140: The calm before the storm and the awakening of the "seeds"

The warmth and tranquility of the birthday adventure flowed slowly through the following days in "Homeland" like a clear stream in a valley, soaking into everyone's hearts. That day's sunlight, stream water, bonfire, and Kongming lanterns seemed to have thoroughly cleansed and recharged everyone's spiritual world. The relationship between Excellence, Su Mu, and Evelyn became more tacit, profound, and filled with warmth after this baptism of pure nature.

Excellence's mindset underwent a subtle and positive change. He was no longer as irritable or self-doubting as before, when he would sometimes lose control of his abilities or fail an experiment. The experience on his birthday—completely detaching from a high-tech environment and returning to something primitive—gave him an unprecedented sense of groundedness and peace. He still loved his "hand-crafted" inventions and the exploration of knowledge, but his pace became more calm and stable. He learned to take the initiative to walk into the greenhouse to look at the plants or take Su Mu for a stroll after burying his head in thought, letting his brain relax and "breathe" in a natural environment.

His "Resonance Mapping" practice also entered a new stage. No longer merely recording sudden "premonitions" or expressing emotions, he began to consciously attempt to apply this ability to specific, small-scale practical explorations.

Equipment "Physical Exam Map": He would sit quietly for a moment in front of an operating spectrometer in the laboratory and then draw a picture. In the drawing, the lines of the main part of the instrument were smooth and stable, but at a certain connection, subtle, intermittent jagged lines appeared. He handed the drawing to the maintenance staff. After a careful inspection by an experienced engineer, it was indeed discovered that the cable at that interface had an extremely slight loose connection, which could lead to data drift during long-term operation. Although such problems could be found during routine inspections, the foresight of Excellence's "intuitive diagnosis" was still marvelous.

Micro-climate "Trend Map": One afternoon, while looking at the clear sky outside the window, he drew a picture with somber colors and swirling cloud masses. He told Evelyn, "The air feels a bit 'heavy,' and the moisture is crowding together and arguing; it might rain tonight." As it turned out, a significant thunderstorm did indeed hit the valley by evening. This sensitivity to micro-meteorological elements (such as changes in air pressure and humidity), while occasionally hit-or-miss, often brought small surprises to daily life as an interesting auxiliary reference.

These small successes further enhanced Excellence's confidence and sense of control. He began to feel that his mysterious ability might truly be able to slowly transform from a passive "trouble" into an active and beneficial "tool."

The external environment also presented a brief moment of calm before the storm.

The "echo" on the internet seemed to have reined in its edge. That anonymous account, which was once active on high-end academic forums and published eye-catching yet misleading papers, had recently seen a significant drop in posting frequency and depth of content, becoming more cautious and even somewhat silent. The Security Department's analysis suggested several possible reasons: first, Homeland had strengthened its monitoring of relevant fields and internal information control, making it more difficult for the other party to penetrate; second, the manipulators behind "echo" might have realized that simple, crude imitation and theoretical misleading were difficult to make substantial progress on when Homeland possessed the "genuine article" reference in Excellence, who had high intuitive judgment. Instead, it might expose their own intentions, thus requiring a longer period of dormancy and strategic adjustment to plan more covert and lethal actions.

Meanwhile, Morpheus Li and the radical faction of the "Prophet Foundation" he controlled also seemed to have temporarily disappeared from the radar screens. No new infiltration attempts, and no intelligence regarding suspicious capital flows or personnel movements came through. This silence, however, made Wang Jianguo and others, who were well aware of their nature and ambition, feel a faint sense of unease. They knew very well that Morpheus was not someone who would give up easily. This silence was more like a predator lying in wait and gathering strength before a fatal strike, possibly meaning that the next challenge would be even more severe.

Therefore, the alert level within Homeland did not decrease due to the surface-level calm. On the contrary, the security meetings chaired by Wang Jianguo became more frequent, and emergency plans for various possible scenarios were constantly being simulated and updated. A tense feeling of "the wind howling through the tower before a mountain storm" permeated the hearts of senior management, but this heaviness was carefully isolated from the daily warmth of Excellence's life.

However, some warnings cannot be completely isolated. They may originate directly from the depths of the subconscious, connected to those grand "fields" or "trends" that transcend individual Perception.

Late one night, Excellence fell into an extremely vivid and eerie dream.

In the dream, he found himself standing on an infinitely vast "beach" with no visible end. But this "seawater" was not made of water; it was a vast, boundless ocean of information woven from countless flickering, flowing data streams and the cold, brilliant light of stars. The surface of the ocean seemed calm, shimmering with a ghostly blue light, but in its depths lurked heart-pounding undercurrents. He gazed as far as he could, and in the deepest part of the ocean, he saw an immense, blurred shadow slowly writhing. That shadow had no fixed shape, as if it were condensed from pure "malice" or "chaos," emitting a cold, greedy, and suffocating aura, as if it wanted to devour everything orderly and bright.

At the same time, he felt the "ground" he was standing on (likewise composed of condensed code and rules) vibrating slightly and continuously, like a giant beast stepping in the distance. The end of the sky was not a realistic horizon, but rather logic barriers that were constantly collapsing and reorganizing. From there came a dull, thunderous, and continuous roar, signaling that some great conflict or collapse was approaching.

What made him feel most at ease yet most anxious was that, in the dream, Su Mu and Evelyn were standing right beside him, one on his left and one on his right, holding his hands tightly. Their faces were exceptionally solemn, their brows furrowed, and their gazes pierced through that eerie data ocean to stare at the distant shadow, their eyes filled with vigilance and... a resolute determination. They didn't look at him, but he could clearly feel the warm and steady strength coming from their palms, as if telling him: No matter what we face, we are here.

Excellence woke up with a start from the dream, his heart pounding wildly in his chest, and his forehead covered in cold sweat. That grand, oppressive sense of crisis originating from the source was countless times stronger and clearer than any previous "premonitions" about equipment failures or minor personal troubles. This wasn't aimed at any one specific thing, but rather a vague Perception of some holistic, systemic disaster. For the first time, he truly "felt" that a huge, nameless trouble, like a storm brewing at sea, was gathering destructive power beyond the distant horizon and would eventually sweep in, impacting everything he held dear.

He sat up and panted in the darkness for a long time before slowly calming down. He didn't immediately run to knock on Su Mu's door for comfort as he would have when he was younger; instead, he put on his clothes alone, walked quietly to the window of his room, and sat down silently.

Outside the window, the moonlight was like water, spilling over the silent valley. Most of the lights in Homeland had been extinguished, except for the searchlights on the patrol watchtowers, which, like loyal guards, regularly swept across the dark corners, bringing moments of light. The night wind blew through the woods, making a rustling sound, and everything looked so quiet and peaceful.

However, the interior of Excellence's heart formed a sharp contrast with this quiet exterior. The sense of unease brought by that dream hit his thoughts in waves like a cold tide. He looked at the quiet night outside the window and, for the first time, began to truly think deeply about questions that transcended his age and daily life.

He recalled his experiences over the years: from the lonely boy who didn't fit in and was called a "freak" in an ordinary school, to the accidental discovery of his uniqueness, followed by illness and isolation; then being brought to Homeland, where he slowly adapted, learned, and grew under Su Mu's meticulous care and Evelyn's systematic guidance. He remembered Uncle Wang Jianguo's serious but concerned gaze, the curious but mostly friendly eyes in the base, and the laughter by the stream and the wishes under the starry sky on his birthday.

He realized that he was no longer merely a "special specimen" who only needed to be protected and studied. Homeland had given him a second life, and Su Mu and Evelyn had given him the warmth of a family; this place had already become his true home. And this home clearly did not exist in a vacuum; it faced invisible threats from the outside. That dream might just be an amplification and projection of his special ability, his subconscious receiving those dangerous "ripples" permeating the information field.

A thought, like a sprout breaking through the soil, became clearer and clearer in his heart: he could not remain a protected person forever. His ability, this "talent" that sometimes brought trouble and sometimes brought surprises, might not just be for satisfying his own curiosity or solving small problems. It might mean a greater responsibility—a responsibility to protect this "home" that gave him warmth and safety. That dream was both a warning, reminding him that a storm was coming, and a summons, urging him that he must grow up faster.

The next morning, sunlight spilled into the room through the window. Excellence had not slept all night, but his eyes were exceptionally clear and firm. He found Su Mu, who was preparing breakfast in the kitchen, and Evelyn, who had just returned from her morning exercise.

He didn't describe that unsettling dream in detail because he didn't want them to worry prematurely. He just walked up to them, raised his head, and said in an exceptionally serious and solemn tone:

"Class Monitor, Sister Evelyn," his voice was lower than usual, yet it carried an unquestionable power, "I want to... I want to study harder and understand my ability more deeply. I don't want to just passively wait for the 'feeling' to find me; I want to take the initiative to understand it and control it."

He paused, took a deep breath, and continued, "I don't want to... wait until trouble truly comes knocking to only hide behind you and watch you face the danger. I want to... I want to be the one who can stand with you and face the wind and rain together. I want to become useful, truly useful."

These words, coming from a youth, had no grand rhetoric, yet they were full of power and determination.

Looking into his eyes, which had lost some of their childishness and were filled with awareness and firmness, Su Mu and Evelyn were instantly overwhelmed with complex emotions. A strong surge of warmth and heartache rose in their hearts simultaneously. They felt gratified that the boy they needed to hold in their palms and cherish had finally realized the responsibility on his shoulders and was actively seeking growth; they also felt a pang of sorrow, because this meant his innocent childhood would fade away faster, and the waves he would need to face in the future might be beyond imagination.

Evelyn was the first to react. She stepped forward and, instead of stroking his head as usual, she solemnly reached out and took Excellence's hand, looking him straight in the eye, and said clearly and firmly, "Good! We will study together, explore together, and face it together."

Su Mu also immediately stepped forward with reddened eyes, nodding vigorously, her voice somewhat choked but exceptionally loud: "Mhm! Together! The Class Monitor will always be by your side!"

At this moment, it was no longer just a relationship between protectors and the protected. A new partnership based on common goals and mutual support was quietly established this morning. The peaceful times were about to become a thing of the past. Excellence, the "seed" that had once been carefully nurtured, had already felt the wind pressure from afar. He decided to no longer just grow upwards to absorb sunlight and rain, but to also begin tempering his branches and trunk, rooting himself deeply, prepared to welcome the inevitable storm of the future. His growth entered a new, actively accelerated phase.