The laboratory’s papers and spirit-glass cylinder went under joint guard in the capital archive room. Gu asked the engineers to record every seal and page count before copying anything. Qinghe kept the cylinder wrapped and placed it in a padded case. Yan carried the heavy metal frame to the workbench, where the routing sheets could be read without risking the brittle originals.
The first copy of Yun Cang’s recording ended with a note that the catalyst remained incomplete and unpredictable. It could not be distributed until its transformation pathway was understood. The voice did not name an heir or predict who would receive the effect.
“This limits what the laboratory can prove about Yan’s origin,” Gu said. “But it is an important record to compare with Ashfall.”
Qinghe wrote the open questions on the board: what the catalyst was, how it reached the medicine, and whether the recorded pathway matched Yan’s gift. Wei added a fourth: who handled the batch after its confiscation.
“We don’t announce an answer before the courier arrives,” Qinghe said.
The storm schedule still pressed on the city. Wuchen had not released the central regulators, and the old barrier remained active under its damaged relays. The laboratory had given the coalition a design and an archive to investigate, but the origin proof and independent grid were unfinished.
