95: Chapter 95 Safe Houses Are Not Fortresses

The Jiangbei Temporary Safe House fell into chaos for the first time because three vehicles took the wrong route at the same time.

None of the drivers were novices, and the routes had been personally confirmed by Tang Zhiwei.

But just after picking up the evacuees, the navigation screens suddenly changed the destination to "Xiqiao Temporary Stop".

The first driver didn't react in time and turned according to the navigation.

The second driver realized something was wrong and called Tang Zhiwei.

The third was even more unlucky; there were two patients on board affected by the Night Bus text messages, and after hearing the phrase "Terminal Station approaching" from the navigation, they nearly opened the doors to jump out.

For the first time, Tang Zhiwei lost her usual composure on the phone.

"Don't look at the navigation! Turn the screens off!"

The driver paused for a moment: "Manager Tang, then where should I drive?"

"I said turn left, so turn left! Now, turn left, don't ask!"

Her voice rose, startling the assistants in the conference room.

Tang Zhiwei hung up the phone and realized her palms were soaked with sweat.

The sprite soon sent the tracking results: [It's not a hacker attack. The navigation data hasn't been breached; the concept of "destination" has been polluted. It's causing all evacuation routes related to the Safe House to automatically divert toward the station.]

Bai Ya saw this and his expression turned ugly.

"It's not blocking the door; it's changing the route."

In the Safe House, the boy sat in a corner hugging a water cup, his face pale.

His phone had been confiscated by Lin Zhao, but he could still hear the ringing.

The sound didn't come from a phone but drilled into his ears, beat by beat, from the walls, windows, and the end of the hallway.

Li Xi was holding down a patient who wanted to walk toward the door.

The patient was very strong and kept saying: "The bus is here, I have to go, my mom is on the bus."

Li Xi was pushed, her shoulder hitting a cabinet, and she gasped in pain, but she cursed: "If your mom knew you were getting on a ghost bus in the middle of the night, she'd crawl out of bed to slap you!"

Xu Minglan rushed over, first applying a low-level purification patch to the patient, then leading him to the inner area.

"Don't argue with them about right and wrong," Xu Minglan lowered her voice. "What they hear right now is more real than what you're saying."

Li Xi wiped the sweat from her forehead: "Then what do I do? I can't exactly say the bus company has suspended operations, can I?"

"You can," Xu Minglan glanced at her. "As long as it gets him to sit down."

Li Xi paused for half a second, then turned and shouted at another patient: "The last bus has been cancelled! I'll give you the complaint number tomorrow!"

The other person actually paused.

Xu Minglan couldn't help but chuckle, then immediately suppressed it.

The laughter was short, but it eased the tension in the Safe House that was on the verge of snapping.

Lin Zhao was responsible for the entrance.

He had become an Apprentice, but without an Ability Seed, he still had to rely on his Temporary Fire Seal and basic equipment when encountering actual Rule pollution.

Chen Jue was assigned behind him, his expression grim.

"I can help," Chen Jue said.

"You can," Lin Zhao shoved a stack of bottled water at him. "Hand out the water, and watch to make sure no one goes to the restroom alone."

Chen Jue glared at him: "Do you take me for a child?"

"I take you for someone who is still alive," Lin Zhao said. "Get to work."

The words weren't gentle, but Chen Jue still took the water.

In Xinhuo Hall, Lu Chen watched the routes around the Jiangbei Safe House constantly shifting, his brows furrowing tighter and tighter.

He hadn't wiped the memories of ordinary people, nor could he make everyone forget the Night Bus overnight.

Ordinary people would be afraid, would be confused, would take photos with their phones, and would spread rumors in group chats.

What he could do was ensure these people wouldn't be dragged away by the anomaly amidst their fear.

"Connect the Safe House, evacuation vehicles, temporary hospital wards, Chen Shi's home, and Li Xi's duty station to the outer layer of the Jiangbei First Anchor."

Zero responded: [Current stability of the Jiangbei anchor point is insufficient; covering too wide an area will cause fluctuations in the Fire Seal.]

"Temporary coverage, no long-term solidification."

[Requires consumption of source essence.]

Lu Chen looked at the balance, the corner of his mouth twitching.

"Spend it."

He hated that word.

But he hated being led by the nose by the Old Object Chain even more.

The Grey Net expanded along the Jiangbei First Anchor, and several safety points were connected by faint lines of fire.

It wasn't the later standard Guardian Lamp, nor was it a formal Safe House system; it was just a circle of temporary Guardian Lamp zones.

When the firelight descended, the people inside the Safe House still remembered the text messages, the sound of the bus, and the fear, but they were no longer forced to walk toward the door.

The boy covered his ears and suddenly looked up.

"The ringing has gotten quieter."

Li Xi sat down against the wall, her arm still aching, but her mouth didn't stop.

"That's great, I was just about to get some tape to seal the door."

Over at Tang Zhiwei's side, she had finally managed to redirect all three vehicles back to the correct routes.

She slammed her phone onto the desk, leaned back into her chair, and didn't speak for a long time.

She used to think logistics was just about arranging resources.

Now she knew, logistics was about moving people away from the mouth of the anomaly before it could bite them.

The Prophet's message popped up at this moment.

The chaos in the Safe House lasted for a full twelve minutes.

During these twelve minutes, Tang Zhiwei changed the routes four times, scolded two drivers, one security supervisor, and one assistant who tried to follow company procedure to ask for instructions from superiors.

After scolding them, she added the records one by one to ensure these real-time dispatches could be traced by the logistics resource pool.

It wasn't that she didn't know she looked disheveled right now.

Her high heels clicked rapidly on the floor, a strand of hair had come loose, and her phone had vibrated until it was burning hot.

In the past, she could have easily let others handle it and just waited for the results.

But not anymore.

She finally understood that joining the Torch logistics line wasn't just about submitting a resource list.

Resources don't save people on their own.

People make mistakes, routes get changed, drivers get nervous, and patients run around.

Every little thing could become a crack for the anomaly to reach through.

Li Xi's side wasn't having it easy either.

She wasn't an Apprentice, and she didn't have those enviable Ability Seeds in the Xin Huo Interface.

She only had a first-aid kit, a mouth, and the patience honed in the hospital ward.

A young patient cried and said he had to go home because "someone is waiting on the bus."

Li Xi didn't scold him, but squatted down and asked: "Who is waiting for you?"

"My dad."

"Which bus route does your dad usually take?"

The patient froze.

"He wouldn't take this route, right?" Li Xi pressed his hands back onto his knees. "Then don't let a fake bus tarnish your dad's reputation."

Hearing this, Xu Minglan paused her movements.

She suddenly felt that Li Xi wasn't just good at taking care of people.

She knew how to pull someone who had been dragged away by fear back into the logic of their familiar life.

This was also an ability.

It was just that Torch hadn't given it a name yet.

Lu Chen archived these logistics records one by one, without converting them into flashy combat contributions.

Tang Zhiwei's few phone calls, Li Xi's few scoldings, and the door Lin Zhao held shut—taken individually, none of them looked like supernatural events.

But without any one of them, the Safe House would have gained another breach.

If the Xinhuo Council wanted to grow, it couldn't just reward those who smashed the anomaly's core.

[They aren't trying to destroy the Safe House.]

[They are testing how many ordinary people you can protect.]