59: Wang Jianguo's Decision and the Construction of the "Firewall"

The atmosphere in the underground command center of the Ninth Division of the National Special Bureau was as heavy as the deep sea under a million tons of water pressure. The air seemed to have been drained of all noise, leaving only the low, constant hum of the precision server clusters cooling down and the subtle hiss of current passing through the massive liquid crystal screen walls. Every breath carried the cold, slightly metallic taste of highly filtered air, pressing down on everyone's chest.

Wang Jianguo stood like a weathered reef directly in front of the massive, curved screen wall. The screen was precisely divided into a dozen sections, acting like a huge, cold observation window that continuously and ruthlessly displayed everything from the rescue isolation room deep within the base: Excellence's vital sign curves, which remained extremely weak and fluctuated violently on the edge of the danger zone—his heart rate flickered like a candle in the wind, his blood pressure was barely maintained by high doses of vasopressors, and his blood oxygen saturation remained grim even with the support of ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation). On the real-time brainwave activity monitoring map, the alarming, diffuse high-amplitude slow-wave background showed a burst-suppression pattern, abnormal discharges twitching like epilepsy, and large, terrifying dark areas representing suppressed or dead neuronal function. Next to it was a small window, constantly refreshing with real-time analysis and continuously revised treatment suggestions from a joint remote expert group composed of the nation's top authorities in neuroscience, bioinformatics, and high-energy physics. Dense professional terminology and data streams cascaded down like a waterfall, every character revealing the grim situation and humanity's arduous exploration in the face of the unknown.

After six hours of heart-stopping rescue efforts, Excellence's condition had only been pulled back a small step from the cliff edge of death; he was far from out of the danger zone. The damage to his nervous system was fundamental and structural. That strange, highly active, and aggressive "information virus" remained like a lurking viper, coiled in the deepest recesses of his consciousness, ready to erupt again at any moment and deliver a fatal blow. The expert group's conclusion was highly consistent and despairing: conventional, and even the most advanced, medical methods had already hit a ceiling. Subsequent recovery would depend to a great extent on Excellence's own severely ravaged willpower and... the unpredictable subsequent activity of that unknown intruder. This was almost leaving fate to ethereal luck.

"Report!" An intelligence analyst sitting in front of the second-row console, responsible for monitoring abnormal network activity, stood up abruptly. Their voice sounded somewhat urgent and off-key due to extreme astonishment and a trace of imperceptible excitement, instantly breaking the deathly silence of the command center. "We... we have just intercepted an extremely strange, anonymously encrypted information stream with an absurdly high priority! The source address has gone through multiple jumps and disguises, ultimately pointing to a... void ghost address, impossible to trace! The encryption method is unprecedented, fusing asymmetric quantum encryption and a... a dynamic entropy-changing algorithm, with astonishing complexity! But its final destination address... points with extreme precision to an extremely secret, physically isolated emergency receiving Node inside our facility, used for receiving special intelligence in extreme situations! The content, after preliminary brute-force decryption and semantic analysis... is suspected... suspected to be directly related to the core attack pattern of the 'information virus' that infected Excellence!"

"What?!" Inside the command center, everyone's gaze, as if attracted by a magnet, instantly focused. The solidified tension in the air was suddenly injected with a more complex, more uncertain restlessness.

Wang Jianguo's pupils contracted suddenly, like a hawk locking onto a suddenly appeared prey. His voice was steady but carried an unquestionable urgency: "The content! Immediately mobilize all computing power and prioritize parsing the content! I want to know what exactly is in there!"

The technical team, as if wound up like a spring, began to operate with maximum efficiency. The base's most powerful supercomputing Node was instantly called upon, and its powerful computing power was concentrated, like an invisible, precision scalpel, beginning to peel away and decrypt the information packet, which had a strange structure, seemed to have a life of its own, and constantly resisted analysis. The entire process was full of challenges; the encryption method constantly adapted and changed like a living creature, and the few minutes of the cracking process felt like a silent, fierce offensive and defensive battle.

Finally, a shocking preliminary analysis report was presented on the main screen in front of Wang Jianguo.

"...The information packet kernel has undergone multiple encapsulations. The core content is a... a highly complex and ingenious mathematical structure. It seems to describe a kind of... unique 'signature' or 'fingerprint' of a high-dimensional information attack pattern... and... even more incredibly, it is appended with several corresponding, theoretically possible, specific inhibitory or even neutralizing... resonant frequency algorithm models and energy field construction parameters?! This... this looks exactly like a... a key fragment of an 'antidote' or 'interference code' for that unknown information virus?!" The chief cryptanalyst's voice was filled with unbelievable shock and deep confusion, as if interpreting technology from outer space.

"Source? The sender's intent? Can you determine it?" Wang Jianguo's questions were like a barrage, his gaze sharp as a knife.

"It is completely impossible to determine the sender's identity! The sending method is extremely sophisticated, utilizing underlying protocol vulnerabilities of multiple network infrastructures. The path is randomized, moving like a ghost, leaving no traceable traces, as if... as if it appeared out of thin air! But the other party clearly understands our internal architecture extremely well. They not only knew of the existence of this Node but could also precisely bypass all our perimeter defenses and deliver this... 'gift'... directly to the core mailbox! The intent... cannot be determined. Whether it is a benevolent offer of help or a more malicious trap, it cannot be assessed at this moment!"

Wang Jianguo stared at the formulas and algorithms on the screen, which were as complex as a heavenly book yet faintly revealed a stunning mathematical beauty and dangerous allure. His brain was spinning at an unprecedented speed, weighing every possibility. Who was it? At this critical moment, who had sent something capable of turning the tide or causing total ruin? A conspiracy by Morpheus Li? Impossible; this would be tantamount to self-exposure, revealing the characteristics of his own most dangerous weapon. Was there a split opposition within the "Prophet Foundation"? A high-level executive with different ideals? Or... was there another third-party force hidden deeper, waiting to reap the benefits? Or perhaps... Evelyn Li? That girl with the complex gaze?

Regardless of who the other party was or what their purpose was, the potential value and the huge risks accompanying this sudden "gift" were equally immense! It could be a straw to save a life, or it could be a sugar-coated, lethal poison!

There was no time to hesitate! Excellence could not wait!

"Immediately! Transmit the entire content of this data, with the highest level of encryption, simultaneously to all members of the joint expert group! Grant them temporary highest authority to call upon the resources of the national supercomputing center's 'Tianhe' series for auxiliary simulation! I want them to complete the security assessment and theoretical feasibility verification of this data in the shortest possible time, at all costs!" Wang Jianguo made a decisive decision, his voice ironclad, every word carrying the weight of a thousand pounds. "At the same time, immediately initiate the highest-level national countermeasure plan, the 'Great Firewall'! Using the 'signature' provided by this data as the core blueprint and identification basis, mobilize all supercomputing centers and cybersecurity forces across the country to reverse-engineer its attack principles and potential variants. Based on this, immediately build a targeted biological information and network attack defense barrier covering the national backbone network and critical infrastructure! We must not let information attacks of a similar nature spread and threaten national security!"

Once the order was given, like a boulder thrown into a calm lake, it instantly stirred up a monstrous wave! The top forces of the entire state apparatus were rapidly mobilized! Countless top algorithm experts, information security engineers, theoretical physicists, and bioinformaticians were urgently awakened from their sleep, from laboratories, and from conference rooms. Through absolutely secure quantum encrypted links, they joined the temporarily established wartime command center and began frantic verification, deduction, and stress testing of this sudden, "fallen from the sky" "antidote"! A super-project racing against time and gambling with unknown risks was quietly launched!

Time passed minute by minute, and the atmosphere in the command center was tense to the extreme, like a bowstring stretched to its limit, ready to snap at any moment. Everyone could hear the wild beating of their own hearts in their chests.

Finally, on the main screen, the image of the joint expert group's chief representative, the domestic neuroscience authority Academician Chen, appeared again. His face bore an expression of extreme fatigue but also uncontrollable extreme excitement. His eye sockets were sunken, but his gaze was burning. "Director Wang! After our joint team's uninterrupted emergency verification and supercomputing simulation... the results are out! This data... is real! The core described information attack pattern 'signature' has a matching rate of 99.97% with the residual abnormal signals we captured from Excellence's brainwaves and biological field! Those resonant frequency algorithms and energy field parameters, after theoretical deduction and multi-dimensional simulation, indeed have a very high possibility of specific neutralization! Although it only provides fragmented key information and is not complete, it has pointed us in the right direction! It has illuminated the darkness! This is a breakthrough and decisive progress! For the first time, it has allowed us to move from being completely passive to having... a theoretical weapon for counterattack!"

Upon hearing this, the back muscles that Wang Jianguo had kept tense finally relaxed imperceptibly. His tightly clenched fists slowly loosened, his palms already bearing deep marks from his fingernails. He exhaled a long, long breath of stale air that had been held in his chest. He had bet right! At least in theory, he had bet right!

"Immediately! Adjust the treatment plan for Excellence immediately based on the theoretical models and parameter ranges provided by this data! Concentrate all resources and prioritize attempting to use high-precision Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) and specific frequency sound wave-infrasound composite intervention methods to simulate and construct that resonant frequency field. The target is directly aimed at its neutralization algorithm target to see if it can effectively neutralize the residual information virus activity in his brain and block its continuous destruction!" Wang Jianguo did not hesitate and immediately issued a new, extremely bold order.

"But, Director Wang," Academician Chen's tone immediately became incomparably grave again, full of worry, "this kind of intervention also carries huge and unknown risks! Although the parameter range for frequency and field strength has been narrowed, there is still an error margin. Any slight deviation might not only fail to neutralize the virus but could also cause an unpredictable coupling effect with the virus, causing secondary damage! It might even directly detonate the virus, accelerating the total collapse of Excellence's nervous system! Moreover, Excellence's own neural tolerance is already on the verge of its limit; this intensity of intervention itself could become the last straw that breaks the camel's back! This... this is still walking a tightrope!"

"There is no time to hesitate! And there is no better choice!" Wang Jianguo was ironclad, his gaze sweeping across Excellence's still critical data on the screen. "This is our only potentially effective weapon at the moment! We must try! Do everything you can to calculate the optimal parameters and reduce the risk and error to the theoretical minimum! I authorize you to use all reserved special agents and equipment! Execute! Execute immediately!"

A new, arguably crazy, and knife-edge treatment plan was quickly formulated and implemented. In the rescue isolation room, more precision and expensive equipment were installed. A targeted, specific energy field, optimized after countless supercomputing simulations, began to precisely envelop and penetrate Excellence's head... A new adventure had begun.

Meanwhile, Wang Jianguo turned his gaze back to the analysis report of the "gift" of mysterious origin on the main screen, his eyes becoming incomparably deep. He could almost be certain that this thing, with a high probability, came from within the "Prophet Foundation", and from someone... who held some special emotion for Excellence, or harbored deep guilt, and possessed extremely high authority and technical ability.

Evelyn Li... this name appeared clearly in his mind again.

He pressed the encrypted communicator and gave a new order to Xiao Zhang, who was on standby at the other end of the line, in an extremely low but clear voice: "Use all available, absolutely covert resources to secretly investigate all of Evelyn Li's recent movements, without alerting the other party, including her communication records (even the most secret ones), network activity trajectories, changes in emotional state, and details of her interactions with Morpheus Li. I want to know if this 'gift' was sent by her. If it was..." Wang Jianguo paused, a cold and sharp light flashing in his eyes, "...then, perhaps, we can bury an... unexpected chess piece in the most core and unexpected place of the enemy."

A rescue battle surrounding Excellence's life, and a larger-scale defense battle against a potential future "information war" that transcended traditional cognition, simultaneously entered a more intense and dangerous unknown territory.