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","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>","capitalise":"true","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":{"section_label":"","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>","capitalise":"false"},"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 knees ached more than 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"},{"content":{"section_label":"II · THE NAMED TUNNELS","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>","capitalise":"true"},"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":"","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>","capitalise":"false"},"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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