Yan continued Final Offering from the inner ring, physically holding the furnace’s central load. Each cycle brought the method’s normal body, soul, and lifespan costs. The System turned those personal effects into greater strength and life before they could injure him.
He remained alert enough to follow Qinghe’s signals and direct the current away from the worn conduit. The storm shook the chamber, and the old machinery groaned under pressure. His growing power did not make stone or metal harmless.
Qinghe stayed at the central console, reading the gauges and sending short instructions through the prepared relay. Qiao confirmed the repaired bracket was holding and kept a second engineer beside the local cutoff. The distributed grid’s coils had not been connected or independently tested. Yan’s anchoring did one necessary job at the furnace; station crews still maintained their own nodes and held their local release cords.
Wei reported that the western team remained behind cover and the river ward’s neighboring barrier still held. Qinghe marked both reports but did not call the grid finished. The two disconnected stations remained dark on her map. Their neighbors were carrying the current they could, but that did not turn a partial system into a complete one.
