The Walking Top Secret

Sharpening a blade began with driving the enemy crazy.

Inside Source Analysis Laboratory No. 1, things had long since descended into utter chaos.

"No! Still no! In the 734th simulation, the energy model collapsed again when construction reached 81%!" A researcher whose hair resembled a bird's nest slammed his fist against the console with a dull thud.

"I told you, the whole idea of 'positioning' is flawed! How could spatial coordinates possibly be expressed through this kind of two-dimensional pattern? It's unscientific!" Another researcher pushed up his thick glasses, his tone full of irritation.

"But Elder Xu said Huo Yuhao's intuition is important! If he says positioning, then we have to keep hammering away in that direction!"

Arguments, curses, and the shrill beeping of instruments mingled together, filling the entire laboratory with the sour stench of failure.

It was then that Huo Yuhao drifted in silently like a ghost.

Heavy dark circles hung beneath his eyes, his face was pale, and his steps were unsteady. He looked every bit the model worker who had "bled for the organization and lost hair for the analysis."

"Consultant Huo!"

"Why are you here? You need to rest!"

At the sight of him, the frazzled researchers immediately fell silent. Their attitudes carried equal parts reverence and expectation.

Huo Yuhao waved a hand and spoke hoarsely. "I couldn't sleep... I keep feeling like there's something in my head, but I can't grasp it."

He walked up to the massive rune projection, stared at the few meaningless scribbles he had drawn at random, frowned deeply, and fell into prolonged "thought."

The laboratory became silent enough to hear a pin drop.

Everyone held their breath, waiting for this "messenger of God" to deliver a "divine revelation."

Within the [Thought Palace], Sky Dream Iceworm was laughing so hard it was nearly having a fit.

"Hahahaha! Keep acting! You deserve an Oscar, kid!"

Huo Yuhao's consciousness calmly pulled up the laboratory's real-time monitoring data. The [Thought Palace] operated at hundreds of millions of calculations per second.

[Current emotional state of target group: agitation 78%, confusion 15%, expectation 7%]

[Analysis complete. The optimal moment to release "inspiration" has arrived.]

[Generating "inspiration" content... Keywords: resonance, frequency, medium...]

A full five minutes passed before Huo Yuhao seemed to awaken from a dream. He suddenly raised his head and said to Xu Qingsong in an extremely uncertain tone:

"Elder Xu... just now... I think I 'saw' something."

Xu Qingsong perked up and immediately moved closer. "What did you see?"

"I saw... these runes aren't a 'point,' nor are they a 'line.'" Huo Yuhao's voice was soft, as though he feared disturbing something. "They're like... like a tuning fork."

"A tuning fork?" Xu Qingsong froze.

"Yes, a tuning fork." Huo Yuhao repeated, "It doesn't make a sound on its own, but as long as the right 'sound' strikes it, it will 'ring' along with it... It's waiting for a... 'frequency.'"

Frequency?! Resonance?!

Those two words struck every researcher like twin bolts of lightning!

"Fuck! How did I not think of that!"

"That's right! It isn't active positioning—it's 'passive resonance'! This is a method of transmitting information!"

"Quick! Adjust the model! Abandon spatial geometry and start over from the perspectives of wave theory and frequency resonance!"

In an instant, the laboratory's atmosphere transformed from a lifeless morgue into a battlefield full of adrenaline!

Watching these top minds get led down an entirely new wrong path by him, Huo Yuhao heard Sky Dream Iceworm's gleeful voice in his sea of consciousness. "It's over. These people probably won't be able to finish their dissertations now, hahahaha!"

Huo Yuhao ignored it and turned, ready to leave after accomplishing his mission.

Just then, a young researcher suddenly shouted excitedly, "Wait! I substituted the wave model of Rune No. 3 into the energy formula that just collapsed... My god! Look!"

Bzzz—!

The needle on the energy detector in the center of the laboratory, the one indicating the energy reading, suddenly gave a slight but unmistakable jump upward!

Just once!

But the entire laboratory instantly fell deathly silent!

Everyone seemed to have been hit by a freezing spell, staring fixedly at the needle that had already returned to its original position.

"Wh-what was that just now?"

"Were my eyes playing tricks on me?"

"No! I saw it too! The needle moved! There was an energy response!"

"Oh my god! We... we succeeded?! We captured the frequency of a 'god'?!"

Ecstasy!

Indescribable ecstasy instantly engulfed everyone!

Several of the older researchers were so excited that tears streamed down their faces. They hugged one another, jumping and cheering!

Xu Qingsong's body trembled slightly as well. He strode to the instrument and repeatedly checked the recorded data.

That was right! Just then, for 0.03 seconds, the instrument had indeed captured an energy fluctuation of unknown origin with an intensity of 0.001 standard soul power units!

Though it was so faint as to be negligible, it proved that... they were headed in the right direction!

Xu Qingsong spun around and fixed Huo Yuhao with an unprecedentedly fervent gaze. "You! How did you do that?!"

Within Huo Yuhao's [Thought Palace], a detailed diagram of the base's internal soul power pipelines hovered clearly in the air.

Just moments ago, he had used "Deep Space Detection" to pinpoint a weak node in a main energy conduit beneath the laboratory, then precisely triggered a one-ten-thousandth-of-a-second soul power leak with a trace of imperceptible spiritual power.

That wisp of leaked soul power had happened to be caught by the highly sensitive detector.

A perfect "coincidence."

Faced with Xu Qingsong's questioning, Huo Yuhao merely put on a perfectly timed expression of bewilderment that said, "I don't know either, but I'm amazing."

"I... I just guided my spiritual power along the rune patterns, following the feeling of that 'tuning fork' from earlier..."

That single statement thoroughly cemented his position as a "mystic" in everyone's minds!

He was the chosen one!

He was the only key capable of communicating with the "divine legacy"!

A few days later, Xu Qingsong sought out Huo Yuhao alone.

"The analysis work has hit another bottleneck." Xu Qingsong got straight to the point, his expression grave.

Huo Yuhao nodded, looking as though he had expected this all along.

"Ever since that energy reaction, we haven't been able to reproduce it. We tried every frequency combination, but that stone slab is like it's dead. It hasn't reacted at all." Deep helplessness seeped into Xu Qingsong's tone. "We suspect... our equipment isn't precise enough."

Here it came!

Huo Yuhao sneered inwardly. The fish had finally taken the bait.

After pondering for a moment, he slowly said, "Elder Xu, my 'intuition' tells me that the issue may not simply be precision."

"Oh? Go on."

"What it needs may be a kind of 'technology' we currently cannot understand. A technology capable of compiling and transmitting soul power in some... higher-dimensional form." As Huo Yuhao spoke, he rapidly constructed a rhetoric model within his [Thought Palace], ensuring that every word was irresistible yet flawless.

"Higher-dimensional technology..." Xu Qingsong rolled the phrase over in his mind, his fists unconsciously clenching.

"Yes." Huo Yuhao emphasized his tone. "To truly strike that 'tuning fork,' we need a stronger 'hammer.' A 'hammer'... our organization does not possess yet."

Xu Qingsong fell silent.

Of course he understood. Though Light of Truth had gathered geniuses from across the continent, compared to that behemoth in the most cutting-edge fields of soul tool research and development, they were still little more than a kid brother.

Watching his reaction, Huo Yuhao knew the timing was right and dropped his final bombshell.

"Elder Xu, forgive me for asking... how much does our organization know about Mingde Hall of the Sun Moon Empire?"

Mingde Hall!

Those three words struck Xu Qingsong's heart like a heavy hammer.

"What are you trying to say?" Xu Qingsong's voice had grown heavy.

"Over the past few days, I reviewed all the materials in the Level Three archive concerning the history of soul tool development." Huo Yuhao replied neither humbly nor arrogantly. "I discovered that many of Mingde Hall's technological concepts—especially its research into energy cores and conductive media—bear astonishing... 'coincidences' with certain traits we reverse-engineered from the rune stone slab."

Naturally, Huo Yuhao had made all of that up.

But Xu Qingsong believed him.

Because Light of Truth had also tried to crack Mingde Hall's technology. They had indeed discovered that Mingde Hall's technological tree seemed to have appeared out of thin air. Many aspects defied conventional soul engineer theory, as though it had inherited the legacy of a more advanced civilization.

Could it be... Mingde Hall had also come into contact with the "divine legacy"?!

Once that thought took root, it spread like wild grass, impossible to contain!

Xu Qingsong's breathing became labored.

"What you mean is..."

"Perhaps we can take a different approach." Huo Yuhao finally revealed his true aim. "Instead of shutting ourselves away here and reinventing the wheel, why not... 'borrow' a hammer?"

"You want to infiltrate Mingde Hall?!" Xu Qingsong blurted out, then immediately shook his head. "Impossible. Mingde Hall is the core of the Sun Moon Empire. Its defenses are airtight. We've lost many people, yet we can't even get through the outer perimeter."

"Others may not be able to get in, but that doesn't mean I can't."

Huo Yuhao's voice was not loud, yet it brimmed with immense confidence.

Meeting Xu Qingsong's uncertain, startled gaze, he said one word at a time:

"Because I am the 'key.'"

"My 'prophecy' tells me that I share some inevitable connection with Mingde Hall. If I can enter that place, I'll be like a magnet, automatically drawing in the 'iron filings' that are useful to us. I can sense which technology is truly the key to unlocking the secrets of the 'divine legacy'!"

"This is far too risky!" Xu Qingsong refused flatly.

"The greater the risk, the greater the reward," Huo Yuhao countered calmly. "Elder Xu, we don't have time. You understand better than I do that this stone slab is our only hope. Do you intend to cling to this 'tuning fork' that cannot be struck until it completely turns into a worthless rock?"

Xu Qingsong was left speechless.

He fell into a fierce internal struggle.

Huo Yuhao's proposal was mad and bold, yet it carried a deadly temptation.

Sending Huo Yuhao, a "walking top-secret asset," into the heart of the enemy to take such a risk? If he were exposed, the consequences would be unthinkable.

But if it succeeded... they would obtain both the "divine legacy" and "Mingde Hall technology," two enormous treasures at once!

After a long while, Xu Qingsong finally raised his head and made his decision.

"Fine."

"I'll make the arrangements."