Tao found Yan in the archive corridor before the afternoon bell. He carried a thin folder and had one ink stain across his thumb.
“I found another form,” he said. “You should read it before I file the copy.”
Bai, who had been waiting beside the wall, stepped closer. Gu came from the records room with the rubbing of the seal in his hand. Tao opened the folder on the narrow table between the shelves.
The Ashfall header sat above an older Registry form. It requested blood, hair, and residue from any candidate who used a forbidden method. There were no lines for candidate signatures. Yan’s name had been written in the margin, followed by a note: preserve channels for repeated testing.
Yan read the words again. “When was this filed?”
Tao pointed to the date. It was several days before the ruin examination. Before the pressure chamber. Before Yan’s foundation breakthrough.
Bai leaned over the page. “Then it wasn’t a response to what happened inside the ruin.”
“No,” Yan said. “They had planned to collect something before I ever reached Foundation Establishment.”
