Chapter 305: Do Better Than Cold Water

Shichen had to turn sideways to let Hanchuan pass between the machinery.

The flashlight caught the edge of a metal platform, then the steps below it, showing more of the room than he had been able to see from the doorway.

Pipes ran overhead and disappeared through the walls, with labels painted beside valves and smaller tags hanging from wire loops.

He could follow some of them from the drawing, but every time he thought he understood the arrangement, another pipe crossed beneath the one he was tracing.

Zeyu stood beside him with the manual open against his forearm. He had stopped making jokes about showers and was checking each label before moving farther into the room.

"Hold the light there a moment," Zeyu said, leaning closer to a plate fixed above two pumps. "This is on the drawing, but we’ve come in from the other side. I’ve been looking for everything backward."

Shichen turned the book around, and the room began to make more sense. He smiled at his own mistake before taking the manual back. "At least we found that out before I asked you to start taking things apart."

Behind them, Qinghe helped Zhiyi step over a raised threshold.

She was holding the loose sleeve of her borrowed shirt away from a greasy railing, her attention moving between the machinery and the book.

Hanchuan waited until she was beside him before continuing along the walkway, while Jingwei checked the spaces opening off it.

Shichen followed the fresh-water line across the drawing and then through the room. The pumps were silent, their control panel dark, but the pipes themselves appeared intact.

There were no puddles underneath them or streaks suggesting a recent leak. He crouched to examine a connection near the floor, brushing dust away with his sleeve.

For the first time since the tower fell, he had something to work with that wasn’t already coming apart beneath his hands.

He looked toward Zeyu, who had found a second folder hanging beside the panel.

Plastic sleeves protected the pages inside, and several corners had been folded back by whoever used it most often.

"Maintenance records," Zeyu said, bringing them over. "Someone was checking this regularly. There are dates beside the repairs, and most of the writing is clear enough to read."

Shichen accepted the folder and sat on the bottom step. He would need more light, proper tools, and time to compare the records with the equipment.

None of that seemed unreasonable now.

There were cupboards they hadn’t opened and whole rooms they hadn’t reached, and he could work without stopping every few minutes to help keep the floor above water.

Hanchuan came back along the walkway while Shichen read.

"How much can you tell without turning anything on?" Hanchuan asked. "I’d like water upstairs, but I’d rather wait than damage something we can’t replace."

"There should still be water in the storage tanks. Getting it to the taps is another matter." Shichen showed him the drawing, keeping his explanation to the parts he had confirmed. "I want to check the tanks before we do anything with the pumps. If the water’s bad, there’s no point pushing it through the building."

"The ship," Zeyu corrected gently, and Shichen laughed when he realized what he had said.

Zhiyi had moved closer to look at the records.

Her hand rested on Hanchuan’s arm while she read over Shichen’s shoulder, and a loose strand of hair brushed his cheek.

He caught it before it reached a smear of grease on his sleeve and tucked it behind her ear.

"You’re going to need another wash if you keep leaning over me," Shichen told her. "I’ve already managed to get this on both hands, and I haven’t fixed anything yet."

She examined his fingers, then looked down at her own shirt. "I don’t mind getting dirty if we can wash afterward. I just don’t want to put the same clothes back on," she smiled up at him.

He understood that well enough to turn back to the records with renewed interest.

It took them most of the morning to find the access points shown on the plan and check the water they could reach.

Shichen marked each place in his notebook so they wouldn’t have to search again, while Zeyu copied the labels that had become difficult to read.

They drew a sample into a clear container and carried it beneath the stronger daylight near the stairs.

Qinghe turned it slowly, watching for anything floating inside. The water looked clear and had no obvious smell, but he put the lid back on before anyone could mistake that for permission to drink it.

"We’ve got bottled water upstairs, so we can afford to be careful with this," Qinghe said. "Let’s keep it for washing until we know more about the tank. I’d like to see where it was filled and whether the treatment supplies are still here."

Hanchuan agreed, then sent Shichen and Zeyu to find containers in the galley while the others waited at the stairwell.

They returned with two lidded pots, relieved to have something useful to carry upstairs.

The water was cold enough to make Shichen’s fingers ache as he filled them, but Zhiyi smiled when Hanchuan told her she could wash her hair.

By the time they reached the cabins, Shichen had begun thinking about soap, a clean towel, and whether he could persuade someone to cut the hair curling over his ears.

Zeyu was beside him, complaining about the stairs without slowing down, when Zhiyi reached for one of the handles.

"I can carry that from here," she offered. "You’ve brought it all the way up."

Shichen shifted the pot away before she could take its weight.

"You can open the door for me. If I put this down now, I’m going to sit beside it and make everyone climb over us," he said.

She laughed and went ahead, pushing the bathroom door wide. Hanchuan followed with the other pot and began clearing space beside the basin.

Shichen set his down, flexing his sore fingers while Zhiyi found the towels they had brought from the linen cupboard.

She held one out to him, then caught his hand when he reached for it.

"You’ve opened that cut again," Zhiyi said, looking at the split beside his thumb. "Let Qinghe cover it before you go back downstairs."

Shichen glanced toward Hanchuan, who was pouring water into the basin.

"Sit down and let him look at it," Hanchuan told him. "The machinery will still be there after we’ve eaten."

Shichen obeyed more readily than he would have an hour earlier.

Through the open bathroom door, he could hear Zhiyi protesting at the cold water, followed by Hanchuan’s quiet laugh as he helped her bend over the basin.

Zeyu came into the cabin carrying the maintenance folder, with one finger tucked between its pages.

"I found the generator checks," he said, taking the chair beside Shichen. "If you’re willing to read while I find us lunch, we might be able to do better than cold water tomorrow."

Shichen opened the folder across his knees.

Qinghe drew his injured hand aside to clean it, leaving the other free to turn the first page.