18: Wang Chu's Attention and Initial Assessment

The National Special Bureau's 9th Division, a nerve center hidden beneath the city's foundation, discarded all unnecessary decoration in its interior design, presenting an aesthetic of extreme functionalism.

Silver-gray metal walls absorbed most of the light, with only the ghost-blue and pale green glow from countless screens casting flowing reflections of data onto the smooth surfaces.

The air maintained a constant temperature and humidity, carrying the faint, unique scent of ozone and metal ions typical of precision electronic equipment.

This was a deep sea of information, where immense secrets concerning national security surged in silent undercurrents.

The morning shift change had just passed; the night shift personnel had left with fatigue, and the day shift elites were already in place. The control hall was filled with the brief, efficient tranquility unique to a shift handover.

However, this tranquility was soon broken.

Senior Analyst Xiao Liu did not conduct the usual post-handover data review or take a short rest. With a solemn expression and a pace that was hurried yet steady, he walked straight past the neatly arranged consoles toward the independent command compartment of Deputy Director Wang Jianguo, located on the inner side of the hall, slightly elevated.

Xiao Liu’s face wore an unprecedented seriousness, even tighter than when he had reported the incredible abnormal energy fluctuations twice before.

His brows were furrowed in a deep frown, and deep in his eyes flickered a light mixed with extreme confusion, professional shock, and a trace of imperceptible vigilance.

"Director Wang," Xiao Liu's voice had lost its usual steadiness, carrying a slight dryness born of high focus and urgency, "I must report to you immediately. Our 'Wide-Area Low-Intensity Abnormal Energy Sensing Network'—the 'Listen' system—captured another highly abnormal signal emission event at 2:17:34 AM last night!"

Wang Jianguo was holding a cup of freshly brewed, thick-colored Longjing tea; the swirling steam slightly blurred his sharp, angular features.

Hearing Xiao Liu's exceptionally solemn tone, his hand holding the cup paused slightly in mid-air.

He raised his eyes, his gaze as sharp as a falcon's, piercing through the curling steam: "What's the new trick this time? It wouldn't be some laboratory's brainwave instrument left on during an overnight meeting again, would it?"

His tone still attempted to maintain a trace of his usual teasing, used to steady the morale, but his entire aura had instantly condensed, like a leopard that had caught the scent of something unusual.

"The type this time... is very special! Extremely bizarre! It completely exceeds previous patterns!"

Xiao Liu's speaking speed increased, but his enunciation remained clear.

He walked quickly to the side screen of Wang Jianguo's console, his fingers tapping and sliding rapidly on the virtual keyboard, calling up a set of high-dimensional data maps that had been processed with special algorithms for multi-layer noise reduction, enhancement, and feature extraction.

His tone carried a nearly unbelievable confusion, "The signal intensity indicator is a whole order of magnitude lower than the already extremely faint brainwave biological signal characteristics captured before!"

"Its energy level is so weak that it is almost completely annihilated beneath the city's vast and complex background electromagnetic noise floor. Our 'Listen' system only managed to 'salvage' and identify it from the ocean of noise by relying on the deep pattern recognition algorithm based on neural networks that was just deployed online last week!"

He skillfully projected the complex spectrum analysis chart, time-domain waveform chart, and signal modulation recognition results side-by-side onto the main display, and performed a local magnification: "Director Wang, please look at the details."

"This is definitely not simple equipment energy leakage, power harmonic interference, or common industrial RF noise."

"It has a very clear, discrete pulse envelope structure. Although there is obvious instability and jitter in the pulse interval and width, its overall sequence and encoding method clearly carry... carry a clear characteristic of artificial information encoding!"

"Preliminary reverse analysis and pattern matching show that its modulation method very clumsily attempts to imitate a very old, simple serial asynchronous communication protocol, like some variant of RS-232, but its pulse waveform and level characteristics have been distorted and adapted. The target seems to be... some kind of extremely primitive driver interference aimed at modern smartphone touch controllers or underlying input systems?"

Xiao Liu took a deep breath, as if he needed extra oxygen to support the judgment he was about to make. His fingertips pointed to several key abnormal peaks in the spectrum: "Synthesizing its emission source location, the extremely close source-receiver distance analysis, the intent resolution of the pulse encoding, and the simulation of the energy coupling method, it looks like... like some unknown force is attempting an extremely rudimentary, non-contact, extremely low-power electromagnetic induction write operation on external electronic devices at close range!"

"A kind of... clumsy 'thought-typing' attempt? But because its emission power is pitifully low, and the coupling method is extremely inefficient, primitive, and full of randomness, from the final result, this attempt can almost be said to be a complete failure. It may have only triggered extremely weak underlying circuit disturbances inside the target device, which might not even be recorded by the device's own logs, and might not even achieve a single effective false trigger."

The last trace of relaxation and teasing on Wang Jianguo's face vanished without a trace.

He slammed the teacup onto the cold metal surface of the console; the deep brown tea sloshed violently in the cup, splashing a few drops onto the back of his hand, but he didn't notice.

His whole body, as if pushed by an invisible force, stepped to the main screen in one stride, leaning forward, almost pressing his face against the huge screen displaying the eerie waveforms, his sharp, knife-like gaze meticulously scrutinizing every subtle fluctuation, every abnormal spectral bump, and every tiny difference in the encoding interval on the spectrum.

Although the pulse sequence was as weak as a candle in the wind, as if it would be extinguished in the ocean of noise at any moment, its encoding method revealed a... deeply unsettling sense of contradiction: on one hand, it appeared incredibly clumsy, intermittent, and extremely unstable, full of the chaos and inadequacy of a beginner, as if some existence was fumbling in the dark to learn how to use a brand-new tool; on the other hand, the core logic of its encoding, the instruction set it was attempting to construct, and the purpose it ultimately wanted to achieve were unusually clear, firm, and even carried an unquestionable penetrating power!

This was by no means an electromagnetic phenomenon produced by nature by chance (such as cloud discharge under specific weather conditions), nor was it noise that could be produced by ordinary electronic equipment failure or laboratory accidents!

This was a technical probing behavior with a clear intelligent intent!

The first time was a miniature fusion energy signature with distinct characteristics, though weak, it had a clear structure!

The second time was an eerie, unique electromagnetic characteristic leaning towards precision optical modulation!

The third time was an indisputable disturbance caused by brainwave activity originating from a biological organism!

The fourth time... the fourth time was actually an electromagnetic pulse with clear encoding characteristics attempting to perform information writing?!

The span of this technical field had completely exceeded the normal research scope of any known, even the most top-tier, cutting-edge interdisciplinary research institution or high-tech team on Earth!

The high frequency of these signals, with four completely different high-tech directions appearing in a short period, was more like a kind of... impatient, or even somewhat hasty show-off or technical verification?

And this eerie, consistent low-energy high-feature pattern seemed as if an invisible existence was deliberately compressing all the energy released by all technical activities within an extremely small, almost invisible scale, carefully controlling its scope of influence, trying its best to avoid attracting external attention.

Its behavioral pattern seemed as if it were... testing the threshold and reaction of some monitoring network? Or, more like it was... practicing? A process of clumsy control and gradual familiarization with its own power?

These thoughts flashed through Wang Jianguo's mind. His complexion became completely solemn, like water.

The relaxed mentality of "interesting," "wait and see," and "low priority" was instantly swept into the corner, replaced by a highly professional vigilance and a huge question.

This was no longer a matter of some university laboratory being mischievous or some genius student playing pranks.

Behind this must be something extremely unusual, unexplainable by existing intelligence, and perhaps even potentially highly threatening!

An entity (or multiple) mastering various cross-disciplinary cutting-edge technologies, perhaps even touching upon certain strategic or taboo fields, yet deliberately suppressing all energy release to the limit, so low-key as to be almost invisible, in this densely populated, relatively strictly monitored University Town, continuously conducting various high-risk technical experiments like a beginner... What exactly did they want to do? What was the purpose?

Was it a highly classified, extremely bizarre, and unpredictable illegal research organization?

But why would they choose the environment of a University Town as their base?

Why use such inefficient, seemingly crude, and even clumsy methods for testing? This completely did not fit the behavioral logic of a high-end illegal organization.

If... what if it wasn't an organization?

In Wang Jianguo's mind, almost uncontrollably, the simple file of that student named "Excellence" appeared again: Sophomore in the Physics Department of Polytechnic University, mediocre grades, even somewhat poor, failed the makeup exam for "fundamentals of analog circuits," frequently visiting the library recently, borrowing books with a huge and extremely cutting-edge range, from high-energy physics "A Brief Analysis of Fusion Energy Principles" to materials science "Basics of Metamaterial Design and Frontier Applications" to biomedical engineering "EEG Signal Processing and Pattern Recognition"...

There was also the report from peripheral observers that he had once carried a heavy, old, suspected medical or experimental equipment metal box back to the dormitory alone...

All these clues, looked at individually, seemed fragmented, vague, and even somewhat absurd, but at this moment, against the background of this fourth and most bizarre abnormal signal, they seemed to be strung together by an invisible, unsettling thread.

All the anomalies seemed to vaguely, yet inevitably, point to this seemingly most impossible, most inconspicuous target.

But was this really possible? An ordinary student?

A student who even failed the basic circuit course and needed to retake it, could single-handedly get involved in and "hand-crafted" a miniature fusion device, optical stealth materials, brainwave reading equipment, and even this electromagnetic encoding writing that touched the essence of information?

This thought itself sounded like the most outrageous Arabian Nights! It was a setting that even science fiction novels wouldn't easily adopt!

However, eliminating all that is impossible, whatever remains, however improbable...

Wang Jianguo's professional instinct and intuition, honed over many years on the front lines dealing with countless unconventional events, were sharply telling him not to let go of any tiny possibility, no matter how absurd it looked.

This "Excellence," even if not the direct source of all anomalies, was very likely a crucial breakthrough, a key Node connecting to that unknown existence, or a "white glove" or experimental subject for some deeper, larger existence.

The office fell into a brief, oppressive silence, with only the continuous low humming of the server cluster and the subtle hissing of electric current generated when the high-definition screen refreshed.

The air seemed to become viscous and full of tension, and every breath carried weight.

Wang Jianguo stood where he was, his gaze slowly moving away from the baffling and eerie signal spectrum on the screen, casting it toward the vast control hall outside the compartment, filled with screens—that was the electronic eye monitoring the country.

He pondered for a full minute, his fingers unconsciously tapping rhythmically on the edge of the cold metal console. Finally, a flash of well-considered determination appeared in his eyes.

He turned around, facing Analyst Xiao Liu, who was standing at attention and waiting, not daring to breathe. His voice was steady, carrying the unquestionable power of a decision-maker:

"Xiao Liu, prepare," he said in a deep voice, every word clear and forceful, as if finalizing a battle plan, "Initiate the 'Dragonfly' contact plan, with the level set to 'informal, low-pressure, information collection priority.' All action personnel should be in plain clothes, use unmarked vehicles, and the remote technical support team should be on standby. I want to see all environmental data and analysis feedback in real-time."

He paused, his gaze sharp as a knife, and added the most critical sentence:

"I will go personally. As an alumnus or a civilian technology enthusiast, go to Polytechnic University," his tone was flat, but carried a determination to inevitably uncover the truth,

"To meet this... Excellence student."