29: Chapter 29 Multiple Anomalies

When three low-level missions appeared simultaneously, the atmosphere in Xinhuo Hall changed noticeably.

In the early days when there were only a few members, missions were usually handled one after another.

However, after the Grey Net expanded, anomalies no longer queued up for the Xinhuo Council.

The Old Object Chain had been triggered, and that organization, which had not yet fully revealed its name, began to test the response boundaries of the Xinhuo Council.

The originally scattered remnants in the city seemed to have been nudged by something, lighting up simultaneously in different corners.

The stone tablet displayed the missions one by one.

"Paper Person Knocking: Residential building near Chengbei Second-hand Street. At night, a faceless wet paper person appears outside the door, imitating the voices of relatives to call for those inside to open the door."

"Freezer Gasping: Basement storage room of City Second Hospital. Breathing sounds appear inside an empty freezer; those who come into contact experience abnormal drops in body temperature, accompanied by auditory hallucinations."

"Red Thread Catalog: Old Archives room of the Archives. Old files are connected by red threads; those who browse them will unconsciously write their own names into the accident records."

Zero provided collaboration suggestions.

Paper Person Knocking would be handled by Shen Qinghe, with Lin Zhao assisting.

Shen Qinghe was an Apprentice, equipped with a standard-issue coat, a standard containment kit, and remnant marking stickers; Lin Zhao was still a Candidate, only able to receive a temporary short staff for the mission and basic protective talismans, which had to be returned afterward.

Freezer Gasping would be handled by Zhao Ye for on-site suppression, with Candidate Xu Minglan assisting.

Zhao Ye wore a standard-issue coat and carried a basic evil-breaking short staff and low-level purification stickers; Xu Minglan received a temporary isolation box, purification stickers, and a standard medical kit, responsible for checking vital signs without independently contacting the anomaly core.

Red Thread Catalog would be led by Bai Ya, with Candidate Zhou Yan assisting.

Bai Ya carried Grey Net recording pages and Old Object remnant marking tools; Zhou Yan received a temporary file bag and marking pens, responsible for comparing data.

Tang Zhiwei would not enter the scene.

Her Xin Huo Interface received three logistical requests: evacuation points for Chengbei, maintenance cover for City Second Hospital, and evacuation vehicles for the Archives.

After she confirmed each item, all dispatches were recorded in the logistical resource pool; she could not overstep her authority to call for official equipment, nor could she directly command the members on-site.

Watching the three locations light up simultaneously, her fingers paused on the vehicle dispatch schedule; for the first time, she felt that money and connections also had times when they were not enough.

Cars could transport people, houses could hide people, and doctors could save people, but none of them could stop a paper person from knocking.

Therefore, she did not rush the members on-site, nor did she attempt to overstep her authority to issue orders; she simply prepared an extra backup route for each evacuation path.

Once the rules were clear, the mission began.

Outside the Chengbei residential building, the rain had just stopped.

The hallway lights flickered on and off, and a half-person-tall wet paper person stood at the doorway on the third floor.

It had no facial features, but the paper surface bulged slightly, emitting the voice of a young woman toward the inside of the door.

"Mom, it's me."

"I forgot my keys."

Inside the door, an old person asked with a trembling voice, "Who is it?"

Lin Zhao's heart tightened, and he almost instinctively wanted to shout not to open the door.

But Shen Qinghe had already pressed down on his shoulder, her voice very low.

"Don't let it know that someone inside is responding. You block the door, I'll pin the red thread."

Lin Zhao gritted his teeth and nodded, holding the temporary short staff horizontally in front of the door, while simultaneously knocking on the neighbor's door, using "hallway electrical leak" as an excuse to get them to leave.

The wet paper person slowly turned toward him, emitting another voice.

"Lin Zhao."

The voice sounded like a comrade-in-arms he hadn't seen in a long time.

Lin Zhao's Adam's apple bobbed, and his fingers almost let go of the short staff.

That person had once shielded him from a falling steel plate during a rescue mission, and they had lost contact after retiring from the service.

The Mark of the Torch grew hot.

He forcibly swallowed the words, "Why are you here?"

Shen Qinghe's Fire Observer seed allowed her to see an extremely thin red thread on the paper person's chest.

That was not a heart, but a rule hook.

As long as the person inside responded, the red thread would slip through the door crack.

She used a remnant marking sticker to seal the red thread's node.

The standard containment kit unfolded, and grey-white fire patterns lit up along the opening of the containment bag.

The paper person shrieked, the wet paper peeling off in layers, until finally, only a blackened paper nail fell into the bag.

On the other side, the temperature in the basement storage room of City Second Hospital had become as low as an ice cellar.

Zhao Ye stood in front of the freezer, the lining of his standard-issue coat glowing faintly.

His Evil Suppressor seed allowed him to resist the cold breath more stably, but his fingers were still frozen numb.

The freezer register showed that it was empty, but white mist kept puffing out from the door crack, as if someone were gasping inside.

Xu Minglan stood behind him to the side, not rushing to approach.

She first confirmed that no ordinary staff members were approaching the warehouse outer door, then used a temporary thermometer to record the spread of the cold breath.

A weak voice came from inside the freezer.

"Doctor... save me..."

Xu Minglan's face went pale.

It wasn't that she didn't know it was a lure, but this sentence sounded too much like the voice of a patient in the emergency room grabbing her sleeve before dying.

The temporary isolation box in her hand almost dropped to the ground.

Zhao Ye immediately braced the edge of the freezer door with his evil-breaking short staff.

"Don't answer."

He spoke briefly, but his voice was firm.

Xu Minglan closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, her gaze was calm.

She handed the purification sticker to Zhao Ye, retreated to a safe distance, and indicated the position for attachment.

Zhao Ye followed her instructions and placed the purification sticker below the number plate; the grey-white fire patterns lit up, and the gasping sound suddenly turned shrill.

"The core isn't in the freezer," Xu Minglan suddenly said. "It's behind the number plate. It wants us to open the door."

Zhao Ye did not open the door but instead used the short staff to pry off the number plate.

Behind it was a small piece of transparent ice, and inside the ice was a mouth.

The moment the isolation box closed, the temperature in the storage room began to rise.

In the old Archives room of the Archives, red threads hung down between rows of file racks.

Zhou Yan saw the file in the very center spread open, his name already written on the paper.

"Zhou Yan, while organizing old files at night..."

The following words were still appearing.

He almost finished reading that entire line.

Bai Ya reached out and blocked his line of sight.

"Don't finish reading, don't recite it, don't cross it out."

Zhou Yan immediately looked away, his forehead covered in cold sweat.

He knew about the folklore concept of "name substitution," but actually seeing his own name written into an accident record still made his back go cold.

Bai Ya unfolded the Grey Net recording page.

His Ash-Gatherer seed allowed him to see another, thinner observation remnant behind the red threads, as if someone, from very far away, was treating the Archives as a cage.

"The source isn't in the files," he said. "It's outside."

Zhou Yan used a temporary marking pen to redraw the path of the red threads on a blank sheet of paper, without touching the original files.

Bai Ya used the Grey Net recording page to pin down the thinnest observation remnant.

The three missions were different on the surface, but the remnants overlapped on the Grey Net.

Paper nail, ice shard, red thread.

Three lines seemed to extend from different directions, finally merging into the same blurry shadow.

Deep within Xinhuo Hall, Lu Chen watched the pattern gradually forming on the Grey Net, tapping his fingertips lightly against the stone tablet.

"It's not the natural activity of low-level anomalies."

Zero responded, "Judged to be a multi-point observation probe."

Lu Chen was not in a hurry to burn it off.

"Let the lines be fully revealed."

The Grey Net spread out quietly.

The Old Object Chain thought it was observing Torch.

But it didn't know that under the firelight, things that are seen also leave shadows.