In the weeks after the storm, repair work followed schedules rather than one final ceremony. Wei organized rotating crews. Qiao Wen inspected the north and east nodes. Gu taught engineers to test separated circuits. Ning’s medicine network moved supplies between provinces, while Bai negotiated replacement stock and published the purchase records.
The capital watchtower remained a pile of stone. Workers raised a lower signal platform near the road, one that could be repaired without closing the passage. Two districts continued using shelters because their barriers were not safe to reconnect. Other towns restored local nodes after independent tests and kept their release keys in public hands.
At the repair yard, two engineers stopped Gu over a diagram. One pointed to a warning line that still passed through the old command hall.
“If the central room goes dark again, this alarm fails,” she said.
Gu studied the path. “You’re right. We need a local wire and a manual flag if it breaks.”
Qiao Wen laid a field sketch beside the plan and marked the separate route in blue. An apprentice followed it from the station to the warning board and found one place where the wire crossed a shared conduit. Gu corrected the drawing in front of the crew. He assigned an inspection for after the next rain.
