At zero inward motion, the whole system went quiet.
The collapse still pressed against the shoring. The jacks still pushed back. For one breath, neither side moved.
Tie Kuang used that breath to check his people.
“Valve team?”
Austin stood in a blue-white storm with both hands locked around the wrench. Blood had soaked his gloves. The wheel remained one-eighth open.
“Holding,” he said.
“Gate team?”
Yuan Shi and Situ Ming stood among the engineers who now shared their old controls. Their faces were wet with sweat. Every command and every objection moved across the public board.
