168: Chapter 168 The Gaze from the Ice Cliff and the Starlight on the Red Carpet

A twenty-minute safety window; every second felt like walking on the edge of an ice blade.

Alex pushed [Energy Perception] to its limit, like the most precise sonar, penetrating the thick layers of ice to track the source of the increasingly clear 'tapping' pulses and the path of energy diffusion. He simultaneously shared the subtle forms and rhythmic changes of the 'energy ripples' he perceived—which couldn't be directly captured by instruments—with the Doctor's analysis terminal via an encrypted data link.

"Energy disturbances and acoustic pulses are highly coupled... diffusion patterns show non-linear decay... suspected resonance nodes exist..." The Doctor analyzed rapidly while receiving data, the cold light of the screen reflecting off his glasses. "Directional analysis shows the main energy flow is converging... towards that ice cliff! The pulse sequence is forming a more complex structure!"

At that moment, the eerie cold blue reflection flashed again from the direction of the ice cliff, more frequent this time, almost forming a brief band of light moving horizontally along a specific layer of the cliff. Simultaneously, Alex sensed the energy 'disturbance' in the corresponding area inside the ice cliff suddenly intensify, as if something had been completely 'activated.'

"Attention everyone! New vibration signals appearing at the base of the ice cliff! Intensity is rising rapidly! It might trigger a localized ice avalanche!" Captain Ice Ridge's warning rang out over the channel, a hint of tension beneath his calm.

Evacuate! They had to evacuate immediately!

"Doctor, pack the core data! Alex, help dismantle the equipment! Everyone else, prep the vehicles and check the evacuation route!" Captain Ice Ridge's orders were concise and powerful.

However, just as Alex was about to shut down the Nagra reel-to-reel recorder that was making a precious recording, a powerful torrent of signals flooded into his headphones and his perception simultaneously!

It was no longer scattered tapping, but a dense, continuous pulse sequence full of complex intonations, like an 'utterance' echoing from deep within the ice—unintelligible to anyone yet filled with urgency! This sequence lasted about seven seconds and then stopped abruptly, as if it had exhausted its power or been forcibly interrupted.

Immediately after, a dull boom, like the internal fracturing of a giant block of ice, came from the direction of the ice cliff! A piece of ice, not too large but dangerous enough, peeled off the cliff face and tumbled down the slope, kicking up a cloud of snow.

"We recorded it! The complete sequence! Over three hundred characteristic pulses!" The Doctor's voice was distorted with excitement and fear. "But the trigger source is unstable! The ice cliff structure is becoming unstable!"

"Forget it! Evacuate!" Alex made a split-second decision, forcibly shutting down and quickly dismantling the Nagra's recording unit—the core component housing the storage tapes—with one hand, while pulling the Doctor, who was still trying to save a bit more data, with the other, dragging him toward the vehicles.

The crawler vehicle's engine had already warmed up, letting out a low growl. The team members moved swiftly, tossing the most important equipment cases and data hard drives onto the vehicle. Captain Ice Ridge took one last look at the monitoring site and decisively ordered, "Abandon the peripheral equipment! Drive!"

The crawler vehicle lunged forward, plowing deep furrows into the soft snow. Behind them, several more dull cracks echoed from the ice cliff as more ice fragments slid down, raising a white cloud of dust. Fortunately, no large-scale collapse occurred that would have threatened them.

The vehicle traveled at full speed for about twenty minutes until they were sure they had left the danger zone, then slowly decelerated. The interior was silent, save for heavy breathing and the roar of the engine.

The Doctor clutched the Nagra recording unit and a data hard drive tightly, his face pale but his eyes feverish. "We... we might have recorded something unprecedented! That sequence... it couldn't be a natural phenomenon! And the energy reaction from the ice cliff..."

"It's more like some kind of response mechanism, or a defensive reaction," Alex said slowly, leaning against the vehicle wall. He felt the energy field of the ice plains in his [Energy Perception], which was gradually calming down but still held lingering abnormal 'aftershocks.' "Our probing was like a key inserted into a keyhole, and then... whatever is inside the lock tried to tell us something, or tried to scare us away."

Captain Ice Ridge turned back from the passenger seat, his sharp gaze sweeping over Alex and the Doctor. "We'll discuss the specific analysis once we're back. For now, we need to re-evaluate the safety situation and the action plan. The target area is confirmed to have high-risk active responses. Shall we continue the original plan?"

After a brief silence, the Doctor gritted his teeth. "The core data is already in hand. Continuing deeper is too risky. I suggest establishing a secondary observation point at a relatively safe distance for long-range passive monitoring to collect environmental correlation data. Meanwhile, we should immediately begin the preliminary decoding of the sequence we've obtained."

This suggestion was pragmatic and conservative. Alex agreed as well. Their core goal was to obtain information, not to go head-to-head with the unknown. Captain Ice Ridge nodded and began contacting the rear—clearly where the Spirit of the Wasteland was located—via satellite communication to report the situation and request further instructions.

Taking advantage of this gap, Alex sent another safety signal to Los Angeles, adding a secondary code representing 'encountered an anomaly, evacuated safely, monitoring ongoing.' He believed Taylor and The Architect would be able to read it.

Los Angeles, the global premiere of the city of instantaneity.

On both sides of the red carpet, camera flashes were as brilliant as a galaxy. Taylor Allison, dressed in a simple yet elegant deep blue gown, walked the red carpet alone. She wasn't the lead actress, but as a collaborator on the film's important soundtrack and the representative for Alex Su, the Sound Narrative Consultant, she attracted a lot of attention.

Facing the media's lenses and questions, she carried herself with poise and grace.

"Taylor, why is Alex absent from such an important occasion?"

"He is currently involved in a vital sound research project and cannot get away. He asked me to apologize to everyone and hopes you all enjoy the impact of the film," Taylor replied with a smile, her tone sincere.

"How do you view his contribution to the film's sound design?"

"He made sound a character, the narrative itself. I believe after tonight, everyone will agree with that." Her answer was confident and supportive.

Her performance won a lot of favor. When she entered the theater and met up with Zack Snyder and the other creators, the director specifically came over and whispered to her, "Tell Alex he missed a feast. But we all understand. What he's doing sounds even cooler." Taylor nodded with a smile.

The movie began to play. Even though she had seen the internal screening beforehand, Taylor still felt her heart swell with pride as the sound narratives created by Alex's team unfolded majestically. She knew that at this moment on the distant ice plains, he might be facing a completely different kind of 'sound,' but their hearts for exploration and creation were connected.

At the celebration party after the premiere, Taylor accepted many congratulations on Alex's behalf. She socialized politely, but her thoughts were always on the north. She was taking a breath of fresh air on the terrace when she received the secondary safety code from Alex. Seeing the code that meant 'encountered an anomaly but safe,' her heart tightened, then slowly relaxed.

He was fine. That was enough.

She looked up at the northern night sky, raised her champagne glass, and whispered to herself, "No matter what you've discovered, I'll be waiting for you to come back and tell me all about it."

Instructions from the rear quickly came back: approval to establish a secondary observation point for 48 hours of extended passive monitoring. Meanwhile, the core team was to take the obtained data and immediately return to the pre-designated transit safe house for preliminary analysis and rest, awaiting further instructions.

The new camp was established behind a leeward ice mound, about fifteen kilometers from the target ice cliff. After setting up the remote monitoring equipment, the team finally got a chance to catch their breath.

In the safe house—a reinforced mobile cabin with heating and basic living facilities—the Doctor couldn't wait to start processing the data. Alex joined in as well; the [Energy Perception] records he provided corroborated the instrument data, greatly helping the Doctor understand the energy propagation characteristics of those abnormal pulses.

After several hours of intense work, a shocking preliminary discovery surfaced: the seven-second dense pulse sequence, after being converted and compared through specific algorithms, actually showed a highly simplified pattern structurally similar to some early human binary or pulse-code communication protocols! Although its specific 'meaning' could not be decoded, its 'non-randomness' and 'potential information-carrying characteristics' were preliminarily confirmed.

"This is impossible... unless..." The Doctor stared at the screen, muttering to himself, his face a mix of ecstasy and the daze of having his worldview shaken.

Alex silently watched the converted waveforms. Deep beneath the ancient ice plains, there was something capable of emitting what appeared to be structured, encoded signals. This discovery completely transcended the scope of conventional science, pointing toward the possibility of extraterrestrial civilization ruins, prehistoric unknown civilization artifacts, or... something even more unimaginable.

So this was what the Spirit of the Wasteland was looking for.

He walked to the safe house's small porthole, looking out at the eternal ice plains and the sky where the aurora was beginning to appear. Beneath the surface of the world, how many secrets were hidden? And his ability, the path he had taken, seemed to be leading him, bit by bit, to the edge of these secrets.

The system interface rippled quietly in his consciousness, seemingly producing an indescribable reaction because it had come into contact with this 'information' that transcended the everyday.