The archive courier arrived at the comparison desk with a signature sample from the clerk’s duty roster. Gu placed it beside the batch notation under a magnifier. Wei checked the seal date against the confiscation record.
The clerk’s final character had the same hooked stroke as the mark on the issue slip. The batch entry was authentic. The grey fragment had entered Yan’s medicine through ordinary handling.
“This closes the signature question,” Gu said. “We still need to understand the route through storage.”
Qinghe traced the poisoning impurity separately. It had been included in the trial formula under an incorrect label and caused Yan’s original illness. The catalyst fragment did not poison him; it was unrelated grey material in the cup.
The issue slips showed that the grey fragment had passed through general stores after the old committee confiscated Yun’s work. The batch was prepared as an ordinary trial draught for poisoned workers.
Gu matched the fragment’s geometry to the catalyst diagram. The connection was strong enough to explain why the System awakened, but no note said Yun had designed a chosen heir. His recording called the catalyst incomplete and unpredictable, not ready for distribution.
Yan asked whether the original committee had intended the fragment for a future test subject.
