90: Chapter 90 The First Anchor North of the Yangtze River

Before the driverless night bus appeared at the Old City East Station in Jiangbei again, Tang Zhiwei almost got into an argument with Gu Xingzhou's people.

The authorities hoped to place the temporary safe zone closer to the blockade line, citing ease of control.

Tang Zhiwei did not agree.

It was too close to Old City East Station; once the Night Bus remnants counterattacked, ordinary wounded and Candidate clue-people would be dragged in together.

Gu Xingzhou was caught in the middle, and his expression was not good either.

"We cannot push the blockade line too far out; it will cause panic."

Tang Zhiwei spread out the map, her finger pointing at the grey area outside the old platform.

"Then would you rather have less panic, or have fewer people die?"

The conference room fell silent.

These words were unpleasant to hear, but no one could immediately refute them.

Finally, a compromise was reached: the authorities would maintain the original blockade scale, and Torch would set up an undisclosed evacuation route inside the blockade line.

Li Guibing's people were responsible for providing warehouse keys, Han Yue was responsible for confirming the community personnel list, and Li Xi would temporarily coordinate hospital transfers.

This was the most troublesome part of missions in the outer city.

Anomalies were only one part of it.

More often, Torch had to face doors, vehicles, people, procedures, panic, and distrust in reality.

Lu Chen watched these trivial arrangements through the Grey Net and did not feel it was a waste of time at all.

Without these, no matter how fast the sparks fell, they could only save a small handful of people at the scene.

Only with these could Jiangbei truly be pinned down.

Before the Night Bus appeared, the young boy was transferred to the second observation point.

He grabbed Lin Zhao's sleeve and asked in a low voice: "After that fire lights up, can I go home?"

Lin Zhao glanced at the old city in the distance.

"Not immediately."

The boy lowered his head.

Lin Zhao added another sentence: "But it will be a little closer."

The boy thought for a moment and nodded.

To him, this was already good news.

After nightfall, the sound of station announcements came again from the Old City East Station in Jiangbei.

This time, Torch did not passively chase the vehicle.

The Grey Net map was already studded with Fire Seals.

The time displacement records left by the Time-Space Apostle, the underground passage entrance provided by the boy, the station names repeatedly recited by patients in Li Xi's ward, the station closure files handed over by Gu Xingzhou, the old warehouse list provided by Li Guibing, the deleted videos dug up by the Elf, and the residual echoes of the black bronze bell left at the scene of Old City East Station—all were connected to the same node.

The grey fog no longer scattered into a sheet.

It contracted into a dark red coordinate within the Jiangbei Old District.

Lu Chen sat in the Fire Keeper's seat, and seeing that coordinate stabilize, he issued the authorization.

[Establish Jiangbei Temporary Fire Seal Anchor.]

[Nature: Outer city temporary response node.]

[Authority: Directly supervised by the Core of the Torch.]

[Purpose: Reduce cross-city response consumption, stabilize local Grey Net perception, protect marked Candidates and clue-people.]

This was not a branch.

Nor was it a complete stronghold after Torch truly stepped out of Qinghe.

It was just a nail.

Nailed into this land of Jiangbei that was constantly sliding toward the old law.

At the scene, outside the underground passage of Old City East Station, the night wind blew the warning tape, making it rustle loudly.

Gu Xingzhou's people were blocking the road on the perimeter, the reason still being gas maintenance.

Nearby residents had been evacuated in advance, but there were still a few daring ones standing in the distance taking videos, who were chased away by Lin Zhao one by one.

"Stop filming, go home."

A young man was unconvinced: "What's wrong with me filming in a public area?"

Lin Zhao saw the black vehicle shadow gradually emerging on his phone screen, his expression changed, and he directly pressed the phone to turn the screen black.

"If you keep filming, you'll get on the bus tonight."

The young man's cursing words got stuck in his throat, and he turned and ran.

Zhao Ye saw this scene at the street corner and couldn't help but say: "You're quite skilled at scaring people now."

Lin Zhao smiled bitterly: "Learned it from you."

"I'm not that polite."

Deep in the passage, the station announcement sound rang out.

The driverless night bus arrived again.

This time, the clown also appeared.

He stood behind the ticket gate, the greasepaint on his face fainter than last time, as if a layer had been burned off by the Purifying Flame.

When he saw the Torch team, he didn't laugh immediately; instead, he first glanced above the old tracks.

There was no complete black bronze bell there.

Only a circle of scorch marks remained after it was sealed.

The clown's mouth twitched.

"You stole my bell."

Zhao Ye raised his short staff.

"If you keep talking nonsense, I'll haul away the ticket gate along with you."

By Shen Qinghe's ear, the Fate-Illuminating Bronze Bell rang softly.

It was not a real bell sound, but a premonition before the rules closed.

She heard the beat of "passenger confirmation."

"Left door, closing in three breaths."

Zhao Ye did not ask why.

Sparks exploded under his feet, and he rushed toward the carriage door like a line of fire.

Bai Ya's Fire Seal landed on the platform boundary at the same time, pinning the carriage door projection and the underground passage entrance on the same line.

Inside the temporary transfer point in the ward area, Xu Minglan opened the Guardian Lamp.

Li Xi was squatting nearby, holding the containment box, her expression unpleasant.

"I used to only be afraid of the emergency room being full when I worked the night shift."

Xu Minglan had sweat on her forehead, but still replied: "This counts as full too."

"You call this an emergency?"

"A special emergency."

Li Xi wanted to curse, but was afraid of affecting her, so she had to hold it back.

The boy was protected by Lin Zhao on the outside of the passage.

He no longer huddled in the corner, but gripped Lin Zhao's sleeve tightly, his eyes fixed on the old station sign.

The time on the station sign started jumping again.

23:59.

00:13.

Three days ago.

Tomorrow early morning.

A string of times flashed frantically like a broken roulette wheel.

Shen Qinghe closed her eyes.

The Fate-Illuminating Bronze Bell allowed her to hear the beat behind every jump.

She felt very uncomfortable, and her heartbeat skipped a beat along with it, but she could not stop.

"Now."

She raised her hand to cut off the beat that was about to close.

The bell sound was very light.

But the station sign suddenly dimmed.

Taking advantage of this moment, Zhao Ye pressed his short staff into the gap of the carriage door, the Purifying Flame burned along the tip of the staff, forcing the carriage door remnants back into the platform shadow.

The smile on the clown's face vanished completely.

"You shouldn't have lit a fire here."

Bai Ya's voice came from the Grey Net channel.

"Sorry, fire inspection."

Zhao Ye was almost affected by his words.

Shen Qinghe gritted her teeth: "Bai Ya, shut up."

Bai Ya shut up very sensibly.

Lu Chen raised his hand in the hall, and the Jiangbei Temporary Fire Seal Anchor was officially set.

A wisp of grey-white fire rose from the depths of the underground passage; it was not high, but it was steady.

It was not as swift and violent as sparks, nor as intense as the Purifying Flame, but more like a lamp nailed into reality.

At the same instant, Lu Chen felt the Law-Suppressing Bell Shadow deep within the Fire Keeper authority vibrate very lightly.

No bell sound came out.

Only the Grey Net, Fire Seal, Guardian Lamp, and Safe House nodes were briefly in sync, as if supported by something not yet formed.

Lu Chen did not tell anyone about this.

It was still too early.

On the Grey Net map, a stable bright spot appeared in the Jiangbei Old District for the first time.

[Jiangbei Temporary Fire Seal Anchor: Establishment complete.]

[Cross-city response consumption decreased.]

[Local Grey Net perception stabilized.]

[Marked personnel protection range expanded.]

The Night Bus projection was suppressed.

No large-scale city lockdown.

No continuous disappearances.

It did not force the authorities to spend another three days filling out an accident report that was destined to be incomplete.

Gu Xingzhou stood in the distance, watching that grey-white fire on the surveillance screen, and did not speak for a long time.

He knew very well that this was not because the anomaly had weakened.

It was because Torch had already moved the handling process into Jiangbei.

After the mission ended, a strange private message suddenly popped up on the Elf's side.

The other party had no avatar, the account was newly registered, and the ID had only two characters.

Prophet.

The content was also only one sentence.

[What you have ignited is not the end, but the countdown to the next outbreak.]

The Elf stared at that sentence, for the first time not immediately retorting.

A few seconds later, she forwarded the screenshot to the Grey Net channel.

Bai Ya finished reading and said softly: "New trouble has arrived."

Lu Chen looked at the slowly expanding grey area next to the Jiangbei Anchor, his fingertips tapping gently on the armrest.

The fire had been nailed down.

Next, it depended on how the old law would counterattack.