The first report from the far end of the street came back with the same pressure reading as the hall. The barrier light ran over the roof tiles and around the mill, fading at the alley beyond it. A few children trailed after the keeper who was checking the line, but their parents called them back behind the marker rope.
Yan stood at the central feed with his feet planted on the stone. He felt its pressure through the channel and kept it at the agreed level with Dao Domain control. Ashen Marrow steadied his own bones and channels; its practiced strain strengthened him. He still felt the line’s pull, but it did not tear at his foundation.
Qinghe watched the gauges. “Five-minute reading: stable. Keep the load where it is.”
The relay crew at the west station called in a new number. It was higher than the mark on the local chart. Gu looked from the gauge to the old route map.
“The repaired western segment may be carrying more efficiently,” he said. “If the line has less resistance, the pylon could take the higher draw.”
Qinghe tapped the chart. “Or the diagram could be wrong. We don’t raise the load on an assumption.”
