Night inside the cramped gunboat radio cabin. Oil lamp light cuts hard shadows across metal walls, the receiver, logbooks, and Lin at the set.

The radio burst overlays the cabin. The message appears as ordinary fish prices in the log while Lin’s attention sharpens.

Lin recognizes the sender’s voice by dialect. A brief memory of village cipher lessons cuts into the present without revealing anything beyond what Lin already knows.

Lin breaks the fish-market cover in real time, converting innocent terms into military information.

The decoded threat is visualized against the foggy estuary: a waiting shape in the dark water, then Lin back in the cabin with the message confirmed.

Lin confronts the danger of possessing two unsigned decrypts. The official rule becomes physical through stamps, blanks, and red warning marks.

Lin considers and rejects possible routes for reporting the warning, each blocked by procedure or by what happened before.

Shift-change corridor outside the radio spaces. Lin leaves the cabin carrying the hidden slips, passing male operators who barely hide their judgment.

Lin reaches Wei Zhong’s workroom, a cramped office-like space off the radio cabin with logbooks, ink pads, and a single hard lamp.

Lin presents the two slips and asks for an official co-signature without saying too much too soon.

Wei reads both decrypts. The silence is longer than Lin expected.

Wei asks the question that turns the room colder. Lin realizes a beat late that she has been tested.

Wei probes why Lin came to him instead of Tang or Captain Shen. Lin must answer without revealing the hidden notebook or her failed warning.

Wei takes control of the evidence. His calm becomes predatory through small movements rather than open threat.

Wei dismisses Lin. He gives no threat, which makes it worse.

Lin leaves Wei’s workroom without the decrypts. The loss of proof lands physically.

Lin tries to obey the dismissal but cannot sleep. The gunboat’s cramped interior feels like a trap.

Cold rope deck in heavy fog. Lin hides among coils where she can watch the main passage without being seen.

Wei leaves the interior passage and crosses the deck. Lin watches from concealment.

Wei reaches the junction where one route leads toward command and another toward the wireless lockup.

Wei checks the passage before entering the restricted area. Lin nearly gives herself away.

Wei enters the wireless lockup alone instead of reporting the decrypts. The restricted door and lamp become the visual focus.

Lin understands that Wei’s delay is intentional control. The lamp inside the lockup makes his silhouette visible through the small glass.

Final chapter beat on the rope deck: Lin hidden in cold shadow while the wireless lockup lamp burns behind Wei’s silhouette.