The next morning began quietly.
Li Wei woke early, the campus still calm before most students had left their dorms. Soft light filtered through the window as he stretched and sat up.
For a moment he simply looked at the system interface floating in his mind.
The Archive Map was still there.
Small glowing markers were scattered across Linhai City like distant stars.
Libraries.
Museums.
Research institutes.
Even a few places he didn't recognize.
It made the city feel very different from before.
Like hidden layers existed beneath the ordinary streets.
Li Wei closed the interface for now and got ready for class.
Later that morning, he sat in the lecture hall with Chen Ming and several other classmates.
Today's lecture was about algorithm optimization, a topic most students found difficult.
The professor wrote a long example on the board.
"Suppose we need to search through millions of data entries," the professor explained. "A simple linear search would be inefficient."
Students around the room groaned quietly.
Chen Ming leaned toward Li Wei.
"I barely understood the first half of that explanation."
Li Wei looked at the board.
Thanks to Memory Indexing and Logical Reasoning, the solution path appeared quickly in his mind.
He wrote something in his notebook and pushed it toward Chen Ming.
Chen Ming looked down.
"…Wait."
"…Wait."
His eyes widened.
"That's the optimized version."
Li Wei nodded slightly.
Chen Ming whispered dramatically, "You're becoming suspiciously smart lately."
"Maybe you're becoming suspiciously lazy."
"That's also possible."
After class ended, Li Wei left the building and walked toward the campus lake.
Students sat along the water studying or chatting with friends.
A gentle breeze moved across the surface.
Li Wei sat on a bench and opened the system map again.
This time he studied it more carefully.
Most of the markers were inside the city.
But a few were outside.
One marker caught his attention.
Linhai Industrial Research Institute
Distance: 12 km.
Another marker:
Maritime Technology Archive Center
Distance: 18 km.
And further away…
Provincial Historical Records Vault
Distance: 35 km.
Li Wei leaned back slightly.
"So the nodes aren't limited to small places."
Some of these looked like major research facilities.
Probably much harder to access.
Still…
He had time.
His phone suddenly vibrated again.
A message appeared.
Li Yue:
Brother, Mom said you would send the notes yesterday.
Li Wei smiled.
He had forgotten.
He replied quickly.
Li Wei:
Sending now.
A moment later, another message came.
Li Yue:
If I fail the math exam, I will blame you.
Li Wei:
That sounds unfair.
Li Yue:
Life is unfair.
Li Wei laughed quietly.
Despite preparing for the most important exam of her life, his sister still had time to joke.
A moment later she sent another message.
Li Yue:
Are you still living like a normal college student?
Li Wei paused slightly before replying.
Li Wei:
Mostly.
Li Yue:
That sounds suspicious.
While Li Wei chatted casually—
Elsewhere in the city—
Su Yan sat inside a parked car near the university district.
A laptop screen glowed in front of her.
She had spent the last two days reviewing camera footage near the previous node locations.
Hundreds of people appeared in the recordings.
Students.
Tourists.
Workers.
Nothing obvious.
Still…
She had noticed something small.
One student appeared near three of the locations around the same time as the signal spikes.
The images were not perfectly clear.
But the face looked familiar.
She enlarged the picture slightly.
A young man leaving the Linhai Central Library.
Another frame showed someone walking near the University Archive Building.
The angles weren't perfect.
But the resemblance was strong.
Su Yan leaned back in the seat.
"Interesting…"
She tapped the screen.
"Li Wei."
She had already checked the university database.
Computer science student.
Second year.
Average academic record.
No criminal history.
Nothing unusual.
Too ordinary.
Which made it slightly suspicious.
Still…
Coincidences happened.
She needed more proof.
Su Yan closed the laptop and looked toward the campus buildings in the distance.
"If it's really you…"
"…then you'll visit another node eventually."
Back on campus—
Li Wei stood up from the bench and stretched slightly.
Classes were finished for the day.
He opened the system map again.
This time he zoomed into the campus area.
One small marker blinked near the edge of the university.
Campus Anthropology Research Room
Distance: 600 meters.
Li Wei tilted his head slightly.
"Another archive?"
He had never heard of that place before.
But it was close.
And he still had time before evening.
So he began walking toward the older academic buildings once again.
Far away—
Su Yan's phone vibrated.
She looked down.
A monitoring alert had appeared.
Minor energy fluctuation detected — University district
Her eyes sharpened immediately.
"Finally…"
She started the car engine.
Meanwhile—
Li Wei walked calmly through the quiet campus pathways.
Just another student heading toward an unfamiliar building.
Unaware that someone had finally begun looking directly at him.