48: Chapter 48 The First Spark

The stairwell lights in Anning Residential Complex had been broken for a long time.

The residents of Unit 3, Building 5 had long since grown accustomed to walking up the stairs in the dark at night; as long as they turned on their phone flashlight, they would be home in a few steps.

But tonight, an old-fashioned wall lamp appeared between the third and fourth floors.

The lampshade was yellowed, and though there were no wires inside, it shone with a faint light.

The first person to discover it was an elderly resident living on the fourth floor.

The elderly resident thought it was a new light installed by the property management, so they looked up for a second, only to hear someone calling their childhood nickname from inside the lampshade.

That name hadn't been called by anyone for many years.

The elderly resident froze on the stairs, their footsteps slowly drawing closer to the wall lamp.

Just then, a very faint sound of wind came from the roof.

It wasn't an airplane, fireworks, or a drone.

A Spark streaked across the night sky like a meteor falling toward the residential complex, but it abruptly converged as it approached the roof.

The next second, Zhao Ye landed on the edge of the Building 5 rooftop; the dark patterns on the inner lining of his standard-issue jacket flashed, and the evil-breaking short staff was held horizontally in his hand.

It was his first time using the Spark to arrive at a real mission site; his landing was much steadier than during training, yet he still crushed a small piece of old concrete.

Zhao Ye looked down and made a silent mental note: I'll have Tang Zhiwei calculate the repair costs later, don't put it on my tab.

The Xin Huo Interface popped up with coordinates.

[Abnormal Trace Location: Stairwell between the third and fourth floors.]

[Manifestation: Calling names, inducing approach, old lamp-type trace.]

[Advice: Do not respond.]

Zhao Ye went downstairs from the rooftop fire door.

When he reached the third-floor corner, the elderly resident was already reaching out, about to touch the wall lamp.

A gentle voice came from the lampshade again.

"A-Fu, come here."

Zhao Ye did not call the elderly resident's name.

He stepped forward directly, holding the evil-breaking short staff between the elderly resident and the wall lamp.

The elderly resident was startled: "Who are you?"

"Property management, emergency maintenance." Zhao Ye didn't change his expression, "This lamp is leaking electricity."

The elderly resident looked at the short staff in his hand, clearly not believing him.

Just then, the voice inside the wall lamp suddenly turned into a voice familiar to Zhao Ye.

"Zhao Ye."

"You're late again."

Zhao Ye's fingers tightened.

The Mark of the Torch was burning hot, and the residual heat brought by the Spark was still flowing in his blood.

It had been repeatedly emphasized in the training area that the Spark is only responsible for the arrival; after arriving, one must still follow the rules to handle the anomaly.

He did not respond.

He pressed the evil-breaking short staff against the wall and whispered, "Fire Seal."

This was not a core technique officially opened for use; it was just a marking aid he had temporarily learned during Spark training.

The Mark of the Torch lit up, and the tip of the staff left a small fire mark on the wall.

The Grey Net immediately locked onto the stairwell coordinates and synchronized the abnormal trace to Shen Qinghe and Lin Zhao.

Shen Qinghe, who was rushing over via a real-world route, received the notification almost simultaneously.

"Zhao Ye made contact first." She looked at Lin Zhao beside her, "Don't respond to any sounds after going upstairs. You are responsible for taking the ordinary person away, and I will confirm the rules."

Lin Zhao nodded. He didn't have the Spark, so he could only run up the stairs, yet his breathing remained very steady.

Seeing that Zhao Ye had already blocked the elderly resident, he immediately stepped forward to support the elderly resident and used an ordinary excuse to lead them downstairs.

"Ma'am, there's a problem with the stairwell circuit, let's go down first."

The elderly resident was still looking back at the lamp.

"Someone seemed to be calling me inside just now."

Lin Zhao lowered his voice: "You heard wrong, don't look back."

Shen Qinghe stood in the stairwell and raised her hand, brushing it over her eyes.

She hadn't officially learned the Pure Flame Vision yet, but the investigation route itself allowed her to briefly see the abnormal rule traces.

That wall lamp was not the core, just a residue of an old object, like a hook dropped by some Old Object Chain.

It would use familiar names to induce people to approach; the real pollution was hidden in a blackened lamp wick inside the lampshade.

"The lamp wick," she said.

Zhao Ye understood and pressed the evil-breaking short staff against the edge of the lampshade.

Shen Qinghe took out a basic containment bag and, following the procedure, let the Mark of the Torch mobilize a wisp of low-level Purifying Flame; the firelight wrapped around the wick, slowly pressing the trace into the containment bag.

The voice in the wall lamp stopped abruptly.

The stairwell light returned to normal, leaving only that faint Fire Seal on the wall, which flashed and then vanished.

The mission was completed very quickly.

So quickly that most residents in the complex only heard someone in the stairwell talking about property maintenance, and had no idea that a streak of Spark had fallen from the sky just moments ago.

But a little boy across the building, leaning against the window, saw that flash of fire.

The next day at school, he told his deskmate: "I saw a meteor fall into our residential complex last night."

The deskmate asked: "Did you make a wish?"

The little boy thought for a moment: "No. It fell too fast, like it was going to a fight."

This remark was later passed around in the residential complex owners' group as a joke for a while.

Bai Ya recorded this rumor into the Grey Net, his evaluation was very brief.

[Ordinary person's misidentification: Meteor.]

[Spread risk: Low.]

[Symbolic value: High.]

Zhao Ye saw the last line and was silent for a long time.

"What does 'symbolic value high' mean?"

Bai Ya looked at him: "It means you're finally more than just a construction site meteorite."

Shen Qinghe did not laugh. She looked at the response time in the mission log.

From the appearance of the warning to Zhao Ye's arrival, it took less than a minute.

She knew better than anyone what this meant.

In the past, the Xinhuo Council was chasing anomalies.

Now, as soon as an anomaly rears its head, the Spark has already arrived.

Lu Chen looked at the first combat record in his rented room and finally clicked confirm.

[Spark low-level combat test: Passed.]

[Official member city-level rapid response system: Initially established.]

The night outside the window was deep.

But starting from this night, in the night sky of Qinghe, there was one more kind of meteor that only anomalies would fear.

When Lin Zhao took the elderly resident downstairs, he specifically turned back to look at the wall.

The Fire Seal had already extinguished; ordinary people could not see any traces, but he could still see a fleeting coordinate in his Xin Huo Interface.

That Fire Seal had synchronized Zhao Ye's contact position, the wick's direction, and the evacuation route to the team.

It hadn't been officially opened as a core standard technique, but it had already made Lin Zhao realize that the Spark is only for arrival; what truly makes the team function is the marking and collaboration after arrival.

Shen Qinghe also noticed this.

She did not blame Zhao Ye for calling upon the prototype of the Fire Seal on the spot, because that mark happened to prevent them from having to re-search for the anomaly's location after going upstairs.

After the mission ended, she wrote a suggestion in the record: The Fire Seal can be considered as a candidate for the next official standard technique for members, but its duration and the number of marks must be limited.

When Lu Chen saw this suggestion, he only added one word in the backend.

"Approved."

This mission also allowed Lin Zhao to see his own position more clearly.

Zhao Ye could arrive first with the Spark, but soothing the elderly resident, clearing away onlookers, and explaining the scene with ordinary reasons still required someone to do it.

The Spark does not skip the reality process, but rather snatches back the most dangerous first minute.

Every minute thereafter still relies on the team to stitch the ordinary world back together.