The west conduit trembled again as the outer barrier bent under pressure. Qinghe called the east mark, and Yan shifted the current across the inner ring. His injured shoulder pulled under the bandage, so he adjusted his stance without releasing the anchor.
The practiced sequence remained clear. Each turn’s ordinary bodily and foundation harm became stronger capacity inside him. The storm still shook the room and the surrounding equipment.
Qinghe lowered the western feed at the console. The change redirected the load toward stations that had passed the earlier test. A second gauge confirmed the west pressure was falling. The east reading rose but stayed below its limit.
“Repeat both numbers,” she told the crew.
The instrument workers called the west and east readings aloud. Qinghe wrote them beside the first cycle record. A runner carried the pair to the wall post to compare them with the local station’s own gauges.
A shower of grit dropped from the ceiling. One piece struck the floor beside Qinghe’s boot. She moved the measuring case under the inner arch and signaled the crew to check the outer channel for blocked stone. Yan maintained the anchor while the workers used a long brush to clear grit from the channel mouth.
