Pawn Beneath Divine Authority

Lin Xiu's fingertips still retained a burning sensation, the stabbing pain like flames dancing beneath his skin—the mark left by touching Heimdall's Divine Consciousness Mark.

He stared at the file floating over his breastplate: Divine Power - Level One Decoding Complete. Golden patterns within the data stream flickered in time with his breathing, uncannily like the sacred markings on Asgardian warriors' necks.

The halo was faint yet steady, drifting gently before his eyes as though alive, rising and falling with his heartbeat.

The Nanocore burned deep within his consciousness. Its once-stable energy flow suddenly churned into a vortex—the Oracle System's alert practically roared, "Quantum entanglement threshold breach detected. Immediate form conversion is recommended!"

He drew a deep breath. The nanotech chip at the nape of his neck itched as it burrowed into his skin, as if countless needles were piercing his nerve endings at once.

Silver patterns on the Balder Armor spread from his collarbones to his wrists. The matte texture of its base form gradually faded, replaced by a cold gleam similar to Vibranium.

The metal made a faint scraping sound as it fitted itself to his muscles, like an ice blade gliding across snow.

When the prompt "Oracle Form - Pre-Apocalypse Stage" exploded across his retina, he heard his bones crack softly—the armor was synchronizing and adjusting his muscular support structure.

Each shift and reconstruction of his bones came with a strange tingling numbness 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 the half-shattered mirror.

The young man in the mirror had reddened eyes, but his pupils shone with startling brightness, like starfire tempered in ice, reflecting the darkening twilight beyond the window.

The air was filled with the scent of metal coolant and a faint odor of engine oil, mixed with the musty smell of old papers in the corner of the laboratory.

The materials he had organized in the lab last night were still spread across the table. The top page had the words "Telepathy Wave Project" circled in red—the telepathic research project Stark Industries had terminated three years ago. According to the Oracle System's calculations, it likely had quantum entanglement with the Mind Stone's energy fluctuations.

New York's wind swept vehicle exhaust into the laboratory vent, carrying a faintly sour metallic tang.

Lin Xiu tucked the modified Nanite Swarm into the hidden compartment of his tool bag.

These metallic creations, each finer than a strand of hair, had taken him three days to prepare. Their surfaces were coated with anti-scan material scraped from an abandoned S.H.I.E.L.D. satellite—enough to make ordinary surveillance mistake them for dust.

Stark Tower's glass curtain walls dazzled beneath the midday sun, and the reflected glare made his retinas sting faintly.

Lin Xiu stood before the employee entrance. The forged ID badge in his uniform pocket warmed slightly with each heartbeat, as if it might burn through the fabric from within at any moment.

The security robot's red light swept across his face. He could clearly hear the Oracle System calculating at high speed within his mind: "Facial match: 92%. Iris discrepancy can be corrected within 0.3 seconds." When the robot's mechanical arm retracted, he could even smell the cooling metal—the heat generated during the scan, mixed with lubricant and the scorched scent of arc welding.

A moldy smell drifted from the ventilation ducts in the underground archive, with a trace of rust in the damp air.

Lin Xiu crouched behind the server cluster while the Nanite Swarm crawled along the network cables into the main switch.

He pulled out the miniature terminal hidden in his tool bag, his fingers flying across the virtual keyboard. "Data devouring initiated. Target file: Telepathy Wave Archive_V3.7." The progress bar on the screen began soaring wildly: 0.1%, 2%, 15%—until, at one moment, the armor at the back of his neck abruptly tightened, as if an invisible hand had seized his nerves.

"I'm being watched." His temples throbbed violently. This was a warning from the Oracle System.

The last time he had touched Heimdall's Divine Consciousness Mark in the laboratory, he had felt this same scorching sting.

He looked up at the ceiling. There were no cameras there, but 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 breath froze.

It was Heimdall's voice, carrying the somber weight of a watcher who had stood vigil for a thousand years. "Watch his terminal device."

"Understood." Another woman's voice came from above, cold and hard as a sword edge scraping metal.

Lin Xiu's pupils contracted slightly—that was Lena.

He could imagine how she looked at that moment: silver armor gleaming coldly in the darkness, twin swords hanging at her sides, earrings chiming softly as she moved, every step landing upon his nerves.

The data progress bar jumped to 47%.

Lin Xiu's fingertips paused over the terminal for half a second before he suddenly pulled up a 2010 Draft Code of Ethics for Artificial Intelligence.

He deliberately left the cursor hovering 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 splitting into countless fragments like a swarm of startled fireflies, while the real Telepathy Wave files hid among them and followed the swarm's trail into the miniature terminal.

"He's downloading outdated AI 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's voice sounded, it carried the hoarseness weathered by time. "Continue observing. If he comes into contact with 'forbidden knowledge'..."

The rest was drowned out by static, but Lin Xiu understood enough.

He watched the progress bar jump to 99%, then abruptly rose to his feet, the zipper of his tool bag rasping loudly.

In the shadow of the server cluster, the lights stretched his shadow long enough to cover the final 1% flickering on the terminal screen.

"Repairs complete." He spoke into the wall intercom, deliberately making his voice hoarse. "The cooling system needs a replacement filter. I'll bring spare parts tomorrow."

The moment he turned around, he clearly heard the faint rustle of fabric overhead—Lena should have been hiding inside the ventilation duct.

The Nanite Swarm gathered in his palm, forming a silver button that carried all the data.

When he walked out of the underground archive, sunlight streamed through the glass dome of the lobby, warming the armor patterns at the back of his neck until they felt like freshly forged metal.

"You are clever, mortal."

The words suddenly exploded within his mind like a heavy hammer shattering every disguise.

Lin Xiu stopped before the revolving door, his pupils contracting sharply.

He did not need to look up to know that Heimdall's consciousness was piercing through the clouds like a sword suspended above his head.

"But do not be too pleased with yourself." The voice carried the same cold severity it had possessed for a thousand years. "The balance of the Nine Realms does not permit mortals to act recklessly."

By the time he returned to the laboratory, cold sweat had soaked through the back of his uniform, leaving it damp and sticky against his skin.

He locked the door, then added three layers of nanotech locks before pressing the silver button against the terminal.

Data cascaded like a galaxy pouring down. When the prompt "Mind Stone Original Design Blueprint Match: 98.7%" appeared, his fingers hovered over the keyboard for three seconds before finally pressing "Import into Oracle System."

The Nanocore roared deep inside his consciousness. Its golden patterns suddenly took on a dark blue glow—the sign that quantum entanglement had been fully activated.

Lin Xiu stared at the blueprint slowly unfolding across the screen. Its runes were seventy percent similar to the star map within Heimdall's Divine Consciousness Mark.

He reached out and touched the screen. A faint numb itch spread across his fingertips, as if something were crawling up his nerves toward his brain.

Twilight deepened outside the window, and the laboratory lights cast shadows across his lenses.

He could hear the Nanocore's heartbeat, each beat more urgent than the last.

At the bottom of the blueprint, a tiny line of text flashed. 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 interface, leaving only a blood-red warning: "Quantum entanglement depth has breached the critical threshold. The next form conversion..."

The warning cut off abruptly.

Lin Xiu stared at the blank screen as the armor at the back of his neck automatically released a blue glow—the Nanocore was heating up.

He touched his chest and could clearly feel the vibrations coming from within the armor, as though some ancient presence was awakening from slumber.

A raven cawed outside the window, hoarse and distant.

Lin Xiu stood and placed the terminal in the deepest compartment of the safe.

When he turned around, a golden flash suddenly appeared on the concrete wall in the corner—it was Heimdall's Divine Consciousness Mark, brighter than yesterday, like a falling star on the verge of descent.

He looked at the mark, and the corners of his lips slowly rose.

This time, there was no sharp edge 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 in his mind, its voice carrying an excitement he had never heard before. "Prepare to welcome..."

Wind rushed in through the broken window, sending the documents on the table rustling wildly.

Lin Xiu bent down and picked up a sheet of paper blown to the floor. It bore a note in his own handwriting: "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 about to erupt.