On the morning of Day Twenty-Two, Xu Wuyi sensed a change the instant he lifted his teacup on the stump.
The change came from the direction of the Coordinate Anchor Marker beyond the Northern Boundary Line, from deep within the passage whose structural connection had already been completed.
A continuous, steady signal was flowing along the passage toward the territory's core. Its strength was low, but its waveform was clear and stable, like a slow current flowing ceaselessly from afar.
He set the teacup back on the cut surface of the stump, stood up, and returned to the hall of the Core Residence.
Zero One's phantom image lit up beside the console. "Lord, a continuous incoming signal has been detected at the anchor location. Its waveform closely matches the structure of the pulse sequence from Ji Tang's core in the T-09 Star Realm."
Xu Wuyi sat down at the console and extended his perception to the entrance of the passage.
The persistent faint warmth around Ji Tang's core pulsed at a steady rhythm. Over the past few weeks, its synchronization with the bright spot at the center of the Fruit had developed into a default connection that could endure without active maintenance.
He sat at the console for a while, then stood up and walked toward the shelving beside the workbench.
Within the seam on the side of the Metal Box, the continuously flowing stream of light was brighter than the day before. Its form had expanded from a single stream into a steadily spreading halo.
He brought his palm close to the halo, and his perception penetrated its outer layer.
At the instant of contact, the patterns on the Fruit's surface flickered rapidly in brightness, establishing a resonance with the groove structure inside the Metal Box that lasted longer