Lin Xiu's fingertips still retained a burning sensation, a sting like flames dancing beneath his skin—the mark left by touching Heimdall's Divine Consciousness Mark.
He stared at the floating Divine Power - Level-One Decoding Complete file on his breastplate. The golden patterns within the data stream flickered with his breathing, strikingly similar to the holy marks around Asgardian warriors' necks.
The faint halo hovered steadily before his eyes, rising and falling with his heartbeat as though it were alive.
The Nanocore burned deep within his consciousness. The once-stable energy flow abruptly surged into a vortex—the Oracle System's alert nearly roared, "Quantum entanglement threshold breach detected. Immediate form conversion recommended!"
He took a deep breath. The nanochip at the nape of his neck itched as it pierced his skin, as though countless needles were stabbing into his nerve endings at once.
Silver patterns spread across the Balder Armor from his collarbone to his wrists. The matte texture of its Basic Form gradually faded, replaced by the cold gleam of Vibranium.
The metal gave off a faint scraping sound as it molded itself to his muscles, like an icy blade gliding over snow.
When the prompt "Oracle Form - Pre-Apocalypse Stage" exploded across his retina, he heard the faint crackling of his bones—the armor was synchronizing and adjusting his muscular support structure.
Every misalignment and reconstruction of his bones came with a strange tingling sensation that shot up his spine and straight into his head.
"Time to go to Stark Tower." He tugged at the collar of his maintenance uniform in front of a half-shattered mirror.
The young man in the mirror had reddened eyes, but his pupils shone with startling brilliance, like sparks tempered in ice, reflecting the darkening dusk beyond the window.
The air was filled with the scent of metal coolant and faint engine oil, mixed with the stale smell of old paper from the corner of the laboratory.
The materials he had organized in the lab last night still lay spread across the desk. The top page had the words "Telepathy Wave Project" circled in red—a telepathy research project Stark Industries had discontinued three years ago. According to the Oracle System's calculations, it was highly likely to share quantum entanglement with the Mind Stone's energy fluctuations.
New York's wind carried automobile exhaust through the laboratory vent, bringing with it a faintly sour metallic smell.
Lin Xiu stuffed the modified Nanite Swarm into the inner compartment of his tool bag.
These metallic creations, finer than strands of hair, had taken him three days to formulate. Their surfaces were coated with anti-scanning material scraped from an abandoned S.H.I.E.L.D. satellite—enough, at least, to make ordinary surveillance systems mistake them for dust.
Stark Tower's glass curtain wall was dazzling beneath the midday sun, and the reflected glare made his retinas sting slightly.
Lin Xiu stood before the employee entrance. The forged employee badge in his uniform pocket warmed faintly with his heartbeat, as if it might burn through the fabric from the inside at any moment.
The security robot's red light swept across his face. He could clearly hear the Oracle System calculating rapidly within his mind: "Facial match rate: 92%. Iris discrepancy can be corrected within 0.3 seconds." When the robot retracted its mechanical arm, he could even smell the cooling metal—the heat from the scan, mixed with lubricant and the scorched scent of arc welding.
A musty odor drifted from the ventilation ducts of the underground archives, dampness laced with a trace of rust.
Lin Xiu crouched behind the server cluster as the Nanite Swarm crawled into the main switch along the network cables.
He took out the miniature terminal hidden in his tool bag, his fingertips flying across the virtual keyboard. "Data Gorging activated. Target file: Telepathy Wave Archive_V3.7." The progress bar began to surge wildly—0.1%, 2%, 15%—until, at one moment, the armor at the back of his neck suddenly tightened, as if an invisible hand had seized his nerves.
"I'm being watched." His temples throbbed. It was a warning from the Oracle System.
The last time he had come into contact with Heimdall's divine consciousness in the laboratory, he had felt this same searing pain.
He looked up at the ceiling. There were no cameras there, yet faint golden light drifted through the air—just like the patterns on Lena's earrings.
"Lena, he's on the third basement level." The static in the communicator suddenly became clear, and Lin Xiu's breathing froze.
It was Heimdall's voice, heavy with the melancholy of a watcher who had stood vigil for millennia. "Watch his terminal device."
"Understood." Another woman's voice came from above, cold and hard like a sword edge scraping across metal.
Lin Xiu's pupils contracted slightly—that was Lena.
He could picture her at that very moment: silver armor glinting coldly in the darkness, twin swords hanging at her sides, earrings chiming softly as she moved. Every step was like treading on his nerves.
The data progress bar jumped to 47%.
Lin Xiu's fingers paused over the terminal for half a second, then he abruptly pulled up a <2010 Draft Guidelines for Artificial Intelligence Ethics>.
He deliberately let the cursor linger over the words "emotional module," then slowly clicked download.
The Oracle System's alert sounded at that moment. "External data stream intrusion detected. Camouflage file activated." In the virtual space, he could see the draft guidelines splitting into countless fragments like a swarm of startled fireflies, while the real Telepathy Wave data hid within them and flowed into the miniature terminal along the swarm's path.
"He's downloading outdated artificial intelligence documents." Lena's voice came again, farther away than before. "He may just be an ordinary technician."
The communicator fell silent for a moment. When Odin spoke, his voice carried the hoarseness of ages. "Continue observing. If he comes into contact with 'forbidden knowledge'..."
The rest was drowned out by static, but Lin Xiu understood well enough.
He watched the progress bar reach 99%, then suddenly stood, the zipper of his tool bag rattling loudly.
Within the server cluster's shadows, his own shadow stretched long beneath the lights, perfectly obscuring the final 1% flickering across the terminal screen.
"Repairs complete," he said into the wall intercom, deliberately roughening his voice. "The cooling system needs a filter replacement. I'll bring spare parts tomorrow."
As he turned, he clearly heard the faint rustle of fabric overhead—Lena should have been hiding inside the ventilation ducts.
The Nanite Swarm gathered in his palm into a silver button, the vessel containing all the data.
When he walked out of the underground archives, sunlight streamed down through the lobby's glass dome, making the armor patterns at the back of his neck grow faintly hot, like freshly forged metal.
"You're very clever, mortal."
The words suddenly exploded in his mind, like a heavy hammer shattering every disguise.
Lin Xiu stopped before the revolving door, his pupils contracting violently.
He did not need to look up to know that Heimdall's divine consciousness was piercing through the clouds like a sword suspended above his head.
"But don't be too pleased with yourself." The voice carried the same cold solemnity it had possessed for a thousand years. "The balance of the Nine Realms cannot tolerate a mortal's reckless interference."
By the time he returned to the laboratory, the back of his uniform was soaked through with cold sweat, clinging damply to his skin.
He locked the door, then added three layers of nano-locks before pressing the silver button against the terminal.
The data stream poured forth like a galaxy cascading downward. When the prompt "Mind Stone Original Design Blueprint Match Rate: 98.7%" appeared, his fingers hovered over the keyboard for three seconds before he finally pressed "Import into Oracle System."
The Nanocore roared deep in his consciousness. Its golden patterns abruptly shifted to a deep blue—that was the sign that quantum entanglement had been fully activated.
Lin Xiu stared at the blueprint gradually unfolding on the screen. The runes upon it were seventy percent similar to the star map within Heimdall's divine consciousness.
He reached out and touched the screen. A faint numb itch ran through his fingertips, as though something were crawling along his nerves toward his brain.
Dusk deepened outside the window, while the laboratory lights cast shadows across his lenses.
He could hear the Nanocore's heartbeat, growing more urgent with every beat.
At the very bottom of the blueprint, a line of tiny text flickered. It was a newly generated Oracle System prompt: "Unknown Energy Resonance detected. Recommendation..."
Before the prompt could finish, the terminal suddenly emitted a blinding white light.
Lin Xiu instinctively turned his head. When he looked back, the blueprint had completely merged into the Oracle System's interface, leaving behind only a blood-red warning: "Quantum entanglement depth has exceeded the critical threshold. The next form conversion..."
The warning cut off abruptly.
Lin Xiu stared at the blank screen. The armor at the back of his neck suddenly released a beam of blue light—the Nanocore was heating up.
He touched his chest and could clearly feel the tremors coming from within the armor, as though some ancient existence were awakening from its slumber.
A crow cawed outside the window, hoarse and distant.
Lin Xiu rose to his feet and placed the terminal in the deepest compartment of the safe.
When he turned around, a golden flash suddenly flickered across the concrete wall in the corner—it was Heimdall's Divine Consciousness Mark, brighter than it had been yesterday, like a star about to fall.
He looked at the mark, and the corners of his mouth slowly lifted.
This time, there was no sharpness in his smile, only a burning anticipation.
The Nanocore's heat flowed through his veins and spread across his entire body. He could hear the Oracle System chanting softly within his mind, its voice carrying an excitement it had never possessed before. "Prepare to welcome..."
Wind poured in through the shattered window, sending the documents on the desk fluttering loudly.
Lin Xiu bent down and picked up a sheet of paper blown to the floor. On it was a note written in his own hand: "The essence of quantum entanglement is a dialogue across time and space."
And deep within his consciousness, the Nanocore's light was gathering, like a tiny sun on the verge of eruption.
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