24: Trust crisis and difficult choices

Evelyn Li's figure disappeared at the end of the library corridor, but the cedar scent she left behind still lingered in the air, forming an eerie overlap with the scent of old book pages.

The two in the corner fell into a long silence, broken only by the occasional sound of page-turning from afar and the faint hum of the air conditioning system.

Su Mu did not pursue the matter of the circuit diagram again; she simply packed her books and notebook into her bag, which looked ordinary but had electromagnetic shielding capabilities.

Her movements were fluid and precise, with each item placed perfectly, as if she had trained repeatedly.

Excellence noticed her fingers pause slightly when touching her 'Advanced Mathematics' textbook—the very one containing the derivation of the quantum tunneling formula.

She must have remembered something. Excellence felt his internal alarm bells ringing; those formulas, those calculations...

He felt like he was sitting on pins and needles, feeling as if every pore on his body was exuding anxious sweat.

The system's monitoring interface showed that Su Mu's heart rate remained stable at 65bpm and her breathing rate at 16 breaths/minute; this superhuman calmness only deepened his fear.

A student failing exams, not only working on bizarre designs far beyond his level, but also knowing a mysterious rich girl who could enter high-end auctions and offer internship opportunities at top-tier foundations? Excellence smiled bitterly to himself; he wouldn't even believe this script.

'Class monitor... I...' Excellence tried to explain, his voice as dry as sandpaper, 'It's not what you think...'

'Keep the drawings.' Su Mu interrupted him, her tone terrifyingly calm, as if nothing had just happened.

She pushed the modified circuit diagram toward him, her fingertips pausing imperceptibly for 0.3 seconds on a specific area of the drawing—exactly at the key Node of the system's core algorithm.

'This is all I can help with. As for what you really want to do, that is your freedom.'

Her voice had no emotional fluctuations, but Excellence's system detected the slight contraction of her pupils and the tensing of her corner-of-mouth muscles—signs of high restraint.

She shouldered her bag and stood up with clean, decisive movements.

Sunlight filtered through the stained glass, casting mottled light and shadows on her, making her appear as if she were about to blend into the background of this century-old sanctuary of knowledge.

'Class monitor!' Excellence was anxious, reaching out instinctively to grab her, only to pull his fingers back sharply at the last moment.

The system's warning stung his nerves: [Warning! Target is carrying an unknown defense device!]

Su Mu stopped and looked back at him. Her gaze was calm but carried a chilling sense of detachment, a look that reminded Excellence of a scanner in a laboratory—calm, objective, and devoid of any emotion.

'Excellence, we are just classmates.' Her voice was soft but carried an unquestionable decisiveness. 'You don't need to explain anything to me. Just as a classmate, I'll give you one last piece of advice: some fields are very deep and cannot be entered simply out of curiosity or impulse. Take care of yourself.'

After speaking, she turned and left, her pace steady and even.

Excellence's system recorded her step frequency, arm swing amplitude, and even her breathing rhythm—all this data showed she was in a state of extreme control, just like a carefully programmed machine.

Excellence watched her resolute back disappear around the stairwell, a huge sense of loss and frustration welling up in his heart.

He knew that Su Mu might not trust him again, and the distance they had just closed through notes and guidance had instantly become unreachable again.

[Emotional Analysis: Target 'Su Mu's' trust in the host has dropped by 47%, suspicion has risen to 83%, and the sense of distance has increased by 62%. A major crisis has emerged in the relationship between the host and the main potential technical ally.] The system reported the terrible results calmly.

'Shut up!' Excellence growled irritably, slamming a fist onto the oak tabletop.

The dull sound drew surprised looks from several nearby students, looks that seemed to contain something else—scrutiny, recording, analysis.

He slumped back down, his fingers unconsciously rubbing the circuit diagram Su Mu had modified.

The lines on the drawing were precise and elegant, each annotation perfect, almost like a work of art.

This should have been invaluable information, but at this moment, it only brought endless bitterness.

On one side was tight surveillance from the authorities, on the other was the sudden 'favor' and solicitation from the villain's daughter, and on another was the departure of the only honor-student ally who could provide help...

Excellence felt squeezed by multiple forces, almost unable to breathe.

What to do? What to do next?

Continue to bite the bullet and do it himself? Progress was slow and the risk was extremely high. The system's punishment countdown hung over his head like the Sword of Damocles: [71:32:18].

Accept Evelyn's solicitation? That would be like seeking skin from a tiger! The background of the Prophet Foundation was too mysterious, and Morpheus Li's name was associated with dozens of 'accidental' tech disasters in the system's database.

Confess to the authorities? Who knew if dissection or life imprisonment awaited him? Director Wang's eyes, which seemed to see through everything, still made him fearful.

Every choice seemed to lead to a dead end.

[According to the analysis of existing intelligence, the risk-to-reward ratio of repairing the relationship with target 'Su Mu' and securing her technical support is currently still higher than other options.] The system suggested, projecting a detailed data analysis onto his retina.

'Repair it? How do I repair it? Tell her I have a stingy system in my head forcing me to hand-craft black tech to save the world? She'll just think I'm crazy!' Excellence held his head in despair, fingers digging deep into his hair.

[You can adopt a phased, limited information disclosure method to gradually build trust. The current priority is to eliminate the misunderstanding caused by 'Evelyn Li' and reiterate that the host is not in the same camp as her.] The system provided a strategy, even generating a detailed 'Trust Reconstruction Plan.'

Excellence thought painfully, his gaze falling on his phone screen.

Su Mu's WeChat avatar was a simple mathematical formula icon, looking clean and pure.

He opened the chat box, his fingers hovering over the virtual keyboard, unable to press down for a long time.

What should he say? What could he say? He deliberated repeatedly, typing and deleting.

Finally, he sent only one seemingly simple but carefully designed sentence:

'Class monitor, thank you so much for today. I have no relationship with that Miss Evelyn, please, you must believe me. What I am doing... is very complicated, and I will definitely explain it to you when I have the chance.'

The message showed it was sent successfully, but it was like a stone sinking into the ocean, with no reply for a long time.

Excellence's heart sank into the abyss bit by bit as time ticked away. The ancient bell of the library rang again, as if counting down for him.

In another corner of the library, Su Mu looked at the message on her phone screen, her eyes complex.

Her fingers gently brushed over her glasses frame, and she whispered to herself: 'No relationship? Then why did your biological signals fluctuate so obviously when she appeared...'

She turned off her phone screen and turned to blend into the shadows deep in the library.

Outside the window, a gray pigeon watched all this quietly, its eyes flashing with a metallic, cold light.

Excellence sat alone in the corner, feeling as if he were trapped in an invisible cage.

The tranquility of the library became oppressive at this moment, and every subtle sound seemed to amplify his loneliness and despair.

He knew he had to make a choice, but every choice was full of unknown dangers.

He recalled his first meeting with Su Mu, those simple academic exchanges, those conversations that required no hiding.

Now, everything had become complex and dangerous.

How he wished time could turn back to that simple, pure starting point.

But reality was cruel. The existence of the system, those technologies that transcended the era, those ubiquitous surveillance cameras, all made it impossible for him to turn back.

He had to move forward, even if the road ahead was full of thorns.

Excellence took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. He knew that panic and despair would not solve any problems.

He needed to formulate a plan, a plan that could deal with pressure from multiple sides simultaneously.

First, he had to stabilize Su Mu and repair the damaged trust as much as possible.

Second, he needed to avoid the attention of Evelyn and the Prophet Foundation.

Finally, he had to continue to complete the system's tasks under official surveillance.

This was an almost impossible task, but he had no choice.

The system's punishment countdown was constantly decreasing, and he had to take action.

Excellence packed his things and walked slowly out of the library.

The sunlight fell on him, but he couldn't feel any warmth.

He knew that from this moment on, his life would change completely.

He was no longer just the ordinary student Excellence, but someone who carried a huge secret and the responsibility of 'hand-crafted' black tech.

The road ahead was long and full of crises, but he had to keep walking.