154: Chapter 154 The Secret Language of Warm Jade and Magnetic Tape

The feedback from The Architect came quickly and was very clear.

"The vehicle belongs to a private investigation firm registered in Delaware. On the surface, they do commercial background checks, but their actual scope of work is much more 'flexible.' The client's information is heavily masked, but initial tracing points to an offshore shell company linked to the Summit Creative group," Hank said succinctly during the next morning's briefing. "Their goal is likely to evaluate your daily habits and social network, Boss, as well as those of Ms. Swift, to gather material for potential future commercial competition or a public relations war. Their methods aren't particularly sophisticated, but they are professional."

As expected, it was a competitor's petty move. After hearing this, Alex actually felt a sense of relief. Underhanded tactics within the realm of commercial competition, while annoying, at least followed relatively clear rules.

"Send a lawyer's letter to that investigation firm. Use stern language; say we've noticed unidentified vehicles illegally tailing our core personnel, that we have evidence, and that we reserve all rights to legal action. No need to name the client—just a warning shot will do," Alex instructed while spreading butter on his toast. "By the way, 'accidentally' leak the news of our security upgrade to Level 2 to a few well-connected industry media contacts."

Soon, a brief message circulated within a small circle: "According to insiders, Alex Su has strengthened personal and team security measures due to his rapidly rising career, suspected as a precaution against excessive commercial competition." This served as both a warning to potential opponents and a silent declaration: I know what you're doing, and I'm prepared.

As for Summit Creative, Alex didn't even bother questioning them directly. At his level, some things were understood without being said. He simply mentioned it "in passing" during an industry conference call with the CEO of Universal Music: "Lately, I've felt like someone's been following me; maybe I'm overthinking it. But it's a good thing—it reminds us to be more professional and cleaner in everything we do, since so many eyes are on us now."

He spoke lightly, just enough to make the point. The other party naturally understood the subtext. Sure enough, over the next few days, Summit Creative's attempts to contact several popular contributors from the Echo Puzzle project quietly tapered off.

An annoying fly can be swatted away with the right flyswatter; there's no need for a major fuss. This sense of being in control of the situation even made Alex eat an extra slice of ham for breakfast.

During his morning studio time, Alex attempted to apply Energy Perception more precisely to music creation. He gathered several stones and metal pieces of different materials and shapes, and even a piece of warm ancient jade. He tapped them gently, listening to their sounds while feeling the subtle energy fields emitted by their vibrations.

The sound of the jade was clear and long-lasting, and its energy field was the most gentle and stable, as if it could smooth out any interference. He took a recording of a Jade Chime, processed it specially, and layered it into the background of a slightly sentimental love song he was currently arranging. The subtle psychological soothing effect was immediately apparent. When Taylor came in to listen, she raised an eyebrow in surprise. "This background sound... it's very special. It's like it smoothed over the 'thorns' in the song, leaving only warmth."

"I found a good 'sound material'," Alex said dismissively, though he felt more confident about the potential applications of his new ability. This wasn't just optimization; it was the opening of a new dimension in sound aesthetics.

In the afternoon, Spirit of the Wasteland sent an unprecedented message with specific feedback, accompanied by a small, heavily encrypted data packet.

The message read: "The old media experiments have yielded initial confirmation. 'Environmental information residue' attached to analog carriers can, under specific playback conditions, present 'dimensions' that digital sampling cannot capture. Inside the packet is a comparison sample (A is the original digital recording fragment, B is the same fragment recorded via Nagra and then digitized), for reference only. Note the 'non-source information' appearing between seconds 7 and 12 of fragment B."

Alex immediately opened the data packet in a strictly secure offline environment.

Fragment A was a dull, continuous low-frequency noise, sounding like giant machinery operating deep underground, taken from a previous original digital recording by Spirit of the Wasteland.

Fragment B was the same noise, but it sounded... "thicker." It wasn't that the volume was higher, but rather that the texture had become richer, as if many extremely subtle, indescribable "grains" had been added. And between seconds 7 and 12, an extremely faint, ethereal sound—almost like the gentle collision of countless tiny crystals—emerged, nearly illusory, before being quickly swallowed by the background noise. This sound definitely did not belong in the recording environment!

More importantly, when this "crystal collision sound" appeared, Alex's Energy Perception clearly captured a brief but distinct "abnormal energy pulsation" mixed within the audio signal! Unlike the "non-human" feeling he had sensed in the underground song before, this energy pulsation was more "fragmented" and "random," but it similarly did not belong to the conventional physical realm.

That old Nagra tape recorder was like a special filter, actually capturing "something" that digital devices completely ignored! Was it some kind of "information" that accompanied the main sound source but existed in a different perceptual dimension? Or was it a "record" produced by the interaction between the material of the analog tape itself and a specific energy field?

Regardless, Spirit of the Wasteland's research once again confirmed the eerie and profound nature of the field they were touching upon. And this "gift" also quietly expanded Alex's understanding of "energy" and "information."

He replied with two words: "Received, amazing."

He didn't ask further questions. He knew that the other party shared these things as both a fulfillment of their agreement and a subtle display of strength and value. Their tacit partnership grew more peculiar and solid with each display of "results" that exceeded common sense.

In the evening, Alex and Taylor had a barbecue on the terrace of the new studio in Malibu. The sea breeze carried a salty tang, and the smoke from the grill mixed with the aroma of food. They chatted about interesting stories in film sound design, what theme to use for Echo Puzzle next week, and whether they should get a dog that wasn't afraid of the ocean.

In the distance, the sea and sky met as one, the setting sun melting like gold. In the vision of Energy Perception, the world was plated with a warm and vigorous energy halo. Those petty commercial tricks, the eerie sounds deep underground, the whispered dimensions hidden in the tapes... all momentarily receded behind this warm daily life.

Alex flipped the steaks on the grill and watched Taylor's profile as she focused on mixing drinks. He felt that this was the core of what he was working for, growing stronger to protect and enjoy.

The system interface quietly appeared in his mind:

· Cumulative Historical popularity: 134,600,000 points (Steadily increasing)

· Available popularity: 42,730,030 points