Title: Below the Surface

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Chapter-number: 1

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Chapter-numeral: I

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Read-time: 4min

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Location: Somewhere

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Chapter-time: 23:47

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Scroll-cue: Scroll to descend

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Part: 1

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Part-name: Below the Surface

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Sections: [{"content":{"section_label":"THE DESCENT","capitalise":"true","text":"<p>Rain hissed softly above the manhole cover, the sound filtered through layers of wet concrete and dripping steel. Markus Neumann wiped a gloved hand across his forehead and adjusted his helmet light. <em>Here we go again.</em> He muttered under his breath, the words echoing along the tunnel like a prayer no one would answer. Another leak complaint — it was the third this week.</p><p>The tunnel swallowed him in the way they always did — quietly, without acknowledgment. He climbed down the iron ladder steps, each one slick with condensation. His boots hit the ground with a soft splash. For a second, he just stood there. Letting his eyes adjust. Letting the place settle around him.</p>","content":"<p>Rain hissed softly above the manhole cover, the sound filtered through layers of wet concrete and dripping steel. Markus Neumann wiped a gloved hand across his forehead and adjusted his helmet light. <em>Here we go again.</em> He muttered under his breath, the words echoing along the tunnel like a prayer no one would answer. Another leak complaint — it was the third this week.</p><p>The tunnel swallowed him in the way they always did — quietly, without acknowledgment. He climbed down the iron ladder steps, each one slick with condensation. His boots hit the ground with a soft splash. For a second, he just stood there. Letting his eyes adjust. Letting the place settle around him.</p>"},"id":"afb489ff-98c5-4ed9-b5be-095e64f99183","isHidden":false,"type":"prose"},{"content":{"text":"The Kanalwerk Friedrichshof Station always smelled like rot. Not the sharp, animal kind, but the slow decay of infrastructure — oil, rust, moss, time."},"id":"62113cb8-a5c7-49cb-aa78-0ebd30cd329a","isHidden":false,"type":"pull"},{"content":{"image":["file://mvgubc51yumjedpl"],"text":"<p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum. Stet clita kasd gubergren, no sea takimata sanctus est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum. Stet clita kasd gubergren, no sea takimata sanctus est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum. Stet clita kasd gubergren, no sea takimata sanctus est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.</p><p>Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat.</p><p>Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. 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His boots hit the ground with a soft splash. For a second, he just stood there. Letting his eyes adjust. Letting the place settle around him.</p>","content":"<p>Rain hissed softly above the manhole cover, the sound filtered through layers of wet concrete and dripping steel. Markus Neumann wiped a gloved hand across his forehead and adjusted his helmet light. <em>Here we go again.</em> He muttered under his breath, the words echoing along the tunnel like a prayer no one would answer. Another leak complaint — it was the third this week.</p><p>The tunnel swallowed him in the way they always did — quietly, without acknowledgment. He climbed down the iron ladder steps, each one slick with condensation. His boots hit the ground with a soft splash. For a second, he just stood there. Letting his eyes adjust. Letting the place settle around him.</p>"},"id":"43ce2c42-9c9f-4997-96fa-fa1caefe4de6","isHidden":false,"type":"prose"},{"content":{"section_label":"","capitalise":"false","text":"<p>And tonight, something else. Not strong, but present. Chemical. Artificial.</p><p>He exhaled sharply through his nose and switched on his helmet lamp. The beam cut across the curved concrete, catching glints of water droplets and age-darkened moss. Thin roots dangled from a crack above his head like hair from a wound.</p>"},"id":"d698b583-5131-41b6-904b-01f159d8d023","isHidden":false,"type":"prose"},{"content":{"style":"t-rust","caption":"The tunnel swallowed him in the way they always did — quietly, without acknowledgment. He climbed down the iron ladder steps, each one slick with condensation. His boots hit the ground with a soft splash. For a second, he just stood there. Letting his eyes adjust. Letting the place settle around him."},"id":"06a5dd57-cc95-4159-bc27-5c57aa90ecf9","isHidden":false,"type":"texture"},{"content":{"heading":"<h2>He took a step.<br>Then another.</h2>","body":"<p>His <strong><em>knees ached more than</em></strong> usual — long shifts, poor sleep. He was pushing fifty and felt every year of it in weather like this.</p>","image":["file://gtg5lx76p316mdyd"]},"id":"557fb97e-e0c7-4f7d-8681-ef9bbb3c9b55","isHidden":false,"type":"pinned-text"},{"content":{"section_label":"II · THE NAMED TUNNELS","capitalise":"true","text":"<p>He had worked these tunnels for over a decade, knew them better than the apartment where he barely slept anymore. Some stretches had earned nicknames: <em>The Cathedral</em>, <em>The Gut</em>, <em>The Dead Loop</em>.</p>"},"id":"cd4cbadc-ba12-43af-8be3-c319dbf088c1","isHidden":false,"type":"prose"},{"content":{"text":"Friedrichshof didn't get a name. It didn't really deserve one. It just dragged on and got worse with time."},"id":"2a2b5830-645c-4a89-ba77-b06159b220d3","isHidden":false,"type":"pull"},{"content":{"section_label":"","capitalise":"false","text":"<p>The chemical smell strengthened the further he walked, settling on the back of his tongue. He stopped, let the lamp sweep slowly along the right-hand wall, and listened to the way the silence had begun to organize itself — into something less like absence and more like attention.</p>"},"id":"6fb69dee-68a1-427e-a1f7-5b724318ab6a","isHidden":false,"type":"prose"},{"content":{"note_label":"FIELD LOG · MARKUS N.","text":"<p>Note for shift report — odor at K-FH between marker 14 and 17, sharp, possibly solvent. Not in the daily release schedule. Recommend retest before sign-off. Will check again on the way back. <em>(He would not check again on the way back.)</em></p>","content":"<p>Hallo capiditio</p>"},"id":"536e8771-b5e7-4346-9002-852f24aa917b","isHidden":false,"type":"note"}]

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