The air in Li Feng's apartment crackled with a silent, concentrated energy. For three days, he had been a man possessed, his every waking moment dedicated to fine-tuning the quantum-phase correlator. He had pushed its limits, and his own, filtering out the universe's pervasive hum, searching for the whisper of the digital pulse. The data stream on his main monitor, once a chaotic array of fluctuating lines, was beginning to coalesce, the signal gaining definition, its previously elusive patterns becoming clearer.
Then, just as the Eastbridge skyline began to show the first blush of dawn, it happened. A series of precisely timed micro-fluctuations in the electromagnetic field, far beyond anything natural, resolved into a coherent, repeating waveform. It wasn't just a simple pulse anymore. It was a complex sequence, a distinct digital signature repeating with uncanny precision. Li Feng leaned closer, his breath held. His correlator had done it. He had captured the echo.
His analysis algorithms immediately began to dissect the waveform's properties. It operated on a frequency band that defied current human communication standards, requiring immense energy to transmit over interstellar distances. Its modulation was incredibly intricate, containing nested patterns Li Feng could not yet decode, but which strongly suggested artificiality. This wasn't a natural phenomenon; it was a deliberate transmission. And its origin, triangulated with the utmost precision his setup allowed, was undeniably extra-solar, from a region of space Li Feng's limited astronomical data couldn't pinpoint beyond a vast, empty expanse.
First contact. The realization settled over Li Feng, cold and clear as the data itself. Not in the way science fiction depicted, with grand declarations or alien ships, but as a silent, digital heartbeat from across the void. Julian Vance was right. There was a 'new truth' out there, and Li Feng was now holding a piece of its undeniable proof.
A notification from his network scanner flickered on a secondary monitor: MAJOR POWER DRAW ANOMALY DETECTED - UNIVERSITY GRID (CAMPUS SOUTH). The timing wasn't a coincidence. Julian was making his move.
Li Feng didn't hesitate. He secured his data, ensuring a copy of the pulse's signature was encrypted and backed up, then powered down his sensitive equipment. He grabbed his jacket, the only sound the faint hum of his core server still processing background data. He had to confront Julian. Not to stop him physically, but to understand his intent, his method, and perhaps, to mitigate whatever unpredictable event was about to unfold.
He found Chloe pacing nervously in the student union atrium, her phone pressed to her ear. She ended the call, her face etched with fear. "It's Julian! He's gone completely silent. My dad just called – the power in our part of town just flickered, the whole grid felt weird for a second."
"He's making a significant attempt at connection," Li Feng confirmed, his voice calm despite the internal urgency. "His system is drawing massive power. He may be amplifying his transmission."
Chloe grabbed his arm. "We have to stop him! Before he opens some kind of wormhole or something!"
"Confrontation is necessary," Li Feng agreed, pulling out his phone. "Can you pinpoint his exact location on campus?"
Chloe quickly pulled up a campus map. "He usually uses the old server room in the decommissioned Physics building. It has high power lines, apparently. Room B-17."
They headed towards the old Physics building, its brick facade looking particularly ominous under the grey morning light. The air around it felt subtly charged, a faint, almost imperceptible hum vibrating Li Feng's teeth. As they neared the basement entrance, the hum intensified, mingling with a faint, metallic tang.
They found Julian's door, B-17, slightly ajar, a bright, pulsating blue light spilling from within. The humming sound was louder now, a low, guttural thrum that vibrated through the concrete floor. Chloe gripped Li Feng's arm, her knuckles white.
"Julian!" Chloe called out, her voice trembling.
Inside, the room was a chaotic storm of repurposed tech. Servers whirred at deafening levels, their internal lights blinking erratically. Cables snaked across the floor like digital vines. And at the center, Julian, hunched over a monstrous, makeshift console built from salvaged components, his face bathed in the pulsating blue glow of a large, custom-built display. He was screaming, not words, but a guttural, primal sound of intense concentration and frustration. His eyes were wide, bloodshot, fixed on the screen, oblivious to their presence.
On the screen, Li Feng saw it – not data, but a complex, multi-dimensional holographic projection of the very waveform Li Feng had detected in his apartment. It spun and shifted, overlaid with Julian's own elaborate mathematical symbols, the 'runes' Chloe had mentioned. Julian wasn't just analyzing it; he was actively manipulating it, trying to force a direct, two-way dialogue. He was generating his own signal, attempting to perfectly match the pulse.
"I'm breaking through!" Julian shrieked, slamming his fist on the console. "I'm aligning the frequencies! The truth is... it's all just data! Pure information!"
Suddenly, the blue light intensified, filling the room, blinding Li Feng for a moment. The humming reached a deafening crescendo, and the entire building vibrated. A high-pitched, metallic shriek tore through the air, vibrating not just in their ears, but in their very bones. Li Feng's correlator, still safely powered down in his apartment, felt like it was screaming in resonance. He saw Chloe clap her hands over her ears, tears streaming down her face.
Julian, however, let out a triumphant roar. "YES! It's responding! The Universal Truth!"
Then, as quickly as it had begun, it stopped. The blue light died, plunging the room into relative darkness, lit only by the normal server indicator lights. The hum faded to a low thrum. The high-pitched shriek vanished. An eerie silence descended, broken only by Julian's ragged breathing and Chloe's muffled sobs.
Julian slowly turned, his eyes wide and disoriented. He looked at Li Feng and Chloe as if seeing them for the first time, a strange, hollow triumph mixed with profound exhaustion on his face.
"I... I did it," he whispered, his voice hoarse. "I spoke to it. The echo..."
Li Feng's analytical mind raced. He had detected the pulse. Julian had attempted to communicate with it. But what had he actually done? And what, if anything, had communicated back? The silence in the room was heavy, ominous. It was the calm after a storm, but Li Feng knew, with absolute certainty, that the true impact of Julian's desperate act was yet to be revealed.