The Rift of Mental Resonance

The moment the maintenance room's heavy metal door was slammed open, every hair on the back of Lin Xiu's neck stood on end, and a chill shot up his spine.

The maintenance room was small, its surrounding walls a cold dark gray with the distinctive sheen of metal.

Various repair equipment had been piled about haphazardly, with tools scattered casually across the floor.

He rolled toward the corner, catching a glimpse of the glowing S.H.I.E.L.D. insignia on the other person's shoulder patch in the process.

The Oracle System immediately displayed May Phillips's information across his retina: twenty-eight years old, a master's graduate in quantum information science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, transferred to the New York branch three months ago after cracking a Hydra encryption protocol—there was no way it was a coincidence for such a technical expert to appear here.

May had neat short hair and a tall, well-proportioned figure.

At that moment, her gun was still aimed steadily at Lin Xiu's heart. The red light on the tracker around her left wrist was painfully glaring, especially in the dim maintenance room.

"Evan Hawke?" Her voice was like metal from a cryogenic chamber, every word edged with frost. "The security system shows you disappeared for seventeen seconds in Zone B3."

Lin Xiu had short brown hair and deep blue eyes.

He noticed that the knuckle of her right index finger was slightly pale, callused from years of gripping a gun. That meant she was more than just a technician—S.H.I.E.L.D. would never send someone helpless into an anomalous area.

He wiped the cold sweat from his temple, feeling its faint chill slide across his fingertips.

The Nanite Swarm surged beneath his skin. He could feel the faint wriggling as it condensed into nearly invisible silver threads at his fingertips.

He had two choices now: restrain her with Nanobots, or gamble on her curiosity about anomalous energy.

Lin Xiu struggled inwardly. Using Nanobots to restrain her might get him out of danger temporarily, but it could cost him the chance to obtain clues about the Mind Stone from her. Gambling on her curiosity was far too risky; if she refused to cooperate, he would be in even greater danger.

The latter was riskier, but it might bring him closer to clues about the Mind Stone faster.

"I can explain, but first you need to tell me—" He deliberately paused, his gaze sweeping over the badge on her chest. "Miss Phillips, was what happened in the data control room just now related to the Mind Stone?"

May's pupils suddenly contracted, and the tracker's red glow abruptly flared as though it would burst through its casing.

That reaction was clearer than any answer.

Lin Xiu pressed his advantage. "Seventeen seconds ago, my nano device scanned the terminal and found that it required a Mind Stone fragment as a key." He spread his hand, and several grains of blue stardust floated above his palm, giving off a faint glow as they drifted softly through the air.

"And you being here means S.H.I.E.L.D. is tracking the same thing."

May lowered her gun by two inches.

She stared at the stardust, her throat bobbing. She was curious about what Lin Xiu had said, yet deeply suspicious of him as well. "How do you know about the Mind Stone?"

"Because three hours ago, my laboratory detected an abnormal quantum entanglement fifty meters beneath Brooklyn." Lin Xiu spoke half-truthfully as the Nanocore in his chest vibrated faintly, its subtle tremor resembling a heartbeat.

"And now, my device is resonating with something—like..." He pointed toward the ventilation duct, where a dim blue glow lingered like a thin veil draped over the vent. "Like someone is calling it."

May finally lowered her gun.

She pulled a silver disc from her pocket and pressed it against the wall. The maintenance room's metal door immediately emitted a sharp buzz and automatically locked shut.

"Ten minutes." She glanced at her watch. "If you can't explain yourself, I'll use this to call for backup." A holographic projection appeared over the disc's surface. It was a S.H.I.E.L.D. Quantum Interference Device—this woman was more cautious than her file had suggested.

Lin Xiu walked toward the terminal interface in the corner.

The Oracle System projected a stream of green data across his retina. "Encrypted protocol detected. Mind Stone fragment match required.

Recommendation: use residual energy carried by the target." He turned to May. "I need your help."

"Help with what?"

"Cracking the terminal." Lin Xiu rolled up his sleeve, revealing nano patterns around his wrist glowing with a dim blue light that flowed like water.

"Your expertise, my Nanobots. We both get what we need."

May raised an eyebrow, her fingers rapidly tapping the interference device as lines of code appeared across the holographic screen.

Just as the Nanobots flowed like a silver stream into the terminal interface to begin analyzing the encryption algorithm, the terminal system suddenly activated its self-protection mechanism. A powerful current surged toward the Nanobots, nearly destroying them.

"S.H.I.E.L.D.'s terminals use Vibranium encryption. Are you sure—" Before she could finish, the Nanobots around Lin Xiu's wrist rapidly adjusted their strategy and continued their analysis.

May's pupils contracted again—those nanobots were analyzing the encryption algorithm in real time, cracking hundreds of key combinations every second.

"That's impossible..." She leaned closer to the terminal, her fingertips nearly touching the silver swarm. "Autonomous learning in a Nanite Swarm? Even Stark Industries' newest models can't do that..."

"Ding—"

The terminal screen suddenly lit up with a blinding white flash, sharp as lightning and painful to Lin Xiu's eyes.

Lin Xiu's temple throbbed as fragmented images appeared before him: the burning Bifrost, a purple-glowing gem turning in someone's palm, and the laughter of a silver-haired man piercing his eardrums like ice picks.

"Warning! Unknown psychic fluctuation detected!" The Oracle System's alarm exploded in his mind. He staggered and braced himself against the terminal. The Nanocore in his chest burned so fiercely it nearly pierced through his skin, making him frown.

"What's happening?" May grabbed his arm. The interference device emitted a shrill buzz. "My equipment detected Gamma-level psychic wave interference!"

Blood-red warnings covered Lin Xiu's retina.

He could clearly feel something gnawing at the boundaries of his consciousness, like invisible hands trying to tear open his brain.

"It's the Mind Stone!" he said through gritted teeth. A pale golden membrane suddenly seeped out from beneath his skin, forming a translucent barrier over his body. It flickered faintly, as though resisting an external attack.

"The Oracle System is activating the Anti-Mental Force Field... This thing is attacking my mind!"

Purple energy patterns spread across the terminal screen like veins.

Lin Xiu saw his reflection twisting within them, while the silver-haired man's face gradually became clear—it was Loki, Asgard's god of mischief.

"An interesting little toy." The voice sounded directly inside his head, its laughter carrying an icy edge. "You think you found a treasure? That was merely a god's charity..."

Bang!

Lin Xiu slammed his palm onto the terminal's shutdown button.

The metal casing instantly melted beneath the Nanobots' covering, and the screen went completely dark.

He collapsed to the floor, his forehead pressed against the cold metal wall, Loki's laughter still echoing in his ears.

The Nanocore's vibrations gradually calmed, but something deep within him had awakened—he could feel a fragment of the Tesseract growing hot in his chest, forming a kind of quantum entanglement with the Mind Stone's residual energy that he had never calculated before.

"Who are you, exactly?" May's voice trembled.

Her interference device was still shrieking, and the psychic wave graph on its holographic screen looked like the ECG of a dying patient.

The normally composed technical analyst had gone pale. Her fingers clenched tightly around her gun grip. "That just now... was Loki? I've seen footage of his interrogation. That voice..."

"It doesn't matter." Lin Xiu pushed himself up against the wall. The Nanite Swarm retreated beneath his skin, forming fine patterns around his wrist. "What matters is that the Mind Stone's residual energy activated my core, and Loki... he's using this resonance." He pointed at the terminal. "You think S.H.I.E.L.D. is tracking anomalous energy, but Loki is actually guiding you to find this place—including me."

A metallic collision suddenly rang out in the corridor, unusually loud in the silent hallway.

May immediately spun around and raised her gun, aiming it at the maintenance room door.

Lin Xiu's Oracle System displayed a warning across his retina. "Armed personnel detected. Distance: ten meters. Biological signals abnormal." He could hear the rhythm of the footsteps—too fast, too mechanical, like a puppet driven by some unseen force.

The instant the metal door was smashed open, Lin Xiu saw the newcomer—a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent in a dark gray uniform, his left eye glowing with an eerie purple light.

The purple glow was like an evil flame, especially conspicuous in the dim lighting.

The agent also wore a special shield, making Lin Xiu's response even more difficult.

The agent's gun was aimed at his heart, his trigger finger moving as slowly as though in slow motion.

Lin Xiu sidestepped the shot. The Nanite Swarm condensed into a sharp blade in his palm, but stopped just as it reached the man's throat—that was a face he had seen before, one that had smiled at him at the security checkpoint that morning.

"Sorry," he said softly, pressing his right hand against the agent's nape.

The Nanobots surged into the man's nerves like a tide. After a difficult struggle, they finally severed the psychic control signal in an instant.

As the agent collapsed to the floor, Lin Xiu caught a flash of dim blue light in the shadows at the end of the corridor—Loki was still watching.

"Move!" May grabbed his arm and ran toward the emergency stairwell.

Inside the stairwell, the railings were made of rusted iron and covered in mottled corrosion.

The lights were dim, with only a few bulbs giving off a faint glow and casting long shadows across the floor.

Cold wind poured in, carrying the smoggy smell of New York.

Lin Xiu ran ahead, his gaze sweeping over the cracks in the walls.

Several strands of silver Nanobots quietly slipped into those tiny cracks, weaving a dense network through the walls.

A faint smile touched his lips—the Oracle System had already scanned the thermal imaging for the entire floor. By the time backup arrived, they would see twenty moving heat signatures, while the real him...

"We're here!" May kicked open the stairwell door, and cold wind rushed in carrying the smoggy smell of New York.

Lin Xiu took one last look toward the maintenance room. The dim blue glow in its shadows had yet to fade.

"Next time, I'll take the initiative." He spoke softly as the Nanobots moved beneath his skin, as though answering a plan that was about to unfold.