The soldiers left the barracks in pairs and met again at the southern bridge. Wei walked at the back so anyone who was unsure could turn around without crossing his path.
Huo waited by the toll booth with the road map. The keeper had read the Registry’s order and said the departing men would be reported as deserters at the next checkpoint.
“Can you record why they left?” Wei asked.
“I can’t alter the Registry form.”
“Write the explanation on the back.”
The keeper shook his head. “That may cost me my position.”
Wei did not pressure him. He wrote the reason himself: refusal of an unconsented cultivation transfer. Then he asked the keeper to add the date and initial it. The man hesitated, looked at the signatures already on the order, and wrote his initials beside Wei’s note.
The group had a second account of its departure. It would not stop every guard from calling them deserters, but the next checkpoint would see the reason.
