81: Morpheus's "Second Move" and the "Nano Swarm" Crisis

The smoke from the costly defensive battle at the Candle Dragon base had not yet fully dispersed, but the shockwaves it triggered had already reached the headquarters of the Prophet Foundation in the core area of the Free Confederacy at the speed of light, stirring up deep and dangerous whirlpools on the top floor of that black giant tower, which symbolized absolute power and cutting-edge technology.

Unlike the rage and immediate retaliation that Wang Jianguo had anticipated, Morpheus Li, sitting on the throne of power, appeared exceptionally calm after listening to the detailed combat loss reports and action analysis, even... deep within those eyes, which were as deep as cold pools, flickered a hint of elusive, almost eerie satisfaction.

He dismissed most of the anxious mid-level officials, leaving only a few top-level advisors who truly touched the core secrets of The Foundation and shared his vision of "Ascension," to hold a secret meeting with an oppressively tense atmosphere.

On the huge holographic sand table, the assault route of the attacking force, the stubborn resistance encountered, and the final incredible energy field anomaly that led to the collapse of the offensive and the collective neurological dysfunction of the assault team were simulated and reproduced.

The loss list scrolled on the side screen—several priceless "Phantom" assault boats, an entire "Thunder" assault team equipped with the latest exoskeleton armor, and multiple high-level spies who had infiltrated key positions for many years... Morpheus only glanced at these losses, which would have given any military commander a heart attack, as if they were just a string of insignificant numbers.

"Some expendable assault troops and experimental equipment are irrelevant." His voice was steady without a ripple, his fingertips tapping lightly on the smooth tabletop, making a clear, ticking sound that was particularly distinct in the silent conference room, "What is truly important is the irrefutable verification we exchanged for these costs."

He operated the console and brought up a short combat video that was extremely blurry, full of snow and interference stripes, and clearly shot and transmitted by a deep-cover spy at close range at the risk of death.

The screen shook violently, the focus was unstable, but one could still barely recognize the iconic light blue halo of the energy barrier outside the Candle Dragon base.

Just under the concentrated fire of The Foundation's assault team, that layer of barrier had originally been flickering violently, unstable, and on the verge of collapse—

Suddenly! The light of the barrier stabilized abruptly!

The energy flow on its surface seemed to be injected with a strange "sense of life," no longer a simple accumulation of energy, but began to resonate and flow in an extremely complex, rhythmic way!

Even more shocking, the energy of the incoming laser beams and missile explosions was not only unable to penetrate it, but seemed to be guided, deflected, and even... partially absorbed by some invisible clever force!

Immediately after, chaotic and painful exclamations and groans of the assault team members came from outside the screen, and the shooting angle began to spin, eventually falling into darkness...

"Look here," Morpheus froze the screen at the moment the barrier changed, and zoomed in on the local area to the extreme. Although the picture was rough, the transformation of the energy form still brought a huge mental impact to the knowledgeable top scientists and strategists present, "This instantaneous, nanosecond-level precise micro-reconstruction and control precision of the energy field... has far exceeded the scope of any energy shield technology we know, and even... touched the edge of 'Resonance' and 'Active Extraction of Zero-Point Energy' in theoretical physics."

He switched the screen to show another biological signal data stream sent back by the assault team's life monitoring system. It clearly showed that before the attack failed, the vestibular nervous system, visual cortex, and autonomic nerve regulation center of all team members had suffered a very strange, unblockable, non-lethal, but strong interference sufficient to make people completely lose their combat effectiveness.

"And this kind of... invisible force field that can ignore physical barriers and personal protection, act precisely on specific biological nervous systems, and induce directional physiological disorders... This is by no means a phenomenon that current bio-electromagnetics or neuroscience can explain! It is more like... a way of 'attack' based on consciousness or information that we have not yet understood."

Morpheus's gaze swept over every advisor present, whose faces were heavy and whose eyes were full of shock and confusion, and his voice carried an almost fanatical certainty: "These phenomena all confirm our initial judgment—the value of the 'seed' is far beyond our most optimistic imagination! The fusion of the fragments of 'pandora' and his unique consciousness structure does not produce simple knowledge superposition, but a... deeper, catalytic reaction that triggers cognitive 'mutation' and 'dimension elevation'! These 'sparks' he leaked in an unconscious state have already illuminated the path we have been pursuing for decades in vain! We must get him! Get him completely! Or, at least... get the complete map and generation mechanism of the 'treasures' in his brain!"

The conference room was dead silent, with only the low hum of the servers.

One of the most senior advisors, mainly responsible for strategic risk assessment, had to bite the bullet and remind him: "However, 'Prophet', the Candle Dragon base must have raised its alert level to the maximum after this battle. We have already seen their defense system, especially that... incredible energy field control technology indirectly provided by the 'seed'. Launching another strong attack of the same scale will result in exponential costs, but the success rate is minimal, and it may even trigger a full-scale confrontation and exposure risk that we cannot bear."

"Strong attack?" The corners of Morpheus Li's mouth curled up in an unfathomable, cold smile, and he shook his head slowly, "That is the last resort of a reckless man, the dullest drumstick that will only be used when all our delicate strings have been broken. Now, it is far from that time."

He leaned forward slightly, his eyes as sharp as a hawk, sweeping over the crowd, and his fingertips tapped lightly on the console.

On the main screen, the chilling battle scene disappeared, replaced by a highly magnified, breathtakingly complex three-dimensional nanostructure diagram that seemed to be woven from the purest crystal and light filaments.

It rotated slowly, exuding an extreme, unnatural micro-aesthetic, yet making people feel a chill from the depths of their souls.

"We still have a carefully prepared, never-used... 'hidden card'." Morpheus's voice lowered, carrying a low, almost chanting rhythm, "Do you still remember the 'accidental' failure of Evelyn, and the biological sensor mission that failed to be successfully implanted?"

Everyone nodded; that failure was regarded as a major setback.

"Did you think that the sensor was completely destroyed?" Morpheus's smile became deeper and colder, "No. That sensor was just a... carrier. A 'Trojan horse' carefully designed to transport the real 'cargo'."

He pointed to the beautiful nanostructure on the screen: "This is the real core—the prototype of the 'Nightmare' nanite swarm, codenamed 'Dream Weaver'. It is one of the highest achievements of The Foundation's 'Underworld' laboratory, which has taken fifteen years and consumed countless resources and unrecorded 'experimental subjects'."

As he explained, the screen began to demonstrate the terrifying capabilities of this nanite swarm: millions of micro-units, measured only in nanometers, each possessing basic biological signal collection, simulation, and wireless energy collection functions.

They can cooperate through collective intelligence and Quantum Entanglement effects to form an invisible, distributed network that can penetrate biological barriers.

They can simulate specific neurotransmitter signals and brainwave patterns, silently invade the target's nervous system, and establish an extremely covert interface connection with neurons.

"Its core function is not destruction, but... 'reading' and 'copying'." Morpheus's voice was as cold as a scalpel, "It can lurk for a long time without alerting the target, gradually mapping the neural activity map of the target's brain, especially those secret area activity patterns related to deep memory, subconsciousness, and even... 'inspiration' and 'intuition' that cannot be observed by conventional means. Finally, it can compress and encode all this information and send it back to the receiving end through a one-time, extremely high-intensity Quantum Entanglement burst. Completing a perfect 'theft' of the 'treasure' of consciousness."

There was a suppressed gasp in the conference room.

Everyone knew what kind of dark, ethically challenging research the "Underworld" laboratory was conducting, but the terror of the "Nightmare" swarm still exceeded most people's imagination.

This was no longer stealing intelligence; this was directly stealing a person's thinking and soul!

"This 'Dream Weaver' prototype was hidden in the core of that biological sensor, in the interlayer wrapped in biocompatible materials at the time." Morpheus continued to explain, his tone as flat as if he were describing a daily necessity, "The electromagnetic pulse triggered by Evelyn did destroy most of the sensor's functions, but the intensity and time window of the pulse were just not enough to completely annihilate the 'Dream Weaver' that was in the deepest sleep state and had special protection. It just entered a deeper, low-energy suspended animation state. According to the intelligence finally sent back by Evelyn and our model calculations, it should still be alive, left in some corner of that rehabilitation room... like a hibernating poisonous snake, waiting for the command to be awakened."

"But... how to wake it up? And how to command it?" Another advisor asked with a dry voice, "The 'Candle Dragon' base must now be an impenetrable fortress, conducting the strictest shielding and monitoring of all external signals. Any signal attempting to activate it from the outside will be immediately detected and blocked."

"We don't need to send any instructions from the outside." Morpheus revealed a smile that truly belonged to a resourceful hunter, full of control, "Do you remember the 'Emotion-Visualization Device' mentioned in Evelyn's report, which the boy modified himself, and which was weird but unexpectedly effective?"

He pulled up the structural diagram of the rehabilitation room and the technical parameters of the device.

"After his 'magic modification', when extreme emotions (such as extreme fear, ecstasy, or... near-death experience) are detected, its projection module and audio generator will produce a very special, composite sound and light field. Our acoustic engineers and quantum physicists have found through repeated modeling and calculation that when its optical resonant cavity is in a saturated vibration state of a certain frequency, and interferes extremely briefly with a very high-frequency, near-ultrasonic harmonic generated by the built-in speaker... it will produce an extremely weak, but just enough to penetrate the sleeping shell of the 'Dream Weaver'... Resonance instruction!"

The ingenuity, sinister nature, and coincidence of this plan made everyone present feel a chill down their spines!

"What we need to do," Morpheus's voice was like a snake spitting out its tongue, "is just to let our 'nail' (undercover spy) who is sleeping deepest, closest to the rehabilitation room, and least likely to be noticed... give the 'seed' a sufficiently strong emotional stimulus that can trigger the limit response of that device at a suitable time without causing suspicion. For example, a sudden, simulated fatal threat; or, a carefully choreographed piece of information that can trigger his extreme joy... The rest, leave it to the device he made himself to 'unintentionally' help us complete the awakening."

"This is a... gamble." The strategic advisor's voice trembled slightly, "Timing, intensity, environment... any link that goes wrong could lead to failure, or even expose our last undercover agent."

"But it's worth it." Morpheus Li said decisively, his eyes flashing with absolute authority and unquestionable cold light, "Once successful, the 'Nightmare' swarm will be activated, and it will automatically search for and lock onto the target whose brainwave activity most matches the 'seed' characteristics, completing parasitism and information extraction. We don't even need to risk bringing him out, we just need to... take away the 'things' in his brain, those deepest 'truth fragments' and 'sources of inspiration' that even he may not be able to actively access!"

He issued the final order: "Immediately start the 'Dream Weaver' reception preparation program! Mobilize all available resources, prepare the highest-specification Quantum Entanglement reception array and data reconstruction supercomputing cluster! Once the swarm starts transmitting data back, I want to see... that brilliant starry sea in the deepest part of the 'seed's' consciousness at the first moment!"

An invisible net, more sinister, more hidden, and more lethal than ever before, was spread silently again over the still-comatose, unaware, and fragile Excellence, using the tools and environment created by the enemy itself.

Morpheus Li, like a very patient spider, lurked in the center of the web, waiting for the moment when the prey was most defenseless, to deliver that fatal blow.

The storm had not gone away; it had just changed into a quieter, more dangerous form, silently gathering in the silence.