On the morning of the thirty-fifth day, Xu Wuyi sensed a new change in the network as he lifted his teacup on the stump.
Over the past several hours, the channel that had completed its connection had ceased merely transmitting signals from the t-09 Star Realm passively.
The channel walls themselves had begun actively emitting pulses at the same frequency, like the inner walls of a pipe gradually developing the same rhythm of vibration as the fluid continually washing through it.
He set his teacup back on the cut surface of the stump, stood, and returned to the Core Residence hall.
Zero One's projection lit up beside the console. "Lord, the anchor channel walls began actively emitting pulses over the past four hours. Their frequency matches the high-frequency oscillations of the Crystal inside the Fruit."
Xu Wuyi sat at the console and sank his consciousness into his inner vision.
The Fruit continued rotating in his mental space. On the surface of the warm-golden Crystal at the center of its inner ring, the tree-shaped pattern kept emitting high-frequency pulses.
As those pulses spread along the Fruit's markings, they also traveled continuously through the network's connecting lines toward the anchor channel.
He traced their paths through his inner vision and confirmed that upon reaching the anchor channel, they were caught by its walls, absorbed, and then emitted again at the same frequency.
It was as though a mirror stood at each end of the channel, with the pulses continually reflecting back and forth between them.
He observed through his inner vision for a while, confirmed that the back-and-forth reflections were steady and continuous, then withdrew and opened his eyes.
He stood and approached the shelf beside the workbench, bringing his palm close to the steadily pulsing mass of light outside the Metal