127: Morpheus's Shadow and the "Sweet" Trap

Just as the relationship among Excellence, Su Mu, and Evelyn within the "Homeland" grew increasingly harmonious, forming a warm and stable "trio" tacit understanding, the external threats against the "Homeland" and Excellence did not weaken in the slightest due to the failure of the previous "Grey Wolf" team's infiltration. On the contrary, under the secret planning and influence of Morpheus Li, a more covert and insidious offensive was quietly brewing and being put into action.

Morpheus Li, although temporarily dormant due to previous setbacks and internal power struggles, still possessed a deeply rooted network and profound influence within the "Prophet Foundation". He knew well that, faced with the "Homeland's" current impregnable physical defenses and high state of vigilance, sending armed personnel for a direct assault or infiltration again would be like throwing an egg against a rock. Therefore, he changed his strategy, deciding to exploit the "Homeland's" gradually opening posture in scientific research to plot a "soft infiltration" disguised as academic exchange, aimed at long-term and subtle influence from within.

This time, he utilized a "white glove" organization under The Foundation that had a prestigious reputation in the international academic community, a background that had been disguised layer by layer, and was almost impeccable—the "Future Science Foundation" (FSF). This foundation's mission was to support interdisciplinary frontier research and promote international cooperation, having heavyweight projects and partners in multiple fields, with an extremely positive image.

After careful preparation, a beautifully printed and rigorously worded academic invitation was delivered to the "Homeland's" external liaison department through encrypted and seemingly ordinary academic exchange channels. In the letter, the FSF enthusiastically expressed its desire to conduct in-depth exchanges and cooperation regarding "interdisciplinary frontier exploration" (specifically mentioning complex systems, environmental information fields, bio-energy, and other fields highly relevant to the "Homeland's" research direction), and attached an irresistible "welcome gift" to the letter.

This gift was a complete trial set of equipment called the "Bio-field Resonance Agriculture System" along with its detailed technical white paper. The system claimed to utilize cutting-edge "Bio-field Resonance" technology, capable of monitoring the physiological state of plants in real-time without damage or invasion by emitting extremely weak energy fields of specific frequencies, and performing "gentle regulation" on them, thereby significantly optimizing growth efficiency and improving crop quality and stress resistance. The device's exterior design was simple and modern, and the technical data was logically clear and detailed, looking entirely like a piece of cutting-edge agricultural technology with huge application potential.

This gift precisely hit a realistic demand point of the "Homeland". In order to achieve self-sufficiency and concealment, the "Homeland" had invested a large amount of resources in developing internal high-efficiency ecological agriculture. If this system were as effective as advertised, it would greatly increase the yield and quality of crops in the "Greenhouse", reduce human labor input, and undoubtedly held great attraction.

The "Homeland's" technical team, upon receiving the equipment and materials, immediately conducted a preliminary, routine safety and effectiveness assessment. The assessment results were encouraging: no obvious malicious hardware (such as explosives, wiretaps, strong radiation sources, etc.) was found in the device itself, and although its claimed technical principles were novel, they seemed to be based on some biophysical concepts still under exploration and did not exceed the scope of reasonable scientific conjecture. Preliminary plant petri dish experiments also showed that the system seemed to have a slight promoting effect on "seed" germination rates. All signs indicated that this was a scientific and technological achievement worth trying and beneficial.

Evelyn's Vigilance: Smelling Danger in Technical Details

However, when the detailed technical materials of this system were sent to Evelyn Li's desk for final review, relying on her deep understanding of the core technical threads of the "Prophet Foundation" and the unique sharp intuition of a scientist, she smelled a trace of extremely hidden, unusual danger.

She carefully studied the technical chapter in the white paper regarding core Resonance frequency settings. The document mentioned that the system worked by selecting specific "optimal Resonance frequency bands" for different crops through a database called the "Life Harmony Spectrum Library". These frequency band data were described as being obtained through large-scale experimental statistics. At first, these data did not look special.

But Evelyn did not easily let any detail slide. She cross-referenced the several core frequency band values listed in the white paper with those extremely weak and highly suspicious periodic fluctuation frequencies she had identified from the "constant ripple" data when she was working on the "one-way mirror" project.

The result of the comparison made her back go cold instantly! The several key "optimization frequency bands" used by the FSF system had a shockingly high degree of overlap with those deepest-hidden "ripple" frequency bands she had previously discovered, which were suspected to have a weak connection with the conscious activities of organisms (especially higher animals)! The precision of this overlap was far beyond the range of accidental probability!

This was absolutely not a coincidence! The highest-level alarm rang immediately in Evelyn's mind. She realized that this seemingly harmless agricultural system was likely a carefully packaged trap! Its true purpose was by no means just to optimize plant growth. It was highly likely a Trojan horse designed by Morpheus Li's camp—using advanced agricultural technology as an alluring shell, attempting to introduce a certain "information field" or "directional Resonance frequency" that might be homologous to the "star map" influence, or even more dangerous, into the internal environment of the "Homeland" in a "boiling the frog in warm water" manner!

Because this Resonance wave had extremely low intensity and was aimed at plant physiological regulation, it might be completely harmless to the ordinary human body and most organisms in the short term, and even appear "beneficial" due to its promoting effect on plants. However, if exposed to this specific frequency field environment for a long time, for an individual like Excellence who had a deep and special "Resonance" with the "star map" energy field, the impact would be unpredictable! This was like a chronic poison targeting specific genes, ineffective on ordinary people, but fatal to specific groups. The opponent might be trying to subtly interfere with, shape, or even eventually control Excellence's state of consciousness through this method!

Highest-Level Alarm and In-depth Investigation

Evelyn did not hesitate at all and immediately organized her findings and grim inferences into an emergency report, which she submitted directly to Wang Jianguo. In the report, she emphasized: "This is an extremely insidious long-term infiltration strategy. They have abandoned short-term brute force attacks and turned to seeking a more covert and lasting way of influence. Once this system is allowed to operate within the 'Homeland' for a long time, it is equivalent to installing a device that continuously emits 'influence waves' in our core area. Excellence will be exposed to its radiation at all times, and the consequences will be unimaginable!"

Wang Jianguo, upon hearing the report, looked unprecedentedly grave. He fully agreed with Evelyn's analysis. The enemy had changed tactics and had become more cunning and difficult to guard against. He immediately issued orders:

Highest-level detection: Order the technical security department to conduct the most rigorous, all-around in-depth detection of the equipment provided by the FSF, including physical layer, information layer, and even biological information layer, sparing no effort to dismantle core components, focusing on checking for hidden firmware, non-standard communication modules, or abnormal energy emission units. Suspend installation: Formally reply to the FSF, citing "technical verification processes require more time to ensure perfect compatibility with existing systems," to delay the installation and trial of the equipment. Reverse investigation: Instruct the liaison department to maintain "enthusiastic" contact with the FSF, express strong interest in cooperation, and invite the other party to send a delegation to the "Homeland" for on-site academic exchange, using this as an opportunity to find out the other party's background and true intentions. Internal vigilance: Comprehensively upgrade the information security and counter-espionage alert level within the "Homeland," and strictly monitor all contacts with the outside world.

With the day-and-night efforts of the top technical team, combining various cutting-edge means such as hardware reverse engineering, high-frequency signal analysis and micro-energy detection, the truth finally came to light. After dismantling the core control chip of the agricultural system, the technicians found a piece of extremely hidden firmware code in the lowest-level, hardware-protected read-only memory (ROM) that could not be read or modified through conventional interfaces!

This code was cleverly disguised as part of the system self-test program, but its true function was chilling: when the system started and entered normal working mode, this code would be activated, driving a miniaturized high-frequency piezoelectric ceramic resonator not marked on the public circuit diagram, continuously emitting a special Resonance wave of extremely low intensity but extremely precise and stable frequency! And this frequency was exactly the value Evelyn had previously pointed out that highly overlapped with the suspicious frequency band in the "constant ripple"!

The evidence was conclusive! This was indeed a carefully designed "sweet" trap full of high-tech content.

Faced with conclusive evidence, Wang Jianguo made a decisive decision: play along with the ruse, use this opportunity to figure out the enemy's network, and strive to severely damage Morpheus Li's forces.

Imitation and optimization: The technical team was ordered to secretly imitate a set of agricultural systems with exactly the same appearance, interfaces, and even most functions without alerting the other party, but completely removed the malicious resonator and related control code. At the same time, a hidden monitoring module was added to the imitation system, which could record all operations and data. Setting the trap: Wang Jianguo approved the FSF delegation's visit request and carefully arranged the visit schedule, preparing to "showcase" this "successfully installed and running well" imitation system during the exchange. Laying the net: The security department formulated a detailed contingency plan, conducting uninterrupted covert surveillance and communication monitoring of every member during the delegation's visit, laying a dragnet, preparing to follow the vine to find the melon, and ferret out the black hand behind the scenes and their liaison network within the country.

The FSF delegation arrived at the "Homeland" as scheduled. The delegation consisted of five members, led by a middle-aged man named Professor Anderson, who was elegant and eloquent, with great achievements in the field of plant biophysics, looking entirely like a scholar devoted to academics. The visit went very smoothly and friendly on the surface. Professor Anderson praised the "Homeland's" scientific research facilities and natural environment, especially when visiting the ecological "Greenhouse", he "naturally" steered the conversation to the "Bio-field Resonance Agriculture System" many times, concernedly asking about the installation situation, operation effect, and data feedback, showing great "professional interest".

According to the plan, Evelyn and Su Mu accompanied the visit. Evelyn, as the main technical contact, maintained a calm and professional posture throughout, exchanging in-depth views on technical details with Professor Anderson, neither revealing any core secrets in her words nor appropriately expressing the "Homeland's" importance to this technology and "satisfaction" with the preliminary application, skillfully releasing smoke bombs, and trying to capture clues from the other party's conversation. Su Mu played the role of a hospitable hostess, responsible for arranging the itinerary and taking care of life details, while using her keen observation skills to pay attention to the expressions, small movements, and interactions of other members of the delegation, looking for any unnatural or suspicious things.

Excellence was also allowed to appear on appropriate occasions (such as the welcome dinner) as a representative of the "Homeland's" young researchers. His "human antenna" attribute came into play again. Although he did not understand the complex conversations of the adults, he had an inexplicable, strong feeling of discomfort when he briefly came into contact with Professor Anderson. He quietly tugged at Su Mu's sleeve and whispered: "Monitor, that foreign professor... the way he smiles... is so strange... his eyes seem to be smiling, but the corners of his mouth are pulled tight... like... like a mannequin in a store window, it feels... chilly." Children's intuition often points directly to the essence.

This seemingly harmonious, high-level academic exchange, covered by clinking glasses and academic terminology, was actually a turbulent and crisis-ridden intellectual game and psychological warfare. Morpheus Li's shadow, like an invisible spider web, tried to shroud the "Homeland" again. But this time, the guardians of the "Homeland" had long seen through the conspiracy, were ready for battle, and had laid a dragnet for counter-measures. The contest had just begun.