Gu compared the laboratory handwriting with research copies he had signed decades earlier. He found the same hooked marks in the margins and the same compressed dates. The notes came from Yun Cang’s research chamber, the work the old committee had shut down.
Qinghe separated the technical pages from the personal notes, keeping each group in its original order. Yan carried the metal frame that had held the shelf in place while Gu read each label.
They laid out three sets of materials: a half-finished catalyst diagram, furnace-routing sheets, and the spirit-glass recording cylinder. The catalyst drawing stopped before the final channel. It did not name a source or say how the material had been handled.
“This may explain how destructive feedback could be redirected,” Gu said. “It does not tell us where the catalyst went after the committee closed the room.”
Yan looked at the unfinished design. “Was it meant for a person?”
“The notes don’t say. We need the next page and the batch ledger.”
Qinghe turned the diagram over. The back held a list of measurement marks, not an instruction. She copied the marks onto a new sheet and left the original untouched.
“We can compare these with the channels I measured in Yan,” she said. “A match would show a pattern, not a chosen bearer.”
