106: Chapter 107 Team Leader with the Surname Lu

The moment the work silk turned black, Wu Fu's claws had already gripped the edge of the Worker Nest Egg Tray.

"Broken line!" she snapped, her tail tip taut, "Third one, bite the Line-Marking Nail to report the position!"

The third Work Rat deep in the well wall heard the command and bit down hard on the small Grey Spike in its claws.

The fire line at the tail of the spike exploded into a tiny spark on Wen Zhao's Line-Marking Nail, locking the position—three feet below the rail gap, something was gnawing on the work silk.

Grey Pupil lowered his cane, and the Sacrificial Fire burned down along the outer edge of the Worker Nest Egg Tray, not burning the work silk, but the black mist seeping up from the well wall.

Upon touching the Sacrificial Fire, the black mist made a muffled sound like damp firewood cracking and retreated half an inch, but a small section of the work silk had already been gnawed through.

Wu Fu's face twitched in distress, but she couldn't worry about bookkeeping. She immediately urged the bottom layer of the Worker Nest Egg Tray to peel off a small piece of Grey Shell Material and plastered it over the break: "It's not a well wind; well winds don't pick at work silk to bite."

"It's a Rail Bug," Grey Pupil said, staring at the retreating black mist, "The old workshop has been abandoned for too long; bugs that eat fire materials have grown in the rail gaps."

Qiao Ye lay by the bridge, looking down with his shield held in front of him: "So, are we still connecting it?"

"Connect it," Lu Jin's voice held no hesitation, "If bugs are eating the material, it means there's still fire flavor in the rails. If there's fire flavor, there's an axle."

Wu Fu gritted her teeth and cut another section of Grey Copper Work Silk from the middle layer of the Worker Nest Egg Tray. This section was longer and the fire patterns were brighter than the previous one. She was reluctant, but there was no other way right now.

The new work silk was sent down along the old rail. This time, the three Work Rats didn't scatter but linked head to tail. The first one carried the line, the second held the spike, and the third carried the Grey Shell Material to cover the rear, like a tiny shuttle drilling into the rail gap.

The black mist surged up again, but before it could touch the new work silk, it was jabbed by the Grey Spike held by the second Work Rat. The fire line at the tail of the spike exploded, and the black mist let out a hiss and retreated.

"The Grey Spike can suppress it!" Wen Zhao immediately recorded, "The nails from the old workshop have a suppressive effect on Rail Bugs."

Taking advantage of this gap, Wu Fu sent the work silk in one breath to the third work station. The shadow of the axle was there, very faint, just a ring of old copper outline, like smoke that could dissipate at any moment.

But as soon as it approached, the Hollow Bone Cart Frame behind the Nest King Platform began to tremble again. This time it shook more urgently, and the bottom of the wheel groove emitted a dull bone clacker, like a hungry beast that had finally smelled meat.

Wu Fu couldn't help reaching out: "Let's connect a little first—"

Grey Pupil's cane blocked her claws: "Don't be greedy."

"I'm only connecting a little!"

"Your 'a little' often costs half a nest."

Lu Jin also spoke, his voice not loud but carrying an unquestionable weight: "Only tame it, do not connect it."

Wu Fu gritted her teeth and forcibly pulled her claws back, scratching a few white marks onto the edge of the Worker Nest Egg Tray: "I know."

She opened a crack in the bottom layer of the Worker Nest Egg Tray, letting the wheel groove of the Hollow Bone Cart Frame turn half a circle following that axle shadow.

After half a circle, the bottom of the cart frame emitted a clear bone clacker, as if some sleeping joint had been forcibly awakened. In the distance, the prototype of the Ground-Rumbling Ram also responded, steadier than the previous two chapters. Originally, it could only rely on the Nest King Platform to force a sound, but now it had heard the axle.

Wu Fu's breathing even softened: "It's useful. Later, it will be able to tow the Frontline Fire Hall."

"Later," Grey Pupil reminded her.

"I know it's later!" Wu Fu flicked her tail heavily, "Right now, I'm just letting it memorize the flavor!"

The wheel groove of the Hollow Bone Cart Frame slowly dimmed, and the old copper axle shadow also retracted into the well wall work station. Wu Fu's face was full of unwillingness, but this time she didn't snatch it. Lu Jin watched it—this was the first time she had forcibly held back when the material was placed right in front of her.

A gust of wind blew from the outer ring of the Grey Fire Well, and the Lock Bridge did not sink further. The three work stations of the old workshop under the bridge were glowing faintly—bridge repair, rail mending, and the axle shadow. These three spots weren't much, but they turned this dead object submerged in the well wall into a rudimentary, testable workshop prototype.

Instructor Han Tiecheng watched from outside the door for a long while, then said in a rough voice: "Record it."

The Black-Armored Recorder wrote swiftly: "Ding Gu Workshop ruins initially opened. Worker Nest Egg Tray test run, connecting three locations: bridge gap, rail gap, and axle shadow. Lock Bridge break temporarily stabilized. Hollow Bone Cart Frame obtained old axle shadow for flavor calibration. No main components dismantled."

Wu Fu immediately added: "Consumed one and a half sections of Grey Copper Work Silk, three portions of Grey Shell Medicinal Material, two portions of Night Wing Bone Ash, a pinch of Work Rat fur, plus the half-section of spare silk gnawed through by the Rail Bug."

The Black-Armored Recorder's hand paused, and he looked at Instructor Han Tiecheng.

Instructor Han Tiecheng looked at Lu Jin.

Lu Jin remained calm: "Write it."

The recorder had no choice but to write it. Wu Fu was satisfied, and her tail began to sway again.

However, Grey Pupil's gaze had already passed over the work station and landed below the third cell. There was a row of thin copper blackboards, their surfaces darkened by the Grey Fire, looking like a row of sleeping teeth.

The Work Rats crawled along the work silk, and with a gentle flick of a bone hook, the first ledger board flipped open. It was covered in tiny characters, dense and packed, like traces gnawed out by ants.

The Old Craftsman, one of the Old Rat-folk, watched with reddened eyes, his voice hoarse: "Workshop output ledger. Lock Bridge axle center, thirty-seven repairs. Grey Fire boot soles, seven repairs. Marking Squad fire boots..."

His voice suddenly stopped, as if something had grabbed his throat.

Lu Jin looked at him.

The Old Craftsman stared at that line of small text, his Adam's apple bobbing with difficulty: "West Lower Layer Marking Squad, Leader with the surname Lu, fire boots repaired once."

The area around the Frontline Fire Platform fell silent.

Qiao Ye stopped wiping his shield, Wen Zhao's Line-Marking Nail hovered in mid-air, and Ning Yanqiu's Cold Mirror Auxiliary Seal lit up silently for a moment. Everyone looked at Lu Jin.

Lu Jin did not move.

His gaze landed on the line "Leader with the surname Lu." No full name, no battle designation, but this workshop under the well wall had once repaired fire boots for his father's Marking Squad.

The fire boots were repaired here, and the people were taken from here to the depths of the Grey Fire Well. This ledger entry was harder than anyone else's speculation, as hard as a nail driven into bone.

Grey Pupil raised his cane: "Use the Sacrificial Fire to protect the edges."

Ning Yanqiu spoke from the side of the door, her voice light but steady: "I will use the Cold Mirror to illuminate the characters, without touching the boards."

Lu Jin nodded: "Wen Zhao, trace the edges and shadows."

The three moved simultaneously. The Sacrificial Fire protected the edges of the ledger boards, the Cold Mirror light illuminated the fine characters, and the Line-Marking Nail only traced the shadows without pressing on the boards.

This process was slower than combat. For every line traced, the Work Rats had to blow away the ash first. Wu Fu watched impatiently, but she knew this thing couldn't be handled carelessly. She called a few Work Rats back from the rail gaps and warned them in a low voice: "Be gentle. Whoever bites or damages the ledger boards, I'll deduct three days of rations."

Qiao Ye whispered: "You keep accounts for Work Rats too?"

"Nonsense," Wu Fu glared at him, "A nest that doesn't keep accounts would have been eaten empty long ago."

The ledger boards lit up line by line. Besides Lock Bridge repairs and fire boot sole mending, there were old cart frame numbers, fire axle material consumption, and well wind casualty records. Every line was short but substantial. What this workshop had done back then, who it had repaired things for, and which bridge section was most prone to collapse—it was all written on there.

The more Wen Zhao read, the darker his expression became: "This is a section of the active ledger for the Royal Court Workshop's fire supply system."

Instructor Han Tiecheng nodded: "Write this sentence into the record."

Wen Zhao continued reading. At the very bottom of the ledger board, a name appeared repeatedly—Nail Bone. Over a dozen times. Sometimes written after the repairer, sometimes after the axle inspector, and once, written in a very short note: "Nail Bone scolded the axle for not meeting standards, refused to accept."

Qiao Ye was stunned to hear this: "This name sounds like he had quite a temper."

Wu Fu's eyes lit up: "He knew how to inspect axles?"

Grey Pupil looked at her: "Don't start thinking about the person yet."

"I'm thinking about the craftsmanship," she said righteously.

Lu Jin looked at the name that appeared repeatedly. Nail Bone. If it were just a workshop name, the ledger board wouldn't write it after the repairer and axle inspector. This was a person's name, or perhaps it once was a living Old Rat-folk craftsman. A craftsman who dared to scold axles for not meeting standards, who dared to reject old ledger entries.

The Work Rats flipped open another ledger board. This one was pressed deeper, and there was a half-burned old note on the surface. As soon as Grey Pupil's Sacrificial Fire protected it, a faint sound suddenly came from beneath the ledger board.

Click.

It wasn't a well wind, it wasn't a Rail Bug, but the sound of some metal interlocking, coming from deeper within the well wall, like a door being pushed open a crack from the inside.

Wen Zhao suddenly looked up: "There's another layer below!"

Ning Yanqiu's Cold Mirror Auxiliary Seal immediately pressed down, and the cold white light shone through the darkness below the well wall. At the very bottom of the inverted workshop, behind the intersecting copper beams, a half-hidden stone door was vaguely revealed. A faint, extremely dark red light seeped from the crack in the door, like a heart buried deep within, slowly beating.

Lu Jin stared at that point of red light, and the old fire in his sleeve suddenly jumped.

The frequency of that jump was exactly the same as the red light seeping from the crack in the door.