Antique Appraisal: Rewinding Time

At the Graykeep live-streaming tower, Shi Jin is appraising a wasteland totem when the comments suddenly flood with a photograph: his mentor lying in the gray mist, with Shi Jin's bronze appraisal hammer embedded in the back of his head. The chat explodes. Old Zhong is the first to deny any involvement, Copperbeard makes a sarcastic show of confirming Shi Jin's guilt, and even Suwen seems unable to speak. Ye Lan stands outside the crowd and says softly, "The rules have changed. It's time for you to take your final bow." Shi Jin is dragged into the gray mist. As he dies, he sees those smiling faces twist in the fog.

When he opens his eyes again, he is back at dawn that same day, gray spots crawling across both hands. He remembers the faces of everyone who picked a side, and fragments of the hidden rules of the Gray Mist Night. Tonight, the city will switch to "Lies Made Visible." He starts a live stream and tells the camera, "Today, I'm appraising a special artifact: the human heart." Countless viewers flood into the stream. He exposes their secrets one by one, anchoring himself in faith until their lies collapse. When Ye Lan appears again, Shi Jin raises his appraisal hammer. "This time, the gray mist won't protect the murderer."