107: Morpheus's hidden hand and the "mirror" trap

After the "Prometheus" fire project suffered a crushing defeat and he himself suffered severe damage to his nervous system due to a mysterious backlash, Morpheus Li was forced to temporarily retire from the pinnacle of power at the "Prophet Foundation".

He was transferred to a highly classified, isolated nursing center located deep in the Alps.

It possessed the world's top neural repair technology and life support systems, but to him, it was no different from a lavishly decorated prison.

Outside the huge floor-to-ceiling windows were snow-capped peaks and circling eagles, while inside, Morpheus was like a trapped beast with clipped wings, undergoing long and uncertain rehabilitation therapy under the monitoring of precise medical equipment.

Physical pain and restricted movement did not grind away his paranoid ambition; instead, it became thicker and more dangerous, like venom fermenting in a sealed container.

He could not accept his failure, and even less could he tolerate the continued existence and growth of the "Zhulong" base and that "seed" named Excellence.

The conservative strategy adopted by the interim committee was, in his eyes, an act of cowardice and shortsightedness.

He firmly believed that only by completely controlling the power of "pandora" could true "Ascension" be achieved, and Excellence was the only and crucial key.

Through the few "dark lines" that remained, were absolutely loyal to him, and were hidden extremely deep, Morpheus was still able to intermittently obtain external information and secretly pass on instructions.

Like a spider lurking in the center of its web, although his physical body was weak, he could still use Perception to detect the subtle vibrations of the network and plot new hunts.

He knew well that a direct assault was no longer possible, and the interim committee would not support it.

He needed a more sophisticated, more covert way to pry open the deadlock.

A backup plan called "Mirror" gradually took shape in his mind.

The core of this plan was no longer to use The Foundation's vast hard power, but to utilize the weaknesses of human nature to conduct a precise psychological war and information deception.

He locked his target onto the "Traitor" he both hated and felt complex emotions for—his daughter, Evelyn Li.

Morpheus's grasp of Evelyn's psychology was extremely precise.

He knew that one of the core driving forces behind Evelyn betraying The Foundation to join "Zhulong" was her disapproval of his radical methods, as well as her deep guilt and sense of atonement regarding what happened to Excellence.

At the "Zhulong" base, Evelyn strove to play the role of technical consultant and guardian; she longed to prove her worth and gain new recognition by protecting Excellence and making up for past mistakes.

This mindset was both her armor and potentially her weak point.

Morpheus meticulously designed a set of false intelligence.

He used his remaining resources to imitate the communication style, technical terminology, and action plan templates of The Foundation's radical faction (a faction that indeed existed but had been suppressed by the interim committee), forging a series of highly classified and seemingly imminent action drafts.

These drafts described a new plan called "Gentle Extraction".

The plan claimed that the radical faction, dissatisfied with the interim committee's inaction, was secretly planning to bypass the committee and use a new type of non-invasive "Neural Resonance reading technology" to remotely and imperceptibly "steal" key inspirations or knowledge fragments flashing in Excellence's mind when he was in deep thought or in a relaxed state.

The plan emphasized "gentle" and "harmless," claiming its goal was not to kidnap or destroy Excellence, but to gather nectar like a bee without disturbing the flower, thereby gradually accumulating an understanding of the "pandora" treasure.

The details of this false intelligence were extremely realistic: it included a brief explanation of the technical principles (seemingly reasonable but impossible to verify), a preset action schedule (vague but urgent), an analysis of potential infiltration paths (utilizing certain predictable external communication interfaces of the base), and even emergency plans for potential failure.

Morpheus ensured that this intelligence was logically self-consistent and happened to touch Evelyn's most sensitive nerve—protecting the safety of Excellence, especially against that kind of seemingly "civilized" yet equally insidious threat.

Then, through a carefully designed "vulnerability"—a data cache area of a secondary academic exchange platform that Evelyn checked regularly when monitoring external information flows but usually had a low security level—he "accidentally" leaked fragments of this intelligence into Evelyn's field of vision.

The delivery process was like fishing, extremely patient and covert, first releasing some irrelevant but professionally interesting fringe information, and then gradually mixing in clues of the core "Gentle Extraction" plan, letting her "discover" this shocking conspiracy in the process of tracking the information.

Sure enough, when Evelyn was performing routine external information screening, she keenly captured these unusual signals.

At first, she was only wary of some unusually active technical discussion groups related to The Foundation's radical faction.

As she tracked deeper, when she pieced together the general outline of the "Gentle Extraction" plan, her heart tightened suddenly, and a chill ran from her spine to the top of her head.

"Neural Resonance reading... remote imperceptible theft... Target: Excellence's knowledge inspiration..." These terms exploded in her mind.

She knew The Foundation's technical reserves too well; this kind of technology, which sounded incredible, was not entirely theoretically impossible given The Foundation's capabilities.

More importantly, this method was more insidious and harder to guard against than her father's previous crude attacks!

It wouldn't trigger intense defense system alarms, but it could silently erode Excellence's wisdom, and might even subtly influence his subconscious without him noticing.

Out of extreme concern for Excellence's safety, and an urgent feeling of fearing to repeat past mistakes and failing to provide timely warning, after initially verifying the seemingly reliability of the intelligence source (which was actually a chain meticulously forged by Morpheus), although there was still a trace of doubt in her heart, the desire to protect overwhelmed the demand for absolute accuracy of the intelligence.

She quickly organized the collected intelligence fragments into a report with clear logic and a seemingly complete chain of evidence, and with an unprecedented anxious expression, urgently requested to see Wang Jianguo.

"Chief, I have discovered an extremely dangerous potential plan!" Evelyn's voice carried a hint of imperceptible trembling.

She presented the report and explained her analysis and concerns in detail, "If this 'Gentle Extraction' plan is real, Excellence will face an unprecedented, invisible, and continuous threat! We must take immediate action to strengthen defenses!"

Wang Jianguo read the report carefully, his expression grave.

Evelyn's analysis was well-founded, and the threat she pointed out did indeed have theoretical possibility, and it pointed directly to a potential weak point in the base's defenses—namely, the defense against non-aggressive, progressive infiltration.

However, years of intelligence work and experience dealing with The Foundation had given him an almost instinctive vigilance.

This intelligence came too "coincidentally," and the direction was too "clear," as if someone had deliberately placed the puzzle pieces in the most conspicuous place.

He did not draw a conclusion immediately, but immediately summoned the base's most elite intelligence analysis team and counter-espionage experts, issuing a highest-priority verification order: "Use all resources to trace the source of this intelligence, analyze its transmission path, and verify the authenticity of every detail! I want to know if this is a real warning or bait thrown by the enemy!"

The base's intelligence team displayed superb professionalism.

They were like the most meticulous archaeologists, tracing and dissecting every byte of the intelligence; and like the most keen detectives, looking for any possible logical flaws and technical fingerprints.

After sleepless and intense work, several key suspicious points surfaced:

Encryption traces: In the deep layer of the intelligence data packet, traces of a non-standardized encryption algorithm were found, one that was only used by the "Shadow Guard" directly under Morpheus.

This trace was cleverly disguised as ordinary communication noise but failed to completely escape the detection of top-tier analysis tools.

The "coincidence" of the transmission path: The leakage path of the intelligence seemed accidental, but after simulation and deduction, it was found that it perfectly avoided several main monitoring Nodes set up by the base, but "happened" to flow through the secondary platform that Evelyn habitually paid attention to.

This path selection was too idealized, as if it had been carefully designed.

The "advanced" and "vague" technical description: The principle description of the "Neural Resonance reading" technology sounded profound, but was vague in key details, and the several supporting papers cited were verified to be fictional or tampered with.

This was more like science fiction concepts piled up to increase credibility.

Synthesizing all clues, the analysis team reached a highly credible conclusion: this was highly likely a meticulously planned information deception operation, a "Mirror" trap.

Its purpose was not really to implement "Gentle Extraction," but to use Evelyn's vigilance and desire to protect Excellence to induce the "Zhulong" base to waste precious attention and defense resources on a non-existent threat, thereby potentially exposing real weaknesses during the process of adjusting defense deployments, creating opportunities for Morpheus's next real action.

"What a 'Mirror' trap!" Wang Jianguo sneered after hearing the report, a sharp light flashing in his eyes, "Morpheus is at his wit's end and has started playing psychological warfare. He wants us to scare ourselves and run ourselves ragged."

However, Wang Jianguo did not choose to immediately expose this scam.

An excellent strategist knows how to turn an enemy's strategy into his own advantage.

He decided to play along.

He issued a series of instructions:

Limited response: Let Evelyn continue to "closely monitor" the movements of the "Gentle Extraction" plan, and deliberately reveal information in internal communications that the base "attaches great importance" to this matter.

At the same time, make some subtle reinforcements and adjustments on some non-core, monitorable external data interfaces and defense Nodes, seemingly to guard against "Neural Resonance reading."

These actions were small in scale but enough to be captured by potential lurkers.

Reverse tracking: Using these false defensive actions as bait, set up a more precise reverse tracking network, attempting to capture the "dark lines" Morpheus used to transmit instructions and receive feedback, hoping to follow the vine to find his hidden lair or communication hub.

Internal stabilization: Internally, maintain the highest vigilance, but keep the defense focus on dealing with real, various potential threats, avoiding chaos due to a scam.

After the plan was quietly launched, Wang Jianguo chose an appropriate time to have a frank and serious conversation with Evelyn in private.

He first affirmed Evelyn's high vigilance and sense of responsibility, thanking her for reporting the intelligence in time.

Then, he tactfully but clearly told her the investigation conclusions of the intelligence analysis team.

"Evelyn, you care about Excellence's safety, and that is right. But our opponent is very cunning, especially good at using people's emotional weaknesses."

Wang Jianguo's tone was calm, but every word struck Evelyn's heart, "This time, we judge that you very likely fell into a psychological trap set by your father. He used your guilt and desire to protect to try to mislead us through you."

The moment she learned the truth, Evelyn felt as if she had been struck by lightning, and her face instantly turned pale.

She felt a wave of intense lingering fear and shame surge in her heart.

She had been so easily used by her father, almost leading the base's defenses astray, wasting precious resources, and perhaps even causing serious consequences because of her lack of calmness and excessive anxiety!

Her heart to protect Excellence had instead become a breakthrough point for the enemy to use!

This sense of frustration and self-blame almost made her unable to face anyone.

Wang Jianguo saw her pain, patted her shoulder, and his tone turned gentler: "A fall into the pit, a gain in your wit. This is not your fault; the enemy just knows you too well. After this incident, you must remember that in the struggle with The Foundation, especially when it involves your father, calmness and prudence are sometimes more important than enthusiasm and sharpness. Do not let the feeling of protection cloud the eyes of judgment. This is also part of growth."

Evelyn raised her head, her eyes filled with tears, but more so with firmness and reflection.

She nodded vigorously: "I understand, Chief. Thank you for your reminder and tolerance. I will learn from this lesson, and in the future, I will pay more attention to verification, control my emotions, and will never let personal feelings affect professional judgment again."

This experience was like a basin of cold water, waking her up and making her determined to become more mature, rational, and resilient.

Morpheus's "Mirror" trap ultimately failed to achieve its expected effect, instead making the "Zhulong" base more vigilant and giving them an opportunity to conduct a reverse reconnaissance exercise.

However, this matter was like a sharp thorn, deeply embedded in Evelyn's heart, constantly reminding her of the fragility of her own emotions and the complexity of the struggle.

It also signaled to everyone at the "Zhulong" base: the contest with the "Prophet Foundation" was far from over.

Even if Morpheus was temporarily out of power, his insidious methods and stubborn ambition still constituted a continuous threat.

Future struggles might no longer be grand space attacks, but more like the "Mirror" trap, psychological games, information deception, and subtle infiltration hidden behind friendly exchanges, academic cooperation, or even humanitarian aid.

This war to protect Excellence and the future had entered a new phase that was more covert and tested wisdom and determination more.

Beneath the calm water, the undercurrents were becoming increasingly turbulent.