Rila’s crew found the second pipe by knocking on the wall.
The first pipe was on Neri’s drawing. It carried hot water from the main into the housing row. The second ran beside it for three rooms, then turned upward behind a plaster panel that no one remembered installing. When Jem tapped the wall, the sound changed from solid to hollow.
“Who uses it?” Rila asked.
The tenant in the nearest room shrugged. “It was here when I moved in.”
“Does it carry water?”
“Sometimes.”
Iven recognized that answer. It meant someone had learned to live beside a pipe without being told what it did.
Neri put down her chalk. “We open the panel before we connect the settling chamber. If the pipe is active, we need to know where it goes.”
