Yang Ruoqian had approved a window.
He had not approved a door.
He had not approved a corridor.
He had absolutely not approved a reception desk where half-dead cinemas could line up, hand over repair photos, and wait politely for Xplendi to destroy his system mission with measured compassion.
The folder name still sat on the shared drive:
Expense Intake Window - External Venue Materials.
Window.
The word bothered him more with every minute.
Windows were supposed to be passive. They let people look. They did not invite people in. They did not sort attachments. They did not ask whether a leaking projection room had an updated power-safety inspection.
Unfortunately, office software had no respect for metaphor.
At nine fifteen, the assistant sent the first daily intake summary.
New external venue materials received: 2.
Pending acknowledgement: 2.
Suggested handling: register only.
Yang stared at register only.
It sounded harmless.
