67: Chapter 67 First Squad Leader Mission

Zhao Ye received a new mission.

The Rank was not high.

Midnight knocking incident at a residential building.

But the mission notes were quite special.

[ Lead a training team. ]

This meant he was no longer just an executor.

But a person in charge.

The only person accompanying him was Lin Zhao.

The mission location was an old residential building in the southern district of Qinghe. For the past three days, every day at 1:00 AM, knocking sounds would echo between the third and fifth floors.

The knocking was neither rushed nor slow.

Three knocks each time.

When someone asked who it was, the voice of an acquaintance would come from outside the door.

Two residents already had abnormal mental states.

Fortunately, no one actually opened the door.

Before the mission started, Lin Zhao checked his equipment in the Safe House.

Temporary sealing bags, purification patch, basic protective talismans, a flashlight, and spare masks.

Zhao Ye watched him lay them out one by one and was silent for a moment.

Lin Zhao looked up: "What's wrong?"

Zhao Ye said: "You look like you're going camping."

Lin Zhao was stunned.

Bai Ya connected remotely, his tone eerie.

"An anomalous camping trip, complete with a morning wake-up service from friends and family outside the door."

Lin Zhao silently packed his things away.

Before midnight, the two arrived at the residential building.

Zhao Ye was clearly a bit unaccustomed to this.

In the past, when encountering danger, he was used to rushing up to solve it himself.

Now, however, he had to constantly pay attention to his teammate's state.

Two lights in the hallway were broken.

The wall plaster was damp, and the handrails were cold.

Lin Zhao followed behind Zhao Ye, his breathing very light.

Exactly one o'clock.

The knocking sounded.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

The sound came from the end of the fourth floor.

Immediately after, a woman's voice sounded outside the door.

"Lin Zhao."

"Open the door."

Lin Zhao's expression changed slightly.

It was his mother's voice.

But his mother couldn't possibly be here at this time.

He subconsciously looked towards the door, his lips moving slightly, almost responding.

Zhao Ye reached out and pressed down on his shoulder.

"Don't answer."

Lin Zhao instantly snapped out of it.

Cold sweat broke out on his back.

The voice outside the door paused.

Then it changed to a voice familiar to Zhao Ye.

"Zhao Ye."

"You're late again."

Zhao Ye gripped his evil-breaking short staff tightly, his expression unchanged.

He did not answer.

He just said in a low voice: "Hearing a familiar voice doesn't mean there's an acquaintance outside the door."

Lin Zhao took a deep breath and nodded.

Zhao Ye didn't rush to smash the door.

He first had Lin Zhao step back, confirmed that ordinary residents had been persuaded to leave beforehand, and then used the Xin Huo Interface to submit a rule judgment.

[ Suspected low-Rank name-calling anomaly. ]

[ Responding triggers risk. ]

[ Risk of opening the door unknown. ]

Bai Ya added remotely.

[ Anomalous traces in the hallway are concentrated under the door crack. ]

[ Suggest sealing the door crack, do not open the door directly. ]

Zhao Ye did as instructed.

He used a sealing patch to press over the door crack, holding the evil-breaking short staff horizontally in front of the door.

Lin Zhao followed the procedure to light up a low-Rank protective talisman, preventing the sound from continuing to spread to other floors.

The knocking suddenly became rapid.

But as the sealing patch lit up, the sound seemed to be blocked back into the wall, becoming quieter bit by bit.

In the end, only a light sound like fingernails scraping the door remained.

Zhao Ye raised his hand, using the authorized Purifying Flame to suppress the traces under the door crack.

The anomaly was successfully sealed.

On the way back, Lin Zhao felt a bit embarrassed.

"I almost caused an incident just now."

Zhao Ye shook his head.

"Being afraid is fine."

"Responding is the problem."

Lin Zhao nodded earnestly.

This was the first time he truly understood the importance of anomaly rules.

Mission settlement complete.

Lin Zhao received a considerable amount of contribution points.

He was one step closer to redeeming his target Ability Seed.

At the same time, Zero popped up a new evaluation.

[ Zhao Ye possesses the qualifications as a candidate for action squad leader. ]

[ Still requires observation. ]

Zhao Ye looked at the prompt and was silent for a long time.

He suddenly realized.

What Torch has always needed is not just someone who can fight.

But a frontline leader who can bring teammates back.

After returning to Xinhuo Hall, Zhao Ye did not immediately close the mission review.

He watched the one second where Lin Zhao almost responded repeatedly twice.

Not to blame him.

But to confirm if he had a better way to handle it at the time.

In the past, he wouldn't do this.

He would only confirm if the anomaly had been beaten back and if ordinary people had survived.

But the squad-leading mission made him realize that every hesitation, every shift in gaze, and every change in breathing of his teammates could become a danger at the anomaly site.

Shen Qinghe walked over and glanced at the review footage.

"First time leading a team, not bad."

Zhao Ye frowned.

"Not bad means there are still problems."

Shen Qinghe did not deny it.

"You reminded him in time, but beforehand, you could have had Lin Zhao repeat the rules."

"Confirm that he really remembers them, rather than assuming he remembers."

Zhao Ye was silent for a while and nodded.

"Got it."

Bai Ya sat not far away, slowly flipping through records.

"Congratulations, you're starting to understand why leading newcomers is prone to shortening one's lifespan."

Zhao Ye looked at him.

"Have you led any?"

Bai Ya smiled.

"I don't lead."

"I'm only responsible for watching others shorten their lifespans from the sidelines."

Zhao Ye clenched his fist.

Lin Zhao stood to the side; he was originally still a bit nervous, but couldn't help but laugh when he heard this.

The tense mood finally relaxed.

Lu Chen watched this scene from the high platform without interjecting.

Zhao Ye's changes were subtle.

But this was exactly the change Xinhuo Council needed.

An organization cannot rely forever on a few people who can fight to charge forward.

It needs people who learn to lead, learn to judge, and learn to let newcomers come back alive.

This is more important than having one more attack skill.

Lin Zhao also changed a bit after this mission.

He didn't shrink back because he almost responded; instead, he re-read the rules related to "name-calling anomalies".

In the past, when he looked at these rules, he only felt they were like exam key points.

Now he knew that behind every point, there might be a person who almost didn't make it back.

Zhao Ye's mission evaluation for him was neither high nor low.

[ Execution stable. ]

[ Rule response needs strengthening. ]

[ Can continue to participate in low-Rank missions. ]

After reading it, Lin Zhao was not disappointed.

This made him feel more at ease than empty encouragement.

Shen Qinghe submitted Zhao Ye's squad-leading record to the official member evaluation.

Bai Ya saw it and teased: "Congratulations, you have officially evolved from a fighter into a fighter who leads newcomers."

Zhao Ye ignored him.

But this time, he did not deny the matter of "leading newcomers."

Because he knew that in the future, he might really have to lead more people into anomaly sites.

After the mission ended, Lin Zhao wrote the four words "Do not respond" on the first page of his training notes.

He used to think such rules were so simple as to be almost laughable.

But when he actually heard his mother's voice ringing from outside the door, he realized that the difficulty of the rule wasn't in remembering it, but in still following it at the most wavering moment.

The contribution points from this mission weren't the most.

But the lesson it gave him was heavy enough.

And it was enough to bring him one step closer to being a true Torch member.