At dawn, Han’s search team entered the lower quarter near the station. The walls had cooled enough to approach, though broken stone still blocked the service lane. They found three families sheltering in the cistern tunnel. All were alive. Their homes were gone. The first family had been located during the night; two more had crawled into the deeper branch of the tunnel after the first roof fall. The search team reached them only when daylight made it possible to clear the entrance without loosening the stones above. They came out one at a time, covering their eyes against the morning light. The first man stumbled at the threshold. A soldier caught his elbow and guided him to a clear patch of ground. He was thirsty but unhurt. One child came out last with a blanket over her head and a clay cup clutched to her chest. Qinghe checked her and found no burn, only a cut lip from the fall. She washed it and gave the child water before asking her name.
Vessa checked the names against the quarry household book at the staging camp. Ning recorded who needed transport and who had relatives on the upper road. She asked each family to identify who had come out of the cistern together and who had been waiting outside. Their accounts differed from the first estimate, but the household book gave Vessa a way to reconcile them. Ning changed the travel list only after both records matched. The list included…
