6: Chapter 6 First Entry into the Hall of Flames

When the gray fog dispersed, Shen Qinghe's first reaction was to reach for the baton behind her waist.

Upon feeling it, she felt slightly more at ease.

Beneath her feet was cold stone, and there were no doors or windows around; only a circle of unformed seats surrounded a central stele. A faint firelight hung above the stele, and behind it stood a man whose face could not be seen clearly.

This place looked too much like an interrogation room designed to create a sense of mystery.

Shen Qinghe looked around, and her first words were: "Where is the exit?"

Lu Chen, behind the stele, had prepared for many questions. Luo Wei, anomalies, the Core of the Torch, Candidate rules—but he hadn't prepared for the question of an exit.

He remained calm on the surface, while mentally asking Zero.

[Members can actively exit the conscious projection at any time.]

"You can leave whenever you want to," Lu Chen said.

Shen Qinghe stared at him: "How do I leave?"

"Say 'exit'."

"It's that simple?"

"For now, yes."

"For now?"

Lu Chen paused for a moment: "The Xinhuo Hall is still being perfected."

Shen Qinghe's brows twitched slightly. She had originally thought the other party would pretend to be omnipotent; she hadn't expected this answer to be unexpectedly honest.

Zero's voice sounded at the right moment.

"Candidate Shen Qinghe, test mission completed."

"Do you wish to submit the mission objective?"

Shen Qinghe didn't hand over the items immediately, instead clutching the evidence bag in her hand.

"Are you a Fire Keeper?"

"Yes."

"The person who took Luo Wei's phone from the North Ring Old Building last night was also you?"

Lu Chen's heart tightened.

She was harder to fool than she looked on surveillance.

"Yes."

"Is Luo Wei dead?"

"I don't know."

This answer clearly stunned Shen Qinghe for a moment.

Lu Chen didn't use "insufficient authority" as a shield again. He had indeed only recovered the spatial echo; the phone had not yet been analyzed, and he could not be certain if Luo Wei himself still had any consciousness remaining.

"What I can confirm is that the main body of the anomaly in the old building has been recovered. That phone and the doorplate fragment in your hand may hold clues."

Shen Qinghe looked at him for a few seconds, her tone softening slightly: "If you had just said that earlier, it would have been fine."

She placed the evidence bag in front of the stele.

The gray fog lifted the fragments, and the white doorplate disintegrated little by little in the firelight. The front of the stele displayed the mission settlement, while the back revealed resource information that only Lu Chen could see.

[Anomaly residue: Doorplate fragment.]

[Recoverable source essence: 10.]

[Settlement rules: Organization retains 70%, member contribution converted to 30%.]

[Organization obtains source essence: 7.]

[Member obtains contribution points: 30.]

[Current source essence: 8.]

Seventy percent of the source essence flowed into the Core of the Torch, becoming resources that the hall and subsequent modules could actually consume; the remaining thirty percent was converted into member contribution points.

A prompt appeared on the front of the stele.

[Mission completed.]

[Obtained contribution points: 30.]

[Authority updated: Candidate → Apprentice.]

Shen Qinghe stared at "contribution points" for two seconds.

"You even pay wages in a place like this?"

"It's not wages, it's an internal exchange voucher."

"Sounds like a gift voucher that can only be spent here."

Lu Chen found himself unable to refute that for a moment.

"In the future, you can exchange them for abilities, items, intelligence, training, and medical care."

"What about now?"

"The exchange function hasn't opened yet."

Shen Qinghe looked up at him with an expression like she was looking at a boss who had recruited someone only to find out the company System wasn't fully set up yet.

Hidden behind the firelight, Lu Chen's ears felt a bit hot.

"It will open soon."

"Your 'soon' better be the same as a normal person's 'soon'."

After she finished speaking, she looked around at the seats obscured by the gray fog.

"You brought me in here, is it because you want me to handle anomalies for you?"

"Yes, but not entirely," Lu Chen said. "You are already investigating them. Without Torch, you would inevitably encounter the next one sooner or later."

"So you gave me a qualification to let me continue investigating with my life on the line?"

"And also tools to help you survive."

This sentence made the hall quiet for a few seconds.

Shen Qinghe did not deny it. If it hadn't been for that "three steps to the left" earlier, she might have already been dragged into the wall.

"What about quitting?"

"Candidate qualifications, marks, and hall authority will be revoked. You will remember the old building, and you will remember this place, but you won't be able to enter the Xinhuo Council's internal space in the future."

"You won't wipe my memory?"

"No."

"Why?"

Lu Chen looked at her: "Because those are your memories."

This sentence wasn't a rule he had pre-designed; it just slipped out.

The scrutiny on Shen Qinghe's face faded a little, but she didn't immediately trust him because of it.

Lu Chen raised his hand, and three rules lit up on the stele.

[Torch does not force anyone to join.]

[Torch grants opportunities, it does not promise fate.]

[Traitors will have everything revoked.]

Shen Qinghe saw the third rule and asked: "What does 'everything' include?"

"The authority, abilities, equipment, and marks granted by the Xinhuo Council."

"What about my life?"

"If you haven't used Torch's things to harm others, it's not included."

"And if I have?"

"Dealt with on a case-by-case basis."

"That answer sounds a lot like discretionary power."

"Because right now, there is only me."

Only after speaking did Lu Chen realize he had let something slip.

Shen Qinghe immediately seized on it: "So there's only you in the Xinhuo Council right now?"

Lu Chen was silent.

"Current authority is insufficient."

Shen Qinghe was almost amused with anger.

"You certainly use that line quite smoothly."

She walked halfway around the stele, not really approaching Lu Chen, just looking at the ball of fire and the empty seats. After a moment, she stopped.

"I'll stay for now."

"For now?"

"Didn't you say the hall is still being perfected?" she retorted. "The organization can test members, and members can observe the organization."

Lu Chen nodded: "Reasonable."

The stele lit up.

[Apprentice Shen Qinghe, status confirmed.]

[Mark of the Torch is being generated.]

Her right inner wrist suddenly became hot; a tiny fire pattern emerged from under her skin, fading away after a few seconds.

[Functions: Identity anchoring, mission communication, low-level warning.]

Shen Qinghe touched her wrist: "Will it always be hot?"

"It might when there is an anomaly nearby."

"Even when I'm sleeping?"

Lu Chen looked at Zero, not answering immediately.

Shen Qinghe understood: "You don't know either."

"First member, insufficient data."

She let out a long breath: "Fine, at least you didn't pretend to know."

After Shen Qinghe exited, the hall became quiet again.

Lu Chen maintained his standing posture for a few more seconds, and after confirming she had truly left, his shoulders slumped.

He walked over to the side of the stele and sat down, looking down at his palms.

He had been tensed up too tightly earlier; his palms were completely wet.

Zero said: "First member recruitment completed."

Lu Chen wiped his face.

"I know."

"Member evaluation: High vigilance, many questions."

"You don't need to summarize that."

The member profile on the stele stabilized.

Shen Qinghe, Apprentice, contribution points thirty, no abilities, mark stable.

The Xinhuo Council finally no longer existed only in his documents and ideas.

The price was that the first member seemed much harder to manage than he had expected.