54: Chapter 54 Third Generation Candidate

The screening for the third generation of Candidates no longer took place solely in Qinghe.

The map of the Grey Net looked like an unfurled, dark star chart; Qinghe sat at the center, while the surrounding cities and counties were merely blurred outlines. As Lu Chen confirmed the start of the screening, several grey-white lines of fire extended outward from Qinghe, touching the abnormal remnants in Jiangbei, Linhai, and several old county towns.

Zero did not screen people based on "who was closest".

What the Xinhuo Council needed was not the person with the most courage, nor the one most eager to become strong, but rather those who, after encountering abnormalities, still retained their reason, boundaries, and basic kindness.

The first Candidate record came from Jiangbei.

It was a young community worker named Yan Xia. During the Paper Sedan incident, she could have left at the first opportunity, but instead, she dragged two elderly people who had been lured by the crying toward the stairwell back into their rooms. Afterward, she didn't upload any videos, nor did she tell ghost stories online; she simply recorded the strange noises in the stairwell, the paper ash residues, and the traces of red thread in a notebook, item by item.

At the end of the record, Zero provided an evaluation.

[Adaptation Direction: Action Assistance / Community Evacuation]

[Risk: Obvious fear response]

[Candidate Suggestion: Contactable]

The second one came from Linhai.

An elevator repairman, Fu Cheng. During the Reverse Elevator incident, he discovered that the elevator in the abandoned mall would stop at a non-existent basement level in the middle of the night. He didn't go in, nor did he dismantle the equipment; instead, he cut the power to the elevator, put up caution tape, set up obstacles, and left a note for the property management saying, "No one is allowed to enter alone."

[Adaptation Direction: Equipment Maintenance / Site Sealing]

[Risk: Insufficient knowledge of abnormalities]

[Candidate Suggestion: Contactable]

The third one came from Qinghe County.

A folklore museum curator, Yu Huai. When the incense ash in the old ancestral hall flowed backward, he did not let the tourists stay to watch the spectacle; instead, he cleared the area under the pretext of cultural relic maintenance and sealed the incense burner in an iron cabinet. Although his methods were crude, he at least prevented more ordinary people from getting close.

[Adaptation Direction: Archives / Folklore / Investigation Assistance]

[Risk: Understanding of old customs may be misled by contamination]

[Candidate Suggestion: Cautious contact]

Several more Candidate records surfaced one after another.

A logistics warehouse manager who had discovered an abnormal package but did not open it privately. A craftsman who had sealed an old knife that could repair itself into a cement bucket. A nurse at an out-of-town hospital who, after caring for a patient with abnormal hypothermia, did not skip work but instead separately recorded the anomalies in the medical records.

Lu Chen sat on the high platform looking at these names, his fingers tapping lightly on the armrest.

As soon as the scope expanded, problems arose.

Within Qinghe City, Torch could quickly confirm Candidates through the Grey Net and field observations by members. It was different in the outer cities; information was more fragmented, and risks were higher. A person who appeared stable might just be bait released by an abnormality.

"Outer city Candidates can only enter the Outer Ring," Lu Chen said. "Do not touch the central stele, do not look at the Sealing Corridor, do not open official exchanges."

Zero responded: "Settings applied."

Soon, the fire patterns of the Candidate Outer Ring lit up.

The first batch of grey messages did not directly pull people into Xinhuo Hall, but first entered the edges of their dreams.

In Jiangbei, Yan Xia woke up in a start at three in the morning. She sat in her cramped rented room, hearing the distant sound of joyous music coming from outside the window again. She subconsciously reached for the notebook by her pillow, only to find a grey letter added to it.

The letter had no sender.

There was only one line of text.

[You have remained clear-headed in the face of an abnormality.]

[If you are willing to continue seeing the truth, press and hold the letter.]

Yan Xia stared at that line of text for a long time, her fingers trembling.

Of course she was afraid.

But she thought of the two elderly people in the stairwell that day who had almost followed the paper sedan away, and she still reached out and pressed the letter.

A flash of grey-white fire.

Her consciousness projection appeared in the Outer Ring of Xinhuo Hall.

It was vast and very quiet there.

The central stele was distant and blurry, the seats in the Inner Ring were separated by curtains of fire, and only the silhouettes of the Sealing Corridor and the Fire Keeper's high platform could be seen. She couldn't see the face of the person on the high platform clearly, only feeling a gaze falling from the depths of the firelight.

She wasn't the only one.

Fu Cheng from Linhai, Yu Huai from Qinghe County, the logistics warehouse manager, and the craftsman also appeared one after another in the Candidate Outer Ring in the form of projections.

Some people's first reaction was to step back.

Some looked up at the Inner Ring, their eyes filled with shock.

Others opened their mouths to ask: "Can you save my mom?"

Zero's voice sounded calmly.

"This is not a place for granting wishes."

The person turned pale.

Zero continued: "This is the Outer Ring of the Xinhuo Council Candidates. Being invited does not mean you have become a member, nor does it mean you can obtain abilities. You can view the rules, accept Candidate missions, accumulate contributions, or choose to withdraw and have parts of your memory erased."

The Candidate rules appeared in the center of the Outer Ring.

No leaking secrets. No private possession of abnormal artifacts. No offering sacrifices to abnormalities. No seeking ordinary benefits in the name of Torch. Candidates can only access Candidate missions; all Ability Seeds, standard techniques, and official equipment show details but cannot be exchanged.

Fu Cheng stared at the "Spark" entry for a long time.

He could see the description.

Official members transform into Sparks, quickly arriving at abnormal points along the Grey Net coordinates.

But the status bar only had four words.

[Cannot be learned]

Yu Huai stared at the description of "Pure Flame Vision", as if he had seen a key that could explain the strange events at the old ancestral hall.

On the other side of the Outer Ring, Lin Zhao and Xu Minglan stood behind the fire curtain as Apprentices, observing the newcomers.

Lin Zhao suddenly had a strange feeling.

Not long ago, he was also the person standing outside the door like this.

Now, he had already begun watching others enter the door for the first time.

Lu Chen sat on the high platform without saying too much.

He knew very well that the Candidate Outer Ring was just the beginning.

Among this group of people, some would stay, some would withdraw, some would be exposed as unsuitable during their first mission, and some would slowly grow into new branches of the Xinhuo Council.

Just as the rules of the Outer Ring were about to end, the shadow behind Yan Xia suddenly flickered gently.

A wisp of red thread remnant emerged from beside her feet, like blood-colored silk threads dragged from the corner of a paper sedan curtain.

Shen Qinghe looked up.

Bai Ya's gaze also turned cold.

Zero's notification appeared accordingly.

[Jiangbei Paper Sedan remnant, still active]

[Candidate Yan Xia, may have been marked by an abnormality]

The Outer Ring was silent.

Lu Chen looked at that wisp of red thread, not burning it immediately.

What he wanted to see was not just the abnormality.

It was also how people would choose when faced with an abnormality.

The Candidate Outer Ring soon quieted down.

Yan Xia, Fu Cheng, Yu Huai, and the others were not seeing an abnormality for the first time, but previously, when facing an abnormality, they could only rely on instinct, experience, or judgments made after fear. Now, for the first time, they saw a complete set of rules placed before them.

Withdraw, and you can have parts of your memory erased and return to an ordinary life.

Stay, and you must accept Candidate missions and bear the risk of being targeted by abnormalities again.

Fu Cheng looked at the Equipment Workshop section and muttered: "So those things aren't impossible to repair, they just can't be repaired indiscriminately."

Yu Huai stared at the archive route. He used to treat old customs as folk memories, at most feeling that there were some unclean rumors within them. But the Xin Huo Interface let him see another possibility: perhaps those old customs were abnormal rules recorded by humans in their long-standing fear using the clumsiest methods.

Yan Xia had not spoken.

She looked at the red thread remnant by her feet, her face very pale, but she did not step back. She knew that thing came from Jiangbei, from the paper sedan that night. It wasn't following her here; it had been entangled with her long ago.

Lu Chen observed her reaction from the high platform.

Fear is normal.

People who are not afraid are actually more dangerous.

After a long time, Yan Xia raised her head, her voice trembling: "If I withdraw, will it still come to find me?"

Zero answered: "Possibly."

She asked again: "If I stay, can I at least know what it is?"

"You can obtain Candidate missions and basic information."

Yan Xia closed her eyes.

"Then I will stay."

The Torch pattern of the Outer Ring lit up at her feet for a moment.

It was not granting power.

It was just recording that an ordinary person, in the face of fear, still chose to keep their eyes open.