Scenario: One Successor carries a report from a Companion, one student transmits from that Successor, and five later students transmit from the second person. Several books reproduce the five later channels.
First observation: Despite the five later routes, the report's original link just after the Companion passes through one Successor.
Second observation: None of those five later branches independently replaces the original isolated link.
Conclusion: The isolation in this schematic occurs at the origin, making it a case of fard mutlaq.
If fresh investigation establishes an independent second Successor reporting from that Companion, the initial assessment must be revisited. Isnād analysis rests on the routes actually established, not an unexamined universal claim.