143: A crisis and the protection of the "trinity"

The valley where the Homeland is located is usually like a tranquil paradise forgotten by time. Yet, the volatility of nature and the fury of the cosmos do not grant special leniency just because this land is isolated from the world. A sudden, compounding crisis struck this seemingly impregnable sanctuary like a heavy one-two punch.

The initial signs stemmed from a seemingly ordinary afternoon. Excellence had just finished a round of signal filtering exercises during his "Controlled Chaos" training and was staring blankly at the abstract lines he had just completed on his drawing board, which attempted to depict the "rhythm of server cluster operations." Suddenly, the studio lights flickered ever so slightly—almost imperceptibly—but were followed by a disturbing red cross on the network connection icon and a short, distant alarm sounding from the technical support area.

"Hmm? The internet is down?" Excellence muttered, attempting to refresh the page, but there was no response. He didn't pay it much mind, assuming it was a routine network fluctuation.

However, the situation escalated rapidly. The base's public address system blared, broadcasting the Communications Director's calm but noticeably hurried voice: "Emergency notification: The main commuter tunnel exit is blocked due to a sudden landslide. Simultaneously, our primary fiber-optic communication cable has been severed by falling rocks. Currently, internet and certain dedicated line communications with the outside world are completely interrupted. Backup satellite communication channels are being urgently activated, but bandwidth is severely limited. All research projects requiring real-time access to external databases must pause. Repeat, main communication link interrupted..."

This meant that the Homeland instantly transformed from a highly interconnected information Node into an information island. Not only were many cutting-edge research projects forced to pause, but more critically, the real-time data links with the peripheral covert monitoring stations and early warning sensor arrays scattered throughout the surrounding mountains were also severed. The entire Homeland's situational awareness and Perception capabilities were significantly weakened, as if it had lost its extending tentacles and ears. The security department immediately entered a high state of alert; patrol frequencies were doubled, and all external entry and exit points were placed under temporary lockdown.

It was truly a case of misfortune never coming singly. Before the chaos from the communication outage could subside, the base's Space Environment Monitoring Center sounded an even higher-level alarm. On the monitoring screens, a series of indicator curves representing solar activity were soaring sharply, indicating a stream of charged particles generated by a strong Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) was hurtling toward Earth at astonishing speed, expected to arrive in a few hours. The geomagnetic storm triggered by this event was predicted to reach a G4 (Severe) level and could potentially hit G5 (Extreme) levels.

For a base like the Homeland, which relies heavily on precision electronic equipment and internal network facilities, a strong geomagnetic storm would be akin to an electronic storm tsunami. Powerful induced currents could fry fragile circuit boards, intense electromagnetic interference could paralyze data transmission, and it might even cause logic errors in control systems. Once core systems crashed, life support, environmental control, and security systems would all face severe threats.

Speed of Life and Death: The Failed Shield Activation

The base's emergency protocols immediately initiated the highest response level. According to regulations, the all-encompassing electromagnetic shield (Faraday Cage-like Shield) covering the entire core area of the base had to be activated before the main body of the geomagnetic storm arrived. This shield would deflect and absorb most harmful streams of charged particles and electromagnetic pulses by generating a powerful, directional canceling electromagnetic field, serving as the final barrier to protect internal electronic equipment.

Inside the control center, the atmosphere was as heavy as a frozen glacial lake. Wang Jianguo was in command, the Technical Director was operating the controls personally, and all relevant personnel were at their stations. The massive main screen displayed the countdown to the shield's activation along with complex system status flowcharts.

"Initiate Level 1 defense protocol! Activate the main shield generator!" the Technical Director ordered.

The operator skillfully entered the commands. On the screen, the progress bar representing energy accumulation began to advance steadily. 10%... 30%... 70%... 90%... Everything seemed to be going smoothly. However, when the progress bar reached 97%, a sudden anomaly occurred!

The progress bar froze dead, unmoving! A shrill error alarm replaced the steady hum of operation! Multiple indicator lights on the main console turned from green to red, flashing frantically!

"Report! The main server cluster is experiencing an unexplained surge in load! System response is sluggish!"

"Shield control module is unresponsive! Attempted forced restart failed!"

"Backup power array automatic switching logic error! Cannot connect!"

"Core cooling system pump speed has dropped abnormally! Temperatures are rising!"

A barrage of bad news hailed down upon the command station. The technical team immediately began emergency troubleshooting, but the problem was intricate; multiple systems were coupled, and the fault symptoms were changing instantly. Conventional troubleshooting methods were like groping through a giant maze, and progress was slow. Time was slipping away mercilessly, second by second.

In the corner of a monitoring screen, real-time data of the geomagnetic storm's vanguard was displayed; the curve representing particle flow intensity was climbing steadily and had already crossed the red line. Subtle static noise and occasional waveform distortions began to appear on the main screen—the advance guard of the geomagnetic storm had already begun to infiltrate! The lights in the control room also started to flicker unstably, and a formless, heart-palpitating pressure permeated the air.

"Hurry! We must find the root cause as quickly as possible!" Wang Jianguo's voice remained steady, but his clenched fists betrayed his inner anxiety. Every second of delay meant that the base's electronic nerves and heart were being exposed to increasingly strong radiation impacts, and a devastating system collapse could occur at any moment.

Meanwhile, in the studio located in a relatively quiet area of the base, Excellence was experiencing an unprecedented and intense physical and mental storm.

At first, he had only felt a bit bored due to the network outage and was toying with his Emotion-Visualization Device. Suddenly, a violent palpitation struck him, as if his heart had been ruthlessly gripped by an invisible hand, leaving him instantly breathless. This was followed by severe dizziness, and the scenery before his eyes began to spin and blur. The surface of the water in the cup on his desk was vibrating slightly at an extremely high frequency, emitting an almost inaudible hum.

The most eerie thing was the Emotion-Visualization Device in front of him. The halo, which usually changed softly according to his emotions, was now acting like it had gone mad. The colors were jumping and flashing frantically and irregularly between crimson, pale white, and deep blue, while the shape twisted into sharp, jagged patterns, spinning so fast it was almost escaping the device's control! The device itself was also emitting a shrill, overloaded screech!

"Not right... not right..." Excellence's face was as pale as paper, cold sweat instantly soaking his bangs. He clutched his chest in pain, curling up in his chair, his voice trembling and weak. "Something big... something very bad... is coming... The base... the base's 'heartbeat'... is in chaos... It can't stop... So many... so many 'bad currents'... like vipers... biting everywhere... slithering around..."

This sensation was completely different from the localized, clear "prompt" he felt when perceiving a single device failure previously. This was an all-encompassing, overwhelming sense of collapse, as if his entire nervous system had developed some kind of deep, painful resonance with the base's massive energy and information systems. He could not only "hear" the "wailing" of the systems on the verge of collapse, but could even vaguely "feel" the general direction where the faulty energy was concentrated and surging, as well as its chaotic "rhythm."

The Crucial Connection: A Gamble from Intuition to Action

Su Mu was the first to notice Excellence's abnormality. She rushed into the studio and, seeing Excellence's pained state, was terrified out of her wits. She immediately went up to hug him tightly while simultaneously using the fastest speed to connect to the emergency internal communication with Evelyn.

"Evelyn! Something happened to Excellence! He's reacting very violently, saying the base's heartbeat is in chaos, and there are bad currents!" Su Mu's voice was laced with tears, but she relayed the message as clearly as possible.

Evelyn was in the control center assisting with data analysis when she heard Su Mu's description; it was as if lightning had flashed through her mind!

She instantly connected Excellence's abnormal state with the crisis of the system's inexplicable collapse before her eyes!

A bold, perhaps even crazy, idea formed in her mind—in this desperate situation where conventional technical methods were making slow progress, Excellence's hypersensitive intuition regarding system-level anomalies, which could not be replicated by scientific instruments, might be the only "living radar" capable of quickly pointing the way!

This was undoubtedly a huge gamble.

Entrusting the troubleshooting of a failure that concerned the survival of the entire base to a child's vague, metaphorical description of feelings sounded like a fairy tale.

But based on her long-term observation of Excellence's abilities and the urgency of the current crisis, Evelyn made a decision.

"Su Mu! Listen!" Evelyn's voice came through the communicator, unusually calm and resolute. "Keep Excellence as calm as possible! You are responsible for soothing him and guiding him to describe his 'feelings' in as much detail as possible! The key is, where are the 'bad currents' most concentrated? How is the base's 'heartbeat' 'messy'? Don't let any detail slip by! I will be here, acting as your 'translator,' relaying his feelings to the technical team in real time!"

Evelyn immediately turned to Wang Jianguo and the technical director, explaining her idea concisely.

There was a brief silence in the control room; everyone understood the risks and the slim hope involved.

Wang Jianguo pondered for only two seconds before issuing an order decisively: "Do as Dr. Evelyn says! All technical teams, cooperate fully!"

An unprecedented joint rescue operation of science and intuition thus began.

In the studio, Su Mu held Excellence's cold hand tightly, guiding him with a gentle and firm tone: "Excellence, don't be afraid, Squad Leader is here. Tell me slowly, what are those 'bad currents' like? In which direction are they mainly located?"

In the control center, Evelyn became the key information relay station and "translator."

Wearing a duplex communication headset, she listened to the fragmented descriptions full of childish metaphors that Su Mu relayed from Excellence, while issuing instructions to technical teams in different specializations using extremely concise and professional language:

"Excellence describes: 'The bad currents are like many cold poisonous snakes, gathering in the 'northeast corner' of the 'glowing white house,' wriggling and biting! Focus on checking the backup power supply and grounding system in the northeast area of the main server room!'"

("The glowing white house" was instantly interpreted by Evelyn as the main server room with high temperatures and dense indicator lights.)

"Excellence describes: The base's 'heartbeat' is 'trying hard to hit the brakes,' but it 'misses,' slipping underfoot! Suspect a priority judgment infinite loop or logic deadlock in the core control program! Check the task scheduling module!"

("Trying hard to hit the brakes but missing" was interpreted as command execution failure or invalidity.)

"Excellence adds: The 'heartbeat' sound is getting 'sharper,' like it's about to 'tear apart'! Pay attention to system load and heat dissipation! The cooling system may be associated with the failure!"

("Sharper" and "tear apart" were interpreted as signs of the system overloading and nearing collapse.)

At first, the technicians who received these instructions, which were like "heavenly books," looked at each other, feeling it was bizarre.

But due to the orders and the urgent time, they could only try with the mindset of treating a dead horse as a living one.

However, miraculously, these seemingly absurd instructions hit the mark time and time again!

A senior power engineer led the team to focus on checking the redundant power switching cabinet in the northeast corner of the server room.

According to the "poisonous snake" hint, they did not limit themselves to routine inspections but specifically checked for latent damage that might have been caused by high-voltage arcs and microsecond-level conflicts in the software control logic.

Sure enough, they discovered an extremely hidden firmware bug that, under specific current surges, caused the switching logic to become chaotic, forming a local short-circuit hot spot, like the fangs of a "poisonous snake"!

After a rapid repair, the load anomalies in some systems began to ease.

Another group of software experts, revolving around the "trying hard to hit the brakes but missing" metaphor, focused on analyzing the thread scheduling algorithm of the core control program.

They discovered that under the specific electromagnetic interference of the geomagnetic storm precursor, a low-level module responsible for resource allocation had indeed fallen into a rare priority inversion deadlock, causing the shield activation command to be issued, but key resources were occupied by low-priority tasks, making it impossible to execute effectively, just like brake failure!

After injecting the fix patch, the stuck progress bar trembled violently!

Under such vague guidance from Excellence's extraordinary intuition, combined with the technicians' superb professional competence and rich experience for cross-verification and precise positioning, one fault point after another was quickly identified and eliminated.

This was like a top-tier hunter using a keen sense of smell (Excellence's intuition) to point out the general direction of a beast, while experienced assistants (the technical team) could accurately find the Nest based on the traces and eliminate it.

Only three minutes remained!

The main energy peak of the geomagnetic storm was about to arrive!

On the monitoring screens, the external electromagnetic environment index had gone off the charts!

"Final command! Force restart the shield control sequence!" the technical director ordered, his voice hoarse.

All eyes were focused on the progress bar on the main screen.

It trembled, struggling to climb past 98%... 99%... Then, in the last dozen seconds, it surged to 100%!

A low, powerful energy hum instantly spread throughout the entire main building of the base!

Through the reinforced glass windows of the control center, one could clearly see a pale blue, translucent energy film, like a giant bowl, slowly rising from the edge of the base, finally closing overhead and completely enveloping the entire core area!

Almost the very next second after the shield completely closed, the main screen flickered violently, and the external environment monitoring data instantly turned into a mess of chaotic code—the main energy torrent of the geomagnetic storm had slammed hard against the shield!

Violent ripples spread across the blue energy film, but it firmly blocked the destructive particle storm outside!

All equipment inside the base stabilized, the lights steadied, and the operating noise returned to normal.

The crisis was resolved!

In the control center, a deathly silence lasted for several seconds, followed by an eruption of cheers—a mix of exhaustion and ecstasy from surviving the disaster!

Many people slumped in their chairs, only then realizing that their clothes had long been soaked with cold sweat.

Wang Jianguo let out a long sigh of relief, casting a look at Evelyn full of gratitude and affirmation.

Evelyn, however, immediately rushed to the communicator: "Su Mu! How is Excellence?"

In the studio, with the activation of the shield and the isolation from the external electromagnetic environment, the intense pain Excellence felt receded as quickly as a tide.

He leaned against Su Mu in a state of exhaustion, his face still pale, but his breathing gradually stabilized.

Su Mu hugged him tightly, weeping with joy: "It's okay... Excellence, it's okay... You did it... We all did it..."

When Evelyn arrived at the studio, she saw Su Mu hugging Excellence tightly, the three of them holding hands firmly.

Without too many words, a kind of trust and reliance that transcended language, born of life and death, flowed silently between the three.

This time, they were no longer simply protector and protected.

Excellence provided the irreplaceable, life-or-death critical intuition; Su Mu was the emotional anchor and lifeline that stabilized and connected him; and Evelyn was the strategic translator and on-site commander who converted abstract intuition into concrete action instructions.

They had formed an indispensable, unbreakable "trinity" combat unit.

This experience greatly sublimated the relationship between the three.

For the first time, Excellence felt so clearly that this ability of his, which had once brought countless troubles, could erupt with such immense power in a real crisis, truly protecting the Homeland and family he cherished.

A deep sense of responsibility and unprecedented self-confidence grew vigorously in his heart.

After the storm, the night sky of the valley was ignited by the geomagnetic storm into brilliant auroras, and the starlight was exceptionally bright in the pure sky.

"Homeland" was safe and sound under the protection of the energy barrier, and the core bond formed by the three, who guarded "Homeland," was tempered to be tougher than any alloy in this life-and-death test.