The outer seals remained quiet after the service corridor walk. Luo authorized Gu to open the panel, but no candidate would go through the pressure hall. The team brought the chalk cord, the stretcher frame, and the map that Lin and Sun had drawn.
Gu checked the three latch points. The top one moved first, then the lower pair. He turned them one after another, listening for a change in the wall hum.
At the last latch, the stone gave a muted click. The panel swung inward a handspan.
“Wait,” Luo said.
The team stopped. Nothing pulsed beneath their feet. Gu listened, then widened the opening. A narrow passage appeared, ending in a low antechamber. A draft pushed dust from the narrow passage toward the room. The pedestal’s shadow stretched across a circle of fine grooves. None of the grooves lit when the door pulsed.
Gu held a strip of cloth near the entrance. It moved toward the central door, then dropped when the hum paused.
“Air or qi?” Yan asked.
“Could be both,” Gu said. “We don’t step onto the circle to find out.”
