Chapter 310: His Flippers Went Cold Before the Current Began

Jiang entered the water beak first.

The lane admitted his head, shoulders, and tucked flippers without pulling him forward. His feet stayed on the dry lip until the first copper tab displayed the surface temperature against his outer right flipper.

[SELECTIVE DIVE CIRCULATION:PROOF1]

[Protocol B active]

[Controlled peripheral restriction required]

[Brain/heart preservation required]

[Functional return required]

[Borrowed oxygen0 | transferred living cost0]

[Proof readings0/4]

"Surface reading ready," Aylin said. "I am reading, not beginning the dive."

Jiang pushed away from the lip.

The water closed over his back. His oilcoat trapped a thin layer against the feathers, and the first kick carried him to the shallow floor. One flipper stroke corrected his angle before the wake keel could brush the copper housing.

[WATER ENTRY COMPLETE]

[Pressure Heart60->60]

[Cold0/47]

[Wound contact0 | bleeding0]

[Proof gain0]

The first abort bar stood less than one body length ahead. Its red handle crossed the lane at beak height. Jiang passed beneath it slowly enough to touch the first submerged tab with the outside of his right flipper.

Cold entered the skin before it reached the muscle.

[TEMPERATURE CHECK1/4]

[Peripheral change:right flipper -1.7C]

[Core preservation:stable]

[Heart/brain flow:stable]

[Motor response100%]

[Tissue damage0]

The system displayed a green line and awarded nothing.

Jiang swept the same flipper backward. The stroke moved him thirty-eight centimeters, exactly within the lane’s measured range.

"Right function retained," Aylin said.

"It still resents the assignment."

His words rose as bubbles. The observer plate translated none of them, which was probably for the best.

The lane floor angled down another half meter. Jiang used his feet and tail to keep the descent shallow while both flippers supplied forward force. Speed would skip the next tab. He shortened each stroke instead of fighting water with the full span.

At the second copper point, he presented the left flipper.

[TEMPERATURE CHECK2/4]

[Peripheral change:left flipper -1.9C]

[Core preservation:stable]

[Heart/brain flow:stable]

[Motor response98%]

[Tissue damage0]

[Controlled restriction readings2/4]

The two outer flippers cooled while the protected readings stayed level. The change was physiological, not a new skill. Jiang had not directed blood with a command or purchased a lower number. His current emperor body already knew part of the answer.

The proof required that answer to survive movement and recovery.

A narrow breath counter followed the bubbles leaving his beak. The lane contained no air hose, oxygen pocket, shared lung, or transfer plate. Every usable breath had entered Jiang before submersion, and the observer side could drain water but could not supply gas.

[OXYGEN SOURCE AUDIT]

[Self-carried oxygen1]

[Exterior supply0 | living transfer0]

[Observer respiratory effect0]

The colder flippers encouraged his body to spend movement quickly. Jiang wanted one full stroke, a fast turn, and a return to the surface before the discomfort became information. That instinct would preserve warmth by ending the test, but it would skip the measurement he had chosen.

He shortened the next stroke to half span. His feet corrected the lost distance while his tail held the lane center. The motion was less powerful and more useful. Aylin’s plate recorded continued brain and heart preservation without claiming that Jiang had consciously ordered either vessel to narrow.

Outside the zone, Catch6 reached its return line.

Hessa’s exterior strip carried the update without asking Jiang or Aylin to leave their positions.

[SEASONAL PASSAGE CATCH6 RETURN]

[Workers6/6 | protagonist roles0]

[Total catch15.2kg]

[Living return3.1kg | edible12.1kg]

[Injuries0 | equipment damage0 | missing0]

[Command merge0]

Nera and Olan released the living share before the edible basket crossed the count. Black-Crown and Split-Beak ended their swimmer roles separately. The two human workers ended theirs after the line and counterweight returned to ownernone.

[CATCH6 COMPLETE]

[Living release3.1kg complete]

[Food0:31->2:32]

[Workers ended6/6 | inherited duty0]

Jiang saw the food clock change on the lane wall.

He did not turn toward it.

The catch had succeeded because six people worked, not because he proved he could ignore them. Treating their result as his recovery reward would have repeated the same bad arithmetic as the witness.

[PROOF ATTRIBUTION]

[Catch6 contribution to circulation proof0]

[Food duty assigned to Jiang0]

[Proof readings remain2/4]

The second abort bar waited at the lane’s midpoint.

Jiang surfaced beneath it, took one breath, and touched the handle with his beak without pulling. The contact confirmed his stop remained available.

[ABORT GATE2 AVAILABLE]

[Subject force required1.8kg]

[Current beak force sufficient]

[Observer drain available1]

"Your right flipper is warming more slowly than the left," Aylin said. "Difference point six. Both remain inside the protocol limit."

She supplied the reading without telling him to continue.

Jiang took a second breath and submerged again.

The third tab sat near the return turn, where the lane widened enough for him to reverse without scraping his wound. He approached with short strokes and held his feet close to the tail.

The Adverse Witness moved behind its divider.

It touched Protocol A’s unmonitored current control.

[ADVERSE WITNESS CONTACT]

[Activation authority0]

[Protocol migration0]

[Current control authority0]

Nothing entered Jiang’s lane.

The witness touched its unsupported conclusion next. The system opened a comparison prompt on Jiang’s wall.

[CARRIER FRAME REMINDER]

[Unmonitored descent projected01:20]

[Current measured protocol elapsed02:41]

[Switch available before check3]

[Prior readings retained0 if switched]

Jiang struck the dismiss plate with his beak.

[SWITCH0]

The prompt vanished. The witness retained its conclusion. Jiang retained the lane he had chosen.

At the third tab, the right-flipper reading fell faster.

[TEMPERATURE CHECK3/4]

[Peripheral change:right flipper -3.8C]

[Peripheral change:left flipper -2.4C]

[Core preservation:stable]

[Heart/brain flow:stable]

[Right motor response91%]

[Asymmetry limit3.0C | current1.4C]

[Tissue damage0]

The proof accepted the reading but did not count it as controlled restriction.

[CONTROLLED READINGS2/4]

[Uncontrolled readings1]

[Proof1 incomplete]

Jiang flexed the colder flipper through a short stroke. It moved, but the return lagged behind the left. His body was preserving the center at unequal expense to the limbs.

"You are inside the damage limit," Aylin said. "The right response is falling. Your abort is one body length behind and another is beyond the turn."

The third abort remained reachable either way. She did not choose which one he used.

The lane’s still water ended at the return turn.

[PROTOCOL B:CONTROLLED PHASE COMPLETE]

[Readings clean2/4]

[Proof completion requires clean4/4]

[Real-current calibration available]

[Current speed0.6m/s]

[Cold source:physical lane water]

[Witness authority0]

The current did not begin automatically. A separate beak plate offered it. Starting would expose the colder right flipper to uneven load while giving Jiang two remaining chances to prove control.

Aborting would end this attempt with damage0 and preserve every future attempt.

Continuing would not erase the bad third reading.

Four minutes had passed inside the water protocol.

Food stood2:30. Fuel remained0. Catch6 was complete with living release3.1kg, edible12.1kg, workers ended6/6, and command0. Camp Site1 remained ownerless and empty. Exterior exits remained open.

Jiang remained Pressure60%, Cold0/47, mobility10%, wound1.0cm, bleeding0, feather loss4, water deficit0.11L, molt65%, EP0, native hands0, and Selective Dive Circulation0/3. Protocol B clean readings2/4, uncontrolled1, lasting damage0, transferred cost0. Abort gates2 and3 remained available.

Aylin kept one hand near the drain chain without touching it.

Jiang faced the current plate with one flipper slower than the other.