Chapter 3: The Scholar's Wisdom

The laboratory's incandescent lights gave off a faint current hum at midnight, like invisible nerves pulsing beneath dark skin.

Amina stared at the constantly climbing curves on the holographic projection, her fingers sliding through empty air; where her fingertips passed, those vein maps Tina regarded as "gold" presented a strange biological pulsing. It was not a static geological structure, but a mapping of deep resources, like the blood vessels of a sleeping beast.

"Look here," Amina enlarged the image, her voice trembling slightly, "when resonance waves touch the rare-earth clusters deep in the rock strata, they produce a nonlinear amplification effect. This confirms my hypothesis -- relic resonance is not an illusion, nor ordinary electromagnetic interference. This underground structure is a natural amplifier, or rather, an unfinished interface."

Ayo stood to one side, his back against the cold metal table edge, arms crossed. His gaze did not fall on the screen, but stared fixedly at the warmth left outside the door by the high-heeled figure who had just departed. Tina Wasserman, the investor known in financial circles for cold cruelty, her smile had long since frozen in the air, like a frozen net.

"She wants to buy out the mining rights to the entire block," Ayo's voice was low, carrying suppressed fury, "on condition that all community members sign a 'biocompatibility contract,' giving up their right to know about environmental anomalies, and allowing her heavy drilling equipment unlimited entry."

"Unlimited?" Amina frowned, her fingers tapping the keyboard rapidly, "according to the geological stability assessment, if drilling proceeds forcibly under her plan, once the 'interface' critical point is triggered, resonance could instantly run out of control. This would not only destroy the relic, but tear apart the entire ecological foundation beneath our feet."

"So I refused." Ayo turned around, his eyes firm as iron, "I told Tina this land belongs neither to capital nor to any single interest. Community rights come first; that is the bottom line. Any attempt to buy the right to life with money, I will not sign."

Amina nodded, her mouth barely forcing a bitter smile: "She left very calmly, without even getting angry. That is worse, Ayo. When a shark keeps smiling after biting its prey, it usually means it has already cut off your retreat, enjoying the silence before the kill."

Just then, the laboratory door was gently pushed open. A black drone silently slid into the room; it was Tina's "last gift." The drone hovered in midair, projecting an encrypted document. Red warning marks jumped on the screen: "Emergency Resource Prospecting Permit Application."

Ayo lunged forward, staring at the small print: "Through what channel was this submitted?"

"The local administrative office," Amina quickly flipped through the document, her face instantly turning deathly pale, "Tina bribed three reviewers in advance. Using 'national security strategic reserves' as grounds, they bypassed environmental assessment and directly issued a temporary prospecting order. Valid for only one week, but enough to let heavy equipment enter."

"She never intended to negotiate," Ayo's voice turned cold, "she was only acting. Refusal was only part of her plan, meant to make us produce the illusion of 'confrontation,' thereby painting the community in public opinion as nail households obstructing development. And she, the 'rational' compromiser."

Amina felt a chill climb up her spine. She looked again at the geological map, finding those originally steady curves, at the instant the document was received, actually trembled slightly. As if some consciousness underground, sensing the coming violent intrusion, began letting out a low, discordant howl.

"There is worse news," Amina pointed at a tiny node in the screen's corner, "before withdrawing, Tina's team left a remote listening array. It appears on no public list, but it has already embedded itself in the host's core firmware. Now, she can see all our data, including..."

"Including the frequency formula that can destroy everything?" Ayo picked up her words, his gaze like a knife.

Amina did not answer, only silently shutting off the holographic projection. Darkness fell again, and only the red permit document projected by the drone jumped on the wall, like a peeping eye.

Outside the door, in the distant street came the sharp sound of tires grinding the ground, the roar of heavy vehicles warming up their engines. Tina left smiling coldly, but the dark layout she left behind had only just unfolded. Beneath that seemingly calm ruin, a storm was gathering, and Ayo and Amina, isolated at the center of this gamble, had no road of retreat.