Wei’s written report reached the furnace through the ordinary wall relay. The western node casing was splitting, and his crew was clearing the nearby walkway before opening its manual release. Qinghe checked the central gauges. The neighboring barrier could take the redistributed current for a short interval.
She sent confirmation by runner rather than asking Yan to leave the inner ring. He kept the central line steady while the message went out.
At the western station, Wei kept the local crew behind the stone shelter. Two engineers reached the release cord only after the walkway was clear. They pulled it before the casing broke. The west barrier went dark, but the next two stations remained lit.
The district closest to the node had already been evacuated. No one was trapped beside the failing equipment. The station crew counted three workers safe and reported no injuries. One workshop remained exposed; its owner had moved people and tools away before the storm surge.
Qinghe marked the node as isolated and redirected its remaining load to the tested channels. Yan felt the change through the floor and held the central line through the transition. The barrier had a gap, but the failure did not cascade across the network.
