171: Chapter 171 Switching Cards Outside the Left Door

Outside the Left Line door, a ring of cold white frost had formed along the edge of the waiting line bag.

The frost was not thick.

It just clung to the mouth of the bag, like an old tablet with its edge pressed down by cold air.

Nami placed the first seal of the station door on the outermost side.

The box lid remained closed.

"Change the Left Tablet."

Wooden Tablet Three tapped one long and two short beats inside the bag.

The sound was lighter than the previous round.

The hair-thin seam on the white edge did not widen.

Black Code emerged from beneath the black cloth:

[The Left Tablet can change its person.]

"Change the tablet, but do not change the person."

Nami arranged the Left Line Outer Grid Passage Seal, the Left Line Outside the Door Waiting Line, and the Rescue-Dividing Outer Tablet Seal into a triangle.

The middle of the triangle remained empty.

She did not put the Wooden Tablet bag inside.

Jona wrote:

Tablet exchanged for Outer Tablet.

Person remains in Outer Grid.

Wooden Tablet does not change its name.

The Black Code latched onto the word "remains."

[The one who remains may wait to exit.]

kahns old hammer gently pressed against the edge of the table.

"Do we wait for it?"

"Wait for it to default on payment."

Nami pressed the Injury Owner Unclaimed, Witness Unpaid, and Fee Unsettled seals onto the outer circle of the triangle.

"Exiting the grid requires three strokes."

Rake placed the grey rope outside the Left Line bag.

The end of the rope only touched the shadow of the bag, not the mouth of the bag.

"I am only hanging the tablet."

Short Code emerged:

[If the rope hangs, pull.]

Rake immediately relaxed his half-finger.

Nami pushed the water-grey towards the front of the rope end.

"The evidence of the old defeat is still here; the left pull carries water."

Jona added:

Rope hangs on the outer edge.

Does not act to pull the person.

Old defeat is not cleared.

The grey rope went quiet.

A bit of wood shavings seeped from the back of the Left Line Outer Grid Passage Seal.

The wood shavings rolled along the corner of the new tablet.

Black Code emerged:

[Wood shavings can change the name.]

E-19 pushed out the chalk board.

The board was still blank.

Nami took a look.

"Blank board does not accept names."

She pressed the Old Name Refusal Supplement seal in front of the wood shavings.

"The wood shavings only verify the Outer Grid."

Jona wrote:

Wood shavings change the tablet.

Do not change the old name.

Do not change the injury owner.

The Station Master's silver needle pointed at the wood shavings.

"Cold, no heat."

Short Code emerged:

[Left Tablet changes side powder.]

Jona sealed the bag.

Another small white thread stretched out from inside the black cloth.

The white thread wound toward the Waiting-to-Verify person's empty tablet.

[Waiting-to-Verify can acknowledge the Left Tablet.]

"Waiting-to-Verify acknowledges the tablet, but it does not acknowledge the person."

Nami turned the Waiting-to-Verify person's empty tablet face down.

The cold white back had no grid.

She pressed the Outside the Door Verification Tablet seal onto a corner of the empty tablet.

"Only acknowledge that this one has been changed."

Jona wrote:

Waiting-to-Verify acknowledges the changed tablet.

Does not acknowledge Noel.

Does not acknowledge the person exiting the Outer Grid.

The white thread stopped.

A grain of ash fell from the back of the empty tablet.

Short Code emerged:

[Changed tablet waiting-to-verify ash.]

Jona sealed it separately.

A thin grid suddenly lit up on the back of the Waiting-to-Verify person's empty tablet.

The thin grid was very shallow.

It was only enough to write half of the word "Left."

Black Code emerged:

[Empty tablet can connect to the Left Grid.]

"The empty tablet does not connect to the grid."

Nami sprinkled the Empty Tablet Return-Verification Ash onto the thin grid.

As soon as the ash fell, the thin grid broke into two segments.

Jona wrote:

Empty tablet has no grid.

Left Grid does not enter the empty tablet.

Waiting-to-Verify does not connect to the Left Line.

Short Code emerged:

[Left Grid refuses to connect to ash.]

Jona sealed the bag.

A bit of frost was spat out again within the hair-thin seam of the white edge.

The frost line stuck toward the position on the Left Shell Change-Side Seal that had not yet taken shape.

[Frost can seal the new tablet.]

Nami pressed the Door Seam Frost-Scraping seal in front of the frost line.

"The door seam frost can only seal outside the door, not the Left Tablet."

The Station Master pointed with the silver needle.

The frost line did not heat up.

kahns old hammer gently blocked it, and the frost line shattered into fine powder.

Short Code emerged:

[New tablet refuses frost powder.]

Jona sealed it separately.

Rake said in a low voice: "It doesn't want the Left Tablet to be changed cleanly."

"That's not it."

Nami looked at the black cloth.

"It wants to turn the new tablet into a new doorplate."

She had Jona add:

Left Tablet does not act as a doorplate.

Doorplate does not act as a person-tablet.

Changing the tablet does not change the door.

kahns old hammer tapped once beside the Left Line Outer Grid Passage Seal.

Clack.

A thin shell loosened from the corner of the seal.

The thin shell was not a new shell.

It looked like a layer of the edge of the old Outer Grid shell that had been worn away by the cold air outside the door.

Black Code immediately latched on:

[If the shell falls, the person is light.]

"The shell is light, but the person hasn't moved."

Nami pushed the Outer Grid Shell Bag next to the thin shell.

"The old shell belongs to the old shell."

The Station Master picked up the thin shell with the silver needle.

The thin shell had no heat, only the cold scent of wood shavings.

Jona wrote:

Shell edge can be changed.

Inside of the shell has not been opened.

Person has not left the grid.

Short Code emerged:

[Left Shell Change-Side Seal.]

Jona sealed the bag.

Wooden Tablet Three tapped once more.

This time, it only tapped one long beat.

The two short beats that followed did not sound.

Rake's expression changed.

"Is it missing?"

Nami did not move the Wooden Tablet bag.

She pressed the Half-Breath Load Limit Seal outside the mouth of the bag.

"It's not missing; it's being pressed by the door seam."

The Black Code took the opportunity to emerge:

[Short sound can supplement the name.]

"A short sound cannot be supplemented even more so."

Jona wrote:

Short sound records the sound.

Must not supplement the name.

Must not supplement the verification.

The Station Master used the silver needle to point at three spots outside the bag.

The third spot did not have heat, but there was a grain of cold ash.

Short Code emerged:

[Left sound short ash.]

Jona sealed the bag.

Only then did Nami cover the new Outer Tablet beside the Left Line Outside the Door Waiting Line.

The seal only landed halfway.

It did not cover the Wooden Tablet bag.

It did not cover the Waiting-to-Verify empty tablet.

Short Code emerged:

[Left Line Outside the Door Change Tablet Seal.]

The old Outer Tablet did not dim immediately.

It squeezed out a corner from behind the Left Line bag, as if it wanted to press the new tablet back to its original position.

Black Code emerged:

[Old tablet can be recycled.]

"The old tablet also owes a debt."

Nami pressed the Fee Unsettled and Witness Unpaid seals onto the corner of the old tablet.

"A tablet that has been changed out cannot sign itself back in."

Jona wrote:

Old tablet waits to be sealed.

Must not be recycled.

Must not sign for the new tablet.

A pinch of cold wood powder cracked off the corner of the old tablet.

The Station Master picked it up with the silver needle.

Short Code emerged:

[Old tablet recycling powder.]

Jona sealed the bag.

The Black Code bit onto "sign for" again:

[New and old sign together.]

Rake placed the grey rope horizontally between the new and old tablets.

"Leave a seam in the middle."

Nami sprinkled the Rescue-Dividing Seam Ash.

Jona added:

New and old do not sign together.

Changing sides does not combine sides.

Old tablet does not lead the person.

New tablet does not lead the name.

The two tablets of the Left Line finally separated.

Short Code emerged:

[Left Tablet new and old separation seal.]

Jona sealed it separately.

Nami laid out the new and old bags one in front of the other.

"Front tablet waits at the door."

She pointed at the old bag.

"Old tablet waits for sealing."

Jona added:

Front and back do not align.

Waiting at the door does not wait for sealing.

Old seal does not enter the door.

The two bags did not touch edges.

Edge ash was sealed separately.

Does not enter the box.

The edge of the black cloth shook once.

It wanted to connect "exiting the grid" after "changing the tablet."

Nami pressed down the Outer Line Not Yet Arrived seal.

"The change is complete, but it has still not arrived."

Jona added:

Left Tablet has been changed.

Noel has not exited.

Outer Grid is still sealed.

A very light bell-like sound came from the white edge seam.

It was not a bell from inside the door.

It was more like the bottom of the Right Bottle being lightly touched by water.

The Right Two Low-Position Return Grid seal lit up a little.

Black Code emerged:

[Right Line sticks to the threshold.]

Nami put away the new Left Line tablet.

"The next step, Right Line low position."