The engineers completed a final inspection of the reserve coils. Gu checked the isolation rails, the return valve, and the emergency cutoff. Qinghe compared the written results with the live gauges. Each part was ready, but the load remained on Yan’s body at the inner ring.
No buffer clock had started. No one treated the test as a handover.
Wei’s message confirmed that the Registry hall doors were sealed and Wuchen’s command orders continued to spread. The wall crews remained in control of their local releases. Qinghe asked whether Yan wanted to leave before the next pressure wave.
“I’ll wait until the transfer is confirmed,” he said. “The furnace can’t be left on an assumption.”
The crew ran one last low-load coil pulse while Yan anchored. The return stayed within range. A runner brought a second reading from the east station, confirming that its valve remained open.
Gu marked the circuit ready for transfer, subject to a live check at the moment of handover. He did not close the main line. The reserve frame remained isolated until the proper sequence began.
Qinghe wrote the intended steps on the console board: verify full reserve load, confirm stable output, then release Yan’s hands. The ten-minute estimate would begin only after that confirmation. A weak Soul-Lantern projection could remain as a monitor, but it could not support the anchor.
