68: Chapter 68 Logistics Safety House

The development speed of Torch was getting faster and faster.

Relying solely on the Xinhuo Hall was no longer enough to meet the demand.

Members could communicate through the Xin Huo Interface, missions could be distributed via the Grey Net, and anomalies could be sealed away deep within the Xinhuo Hall.

However, it was impossible to cram all the wounded, vehicles, temporary supplies, Candidate observations, and low-level pollution containment from reality into a projection space.

Thus, Tang Zhiwei launched the Safe House project.

The location was chosen in the west of Qinghe.

On the surface, it was an ordinary warehousing and office area.

The entrance bore the sign of a shell consulting company, there were parcel lockers downstairs, and a small warehouse was next door; the passing vehicles did not seem out of place.

Yet, the interior had been completely renovated.

Wounded rest area.

Pollution containment room.

Basic medical area.

Temporary storage room for sealed items.

Vehicle dispatch point.

Candidate observation room.

There was also a small room that looked like a meeting room from the outside but could actually serve as an emergency mission review point.

Xu Minglan was responsible for the medical procedure design.

She required that the pollution containment room and the regular rest area must be separated, and everyone who had entered an anomaly site had to undergo preliminary observation first.

Bai Ya was responsible for screening risks in the Old Goods Circle.

After checking the nearby tenants, logistics routes, and surveillance blind spots, he gave his assessment.

"The location is good."

"It's not far from the Old Goods Circle, but it's not under their noses."

After touring the place, Zhao Ye couldn't help but exclaim.

"This place is much safer than my dormitory."

Tang Zhiwei didn't even look up.

"The problem with your dormitory isn't that it's unsafe."

"It's that it's too poor."

Everyone burst into laughter.

Zhao Ye was silent for half a second.

"Does that count as a personal attack?"

Bai Ya said airily, "No."

"That's called factual sealing."

Even Shen Qinghe couldn't help but turn her head away, suppressing a smile.

Tang Zhiwei didn't let the atmosphere stay light for too long.

She quickly projected the Safe House usage rules onto the Xin Huo Interface.

Apprentices cannot bring Candidates into the Safe House alone.

Temporary sealed items cannot stay beyond the specified time.

Wounded observation records must be synchronized with members with medical clearance.

Logistics supply requests must include the mission number.

The Safe House is not a hotel, nor is it a personal shelter.

After reading the rules, Lu Chen immediately approved the registration.

Zero updated synchronously.

[ Qinghe No. 1 Safe House registration complete. ]

[ Logistics clearance upgraded. ]

[ Tang Zhiwei's logistics contribution increased. ]

[ Safe House functions: Wounded stabilization, Candidate observation, low-level pollution containment, temporary sealing and transport. ]

Tang Zhiwei stood in the center of the Safe House and finally let out a soft sigh.

She was not a combat member.

She had no Spark, no Pure Flame Vision.

But at this moment, she realized clearly for the first time that logistics was not peripheral.

Without these places, there would be nowhere to house the people saved by the front-line members.

However, less than half an hour after the registration was completed, the Grey Net suddenly sent a notification.

[ Jiangbei Candidate Han Yue applies for temporary asylum. ]

[ Detected secondary marking of Paper Sedan residue. ]

The hall went quiet instantly.

Tang Zhiwei looked at the Safe House data that had just been registered, her fingers frozen in mid-air.

Bai Ya said in a low voice, "It opened for business quite quickly."

Zhao Ye glanced at him.

"Can you say something auspicious?"

Bai Ya thought for a moment.

"At least it shows the location was chosen well."

No one replied.

Because they all knew.

The aftermath of Jiangbei had caught up.

After the Safe House registration was completed, Tang Zhiwei performed another layer of clearance division.

Official members can enter the mission review room and temporary storage room.

Apprentices can enter the rest area, medical area, and observation area, but may not handle sealed items alone.

Candidates can only wait in designated areas and may not touch any anomalous Materials.

If Candidates from the outer city need real-world asylum, they must undergo logistics review and medical observation.

She wrote the rules one by one into the Xin Huo Interface and finally sent them to Lu Chen for approval.

After reading them, Lu Chen replied with only two words.

[ Approved. ]

Tang Zhiwei stared at those two words for a while.

She suddenly realized that what she was doing now was not essentially different from managing company funds, connections, and resources in the past.

It was just that before, she dealt with contracts, accounts, and interpersonal favors.

Now, she dealt with the wounded, pollution, and the consequences of anomalies.

This made her feel absurdly calm.

At least she was very good at things like rules.

Xu Minglan finished counting the first batch of medical supplies.

She put ordinary labels on the cabinet doors, making them look like standard first-aid supplies.

The real purification patches and isolation Materials were hidden in a second-layer secret compartment, which could only be opened by touching it with the Mark of the Torch.

Seeing this, Bai Ya commented, "It's looking more and more like the real thing."

Tang Zhiwei asked, "It didn't before?"

Bai Ya thought for a moment.

"Before, it was like a group of people putting out fires in different places."

"Now, it's like someone finally remembered to build a fire station."

Tang Zhiwei accepted this assessment.

When the lights in the Safe House turned on, the city outside remained ordinary.

Passersby would not know that inside this inconspicuous warehouse building, there was already the first Torch logistics node in Qinghe in the true sense.

Nor would they know that once an anomaly chased them from the night, this place would be the key to whether many people could survive until dawn.

The establishment of the Safe House also gave the Xinhuo Council its first "foothold" in the real sense.

In the past, after members completed a mission, they would either return to real life or enter the Xinhuo Hall for a review.

There was a lack of a transition between the two.

Injured people needed observation.

Rescued people needed to be housed.

Candidates need to wait for judgment.

Temporary sealed items needed to be transported.

These trivial parts that weren't "cool" were the foundation that truly determined whether the organization could exist long-term.

Tang Zhiwei was very clear about this.

Therefore, she did not decorate the Safe House like a secret base.

There were no extra decorations, no exaggerated signs, and nothing that would make outsiders associate it with Torch.

The more ordinary it was, the safer it was.

The more inconspicuous it was, the better it could protect people at critical moments.

Lu Chen was very satisfied with this.

If the Xinhuo Council were to expand to more cities in the future, every city would need such a node.

Not a mysterious palace, but a sanctuary of fire hidden in the cracks of reality.

When Lu Chen connected the Safe House node to the Grey Net, a point of stable firelight appeared on the Qinghe map.

It did not cut through the night sky like Spark, nor did it suppress anomalies like the Purifying Flame.

It just shone there quietly.

But Lu Chen knew that when the real tide of anomalies arrived, these quiet points would be more important than a flashy suppression.

Because after the battle ends, people always need a place to survive.

Tang Zhiwei looked at that point of firelight and felt for the first time that logistics was not just a supplement hiding behind combat.

It was the very root of whether Torch could expand.