The third calibration of the grooves in the bottom of the Metal Box happened late on the ninth night. Li Yuan was still awake, sitting at his workbench and reviewing the day's scan records by the warm glow of a small lamp. At one point, a curve on the screen gave a faint twitch, like a tiny pebble striking still water. He immediately called up the live data and found that the fine branches at the ends of the grooves' connecting lines had all extended at the same moment. Each had lengthened slightly toward the T-09 Star Realm. The movement was minute, but the direction was unmistakable, like a cluster of feelers guided by the same baton, all reaching outward together.
He saved the record and went to the window at the side of the hall. Night had swallowed the sky over the Forging District. In the darkness, the warm golden glow above the Eastern Meadow looked like a thin blanket of light spread across the ground. He watched it for a while, then returned to the workbench, picked up his Data Pad, and headed for the control console. Xu Wuyi was not in the hall. The console stood empty, with only Zero One's projection waiting in the side display. Li Yuan paused there, then turned toward the passage to the Zero Seven No. 3 Residence.
When he reached the tree stump, Xu Wuyi was sitting on it with a cup of tea. The warm golden light flowing steadily from the network scattered bright flecks across the river, mirroring the neat points of light in the canopy above. Xu Wuyi glanced at him and said nothing, merely nodding for him to sit.
Li Yuan sat on the ground beside the stump and rested the Data Pad on his knees. "The