38: Chapter 38 Provocation by Old Things

After the shards of the broken mirror were placed on the auction stage, the temperature in the exhibition hall dropped noticeably.

Ordinary guests only felt that the air conditioning was set too low; some pulled their suits tighter, while others complained in low voices that the organizers were being pretentious.

But what Shen Qinghe heard was not the sound of wind, but a woman's extremely faint call.

"Officer Shen."

The voice came from behind the broken mirror, carrying the dampness of the hallway in the Nanliu Residential Complex, and the echo that had once appeared in the mirror surface.

"I'm back."

Shen Qinghe's fingers hanging by her side tightened, but she did not look up, nor did she respond.

Her Xin Huo Interface unfolded at the edge of her vision, visible only to her.

[Abnormal residue triggered.]

[Do not respond.]

What Zhao Ye heard was the sound of metal being scraped by black rust.

The sound was like a nail dragging along the ground, making the muscles in his shoulders and back tense up.

He thought of the black rusty curved nail and the fishy, cold sensation when sealing it with plastic clips and airtight bags.

Bai Ya heard the question that had once been asked of him inside the old clock.

"Which name do you want to remember?"

The marks on all three of them heated up almost simultaneously, and at the same moment, the Grey Net received three abnormal feedback reports.

Shen Qinghe did not look at Zhao Ye, nor did she look at Bai Ya. Following the mission rules, she submitted her judgment to the Grey Net.

[This auction item is suspected to be a secondary residue composite.]

[Source: Reality secondary contamination from processed abnormal events, Old Object Chain marks, residual sound induction.]

[Purpose: Induce relevant members to respond, confirm the identity of Torch members.]

When this judgment was transmitted back to Xinhuo Hall, Lu Chen was standing in front of the Grey Net.

He was not angered by the words "already recovered."

The abnormal cores recovered by the Core of the Torch could not be stolen by outsiders; the true danger of the broken mirror lay in the fact that the Longevity Society had begun capturing secondary traces after abnormal events were processed and crafting them into bait targeting Torch members.

This meant the other party didn't just sell Old Object items.

They were studying the operational path of the Xinhuo Council.

On the auction stage, the host smiled while introducing the broken mirror, saying it came from a processed sleepwalking cold case, that the mirror contained a lingering "Voice of Return," and that it could serve as a rare supernatural collection sample.

Some were interested, while others avoided it as much as possible.

But the person truly observing the reactions was not in the audience.

Bai Ya's gaze swept over the second-floor box. A translucent curtain hung there, and behind the curtain sat a middle-aged man wearing white gloves.

Beside him lay an old leather book, its pages showing faint patterns under the light.

That man was not looking at the auction item.

He was watching the audience.

Bai Ya put down his wine glass and, under the guise of turning to converse with an antique dealer, submitted a mark to the Grey Net.

[Observer present in the east box on the second floor. Suspected core observation node of the Longevity Society.]

Inside the box, the Lamp Watcher gently flipped through the old leather book.

On the pages were written a few words: Grey-white firelight. Wrist mark. Abnormal recovery. Sealing. Xinhuo Council.

The young assistant beside him asked in a low voice, "Can we confirm it?"

The Lamp Watcher did not answer immediately.

"Not yet."

His fingertips paused beside the four characters for "Xinhuo Council."

"Those who can handle abnormalities are not necessarily core members. Those who can refrain from responding to residue are not necessarily aware of the recovery rules."

The assistant looked at the broken mirror covered by red cloth on the stage, lowering his voice further.

"What if someone is really watching from behind the firelight?"

The Lamp Watcher smiled slightly.

"Then we should invite him to watch the lamp even more."

Below the stage, Zhao Ye lowered his voice and asked, "Should I just smash it?"

Shen Qinghe did not hesitate.

"No. There are too many ordinary people, the broken mirror might be connected to other Old Object items, and the longevity lamp hasn't appeared yet. If we act now, we'll fall right into their trap."

Zhao Ye gritted his teeth but did not refute.

After redeeming the Evil Suppressor seed, his physical reactions were faster than before, and he was steadier when facing pollution echoes.

But the steadier he was, the more he could feel the hook hidden behind that broken mirror.

As soon as they made a move, the other party would know who could see, who would suppress, and who was responsible for judging.

This feeling made him very unhappy.

It was like someone tapping on his shoulder with the back of a knife, strike after strike.

You know the other party is provoking you, yet you cannot strike back immediately.

Tang Zhiwei sat in a position towards the side of the front row, her face still wearing the cold indifference expected of a collector.

She did not look at Shen Qinghe, nor did she look at Zhao Ye.

After the host finished speaking, she even deliberately asked the wealthy person beside her in a low voice, "Does anyone actually buy things like this?"

The person beside her smiled and said that the more inauspicious an item was, the more people felt it was rare.

Disgust welled up in Tang Zhiwei's heart, but on the surface, she just nodded slightly.

She knew she could not expose her abnormal cognition now. The more she acted like an ordinary wealthy person, the safer Shen Qinghe and Zhao Ye would be.

The broken mirror was ultimately not sold publicly.

The host said it was just an exhibit, and the real finale was still to come.

When the red cloth was placed back over it, a line of extremely faint text suddenly appeared on the surface of the broken mirror.

Not everyone could see it.

Shen Qinghe saw it. Bai Ya saw it. Lu Chen also saw it through the Grey Net.

[Is the person behind Torch also watching?]

Deep within Xinhuo Hall, the Grey Net went quiet for a moment.

Zero prompted: "The other party is attempting to confirm whether the person with the highest authority in Torch is monitoring the mission in real-time."

Lu Chen looked at that line of text, his expression unchanged.

He would not reveal himself immediately just because of a provocation.

The card behind the firelight could not be forced out by a single sentence from the enemy.

Furthermore, what the other party knew right now was still only the surface: grey-white firelight, wrist mark, abnormal recovery, sealing, and a name they were repeatedly testing—Xinhuo Council.

They did not know about the Core of the Torch. They did not know about source essence. They did not know about Xinhuo Hall. Nor did they know what the person truly sitting behind the firelight actually controlled.

"Keep watching," Lu Chen said.

The mission Rank on the stone tablet shifted slightly.

[Current risk: C Rank upper limit, approaching B Rank.]

Inside the exhibition hall, the host smiled again.

"Ladies and gentlemen, tonight's real finale is about to begin."

The grey-black residues on the old wooden stands at the four corners lit up simultaneously.

Shen Qinghe felt a continuous burning sensation three times on the inside of her wrist.

That was not a normal warning. It was the longevity lamp about to enter.

When the broken mirror was displayed, several buyers in the audience actually showed expressions of disappointment.

It did not have the gimmick of the longevity lamp, nor could it weave a beautiful story like the faceless puppet; broken, cold, and inauspicious, it didn't look like a collection piece suitable for display at home in any way.

But the more it was like this, the more Shen Qinghe understood its purpose.

It was not a commodity. It was a litmus test.

Testing who would be afraid, testing who would recognize Li Man's voice, testing who would lose composure at the words "already recovered."

Zhao Ye's hand was already pressed on the latch of the box.

The Rank 1 Evil Suppressor seed allowed him to sense the direction of approaching pollution more clearly; the feeling the broken mirror gave him was like a barbed thread, wrapped around the residue of the cold case, with the other end extending towards the second floor.

As long as they pulled on the thread, the other party could follow it and find their hands.

Tang Zhiwei noticed that two wealthy individuals had no interest in the broken mirror, but were very interested in the reactions of the people below the stage.

One of them even used the tiny mirror on his cufflink to scan the front-row audience.

She did not look over, but only submitted the seat number in the Xin Huo Interface.

The Grey Net quickly replied: [Suspected auxiliary observer, contact not recommended.]

Zhou Yan in the Safe House also received the text from the broken mirror's label.

His first reaction was absurdity, but his second reaction was a chill.

The fact that the Old Object Chain could use the concept of "already recovered" as a label meant that they were not only selling Old Object items, but also studying the traces and terminology left behind by the Xinhuo Council.

He wrote a judgment on the data page: The Longevity Society may have mastered some abnormal aftermath terminology, but they have not understood the essence of the Core of the Torch recovery.

Xu Minglan watched the synchronized records and silently moved the emergency plan for mental residue types to the very top.

The broken mirror hadn't even fully erupted yet, but it had already caused three members to experience different auditory hallucinations.

She knew that if the longevity lamp was also an abnormality similar to targeting psychological weaknesses, the Safe House would soon receive casualties that were not just physical.

She lowered her head to check the purification patches, then pushed the hemostatic ointment to the side.

That thing could stop bleeding. But what would truly be lost tonight might not be blood.