30: A new beginning and undercurrents

After the funding turmoil and his "surrender" to Wang Jianguo, Excellence's life seemed to enter a new phase that appeared calm but was filled with undercurrents.

The funds in his account from The Foundation had indeed been frozen, which made him breathe a sigh of relief, but the subsequent issue of research funding plunged him into a new state of anxiety.

However, to his surprise, one evening a few days later, Xiao Zhang appeared at his dormitory door again, carrying a silver metal case that looked quite heavy.

"For you." Xiao Zhang's expression was as devoid of change as ever, and he placed the case at the door and turned to leave.

"What is this?" Excellence asked in surprise.

Xiao Zhang stopped but did not turn back. "Director Wang said this is 'support' for your cooperation. Watch your step."

Once Xiao Zhang's footsteps faded into the stairwell, Excellence carefully moved the case into his dormitory.

The case had a sophisticated combination lock, but when his finger touched the identification area, the lock opened automatically—evidently, his biological information had already been entered into the system.

The moment he opened the case, Excellence almost held his breath.

Inside, neatly arranged, were the expensive components he had dreamed of: iridium-osmium alloys vacuum-sealed in special containers, superconducting ceramic substrates with surfaces as smooth as mirrors, and quantum dot resonators emitting a faint blue light... Every item was priceless, and they were exactly the materials he desperately needed.

"Does this count as a blessing in disguise?" Excellence muttered to himself, his feelings complex and hard to describe.

Although he was under close surveillance, the issue of research funding seemed... temporarily resolved?

He dared not be negligent and immediately threw himself into the research and development of the wireless energy transmission device.

With the circuit foundation that Su Mu had helped modify previously (although it was for a neural interface, some of the concepts were universal), combined with the core principles provided by the system and this supply of "ammunition," Excellence's progress was indeed much faster.

On the workbench, various precision instruments emitted a faint humming sound.

Excellence wore special protective glasses, carefully operating the laser calibrator.

He no longer needed to rely entirely on Pinduoduo and second-hand goods, and could conduct more precise testing and iterations.

The system interface constantly refreshed data in his field of view: [Energy field stability 78%... Resonant frequency matching... Transmission efficiency estimated at 27%...]

However, all his experimental activities were conducted under strict surveillance.

Xiao Zhang would make "surprise visits" irregularly, each time choosing exactly when he had made a key breakthrough or encountered a difficult problem.

As for Wang Jianguo, he was clearly conducting remote monitoring through some unknown method—Excellence discovered that several ordinary devices in the dormitory (including an old radio and an electric fan) occasionally emitted abnormal signal fluctuations, and the system analysis suggested that these had likely been modified into monitoring devices.

He felt like a lab rat conducting experiments in a glass house, with every action watched by countless eyes.

Meanwhile, his relationship with Su Mu also underwent a subtle change.

Although Su Mu did not offer to help him again, occasionally when they met in the library, she would seemingly glance casually at the book he was reading (which had changed from electroencephalography to electromagnetic waves and radio frequency circuits).

Once, Excellence gathered his courage to ask a question about "high-frequency electromagnetic field phase synchronization," and Su Mu stopped, thought for a few seconds, and then provided a brilliant answer, even sketching a simple diagram on a piece of paper.

"The application scenario for this problem is very specific," she added seemingly casually after finishing, "It is usually only used in certain... special communication or energy transmission fields."

Excellence's heart almost skipped a beat, but Su Mu did not delve deeper, simply leaving the sketch behind and walking away.

The sense of alienation remained, but the cold ice seemed to have cracked slightly.

What Excellence did not know was that while he was buried in his work, two undercurrents surrounding him were surging at a deeper level.

In a command center filled with monitoring screens, Wang Jianguo was staring at the real-time footage and data streams of Excellence's laboratory on the screens.

"The target's recent progress exceeds expectations," a technician reported, "The efficiency of the resonant coupling system he designed is already approaching the theoretical limit; this is not something an undergraduate student could achieve."

Wang Jianguo's eyes were deep. "Continue monitoring, especially the energy fluctuation patterns. I want to know the true source of these technologies."

He turned to another screen. "Any movement from The Foundation?"

"Morpheus Li does not seem anxious about losing contact," Xiao Zhang replied, "but we have discovered that his people have increased their activity frequency around the campus. Do we need to take action?"

"Not for now," Wang Jianguo shook his head. "Let them move; we need to see what they are actually trying to do. This chess piece, Excellence, might just help us catch a bigger fish."

Meanwhile, in a top-floor office on the other side of the city, Morpheus Li was listening to his subordinate's report with a playful smile on his face.

"Noticed by the authorities? And they even provided support? Heh... this is getting more and more interesting."

He faced the city night view outside the window, gently swirling his red wine glass. "Evelyn, it seems this 'friend' of yours is more valuable than we imagined."

Evelyn stepped out from the shadows, her face looking exceptionally pale in the night. "Father, do we need to change our strategy?"

"Do not initiate contact with him for now," Morpheus sipped his red wine, "but... you can let him 'accidentally' learn about some of the more 'enticing' project information that The Foundation is conducting. For example... our breakthrough in Quantum Entanglement energy transmission."

Evelyn frowned slightly. "Wouldn't that be too obvious?"

"It is meant to be obvious," Morpheus chuckled. "Smart people love to think they are clever. Letting him think he has discovered some secret is more effective than telling him directly. We need to maintain his... curiosity about us."

"Yes, Father." Evelyn answered softly, the city lights reflecting in her light gray eyes, along with a complex and unreadable emotion.

The next day, while reviewing academic materials, Excellence "accidentally" discovered a vulnerability in a low-encryption level server belonging to The Foundation and "accidentally" obtained some research abstracts regarding quantum energy transmission.

Those cutting-edge concepts made his eyes light up, yet he felt a vague sense of unease.

"System, these technical approaches..." he asked silently in his heart.

[Technical materials highly relevant to the current R&D direction detected. Warning: This material may have been leaked intentionally; it is recommended to reference it with caution.]

Excellence fell into deep thought.

He realized that he was caught between two giants, and every step he took had to be like walking on thin ice.

Late at night, he stood in front of the dormitory window, gazing at the city lights in the distance.

The prototype of the wireless energy transmission device emitted a faint humming sound behind him, already capable of achieving 15% transmission efficiency—this was already a breakthrough.

But he knew that this was only the beginning.

Whether it was Wang Jianguo or Morpheus, both were waiting to see his next move.

His "hand-crafted" journey would no longer be just about avoiding the system's punishment, but would be drawn into the fierce collision between national will and transnational conspiracies.

The storm was brewing, and he was already at the center of it.