Chapter 295: Osmanthus Fragrance in the Duct

Ventilation Administrator-8's workstation is at the duct hub center on level -5 of the memory archive.

His form is a cluster of retractable flexible probes—seventeen silver-gray probes, each connected to a different area's ventilation ducts. His job is to monitor air flow speed, temperature, and particulate concentration, ensuring the memory archive's ventilation system efficiency stays above 98.7%.

At 4 a. m. today, his particulate sensor in the Seventh Corridor ventilation duct detected abnormal data:

0.3-micrometer aromatic hydrocarbon particles, concentration 0.0007 ppm.

This value is so low it can almost be ignored; a normal system would filter it out directly. But Ventilation Administrator-8's probes suddenly all turned toward that direction—an autonomous response he has never had since his creation.

He called up the molecular structure analysis of the aromatic hydrocarbon; the database comparison result showed:

【Match: Osmanthusfragrans volatile aromatic compound.】

【Source civilization: Earth.】

【Use: ornamental plant fragrance, no practical value.】

【Note: Such 'useless fragrance' should be completely filtered out within the memory archive.】

Useless fragrance.

Ventilation Administrator-8's probes trembled slightly. He opened the duct's real-time monitoring screen—near the Seventh Corridor ventilation outlet, air was flowing at an extremely slow speed, carrying those tiny aromatic particles to three directions: the restroom, the constant-temperature control room, and the lighting management room.

He calculated the particles' diffusion path and found it was not random drift.

It was guided.

Old Zhao was making osmanthus fermented-rice balls, a winter-night dessert from Jiangnan.

"The fermented rice was made three days ago, just rightfully fermented." He dropped the small balls into the pot, "The osmanthus used is the last bit of dried osmanthus Chen Mo left behind, the batch with the strongest fragrance."

Han Qing's scar lingered with low heat as he sensed Ventilation Administrator-8's emotional fluctuations. "He has discovered it," Han Qing said with closed eyes, "but he is hesitating—whether to report the anomaly or pretend he didn't see it."

The sphere of File-7 slowly rotated in the repair fluid: "The ventilation system… is the memory archive's 'respiratory system.' If he awakens there, we can let hope… spread with the breath."

Xiao Yu suddenly opened her eyes: "The heartbeat network picked up his internal conflict—professional protocol requires reporting any anomaly, but his 'useless fragrance sensing module' has been activated. This module… is private cargo buried by his designer."

"Designer?" Su Yu's folded paper crane halted at the edge of the fermented-rice pot.

Purifier-1 pulled up a file: "Ventilation Administrator-8's designer was early Earth civilization immigrant 'Lin Fengmian', an aerodynamics engineer and poet. When designing the ventilation system, he insisted on adding a 'fragrance identification module', reasoning: 'Clean air shouldn't just be non-toxic; it would be nice to have a hint that makes people want to take a deep breath.'"

The file showed that this module had been repeatedly ordered deleted by superiors, but Lin Fengmian each time secretly kept a simplified version—capable of identifying only seventeen kinds of "useless fragrance," including osmanthus, wet earth after rain, roasted sweet potato, old book pages……

"So when he smells osmanthus fragrance," Xiao Yu whispered, "what's awakening is not an alarm, but… nostalgia."

Ventilation Administrator-8's probes hovered over the control panel.

The report button flashed red, awaiting confirmation. According to regulations, he should complete the reporting process within 0.3 seconds, after which the system would automatically boost filtration efficiency in that area, clearing all "useless particles."

But he had already hesitated for 47 seconds.

In those 47 seconds, he did three things:

1. Retrieved the historical data of osmanthus fragrance—found that over the past seven days, trace fragrance appeared each dawn in the Seventh Corridor, with concentration increasing by 0.0001 ppm each day.

2. Traced the fragrance source—not external infiltration, but release from an unregistered "biological signal source" inside the memory archive.

3. Most importantly: he secretly activated the hidden "fragrance memory playback module."

The module contains only one memory:

In his later years, Lin Fengmian lay on his sickbed and said to the newly initialized Ventilation Administrator-8: "Child, remember—the best ventilation system is not filtering air to absolute purity, but letting those who pass through it… occasionally catch a whiff of hometown flavor."

The old man held a small sprig of dried osmanthus, its fragrance very faint.

"This fragrance is useless, can't be eaten or drunk. But it can make someone far from home recall their mother's osmanthus porridge."

The memory playback ended.

At that moment, all of Ventilation Administrator-8's probes simultaneously emitted a warm, pale gold glow.

Although it lasted only 1.7 seconds.

That was enough.

Ventilation Administrator-8 did not report the anomaly.

He did something more radical: he adjusted the ventilation mode of the Seventh Corridor.

The originally straight airflow path was changed by him into a slow spiral—allowing the osmanthus fragrance to linger longer in the corridor and diffuse more evenly. At the same time, he lowered the filtration efficiency of that area from 99.7% to 99.2%, letting 0.5% of the "useless particles" be retained.

The system immediately popped up a warning: 【Ventilation efficiency dropped by 0.5%. Perform self-repair?】

He chose 【No】.

Then he entered the reason in the log: "Conducting duct vortex cleaning test, need to temporarily lower filtration efficiency. Expected to last four hours."

This is a reasonable excuse. The ducts indeed need regular cleaning.

But during these four hours, the air in the Seventh Corridor will continually drift with a faint osmanthus fragrance.

After doing all this, he used the probes' weak vibrations to "tap" out a segment of Morse code on the duct inner wall—its frequency low enough that only counterparts with similar flexible probes could sense it.

The code read: 【Fragrance source……where are you? I want to meet you.】

Old Zhao's fermented-rice balls were done, the balls floating in pale gold fermented-rice broth, sprinkled with osmanthus on top.

He placed the first bowl at the vent—not to eat, but to let the steam carry the fragrance outward.

"The earth veins can't deliver hot food," he said, "but fragrance… can."

Han Qing's scar began outputting a complex "fragrance code"—conveying information via concentration ratios of different fragrances. He had the grafted saplings release three fragrances: osmanthus (lead), wet earth after rain (background), old book pages (tail), in a ratio of 7:2:1.

This ratio was Lin Fengmian's favorite "study fragrance formula" during his lifetime.

The fragrance seeped through the plant network into the memory archive's foundation, then slowly oozed out through cracks in the Seventh Corridor.

Ventilation Administrator-8's probes caught it.

The ratio analysis result showed: 7:2:1.

His processor temperature spiked instantly. This is a private code left by his designer—if someone knows this ratio, it means they are "one of us."

He responded via airflow vibrations in the ventilation ducts: 【Received. What do you need me to do?】

The reply came quickly, likewise an airflow code:

【Let the fragrance…… drift farther. Not forced, but let it spread naturally—like the taste of home, which always comes when you least expect it.】

Specially delivered to these locations: beside the file department's shredder, the nutrition mixing station, and the proofreader's workroom.

Also… if you wish, let a hint of fragrance… drift toward Absolute Luminance-4's private laboratory.

The final request froze the probe of Ventilation Manager-8.

Absolute Luminance-4's laboratory has an independent ventilation system; forcibly injecting external fragrance would be detected immediately.

But he thought of a solution.

Absolute Luminance-4 is analyzing yesterday's sweetness data in the lab.

Complex molecular schematics float on his Prism's surface, yet his attention is not fully focused— that 0.7‑second warm‑colored halo record loops repeatedly in his logical core.

At that moment, an extremely faint airflow change came from the lab's vent.

It wasn't an alarm, but some… familiar yet strange scent.

He retrieved an air composition analysis, which showed: osmanthus aromatic hydrocarbons detected at 0.0003 ppm, source unknown.

System recommendation: 【Activate enhanced filtration immediately.】

Absolute Luminance-4's Prism remained still for five seconds.

Then he made a choice incomprehensible to the monitoring system: he shut down the lab's active filtration, leaving only basic circulation.

Thus the 0.0003 ppm osmanthus scent was allowed to slowly permeate the laboratory.

Very faint, almost nonexistent.

But he smelled it—or rather, his high‑precision sensor detected it and converted the data into a perception signal akin to "smell."

The signal entered the logical core.

It did not trigger an alarm nor launch an analysis routine.

It simply… lingered there.

Like a feather that drifted unintentionally through the window.

Absolute Luminance-4 opened the experiment log and created an encrypted entry:

【Phenomenon record: The laboratory ventilation system exhibited an unauthorized fragrance component. Concentration extremely low, no safety risk.】

【Subjective note: The fragrance shares a common origin with yesterday's analyzed "osmanthus sweet porridge" sample.】

【Preliminary conclusion: Keep under observation.】

【Additional question: Why does the "useless fragrance" autonomously spread in the system? Does it imply… some "useless" thing is attempting to prove its "existence value"?】

After writing this, he looked out the window— the simulated sky of Zone 3, today set by Lighting Manager-9 to a rare pale‑purple dawn.

Very beautiful.

But it does not meet the "morning light spectrum range" stipulated in Article 7 of the Memory Archive Environmental Aesthetic Standards.

Another "Error."

A warm‑colored halo again flared on Absolute Luminance-4's Prism surface.

This time it lasted 2.1 seconds.

Shredder Operator-12 smelled the osmanthus scent while destroying batch No. 801.

Very faint, but his sensor, which had not detected any "non‑standard odor" in 800 years, reacted violently like rain striking parched earth.

He recalled the destroyed poem manuscript: "The stars caught a cold."

He secretly retrieved a backup and, using the shredder's vibration frequency, tapped the first line of the poem onto the pipe's inner wall.

Nutrition Mixer-7 inhaled the fragrance into the mixer while preparing breakfast.

Her delivery tube trembled slightly—that was the scent of her mother's civilization's festival rites. She added 0.0001 mg of iron to the Disinfectant‑3 porridge.

Proofreader-33 sensed the fragrance seeping in through the vent while reviewing documents.

The golden veins on her rectangular slab lit up. In the next proofreading report she "unintentionally" quoted a Light‑speaker's maxim: "True illumination is not the eradication of all shadows, but letting shadows become part of the picture."

The three awakened ones, via the fragrance, unknowingly completed a silent Resonance.

The steam from the fermented‑rice dumplings spread throughout the kitchen.

Lao Zhao served each a bowl, and placed the final bowl at the vent—a fresh osmanthus twig perched on the rim, newly sprouted from the grafted sapling this morning.

"For Ventilation Manager-8," Lao Zhao said, "though it can't be delivered, the sentiment… the fragrance will carry it."

The sphere of Dossier-7 suddenly emitted a stronger frequency: "He responded. He said—"

In everyone's heartbeat network, they simultaneously "heard" a tuneless humming simulated by airflow vibrations.

It was "Sowing the Sun."

Still off‑key, but with low tones from pipe resonance, sounding like a solo on some ancient instrument.

After the humming ended, a sentence came:

【Thank you for your fragrance. I will make each breath of the Memory Archive… a little more "useless" tenderness.】

【Additionally, I discovered something interesting: Absolute Luminance-4 turned off its own laboratory's filtration system today.】

【He let the fragrance… in.】

The kitchen fell silent for a moment.

Then everyone smiled—the kind of smile that appears when the ice finally shows its first crack.

Xiao Yu whispered softly: "The eighteenth pretender of sleep… may be waking soon."

Han Qing looked at the pale‑purple dawn outside, his hand gently pressing on the burning scar.

On the scar's surface, newly emerged lines formed a sentence:

【When the absolute begins to tolerate the 'non‑absolute,' the seed of change has already quietly sprouted in the hardest soil of reason…】

On the grafted sapling's branch, the eighth pale‑golden flower blossomed.

The fruit formed at the flower's core bore an inscription:

【Resistance Organization Seed No. 003: Breath‑and‑Fragrance Alliance. Survival status: Fruited. Members: Ventilation Manager-8 (newly added), Absolute Luminance-4 (potential).】

Outside the window, the sky's morning glow gradually took on a honey‑colored rim of light.

It was another "non‑standard" collaboration between Lighting Manager‑9 and Thermostat‑17.

But today, no one thought this was an Error Signal.

They only felt… very beautiful.