Shen Xitang's fingertips paused on the gnomon of the bronze armillary sphere, lodestone powder sliding in a soft rustle along the brass graduations.
Xiao Jingming held the Marquis of Haihun lamp close to the pivot, its cold light revealing subtle sulfur crystals in the interlocking gears—an anomaly not found during the inspection three days ago.
When the shadow of the gnomon pointed to the "Xu-7" marker in the *Secret Chronicles of River Defense*, a strange sound of sluice gates echoed from the direction of the canal, like the friction of bronze gears jammed by a hard object.
Chapter 50