12: A fleeting glimpse of the "villain" at the auction

Just as Excellence was being tortured to the point of a breakdown by that damn "Simple Brain-Wave Interactive System," feeling his brain cells drowning and struggling to be reborn in an ocean of code and noise signals, an email with a style completely at odds with his daily life abruptly intruded into his campus inbox.

Sender: Prophet Foundation

Subject: Sincere Invitation to the "Future Vision" Charity Auction Dinner

The email's wording was elegant and formal, carrying an unquestionable sense of ritual. It invited him to a small charity dinner held at the city's top-tier Ritz-Carlton Hotel—"Future Vision: A Dialogue with Tomorrow's Technology." The email specifically mentioned that this dinner would bring together cutting-edge ideas, technological innovation, and humanistic concern, making it highly significant.

Excellence stared at the screen, looking completely bewildered, his mouth slightly agape, as if he had just swallowed a raw egg. He repeatedly checked the recipient address—yes, it was his name and email. What did this high-end, mysterious occasion, filled with socialites and big capital sharks, have to do with a college student like him who was broke, spent his days "hand-crafted" weird stuff in his dorm, and was failing classes?

【Analysis initiated: The email sending address went through triple encryption redirects (South Korea, Singapore, Switzerland) and was ultimately traced back to a Free Confederacy network Node. The invitation list is an embedded encrypted list within The Foundation's core database, not accessible via public channels. The host is on the list; the logical conflict rate is 97.3%, which is extremely abrupt. Preliminary assessment: Targeted invitation. Suggest the host proceed with caution. Suggested options: a) Refuse to participate; b) Treat as an opportunity for potential intelligence gathering and risk assessment.】 The system's calm analysis immediately rang in his mind, like a bucket of ice water poured over his head.

The Free Confederacy?!

Excellence's heart sank, as if gripped by an invisible hand. This term, whether from the system's initial introduction of civilization forms or from that time Director Wang unintentionally mentioned "external attention," carried a faint, wary sense of alienation. It was a technological power alliance to which the system belonged, which had supposedly split off during the confrontation with another higher civilization. Why would their Foundation be looking for him?

He instinctively wanted to click the delete key. This muddy water was absolutely off-limits!

But the system seemed to perceive his retreat and immediately added a crucial piece of information: 【According to additional leaked information about the dinner (non-public), the auction list contains an item numbered PTF-A1957: 'A Mark-III experimental brainwave signal enhancement and pattern recognition device (remnant/unfinished product) developed by the NSRD, the predecessor of the Free Confederacy, in the mid-1950s.' The core precursor technology contained in the wreckage of this device has a potential compatibility path with the current mission and may be of substantial help to the host in completing the mission (estimated efficiency increase of 15%-20%).】

Excellence's eyes widened instantly! Brainwave signal enhancement? Pattern recognition device? Remnant?

Isn't this exactly what he has been dreaming of?! That damn Taobao toy hat is garbage to the point of being outrageous! If he could get his hands on this antique device remnant that sounds so professional, even just to study its structure and analyze its principles, it might just help him crawl out of this brainwave hell!

However, just as the flame of hope ignited, the cold water of reality splashed over him. He pinched the few crumpled bills left in his pocket, a bitter smile appearing at the corner of his mouth: "What's the use of it being helpful? Even if good stuff is right in front of me, I have to be alive to buy it! Do you think that's some Pinduoduo electronic junk that's buy 200 get 20 off with free shipping?"

【Strategy suggestion: The core driver of such charity auction dinners is to showcase the 'style,' 'foresight,' and 'influence' of The Foundation. The bidding process itself is often accompanied by a premium, but to achieve charitable purposes and demonstrate humanistic concern, the actual final transaction price, especially for non-popular collectible technology, is often lower than its potential technical or historical market valuation. A more effective approach: The host can try to bypass monetary transactions and contact the holder (or The Foundation representative) directly, using unique 'technical ideas' or 'future cooperation possibilities' as bargaining chips to propose non-standard technical exchanges. Risk index: Medium-High.】

"Technical exchange? What am I going to exchange with them? My insights on how to achieve controlled fusion using a Pinduoduo beaker?" Excellence complained crazily in his heart, but he had to admit that this "bad idea" from the system did touch on a glimmer of desperate luck deep in his heart. What if? What if the seller is a tech geek who is interested in his kind of "wild style"?

Curiosity wrapped around him like a vine, and the urgent need to complete the mission was like the Sword of Damocles hanging over his head. After a whole day of repeated hesitation and self-struggle, in the end, a "what will be, will be" mentality prevailed.

"Damn it, I'm going! Just consider it an eye-opener! At worst, I'll just go in, take a look at that 'remnant,' and then find an opportunity to slip away!" Excellence gritted his teeth and made the decision.

He began his desperate preparation: rummaging through boxes and cabinets, he dug out the only "outfit" he could take out from the deepest part of his closet—a cheap suit he had gritted his teeth to buy for his high school graduation. Years had passed, and the already ill-fitting cut was now even tighter, especially pinching around the shoulders. He struggled to button it in front of the mirror, feeling his breathing restricted. He cheekily borrowed a jar of expensive hair wax from his roommate Li Hao and ruthlessly grabbed his hair, which was often a bird's nest, barely combing it into a decent-looking side part. Looking at himself in the mirror, wearing a tight suit, hair greasy and shiny, yet still unable to hide his greenness and awkwardness, Excellence felt unprecedentedly uncomfortable.

With the mood of going to the execution ground, he boarded the bus to the top luxury hotel in the city center. Along the way, the bustling neon lights of the city formed a sharp contrast with the anxiety in his heart.

As soon as he stepped into the magnificent banquet hall of the "Ritz-Carlton," Excellence felt like he had fallen into another universe. The brilliant crystal chandeliers emitted soft and expensive warm light, reflecting on the marble floor so clearly that it could be used as a mirror. The air was filled with a mixture of high-end fragrance, the mellow aroma of cigars, and expensive women's perfume. The scene was filled with glamorous people and clinking glasses. Men were wearing perfectly tailored custom suits, and women were wearing luxurious evening gowns, with pearls and diamonds flashing low-key and luxurious light under the lights. Waiters in crisp uniforms moved among them, carrying champagne and exquisite snacks, their movements as elegant as dancing a silent ballet.

Excellence felt like an ugly duckling who had wandered into Swan Lake, the kind that was still unfledged and disheveled. He tried to shrink his body into the shadows by the huge floor-to-ceiling window, minimizing his presence, but his eyes were like scanning radar, eagerly searching the crowd, trying to catch any clues about the booth for the "Mark-III remnant."

Just as he was looking around nervously and in vain, a slight commotion in the central area of the banquet hall attracted his attention. A small group of people was gathered there, and the central focus was a middle-aged man who looked to be in his early forties.

The man was tall and straight, wearing a very well-fitting dark gray patterned suit, the fabric flowing with a soft luster under the lights. He had a very recognizable mixed-race face—the deep eye sockets faintly revealing European ancestry, but the color of his skin and hair had obvious East Asian features, his nose was high and straight, his lips were thin and clearly defined, and the whole person combined the subtlety of the East with the sharp angles of the West. A pair of exquisite gold-rimmed glasses sat on his straight nose, and the gaze behind the lenses was gentle and wise. He was chatting with the people around him with ease, a breeze-like smile on his lips, his voice not high but very magnetic, his speaking speed calm, and his wording appropriate and insightful. Every move he made carried a sense of steady control and extraordinary charm, and those guests around him who looked rich or noble, regardless of age or status, all leaned forward slightly, with sincere listening and undisguised respect on their faces. Excellence clearly heard someone address him with a respectful and even somewhat humble tone: "Chairman Li."

【Alarm! Alarm! Detected high-intensity, high-density 'unnatural civilization intervention' tendency energy field fluctuations! Source locked! Information matching... Matching complete!】

The system's alarm sounded like the sharpest screech, exploding in Excellence's mind without warning! With unprecedented seriousness and urgency!

【Target identity confirmed: Morpheus Li, Chairman of the 'Prophet Foundation,' a core organization under the Free Confederacy. Verdict: Potential high-priority 'civilization path intervener,' sequence codename 'Dream Weaver.' Risk level: Extremely high! Suggestion: Evacuate and avoid contact immediately! Repeat, evacuate and avoid contact immediately!】

Excellence felt as if his brain had been hit hard by a heavy hammer, and it went blank for a moment. A huge sense of dizziness struck him, his heart felt like it was gripped by a cold iron claw, and it almost stopped beating! The blood in his body seemed to freeze at this moment!

Morpheus Li! Is this the potential opponent defined by the system? The core of the "external attention" that Director Wang and the others were wary of? In person... right in front of him?! But this person... this person looked... not at all like some insidious villain boss! What radiated from his whole body was the aura of a successful scholar and a refined businessman, gentle, wise, in control, and even with a bit of captivating charm!

The huge cognitive conflict made Excellence freeze in place, even forgetting to look away.

However, at the very moment he was distracted, Morpheus Li in the center of the crowd seemed to sense something. He stopped talking to an old man with silver hair beside him very naturally, tilted his head slightly, and that pair of gentle, water-like eyes hidden behind the gold-rimmed glasses, like a precision-guided radar, crossed the moving heads, crossed the fragrant wine glasses, crossed a distance of more than ten meters, and fell accurately and without deviation on the young man in the corner—Excellence—who was looking at him with a dull face.

The first moment that gaze fell on Excellence's face, it still maintained a hint of just-right curiosity, even with a bit of polite confusion that one should have when facing a strange young man, as if gently asking: "Who is this young man? Seems a bit unfamiliar?"

But, at the ten-thousandth of a second when Excellence's panicked, incredulous, and hugely fearful eyes collided with Morpheus Li's gentle, inquiring, and seemingly all-knowing gaze!

A groundless, extremely cold, gloomy chill like that gushing from the underground in the middle of winter suddenly rushed up from Excellence's tailbone without warning, rushing straight to the back of his head along his spine at an astonishing speed! It was not a physical temperature change, but a deep fear alarm originating from the instinct of life! It was as if a docile herbivore in the depths of the jungle was carelessly swept by the eyes of a top Predator lurking in the shadows without any preparation!

It was not ferocious, not vicious, but a pure, indifferent examination of a low-level life by a high-level life! A terrible calmness that could brush it away like dust at any time!

Excellence's pupils contracted to the extreme! He used almost all his strength and the last bit of remaining reason to lower his head violently, avoiding that gaze that seemed to be able to see through his soul! He could clearly feel his back soaked with cold sweat instantly, and cold sweat beads also oozed from his forehead, his heart beating wildly in his chest, like dense drumbeats, making his eardrums buzz.

Morpheus Li in the distance didn't seem to care about this little episode, nor did he stay on Excellence for long. He just looked like he saw a minor character distracted, just very naturally nodded slightly towards the direction of Excellence, with a standard, polite, but distant and perfunctory smile as if measured by a ruler on the corner of his mouth, and then turned his head as if nothing had happened, throwing himself into the conversation with the important guest beside him, talking and laughing, still as elegant as ever.

But Excellence felt like he had taken a turn in front of the gates of hell, unable to calm down for a long time. He leaned against the huge cold floor-to-ceiling glass behind him, panting violently, trying to calm his out-of-control heartbeat and wipe away the cold sweat on his forehead. That gentle smile replayed in his mind, but he couldn't feel any warmth, but rather more like a... condescending confirmation?

This Chairman of the "Prophet Foundation," this Morpheus Li... absolutely, absolutely not as simple as he looks on the surface! Beneath that gentle and refined appearance lies an abyss that is enough to make the system issue the highest level of alert!

He felt that his rash arrival tonight might have been a huge mistake.