70: Chapter 70 Next Stop Qinghe

At 2:00 AM, the Safe House alarm suddenly sounded.

The Grey Net simultaneously popped up a notification.

[Abnormal path confirmed.]

[driverless night bus remnants have arrived in Qinghe.]

[Risk Rank upgraded to C-Rank Observation.]

Upon receiving the notification, Shen Qinghe, Zhao Ye, and Bai Ya responded immediately.

Zhao Ye transformed into sparks and landed at the street corner.

The moment the firelight hit the ground, the streetlights along the road flickered in unison.

He raised his evil-breaking short staff, blocking the space between the Safe House and the bus.

Shen Qinghe arrived shortly after, activating her Pure Flame Vision.

Cold white flames ignited in the depths of her eyes.

The street in reality rapidly faded.

She saw that the bus before her was not a physical entity.

It was more like a projection of a path.

The bus body was merely the surface layer.

The real danger was the invisible road behind the bus doors.

Bai Ya did not approach the doors; instead, he stood to the side, marking the edge of the doors with a Fire Seal.

As the Fire Seal landed, the Grey Net immediately began tracking the source.

Meanwhile, inside the Safe House:

Xu Minglan maintained the embryonic form of a Guardian Lamp, protecting Han Yue and the other personnel.

A faint Torch ignited in the corner of the observation room.

The light was not strong, but it caused the chill in the room to recede significantly.

Han Yue woke up from his sleep, his face pale.

"It's here?"

Xu Minglan pressed down on his shoulder.

"Don't go out."

"And don't respond to any stop announcements."

Lin Zhao was responsible for evacuating ordinary people nearby.

He lacked sparks and could only rely on real-world routes, yet he was already much steadier than before.

He knocked on the back door of a convenience store, used a gas leak as an excuse to get the clerk to leave, and then guided several people returning home late to a safe area.

The entire operation was orderly.

And through all of this, Lu Chen did not personally intervene.

From the Fire Keeper's seat, he observed the overall situation through the Grey Net.

This was the first cross-city remnant response since the Torch system had taken shape.

It was also a practical test in the true sense.

On the scene:

Shen Qinghe was responsible for rule judgment.

Bai Ya was responsible for path tracking.

Zhao Ye was responsible for suppression and containment.

Xu Minglan was responsible for the Guardian Lamp and stabilizing the wounded.

Lin Zhao was responsible for the evacuation of ordinary people.

Each performed their duties.

A stop announcement came from inside the bus.

"Jiangbei Old City."

"Paper Sedan Alley."

"Next stop..."

Zhao Ye did not respond.

He took a step forward, his evil-breaking short staff pressing against the edge of the bus door.

Several thin red threads stretched out from inside the bus door, as if wanting to entangle his wrists.

Shen Qinghe immediately reminded him:

"Don't smash the bus."

"The bus is just a projection; the door is the path entrance."

Zhao Ye's movements paused, and he immediately switched from smashing to pressing.

He placed the Purifying Flame containment tool on the edge of the bus door.

Bai Ya simultaneously deepened the Fire Seal marking.

In the Grey Net, that dark red path extending from Jiangbei to Qinghe was finally revealed.

It was like a thin thread passing through the darkness between the cities, its end trying to pierce into the Safe House.

Xu Minglan maintained the Guardian Lamp, cold sweat gradually seeping from her forehead.

She could not yet fully master the Guardian Lamp and could only rely on its embryonic form and tools to support it.

But this was enough to keep Han Yue from being taken away by the Night Bus again.

Zhao Ye gave a low shout.

The Purifying Flame containment tool lit up.

The red threads on the bus door suddenly went taut, then snapped one by one.

The body of the driverless night bus began to fade.

The stop announcement became distorted.

"Next stop... Next..."

Before the last word could fall, the bus door was forcibly sealed.

The entire bus, like an old photograph scorched by fire, slowly curled up and vanished at the street corner.

After the operation ended, Zero provided the results.

[Qinghe node stabilized.]

[Jiangbei source not contained.]

[Cross-city abnormal path confirmed.]

[Recommendation: Establish a Jiangbei special mission.]

In the hall, everyone looked at the Grey Net map.

Between Qinghe and Jiangbei, a thin, faint red line slowly emerged.

Lu Chen watched that line quietly for a long time without speaking.

Because he knew:

This was no longer an ordinary mission.

It was the first road that the Xinhuo Council had to cross before it could truly step out of Qinghe.

After the bus disappeared, the street corner returned to the ordinary night.

The convenience store's rolling door was half-pulled, and the distant streetlights emitted a faint buzzing sound of electricity. The two passersby who had been evacuated to the safe area by Lin Zhao were still complaining about why the gas inspection was chosen in the middle of the night, yet no one realized they had just been dozens of meters away from an abnormal path.

This was the very meaning of the Xinhuo Council's existence.

Ordinary people did not need to know all the truths.

They only needed to leave alive.

Inside the Safe House, when Xu Minglan let go of the Guardian Lamp's embryonic form, her fingers trembled slightly.

The Guardian Lamp was not a complete technique; she had only briefly maintained a lamp by borrowing medical tools and the Mark of the Torch.

But this single lamp had already allowed her to clearly see the direction of future medical routes.

If one day she could truly master the Guardian Lamp, perhaps before more people were dragged away by anomalies, she could first prop up a safe corner for them.

When Lin Zhao returned to the Safe House, he still carried the night wind on him.

He saw Zhao Ye checking the containment tools and couldn't help asking: "What would have happened if the door hadn't been sealed just now?"

Zhao Ye didn't try to scare him.

"Someone would have gotten on the bus."

Lin Zhao was silent.

"And if they got on the bus?"

Shen Qinghe took over the conversation.

"They wouldn't necessarily be able to get off at this stop anymore."

This sentence caused a brief silence in the Safe House.

Bai Ya synchronized the Fire Seal tracking results to the Grey Net.

He looked at the dark red path extending from Qinghe back to Jiangbei, his tone unusually serious.

"The bus is just a manifestation."

"The real problem is the road."

Lu Chen sat on the Fire Keeper's seat, listening to their review.

In this battle, he had not taken action.

Judging from the results, the Xinhuo Council was already able to handle a cross-city remnant overflow independently, relying on formal members, Apprentices, logistics, and medical nodes.

This was very important.

Because, after all, he could not personally descend every time.

If Torch was to become a system, it had to allow its members to solve problems within the rules.

Zero's settlement slowly emerged.

[Mission evaluation: Stable.]

[Effective cooperation among formal members.]

[Effective support from Apprentices.]

[Safe House node passed its first practical combat test.]

[Jiangbei special mission suggested Rank: Starting at C-Rank, can be adjusted upward.]

Lu Chen looked at the last line.

He knew that this road would have to be traveled sooner or later.

But not tonight.

The significance of tonight was that Qinghe had held its ground.

Torch had also proven that it was no longer a fire that relied solely on the Fire Keeper to suppress the field.

It had begun to have its own members, nodes, logistics, rules, and response capabilities.

On the Grey Net map, the red line between Qinghe and Jiangbei remained.

Only its end was pinned down by a tiny Fire Seal.

The Fire Seal was very small.

But it had not been extinguished.

Lu Chen looked at that spark of light and said softly: "Archive."

Zero responded.

[Jiangbei special temporary file has been established.]

[Waiting for subsequent mission activation.]

Deep within Xinhuo Hall, the central stele burned quietly.

And beyond Qinghe, the first road truly leading to the outer city had already been illuminated by Torch.