141: Capability training and attempts at "controllable chaos"

Ever since that early morning when Excellence solemnly expressed his determination to Su Mu and Evelyn to become stronger and stand by their side through the storms, the pace of his life and studies quietly entered a new phase. That "premonition" and "resonance" ability, which had once troubled him at times and brought small surprises at others, was no longer viewed as an uncontrollable, mysterious "talent" or "trouble," but gradually became the core object of his active exploration and systematic training. This shift in mindset was a crucial step on his journey of growth.

Evelyn keenly captured this change in Excellence and felt very gratified. As a scientist and guide, she knew well that unordered abilities are like a wildfire—they can provide warmth or cause destruction; only through guidance and domestication can they become a sustainable source of energy. Thus, combining her analysis of neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and the vast amount of case data from Excellence's past, she tailored a systematic training program for him called "Controllable Chaos."

The core philosophy of this plan was quite forward-thinking: it treated Excellence's brain and his unique Perception patterns as a highly sensitive, non-linear, and extremely complex biological information processing system. This system was born with the potential to receive and process information far beyond the range of ordinary people (possibly extremely weak energy fields, probability fluctuations, or some yet-to-be-defined information carrier), but it had previously been in a spontaneous, disordered state lacking effective regulation. The goal of the training was to help Excellence gradually establish "management permissions" over this system, improving his ability to filter, parse, focus on, and consciously output the massive influx of information.

Although Su Mu only partially understood the complex theories, her unconditional support and warm encouragement injected indispensable emotional drive and a relaxed atmosphere into this seemingly dull and even difficult training. She was like the "cheerleader" and "emotional buffer" on Excellence's training path.

The "Controllable Chaos" training soon commenced in Excellence's dedicated studio and the adjacent psychology laboratory. The training content was not boring repetitive practice but was full of interactivity, challenge, and inevitably, carried a strong "Excellence flavor," often resulting in scenes that made people chuckle.

1. Signal Filtering Training: From the "Sigh of the Universe" to Target Locking

This training aimed to enhance Excellence's ability to accurately identify and extract target signals from complex background "noise." Evelyn would meticulously prepare various audio-visual materials mixed with multiple interferences.

Auditory Challenge: She played a segment of "White Noise" that sounded like a radio failing to tune, filled with various frequencies of hisses and crackles. But within this chaotic acoustic ocean, a very hidden, rhythmic, weak Morse code (such as a repeating "SOS" signal) was embedded. Evelyn's requirement was for Excellence to focus his attention and try to "hear" and record that code.

Result: Excellence wore headphones, his brow furrowed, his expression extremely focused. A few minutes later, he took off the headphones and reported to Evelyn with a serious face: "Sister Evelyn, I heard it! In the background sound... something is sighing! Long and low, like... like the universe yawning! Also, those crackles sound like the stars whispering!" As for the Morse code? He hadn't noticed it at all. Looking at his poetic but completely off-target description, Evelyn could only helplessly press her hand to her forehead, finding it both funny and realizing that this child's perceived world was indeed unique.

Visual Challenge: The screen displayed rapidly flashing dynamic images filled with random black and White Noise (similar to the "snow" on an old television with no signal). Hidden within this visual noise was a very simple geometric shape (like a triangle) composed of specific pixels.

Result: Excellence stared at the screen without blinking. After a while, he excitedly pointed to a corner of the screen: "There! I see it! It's not a triangle! It's... it's a group of tiny, glowing pixel people lining up to do exercises! Look, they're even moving!" Evelyn leaned in to look closely; there was nothing there but random noise. She had to once again marvel at the powerful pattern-generation ability of Excellence's brain (which subconsciously constructs meaningful patterns even when faced with completely random input), while also realizing the long road of training ahead.

Through repeated practice and Evelyn's guidance (such as teaching him to relax first and imagine himself as a tuning radio, slowly turning the "knob" until locking onto a clear "channel"), Excellence gradually made progress. He began to occasionally capture the target signals, though they still came with his unique "annotations" ("The code sounds like a little hammer hitting a nail!"), but at least the direction was correct.

2. Pattern Recognition and Expression Training: Translating Intuition into World Language

The focus of this training was to help Excellence transform those vague, internal "feelings" into external forms of expression that were easier to understand and communicate, such as drawing, movement, or sound. Su Mu played a major role in this area.

Concretizing Abstract Concepts: Su Mu would provide some abstract terms, such as "entangled," "sudden enlightenment," "spacetime curvature," etc., and have Excellence express them in his own way.

“Entangled”: Excellence thought for a moment, then picked up a paintbrush and quickly drew an incredibly messy, color-clashing ball of yarn with lines tangled and knotted together, looking like it had been frantically toyed with by a naughty kitten. He explained, "It's this feeling—so many loose ends that can't be pulled apart, all wound together, making my heart feel blocked!"

“Sudden Enlightenment”: This time, Excellence put down the brush and stood up directly. He first held his head with his hands, curling up in a posture of deep thought, then suddenly straightened his body, opened his arms upward, widened his eyes, and let out a crisp, loud onomatopoeia: "Ding—!" He was the spitting image of a suddenly lit "human lightbulb." Su Mu was doubled over with laughter at his performance, but she truly felt that "flash of inspiration" moment intuitively.

“Spacetime Curvature”: Excellence gestured in the air for a long time and finally chose to simulate it with sound. He first made a low, slow, drawn-out "vroom—" sound to represent the flat flow of time, then at a certain point, the sound suddenly became distorted with echoes, like passing through a vortex, before finally returning to normal. Although it sounded strange, that "sense of distortion" was expressed quite vividly.

Emotional State Mapping: Su Mu would also describe scenes and have Excellence draw the possible emotional energy fields of the people involved. For example, "the state of a scientist facing a problem that hasn't been solved for a long time." Excellence might draw a complex halo around the head composed of cool-toned swirls and occasional bursts of small golden sparks, symbolizing inner confusion and occasional flashes of hope.

This process was filled with laughter; Excellence's whimsical ways of expression often left Su Mu and Evelyn in stitches. But it was through these seemingly "unreliable" attempts that the "translation bridge" between Excellence's internal perceived world and the external real world was being built piece by piece.

3. Physiological Feedback Regulation Training: Learning to be the "Helmsman" of One's Own Body

Evelyn introduced simple biofeedback technology. She connected a Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) sensor to Excellence's finger and attached a Heart Rate (HR) monitoring patch to his chest, displaying the data in real-time on a screen. The goal was for Excellence to learn to actively regulate his physiological state through consciousness.

Initial Stage: Excellence watched the heart rate curves and skin conductance data jumping on the screen along with his emotional fluctuations, finding it very novel. He tried to "command" his heartbeat to slow down, but the more nervously he stared at the screen, the faster his heart beat and the skin conductance signal soared, leaving him drenched in sweat.

Introducing Techniques: Evelyn taught him Abdominal Breathing and simple Mindfulness Meditation techniques (guiding him to focus his attention on his breath or a neutral object without judging intruding thoughts). She told him: "Don't try to control it; instead, like watching clouds drift by, observe your body's reactions and then gently guide them."

A Funny Interlude: For a while, Excellence became obsessed with "drawing" using his heart rate changes. He tried to make the heart rate curve take the shape of Ultraman's silhouette through breath-holding and rapid breathing, nearly getting dizzy from hyperventilation before Su Mu stopped him and fed him sugar water.

Progress: Over time, Excellence gradually got the hang of it. When he felt a strong "premonition" coming that might interfere with his thoughts, he could steady his heart rate and calm his skin conductance response through deep breathing and quick introspection. This regulation of his physiological foundation, in turn, helped him stabilize his emotions and clear his Perception, making those "premonitions" no longer like sudden floods but more like streams that could be carefully observed.

The "Controllable Chaos" training was by no means smooth sailing. Excellence's progress was non-linear, full of the back-and-forth of taking two steps forward and one step back. Sometimes he would suddenly achieve a breakthrough, such as in a high-difficulty auditory filtering exercise where he successfully blocked out a strong interference tone Evelyn had specifically added near the target signal frequency, accurately identifying the hidden information, which greatly surprised Evelyn. But other times he would cause a laughable blunder, like when identifying a visual noise image that hid a specific landscape painting; he successfully found the outline of the landscape but insisted that an irrelevant cluster of pixels at the top was the "sky spirit guarding this painting," demanding that Evelyn mark it as a key point.

However, continuous training eventually brought visible changes. Excellence's control over his own abilities significantly strengthened. He was no longer easily overwhelmed and bewildered by sudden streams of information as before. He could more clearly distinguish which were "strong signals" or "warnings" worth paying attention to that might indicate important events, and which were just meaningless "internal background noise" or insignificant microscopic fluctuations. His "Resonance Mapping" also became more purposeful and structured; the lines and colors were no longer completely random venting but began to be able to roughly express the dynamic trends and internal tensions of complex systems.

A landmark success occurred one afternoon. Evelyn took him to the computer room, pointed at a server chassis running at full load with slight noise, and told him: "Feel this machine; what is its internal state like?"

Excellence closed his eyes and placed his hand gently on the chassis shell (Evelyn emphasized that this was more of a psychological contact point), quietly sensing for a few minutes. Then, he picked up a sketchbook and drew a picture: in the center of the frame was a steadily rotating, smooth-lined vortex, symbolizing the normal operation of the machine's core program. However, at a specific position near the edge of the vortex, some fine, intermittent, jagged short lines appeared.

He pointed to that spot and said to Evelyn: "Here... the flow of energy doesn't seem very smooth, it's stuck... bit by bit, like... like a person coughing from a cold."

Technical staff followed his prompt and focused their inspection on the cooling system at the corresponding location in the chassis. Sure enough, they found early signs of wear on the bearing of one of the fans, which produced tiny vibrations and resistance during operation. Although it hadn't affected performance yet, it could have led to overheating in the long run. This precise "intuitive fault pre-diagnosis" left Excellence incredibly excited and made Evelyn and Su Mu feel very gratified. It powerfully proved that through scientific guidance and training, this seemingly mystical ability could be completely transformed into a sharp perceptual tool with practical application value.

However, the growth of his ability also brought new "troubles." As his Perception became more acute, Excellence's "reception range" seemed to be expanding. He would sometimes capture information streams that were too subtle or distant: for instance, he could vaguely feel the frustration and anxiety of a researcher in the neighboring lab building due to another failed experiment (he described it as "a gray, soggy rain cloud drifting over"); or, one early morning, he suddenly felt a wave of inexplicable agitation, and later a news brief mentioned a small-scale forest fire occurring in a forest area hundreds of kilometers away (he felt that "the horizon in that direction was running a low fever").

This information had no direct connection to the overall safety or operation of the "Homeland," but it would consume Excellence's mental energy and even affect his mood. This forced Evelyn and Su Mu to start guiding him in learning to establish psychological boundaries, like installing an "adjustable filter" on a sensitive receiver, learning to selectively receive information and protect his inner world from being intruded upon by irrelevant "noise."

The training of "Controllable Chaos" was like trying to ride a gifted but wild and untamable steed. Excellence was learning how to both appreciate and maintain its surging vitality and sharp intuition, while also guiding it steadily toward a set direction through the reins (scientific methods) and saddle (mental training). This process was both the history of the growth of his unique ability and the tempering path of his mind toward maturity. Every stumbling step and leap forward was inseparable from Evelyn's wise guidance and Su Mu's warm companionship.