4: Chapter 4 First Candidate List

Candidates cannot be chosen at random.

This was the first practical operational principle Lu Chen set for the Xinhuo Council.

When ordinary people suddenly gain power, they do not necessarily become heroes. Some will study the rules and help their companions, but there will certainly be others who become arrogant, show off, or even treat anomalies as tools to profit or harm others.

Power itself does not change a person; it only makes what was originally hidden in their heart easier to manifest into reality.

Lu Chen first organized the files on the North Ring Old Building.

[Anomaly File 001: The Non-Existent Room.]

[Location: North Ring Old Building, Qinghe City.]

[Subject Status: Recovered.]

[Residue: Luo Wei's mobile phone, doorplate fragments.]

[Site Status: Possible low-activity traces.]

Luo Wei's blacked-out mobile phone was placed alone in a drawer, with an "Unparsed" label stuck on the outside. Lu Chen did not attempt to turn it on. It came from inside an anomaly; any text message, photo, or recording could potentially carry new trigger rules.

The Xinhuo Council had just been established, and he was not qualified to gamble with the little bit of source essence remaining.

Next were the Candidates.

Police public records, local forums, candid videos, and resident group chats were organized by him one by one. The first to enter his view was Shen Qinghe.

A criminal police officer from the Qinghe City Criminal Investigation Detachment, she had been responsible for the peripheral investigation of the Luo Wei disappearance case and had also visited the vicinity of the North Ring Old Building.

In a candid video, she was standing in the shadow of the old building, listening to the residents speak. The people around her were clearly avoiding the topic, but she did not rush to deny them or use her professional status to pressure them; she simply confirmed the time, the floor, and the location where the knocking sounds appeared over and over again.

She was already standing on the edge of an anomaly, and she was calm enough.

Her identity as a criminal police officer was both an advantage and a risk. She could access case files that ordinary people had difficulty seeing, and she was accustomed to judging problems according to evidence and procedures; but once she brought an unconfirmed anomaly into the real-world System, it could also drag more unprotected people into it.

Therefore, the grey message did not give her membership status, but only a test she could refuse. Whether she could enter the Xinhuo Council depended on her choice when facing a real anomaly, not on that police officer ID card.

Lu Chen entered her into the database.

[Shen Qinghe.]

[Real-world Identity: Criminal Police Officer.]

[Anomaly Association: North Ring Old Building Disappearance Case.]

[Psychological Stability: High.]

[Execution Ability: High.]

[Moral Risk: Low.]

[Current Status: Pending Test.]

The second Candidate was Zhao Ye.

Thirty-two years old, he entered a security company after being discharged from the army and was currently a field captain. Half a month ago, a drunk man wandered into an abandoned construction site, and Zhao Ye rushed in to drag him out. In the video, a piece of falling steel rebar deflected strangely as it approached him, and the black rust on the surface of the steel rebar was also different from normal rust.

Zhao Ye did not package himself as a hero, nor did he rely on the video of the rescue to gain traffic. He simply went back to work as if the accident had never happened.

[Zhao Ye.]

[Real-world Identity: Veteran, Security Personnel.]

[Anomaly Association: Old Town Black Rust Construction Site.]

[Psychological Stability: High.]

[Execution Ability: High.]

[Moral Risk: Low.]

[Current Status: Pending Test.]

Lu Chen also marked two observation subjects whom he would not invite for the time being.

The first was Tang Zhiwei, one of the actual persons in charge of the Tang Foundation. She had not directly come into contact with the North Ring Old Building, but after an accident at an antique preview, she had quickly sealed the scene, settled the injured, and bought several warehouse contracts that might have allowed anomalous antiques to flow into the ordinary market.

She possessed money, vehicles, safe venues, and real-world connections, and she also displayed sufficient restraint. But she was currently more like someone who had sensed danger and was using real-world methods to plug loopholes, not yet truly standing in front of an anomaly.

[Tang Zhiwei: High value in real-world resources, continue to observe.]

The other used the code name "Bai Ya."

Bai Ya had long been active between the Old Goods Circle and grey market trading forums, both selling intelligence on old objects and organizing records of anomaly locations and transactions in Qinghe. His information sources were broader than those of ordinary people, but his identity, motives, and bottom line were all unclear.

[Bai Ya: High intelligence value, do not invite for now.]

There were actually more names in the database.

Some people saved others immediately after an anomaly occurred, only to sell the video to marketing accounts afterward; some knew that old objects could hurt people but still wanted to find buyers to raise the price; others had just accidentally passed by the scene, and their mental state was already on the verge of collapse.

Zero could filter out a list from anomaly associations, but it could not judge a person's bottom line for Lu Chen. Those who were not yet ready were temporarily pressed back into the grey fog, leaving only the lowest-level observation markers.

Lu Chen did not continue to expand the list.

In the Early Stage of an organization, the most taboo thing was to pull in everyone who looked useful. Real-world resources, intelligence capabilities, and combat qualities were certainly important, but the premise was that the other party could maintain judgment in front of an anomaly and could accept the rules of the organization.

The first grey message ultimately fell on Shen Qinghe.

She had already investigated the North Ring Old Building; even if Torch did not appear, she would very likely continue to pursue the investigation. Rather than letting her run into traces again without any protection, it was better to give her a choice.

Lu Chen stood in front of the stone tablet and began to generate the Candidate task.

[Task Name: Old Building Re-examination.]

[Task Goal: Enter the third floor of the North Ring Old Building at midnight and retrieve the residual doorplate fragments.]

[Task Nature: Candidate Test.]

[Task Risk: Low to Medium.]

[Completion Reward: Qualification for entry to Xinhuo Hall.]

[Can be refused. After refusal, the grey message will become invalid, and subsequent permissions will no longer be opened.]

He added a field hint.

[Do not respond to any voice that calls your name.]

Zero asked, "Deliver?"

Lu Chen looked at Shen Qinghe's file and did not confirm immediately.

Letting an ordinary person see the truth behind the world was a risk in itself. But Shen Qinghe had already investigated to the edge of the old building; continuing to let her pursue it without protection would only delay the risk, not eliminate it.

The right to choose must belong to her.

The grey message would tell her of the danger and also allow her to refuse; Torch would not decide for her whether she would approach anomalies for the rest of her life, nor would it erase her memory after she refused. People who had seen the darkness had the right to remember, but they could not obtain the authority to continue entering the council because of it.

A moment later, he raised his hand.

"Deliver."

The grey message patterns at the bottom of the stone tablet lit up.

At the same time, in the office of the Qinghe City Criminal Investigation Detachment, Shen Qinghe, who was looking through the files on the Luo Wei disappearance case, suddenly stopped moving.

On her case file, there appeared a grey letter with no stamp and no signature.

There was only a line of dark gold text on the front of the envelope.

[You have been added to the Torch Candidate list.]

After the grey message was delivered, a very thin task line appeared on the stone tablet.

That line did not represent control; it only meant that after the Candidate task began, Torch could confirm whether she was still safe.

Lu Chen did not leave the hall immediately.

He stood in front of the central stone tablet, watching Shen Qinghe's name turn from grey to dark gold, and for the first time, he truly realized: from this moment on, the price of any wrong judgment he made might no longer fall only on himself.