Chapter 197: It

Lin Wan'er's youthful, romantic interlude was like a tiny wave on the sea, exerting no influence whatsoever on Qin Feng's forward course. His attention was soon drawn to a seemingly absurd yet unexpectedly profound research breakthrough from the "Rule Analysis" team.

A young mathematician named Li Wen, while attempting to mathematically model certain marginal theories about the "Observer Effect" provided by Qin Feng, had a sudden inspiration and designed an extremely complex thought experiment model involving Multidimensional Probability Cloud Collapse.

The model itself rested on numerous assumptions and speculations, appearing nearly indistinguishable from science fiction under conventional scientific perspectives. But Li Wen, armed with astonishing mathematical intuition and a touch of madness, expressed it rigorously in precise mathematical language and fed it into the Quantum Core of the New Era—a computational system rivaling the supercomputers of small nations—for simulation.

The simulation was met with little confidence, even dismissed by other team members as a wasteful diversion.

Yet the moment the results emerged, everyone who saw the data—including Qin Feng, who rushed over—froze in stunned silence.

The model indicated that under certain extremely specific, nearly idealized conditions, a sufficiently powerful and sufficiently "coherent" Observer Will could indeed exert upon microscopic random events a effect surpassing the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle—something akin to… "guidance" or "deflection"!

Though the magnitude of this effect was minuscule, requiring extreme and demanding conditions, making it nearly impossible to observe in the macroscopic world, its mathematical possibility was like a lightning bolt, cleaving through the barrier of cognition!

"This… this is impossible?!" an elderly professor of quantum physics adjusted his glasses, voice trembling, "This violates the fundamental principles of Quantum Mechanics!"

"Mathematics does not lie…" Li Wen stared at the strange, elegant curve of equations on the screen, eyes blazing, "Unless our premises are wrong… consciousness might truly be able to 'weigh' the dice thrown by God!"

The entire team was plunged into a turmoil of excitement, confusion, and a thread of fear.

Qin Feng, gazing at the simulation results, felt a storm raging within him!

He knew better than anyone else that this was no fantasy! His own Spiritual Attribute of 35 points, and the subtle hints within the system's functions regarding causality and fate, all pointed to a profound, unrecognized connection between consciousness and the rules!

This seemingly absurd mathematical model might… truly have brushed against the threshold of a staggering secret!

He immediately ordered more resources allocated to support Li Wen's follow-up research, and imposed strict secrecy. Simultaneously, his own idea—of actively "analyzing" and even "interfering" with the rules using his own power—became clearer and more urgent.

Just as the exhilaration of this preliminary exploration into the boundary between consciousness and rules had not yet subsided, another stranger, more chilling event occurred.

This time, it was the ground testing team of the "Lingxiao" platform.

To test the platform's new propulsion system combining Plasma Propulsion and Antigravity Field, the engineering team had erected a large ground test stand within a designated exclusion zone outside the New Era.

The first full-power ignition test was scheduled for midnight, to minimize external attention.

Qin Feng personally attended the test.

The massive "Lingxiao" platform was secured to the test stand, its streamlined hull gleaming with a cold silver-gray sheen under the searchlights. At Qin Feng's command, the operator pressed the ignition button.

Hum—!!!

A deep, abyssal hum rose! From the platform's rear, brilliant azure plasma flames erupted, illuminating half the night sky! Simultaneously, beneath the hull, the invisible Antigravity Field activated, causing the entire platform to tremble slightly, as if striving to break free from Earth's grasp!

On the data monitoring screens, readings surged wildly—most within expected ranges, some even exceeding design specifications!

The technicians on-site wore excited smiles.

Yet, just as the test reached the third minute, with power output stabilized at seventy percent load—

Sudden anomaly!

Nearly simultaneously, the feeds from over a dozen high-speed cameras surrounding the test stand twisted, flickered, then went completely black!

The sensors monitoring energy radiation emitted piercing alarms! Readings revealed an unidentified, unanalyzable Abnormal Energy Field surrounding the "Lingxiao" platform! This energy field did not originate from the platform itself—it was more like… somehow "tugged" or "triggered" from an unknown dimension by the platform's operation!

Then came something even more horrifying.

A technician stationed on the observation tower, tasked with visually recording the platform's surface condition, suddenly let out a shrill, distorted scream. His telescope clattered to the ground. He tumbled head over heels down the observation tower stairs, landing on the ground, pointing at the test stand, face ashen, babbling incoherently:

"Ghost! There's a ghost!! White shadows! On… on the platform!!"

His cry pierced the silent night.

All eyes instantly turned toward the test stand.

There, on the smooth hull of the "Lingxiao" platform, illuminated by the azure plasma flames, appeared several faint, translucent, twisted humanoid… White Shadows!

They had no fixed form, swirling and drifting like smoke, condensing and dissolving intermittently, as if "walking" across the hull, or silently "watching" the crowd below!

"It's a ghost! Really a ghost!!" Someone shouted. Panic spread like an epidemic through the crowd!

Even the most steadfast atheists, the most rational engineers, felt a chill surge from their soles to the crown of their heads at this sight beyond comprehension!

"Shut down the engines! Shut them down now!" The Commander, fighting his fear, barked the order.

The operator, hands trembling, cut the power.

The azure plasma flames vanished instantly. The Antigravity Field disappeared.

Almost simultaneously, the White Shadows on the hull, like smoke scattered by wind, silently… vanished.

As if everything just now had been a collective hallucination.

The scene fell into deathly silence.

Only the wind whispering across the wasteland, and the muffled, intermittent sobs of the technician sprawled on the ground.

Qin Feng stood motionless, brows furrowed, eyes sharp as blades, fixed on the now-calm "Lingxiao" platform.

He did not panic like the others.

In the instant the White Shadows appeared, his Spiritual Attribute of 35 points clearly detected an extremely faint, yet deeply negative… Spiritual fluctuation!

It was not a ghost!

It was more like… a residual "information," or rather, an Imprint!

A "Historical Echo" temporarily "vibrated" out from space itself—or some deeper dimension—by the "Lingxiao" platform's powerful energy field… something not belonging to this spacetime!

He recalled the Civilization Tombstone, recalled Traveler-7, recalled the countless unknown civilizations and dimensions that might exist in the universe…

Had the "Lingxiao" platform's energy field unintentionally opened a fissure to… The Other Side? Or had it disturbed some long-silent "Historical Echoes" clinging to the fabric of space?

"Leader… what… what just happened?" Gao Yuan stepped beside Qin Feng, voice tinged with barely perceptible dryness. Even he, a battle-hardened warrior, felt his soul tremble at this supernatural phenomenon.

Qin Feng tore his gaze away, glanced at the shaken crowd, and spoke in a low, steady tone:

"It's not a ghost."

"Just a physical phenomenon we don't yet understand."

"Everything seen today is classified Top Secret. Everyone signs a confidentiality agreement—no leaks!"

He paused, then looked again at the silent "Lingxiao," his eyes not filled with fear, but burning with even fiercer curiosity.

"Archive all test data. Analyze the characteristics of the Abnormal Energy Field. Form an expert group to establish an 'Anomalous Phenomena Research' subunit, integrated into the 'Rule Analysis' project. Also… suspend all future 'Lingxiao' testing."

He needed to first find out what these White Shadows truly were!

Was it a chance energy resonance phenomenon? A peek from another dimension? Or… was there a deeper secret hidden within this stretch of sea, or rather within the universe itself?

Qin Feng felt that he had, as if by accident, brushed against an enormous mystery far stranger than the "Civilization Tombstone" and "Traveler-7," and far closer to the very essence of the world.

He looked up at the deep night sky, where stars dotted the darkness.

This world was far more interesting than he had imagined.

And far more dangerous.