The paper runner came back through the archive door with a message from Wei. The river crews had opened their local releases. Their population feed had been cut from Wuchen’s ledger, but the independent barriers stayed lit wherever their own coils still worked.
Yan read the slip, then passed it to the clerk. The time marks matched the station logs. The crews had acted before Wuchen’s latest command. No one had waited for the Registry to grant permission.
The river markers on the ledger dimmed in sequence. Wuchen watched the light fade and reached for the brush where it had rolled beneath the desk. He turned toward a smaller cluster of connected stations, drawing the brush across the page.
Yan closed the distance before the stroke reached the seal. He caught the shaft and drove it against the ledger’s metal rim. Ink scattered over the command page. Wuchen struck at him with the brush handle. Yan reinforced his forearm with Ashen Marrow and took the blow, but it still drove him against the table. Pain worsened the bruise in his ribs. He caught the desk edge and stayed upright, keeping his injured shoulder away from the next strike.
“The marks prove the provinces are abandoning shared protection,” Wuchen said.
