82: The struggle of awakening and the ripples of emotion

Deep within the 'Zhulong' base, in the highest security medical isolation ward, time seemed to stretch infinitely, solidifying into a viscous substance mixed with hope and anxiety. The air was always permeated with the faint scent of disinfectant and the barely audible, low-frequency hum of precision medical instruments, forming an unsettling background noise.

Excellence lay on the hospital bed, like a pale sculpture forgotten by time. Various sensor patches were attached to his thin body, and delicate tubes, like vines of life, silently delivered life-sustaining nutrients and weak currents for monitoring physiological data. Under the full intervention of the top medical team, his vital signs had gradually stabilized, with basic indicators like heart rate, breathing, and blood pressure tracing steady but lifeless curves on the monitor screen. However, his consciousness remained submerged in a chaotic and dark deep sea that no one could reach, unresponsive to all calls and stimuli from the outside world.

Yet, his brainwave activity pattern presented a peculiar mode that left all neuroscientists puzzled and fascinated. It was not the chaotic slow waves or epileptic discharges common after brain injury, nor was it the flat line of a deep coma, but a waveform that was extremely slow, yet contained a certain ineffable, profound, and orderly rhythm. It was like a nebula at the birth of the universe, slowly rotating and condensing in absolute silence, undergoing a grand and difficult self-reconstruction and integration that outsiders could not observe. Occasionally, in that slow background wave, a cluster of extremely transient, abnormally high-frequency, and dazzlingly complex spike waves or spike-and-slow-wave complexes would suddenly burst forth, like bioluminescence suddenly lighting up in the darkness of the deep sea, shining for a fleeting moment before quickly extinguishing, leaving behind endless speculation and reverie. This seemed to imply that beneath the ruins of his silent consciousness, some intense, crucial, and unknown repair and transformation were taking place.

Su Mu had almost turned the observation room outside the ward into her second home. She had canceled all non-essential courses and activities (with the special permission of Wang Jianguo) and kept watch here, never leaving his side. Her slender figure often stood quietly before the huge bulletproof glass window, her gaze fixed unblinkingly on the sleeping person inside, as if trying to force her willpower through this cold barrier and inject it into his body.

She would hold his hand—the one without the IV, which was slightly cool and somewhat limp—for long periods, her palm conveying her meager warmth and firm strength. She spoke to him in a low, tireless voice, her tone as gentle as if she were coaxing a sleeping child. She talked about the latest fun events on the Polytechnic University campus, which professor had made a fool of themselves, and which cafeteria stall had launched a bizarre new dish; she recalled the nights they had spent pulling all-nighters in the library, quizzing each other, and remembered the embarrassing scenes in the lab when his 'hand-crafted' equipment would start smoking and catch fire, leaving them scrambling to put it out; she even dug out the latest scientific journals and preprint papers, clumsily and intermittently trying to read those abstruse theories and formulas to him, hoping that these symbols he had once been so obsessed with could, like a key, quietly open that tightly closed door of consciousness.

'Excellence, wake up soon...' Often, as she spoke, her voice would unconsciously choke up, her eyes turning red, unshed tears trembling on her eyelashes. 'You still haven't told me how your damn Emotion-Visualization Device actually turns heart rate and galvanic skin response into colors... You always used to brag that you would teach me, you can't go back on your word now...'

Her persistence, her deep affection, and her almost stubborn vigil were like a silent, warm current, quietly permeating this cold and tense space, also affecting everyone around who witnessed it. Even Special Agent Xiao Zhang, known for his cold and iron-blooded demeanor, would occasionally catch a glimpse of the scene inside the glass window during his routine patrols, and deep within his perpetually frozen eyes, a faint, imperceptible glimmer of emotion and softness would flash by.

The appearance of Evelyn Li added a complex and contradictory hue to this scene. She also came frequently, carrying a complex mix of deep guilt, a heavy sense of responsibility, and a hint of unspeakable envy and bitterness. She could not, like Su Mu, hold his hand without barriers and pour out whispers filled with shared memories. Her identity and her father's sins were like an invisible, cold wall standing between her and Excellence. She could only immerse herself in those cold technologies and data, attempting to use the cutting-edge, even somewhat radical, neuroscience and biofeedback theories she brought from The Foundation to repeatedly discuss with the medical team, designing various possible, multimodal sensory stimulation and neural regulation protocols, hoping to find the key to waking him up.

'Perhaps... a comprehensive, precisely calculated, multi-sensory synchronous input of visual, auditory, and even tactile (micro-current induced) stimuli could form a stronger neural integration stimulus, better penetrating his current consciousness barrier and activating his reticular activating system...' She brought a meticulously designed plan, her tone professional yet unable to hide a hint of uncertainty and anticipation.

Deep down, Su Mu always maintained an indelible wariness and sense of distance toward Evelyn. But for the sake of Excellence, she was willing to suppress all personal emotions and try any method that might bring hope. Thus, in this space filled with high-tech medical equipment, a peculiar scene emerged: two girls who should have been 'romantic rivals,' with vastly different personalities and backgrounds, began a rare, awkward, and cautious collaboration for a common goal.

Su Mu was responsible for selecting and organizing sound materials that Excellence used to be familiar with and that might trigger positive associations—the high-rhythm electronic music he liked to listen to when programming; the monotonous yet comforting hum of various instruments in the lab; and even snippets of his words and occasional hearty laughter that Su Mu had secretly recorded when they used to discuss problems together. Evelyn focused on debugging the precision stimulation equipment, precisely controlling the color gradient frequency and flashing patterns of the phototherapy lights, and calculating the intensity, waveform, and duration of the micro-current stimulation to ensure everything was within absolutely safe thresholds.

During the treatment process, the two inevitably needed to communicate and coordinate operations at close range. Sometimes their fingers would accidentally touch, and sometimes they would have disagreements over the setting of a certain parameter, only to quickly compromise. They could clearly see the same genuine and unquestionable worry and anxiety in each other's eyes. The thick ice separated by identity, stance, and the past seemed, under this shared concern and effort, to be silently melted away a little, becoming thin and transparent.

After a multi-sensory stimulation treatment that lasted several hours, both of them appeared somewhat exhausted. Evelyn was tidying up the data cables when Su Mu suddenly looked up, watching the other's focused profile, and said in a very light but clear voice: '...Thank you.'

Evelyn's movements suddenly paused, her body stiffening almost imperceptibly. She slowly turned her head to meet Su Mu's eyes, which, although still carrying wariness, had softened considerably. She shook her head, a bitter arc tugging at the corners of her lips: 'I'm the one who should be saying thank you... Thank you for still allowing me... to do something for him, to let me... feel a little better inside.' Her voice was low, carrying an imperceptible tremor.

The shared concern, like a bridge that had just begun to be built, still fragile yet real, cautiously connected the two girls standing on the cliff of destiny.

However, before the dawn of hope arrives, it is often accompanied by the deepest night and the most violent turbulence.

One late night, when all was silent, only the rhythmic ticking of the monitoring instruments acted as the eternal scale of time. Su Mu, who had been keeping watch for days and was physically and mentally exhausted, finally could not hold on any longer, slumped over the edge of Excellence's hospital bed, and fell into an uneasy, light sleep.

In her haziness, she seemed to fall into a kaleidoscope of dream fragments. Just on the edge of this blurred consciousness, she suddenly jolted, awakened by an extremely intense heartbeat of the soul! She clearly felt it—the hand of Excellence that she had been gently holding, its fingers had moved—very obviously, spasmodically! The force was so great that it even made her finger bones ache slightly!

'!' Su Mu's heart instantly leaped into her throat! She jerked her head up, eyes wide, and instantly lunged to the bedside, her gaze locked tightly onto Excellence's face and the monitoring screen beside him!

She saw that Excellence's originally calm brow was tightly furrowed, forming a painful, furrowed frown! His eyelids were trembling violently, as if struggling against a heavy burden, wanting to open but unable to! A layer of fine, cold sweat quickly oozed out on his pale forehead, reflecting a faint light under the soft bedside lamp! A sound of extreme pain and indistinct whimpering came from his throat, as if he were struggling fiercely in a nightmare from which he could not wake, and his chest began to heave rapidly!

On the monitor, the originally slow and orderly brainwave rhythm completely vanished!

In its place was a violently chaotic, high-amplitude abnormal discharge activity, akin to status epilepticus!

Sharp spikes and spike-wave complexes surged wildly, as if his brain were being attacked by an invisible, violent electrical storm!

"Excellence! Excellence, what's wrong?! Doctor! Doctor!" Su Mu was terrified, her voice shrill and distorted by extreme fear.

As she anxiously called his name, she frantically pressed the bright red emergency call button by the bedside!

A piercing alarm instantly shattered the silence of the medical ward!

The on-duty doctor and nursing team rushed into the room within seconds, followed closely by Evelyn, who had been staying in a nearby lounge and rushed over upon hearing the news.

"What happened?!" The attending physician asked urgently, his expression incredibly grave, as he quickly checked Excellence's pupillary light reflex and vital signs.

"He suddenly just like this! His hands are moving, he seems to be in pain, like he's having a nightmare!" Su Mu said incoherently, tears streaming down her face from anxiety.

After a quick examination, the doctor's expression grew even more severe: "His conscious activity is running wild! The neural electrical activity is extremely abnormal!"

"This could be a manifestation of extreme struggle before a patient with deep consciousness disorder wakes up, a sign that consciousness is trying to break through its shackles!"

"But it could also be the prelude to a total collapse of neural function, leading to a permanent vegetative state or even brain death! The risk is extremely high! Prepare sedatives and anti-epileptic drugs immediately, and prepare neuroprotective measures!"

"No! Don't give him sedatives!" Su Mu screamed, instinctively trying to stop them. A strong intuition told her that this struggle was crucial for Excellence.

"He's trying! He's trying to wake up! We can't suppress him!"

"But this is too dangerous! His brain could suffer irreversible damage from the overload!" the doctor retorted anxiously.

At this critical moment of argument, Evelyn stared intently at the chaotic brainwave storm on the monitor, which vaguely contained some strange patterns. A lightning-fast thought struck her mind!

She remembered the detailed report about the Emotion-Visualization Device that Excellence had modified before!

"Wait!" Evelyn spoke up sharply, her voice shrill with urgency.

"His device! That Emotion-Visualization Device! It recorded the most stable and familiar brainwave and physiological signal patterns from when he was in a 'calm' and 'focused' state!"

"Can we... can we try reverse input?! Give him a familiar, stable 'emotional anchor' or 'neural rhythm template' to guide his chaotic brainwave activity to synchronize with it, helping him stabilize?! Just like using a steady metronome to guide an irregular heartbeat back to normal!"

This idea was extremely bold, even whimsical, and full of uncertainty.

The attending physician froze for a moment, his face showing extreme struggle as he weighed the hesitation and risks.

"Try it! Please, try it!" Su Mu begged, teary-eyed, as if grasping at the last straw.

"That's his own 'rhythm'! Perhaps only he can guide himself!"

Perhaps it was the desperate and fervent plea in the two girls' eyes that had an effect, or perhaps there was simply no better option, but the doctor finally gritted his teeth and said, "Contact the technical department immediately! Pull up that data model right now! Apply the highest level of safety filtering, convert it into the gentlest audio-visual feedback signals, and connect it to his sensory stimulation system! Quick!"

The technical team executed the order with the utmost speed.

Soon, an extremely gentle sound, like a babbling brook with a breeze blowing over it, accompanied by a soothing and stable, gently rippling azure halo, began to slowly permeate the ward.

The rhythm, frequency, and intensity of this light and sound were highly consistent with the patterns recorded by his hand-crafted device when Excellence was emotionally stable before.

A miracle quietly occurred under the breathless gaze of everyone.

Wrapped in those familiar and peaceful multi-sensory signals, the extremely pained and struggling expression on Excellence's face began to relax slowly at a visible rate.

His tightly furrowed brows gradually smoothed out, his rapid breathing became long and even, and the painful whimpering in his throat slowly subsided.

On the monitor, the violent brainwave storm seemed to have been truly guided and smoothed by an invisible, gentle, and powerful force; those sharp spikes gradually weakened and disappeared, and the chaotic waveforms began to converge and align toward a more orderly and stable rhythm...

A potential crisis of neural collapse seemed to have been successfully averted.

The ward fell into a brief silence, and everyone felt a sense of exhausted powerlessness.

Su Mu slumped in the chair, panting heavily as if she had just finished a marathon, her back soaked in cold sweat.

Evelyn stood leaning against the wall, pale-faced, her fingers trembling slightly.

Time flowed slowly in the silence.

Outside the window, the deep night sky began to reveal the first extremely faint, hazy gray-white light, signaling that dawn was approaching.

At this most quiet moment of day-night transition, when all things were about to awaken, Su Mu, who had been watching Excellence closely, felt her heart skip a beat again!

She saw that Excellence's eyelids, which had been tightly closed, began to tremble slightly again!

This time, it was not the violent trembling of painful struggle, but a slow, cautious, tentative movement, as if a butterfly chrysalis were about to break free!

Once, twice... his eyelashes fluttered gently like the wings of a startled butterfly...

Then, under Su Mu's gaze, as she almost stopped breathing, those two heavy eyelids, which had been closed for far too long, extremely arduously and slowly... opened a tiny crack...

Blurred light, after a long darkness, entered his dazed and unfocused pupils for the first time.

He blinked instinctively, his movements slow and clumsy, as if relearning how to use this simple function.

His gaze struggled, bit by bit, to focus, and finally, it landed hazily on the face of the girl sleeping by the bedside, with clear tear stains still at the corners of her eyes and her brows slightly furrowed even in sleep.

His dry, slightly chapped lips parted slightly, and his Adam's apple rolled with difficulty.

As if using all the remaining strength in his body, he squeezed out from the depths of his chest a sound that was extremely faint, raspy, almost like the friction of airflow, yet clearly distinguishable:

"...Class... Monitor...?"

This call, faint to the extreme yet incomparably clear, was like the sound of nature suddenly ringing out in the quiet deep night, instantly piercing through Su Mu's shallow barrier of sleep!

She woke up from her sleep with a start and lifted her head abruptly!

The next second, her gaze collided directly with those eyes, which, though still weak, hazy, and filled with the confusion of recovering from a serious illness, finally had focus and spirit!

A huge, indescribable ecstasy and excitement erupted like a long-accumulated volcano, instantly engulfing Su Mu completely!

Her tears gushed out uncontrollably, rolling down like broken pearls, but she was completely unaware of it.

She just clutched Excellence's hand tightly, her voice trembling violently from extreme joy and choking sobs, incoherent:

"Excellence! You're awake! You're finally awake! This is great! This is great! You scared me to death, you know that?! Wuwu..."

Excellence seemed startled by her emotional outburst; his eyes were still dazed, as if he didn't fully understand what had happened, and his body was too weak to react further.

But his hand, which was being tightly held by Su Mu, squeezed back again, extremely weakly and almost instinctively, as if offering a silent, clumsy comfort.

In the corridor outside the ward, Evelyn, who had hurried over upon hearing the commotion, happened to see this incredibly moving scene inside through the partially open door gap.

Her footsteps stopped abruptly at the door, as if blocked by an invisible barrier.

Watching Su Mu weeping with joy while clutching Excellence's hand, and watching Excellence's eyes—which had finally opened, and though dazed, clearly reflected Su Mu's image—Evelyn's heart was instantly filled with a complex mix of emotions: there was genuine relief and happiness that Excellence had finally awakened; but at the same time, an uncontrollable, faint bitterness and sense of loss quietly spread, like tiny vines wrapping around her heart.

The undeniable, deep, and natural bond between them seemed so clear and solid at this moment, making her, an "outsider," feel an indescribable sense of distance and... a trace of envy.

Excellence's awakening was like the first ray of sunlight at dawn after a long polar night, bringing the light of hope to dispel the darkness.

However, this light also quietly illuminated more complex emotional veins and undercurrents, and silently stirred the deeper, more dangerous vortex beneath the water.

The true storm, perhaps, had only just begun to brew.