109: An unexpected "superpower" and its price

Life at the "Torch Dragon" base seemed to return to a calm rhythm focused on internal development and research after the warmth of the birthday party. Accompanied by Su Mu and Evelyn, Excellence continued his slow but steady cognitive recovery, along with those imaginative explorations running parallel in the "Thought Sandbox" and the real world. Various departments of the base were also operating in an orderly fashion, including the high-energy physics experimental zone located deep within the base with the highest protection level.

On this day, a high-precision physics experiment aimed at studying the characteristics of new superconducting materials under extreme conditions was undergoing intense preparations. This experiment was crucial for the research and development of certain cutting-edge energy technologies at the base, involving an extremely expensive and complex large-scale superconducting magnet system. The magnet needed to be maintained in its superconducting state by a liquid helium system at cryogenic temperatures near absolute zero, thereby generating a high-intensity steady-state magnetic field.

Inside the laboratory, the atmosphere was serious and focused. Researchers in white anti-static suits were busy performing final inspections and parameter calibrations in front of various instruments with blinking indicator lights. The massive superconducting magnet was placed in the center of heavy shielding; through the observation window, white frost could be seen condensing on its surface, emitting a faint, cold glow. Everything appeared orderly and in compliance with the highest safety standards.

In the adjacent observation room, Su Mu was accompanying Excellence during a "cognitive expansion" activity—learning the basic processes of some non-core research projects at the base through security monitoring screens and explanations, hoping to stimulate more of his interest and help him understand the connection between abstract theories and practical applications. Excellence watched the complex data streams and real-time status parameters of the magnet displayed on the main screen with great interest; although he couldn't fully understand them, his eyes were full of curiosity. Su Mu stood by his side, explaining the concept of superconductivity and the purpose of this experiment in simple language.

However, cutting-edge scientific experiments are often accompanied by extremely high risks. Shortly after the experiment started as planned, an accident occurred that no one had anticipated—a precision control valve of the liquid helium circulation pump, which provided core cooling for the superconducting magnet, suddenly suffered an extremely minute jam due to microscopic material fatigue, causing an instantaneous, barely perceptible fluctuation in the flow rate!

This insignificant fluctuation was like toppling the first domino. The slight anomaly in the liquid helium supply caused the temperature in a local area of the magnet to rise by an extremely tiny amount within a few milliseconds—but it was enough to destroy the stability of the superconducting state! A chain reaction was triggered instantly!

A shrill, highest-level Quench warning alarm suddenly blasted! The ear-piercing buzz instantly drowned out all other sounds, and the red warning lights in the laboratory and observation room flashed wildly, reflecting everyone's faces in a blood-red hue!

On the main monitoring screen, the numbers representing the magnet's energy storage level were like a runaway horse, starting to soar uncontrollably! This meant that the superconducting state was being rapidly destroyed, and the massive energy stored in the magnet coils (equivalent to several kilograms of TNT) was about to be released instantly as heat! Once a complete "Quench" occurred, not only would this equipment worth hundreds of millions—the crystallization of countless efforts—be instantly destroyed by the internal high temperature and pressure, but the explosion and subsequent secondary disasters like cryogenic liquid leaks and vacuum failure would be enough to turn the entire laboratory and surrounding areas into ruins, causing incalculable casualties and property loss!

"Quench warning! Level three alarm! Cooling system failure! Energy storage is about to exceed the critical point!" The operator's exclamation carried a desperate tremble.

Chaos erupted inside and outside the laboratory! Technicians tried to start emergency disposal procedures to guide energy through emergency discharge lines, but the system response was sluggish, showing that critical valves could not open normally due to energy field interference! Manual intervention required time, and the constantly jumping numbers on the screen coldly showed that less than thirty seconds remained! The atmosphere of despair was like a cold tide, drowning everyone present. Some people turned pale, while others instinctively backed away; disaster seemed inevitable.

In the observation room, Su Mu was also turned pale by the sudden turn of events, and she instinctively wanted to pull Excellence to evacuate to a safer area. However, she found that Excellence was not panicked like her but was completely captivated by the scene outside the observation window.

Excellence pressed against the thick lead glass observation window, his eyes wide, staring intently at the superconducting magnet in the center of the laboratory that was emitting an increasingly unstable, low hum like a dying giant beast and flashing dangerous blue light. Strangely, facing this scene that would terrify anyone in the know, what emerged in Excellence's eyes was not fear, but a... very familiar confusion and focus.

In his Perception, the space around that magnet was filled with a violent, discordant "disturbance." The flow of energy had lost Order, becoming wild and chaotic; the fine structure of space seemed to be torn by invisible hands, emitting a piercing "noise" that only he could "hear." This feeling was strikingly similar to the "external high-dimensional information disturbance" he felt in his previous dreams, and the "sense of incongruity" at the level of rules he experienced when facing The Foundation's space-based weapon attack during the base crisis! It was just on a much smaller scale, but the essence seemed to be from the same source—all were "garbled code" generated when certain established physical laws were broken or on the verge of collapse.

Almost out of instinct, an impulse to maintain "Order" and "rules" deeply rooted in his consciousness and related to that mysterious "system," Excellence completely ignored the external alarms and Su Mu's pulling, concentrating all his spirit. Those profound formulas and geometric images about spacetime structure, energy flow, and quantum field stability surfaced and combined automatically in his mind like activated code. He didn't deliberately think about how to solve the problem, but like a skilled programmer seeing a piece of buggy code, he instinctively knew how to fix it.

To Su Mu and everyone else outside, Excellence was just staring blankly out the window with empty eyes. But in his own world of Perception, he was "seeing" clearly, in a way that transcended common sense, the "singularity" and "logical paradox" triggered at the energy level by the tiny failure of the cooling valve that led to the Quench.

Then, unconsciously and very naturally, he raised his right hand, extended his index finger, and through the thick observation window glass that could withstand high-energy radiation, he lightly "tapped" in the air at the core of that violent energy in the center of the lab—the "failure point" that was empty to normal eyes but like a distorted black hole in his "horizon."

No light burst forth, no sound rang out, and not even a sliver of energy fluctuation leaked. His movement was as gentle as brushing away dust.

However, this seemingly meaningless action produced an earth-shattering effect!

The moment Excellence's finger "tapped," the energy readings on the main monitoring screen, which had been soaring like a runaway horse, were suddenly seized by an invisible but absolutely powerful giant hand, abruptly stopping their climb! Then, before everyone's unbelievable eyes, the readings began to plummet in a straight line at a speed that completely violated physical common sense—not a slow release, but as if being forcibly sucked away by a massive "pump"!

In the center of the laboratory, the superconducting magnet, which had been emitting a shrill hum, flashing blue light violently, and its surface frost melting rapidly, saw its unstable energy field calm down almost in the blink of an eye! The dangerous blue light faded, replaced by a steady, condensed white light characteristic of cryogenic equipment. A layer of frost thicker than before quickly formed on the magnet's surface, indicating that its internal ultra-low temperature environment was rapidly restoring stability. That catastrophic "Quench" that was about to destroy everything was actually forcibly terminated by an incomprehensible power just one second before it erupted!

The laboratory fell into a deathly silence. Only the low hum of the equipment returning to normal operation remained. Everyone stood frozen in place, mouths agape, staring blankly at the various parameters on the monitoring screen that had dropped back into the safety zone, then looking at the quiet magnet, completely unable to understand what had just happened. Had the equipment recovered on its own? Or was it a collective hallucination?

Only Su Mu, standing behind Excellence in the observation room, witnessed the entire process. She saw Excellence's strange gesture and the miracle of the crisis subsiding outside the window. A thought that made her heart skip a beat instantly flashed through her mind: Could it be... Excellence again?

Before her thought could finish, she saw Excellence's body in front of her suddenly sway! The color on his face drained away in an instant, becoming as pale as paper; his pupils dilated suddenly and then quickly lost focus, and two streams of bright red blood gushed from his nose without warning! Without even being able to let out a groan, he fell straight back like a puppet with its strings cut!

"Excellence!!" Su Mu's shrill scream pierced the silence after the laboratory's quietness. She lunged forward desperately, narrowly catching his collapsing body before he hit the ground. Where she touched him, it was icy cold, and his breathing was so faint it was almost imperceptible.

Chaos descended again, but this time it was to save Excellence. He was rushed to the base medical center at the fastest speed, where the top medical team immediately launched a full-scale rescue.

The examination results were distressing: Excellence experienced a brief, generalized neurological disorder, with the EEG showing post-discharge inhibition in multiple areas; more seriously, imaging revealed that several tiny blood vessels in his brain had ruptured, leading to a slight subarachnoid hemorrhage! His various bodily function indicators had also dropped to extremely low levels, as if all his energy and vitality had been completely drained in that moment of "intervention." The doctors' diagnosis was "acute stress reaction and cerebrovascular accident caused by extreme mental tension and excessive brain use," but every doctor involved in the rescue was filled with confusion, because this level of physiological consumption and damage far exceeded the limits of normal human brain function.

Wang Jianguo arrived at the medical center at the first opportunity. After hearing the accident report and what Su Mu had witnessed, his heart felt as heavy as if a giant stone were pressing on it. He completely understood that Excellence had once again, in an unconscious state, used that incredible "variable" ability that seemed capable of modifying local reality rules to successfully avert a massive disaster. But this time, the activation of the ability had caused clear and serious damage to his body. This was no longer vague fatigue, but a real physiological trauma.

Several hours later, Excellence slowly woke up under strong medication and close monitoring, but he was extremely weak, lacking even the strength to speak. Wang Jianguo walked to the bedside, looking at the boy's pale, haggard face and his still-confused eyes, his heart filled with complex emotions—gratitude, lingering fear, and even deeper responsibility and worry.

He leaned down and said to Excellence in an extremely serious, even slightly pleading tone: "Excellence, listen to me. I know you might not understand what happened. But remember, what you did today... was very dangerous! Not dangerous to others, but extremely dangerous to yourself! Your brain, your body, is still far from being able to bear this... this load. Promise me, unless it is a last resort, a matter of life and death, absolutely, absolutely do not try to do something like that again! Your safety is a thousand times, ten thousand times more important than any experiment or any equipment! Understand?"

Excellence looked weakly at Wang Jianguo, seemingly understanding the weight in his words, and managed a micro-nod with great effort. He himself was indeed terrified by this terrible backlash; that feeling of his consciousness being drained and his body losing control was like a walk to the gates of hell.

Su Mu stayed by the bed, tightly holding Excellence's cold hand, her tears falling uncontrollably, her heart aching beyond measure.

This accidental event was ordered as top secret by Wang Jianguo, and all those in the know were strictly required to maintain confidentiality. It rang like a heavy alarm bell in the heart of every core guardian once again. It proved that the ability Excellence possessed had value and potential so immense it was incalculable, enough to turn the tide at a critical moment; but at the same time, it clearly revealed the huge risks and cruel price hidden behind it. This "gift" was so heavy that every use could be accompanied by the shadow of self-destruction.

How to better understand, guide, and protect Excellence, helping him grow enough to control or at least safely carry this power while preventing him from being swallowed by it—this subject became more urgent and complex than dealing with any external threat. Excellence's path of growth was destined to be covered in thorns, requiring every step to be taken as if treading on thin ice.