission has been enabled."

"Can submit resource lists, can receive logistics dispatch tasks."

"Cannot redeem Ability Seeds."

"Cannot mobilize official member equipment."

After reading it, Tang Zhiwei smiled lightly.

She liked these clear-cut rules.

At the same time, Xu Minglan also submitted her own suggestions.

In the emergency department lounge, she wrote down the preliminary specifications for handling abnormal injuries, the content was simple: contaminated wounds must not be excised arbitrarily, multiple people must not make contact before confirming the type of contamination, samples must not enter the ordinary inspection process, and when accompanying symptoms such as auditory hallucinations, mirror images, low body temperature, black mud, or crying sounds appeared, isolation should be prioritized.

She was not an official member of the medical route, she couldn't even redeem Ability Seeds yet, but she could submit suggestions as a Candidate.

This suggestion also passed through Lu Chen and Zero first.

Lu Chen read it very carefully.

In the early days, the Xinhuo Council relied on hemostatic ointment and low-level purification patches for emergencies, but for the organization to expand, medical processes had to be established sooner or later.

Xu Minglan did not have abilities, but she had a foundation in real-world medicine and sufficient caution.

Zero archived her suggestion as:

"Abnormal Injury Handling Specifications: Candidate Draft."

"Proposer: Xu Minglan."

"Can be incorporated into the prototype of medical functions."

When Xu Minglan's mark projection received the feedback, she was leaning back in her chair, closing her eyes to rest.

Seeing the four words "Candidate Draft," she did not feel slighted; instead, she breathed a sigh of relief.

Candidate meant there was still an audit.

An audit meant that she wouldn't push everyone into danger just because of one word from her.

Zhou Yan was also in the Archives submitting suggestions for the numbering of old object materials.

He classified the red shoes, crying face copper coin, black bronze bell core, and broken mirror traces into "Abnormal Old Objects," "Pollution Echoes," "Legendary Packaging Layers," and "Old Object Chain Traces" respectively.

A prompt popped up on his interface: Data is valid, it has been included in the outer records of the Grey Net, but current permissions are insufficient to view the complete Old Object Chain Archives.

Lin Zhao was in the security company's training room, checking the descriptions of action-type Ability Seeds over and over again.

He could see the initial effects of the Evil Suppressor, Line Guardian, and Grey Blade, and he could also see the redemption conditions.

Insufficient contribution points, insufficient mission records, Candidate status not yet converted to official—each item was clearly listed below.

This left him with no illusions.

He was not yet an extraordinary being.

He was just qualified to stand outside the door and see what was behind it.

Inside Xinhuo Hall, Lu Chen archived these applications and suggestions one by one.

Logistics, medical, Archives, action Candidates.

These things were not as impactful as the Purifying Flame suppressing the field, but they were the skeleton for the organization to truly grow larger.

Tang Zhiwei also saw the catalog of basic standard-issue equipment.

Standard-issue coat, containment kit, evil-breaking short staff, Grey Net record page—each item was written very clearly.

Candidates could view the instructions and even learn about applicable scenarios, but they could not redeem them.

She did not rush to ask when it would be opened, because she knew what she really needed to prove now was not whether she could get the equipment, but whether she could let the people holding the equipment withdraw safely.

Lu Chen added a hard restriction to the logistics resource pool in the backend: real-world funds could only form logistics contributions and could not be converted into Ability Seed contributions.

When Tang Zhiwei saw this restriction, she was even more certain that she had chosen the right position.

Money was useful here, but it was not omnipotent.

"Starting from the next mission," Lu Chen said, "Candidates can participate in support within the authorized scope, but they must not contact the anomaly core beyond their level."

Zero responded: "The rules have been written into the mark projection."

Deep in the Grey Net, the crying face copper coin sealed in Chengbei Second-hand Street suddenly vibrated.

At the end of the burnt remnant line, a new trace of observation emerged.

It did not approach Xinhuo Hall, but merely recorded a name from afar.

Xinhuo Council.

Lu Chen looked at those four words, confirming that the Longevity Pattern that had emerged from the abnormal remnant line earlier was not an illusion.

The logistics line had just been established, and the external gaze had finally truly fallen upon the edge of the firelight.