Reality Programming Association

Chapter 117: Chapter 48: Rotating Door and Sharpshooter

”Then what they want is...” Yu Xian trailed off, thinking aloud in confusion.

”Professor Mo and his team’s ambitions are far greater than that. They don’t want to adapt to the rhythm of the Rotating Door. What they want to do is... directly control its speed of rotation.”

”Control... its speed?” Yu Xian was taken aback.

”You’ve heard the famous story about the soldiers on the bridge, right?” Yang Yiyi asked.

”What happens when a troop of soldiers marches in perfect lockstep across a bridge?”

”Resonance.”

Yu Xian blurted it out. He’d learned about it, of course; it was a classic case study in physics.

In the 19th century, a troop of soldiers marching in lockstep across a bridge in Angers, France, caused it to collapse. The frequency of their steps perfectly matched the bridge’s natural frequency, triggering a powerful resonance that shook it apart.

”When the frequency of the driving force matches the system’s natural frequency, the amplitude increases dramatically, eventually leading to the bridge’s collapse,” Yu Xian replied.

”Exactly. Resonance. Or, in neuroscience, we call it neural entrainment.”

Yang Yiyi’s slender fingers tapped out a gentle rhythm in the air.

”That audio file is the troop of soldiers, marching in lockstep.”

Yu Xian felt like he was starting to understand.

”So Professor Mo’s research is aimed at using high-intensity, specific-frequency sound waves to force the brain to resonate with its rhythm?”

”Clever. At first, the neurons resist. The sleep spindles oscillate at their own rhythm. But over time, under the continuous drive of the external sound waves, the frequency of the spindles and the cerebral cortex’s firing rate will be ’assimilated.’”

Yang Yiyi paused, then said softly,

”Perfectly synchronized, with identical frequency—Phase Locking. At that point, the ’Rotating Door’ is no longer spinning randomly. It becomes a toy that completely obeys the audio’s commands. When the audio tells it to open, it must open. When the audio tells it to close, it must close.”

Yu Xian felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

If the original TDI and Midnight Bus audio files were attempts to trick the brain’s defense mechanisms, then this ”Phase Locking” was simply...

’A hostile takeover?’

It directly stripped the brain of control over its own defense systems. The great door was thrown wide open, allowing external information to stream right in.

”But... why would they do this?”

Yu Xian’s brow furrowed as he tried to analyze the motive behind this insane technology.

”What’s the practical application of such extreme control over sleep spindle frequency? There must be a reason for going to all this trouble, right?”

”I’ve been wondering the same thing.” Yang Yiyi gently raised her right hand, her fingertips resting naturally on her delicate cheek as she frowned in frustration.

”Is it meant to be used with the MCH inhibition waveform?” Yu Xian guessed, since the research group’s main focus was still on the mechanism of dream forgetting.

”I don’t think so.” Yang Yiyi rejected the idea, pulling up a comparison chart to explain.

”MCH neurons are primarily active during the REM, or rapid eye movement, stage. Sleep spindles, on the other hand, mainly appear during stage two of NREM, or non-rapid eye movement, sleep. While the two physiological processes overlap, their mechanisms are distinct.”

”Since they control the ’Rotating Door’... could it be to let in some ’special guests’? Like implanting malicious commands, for instance.”

Yu Xian couldn’t think of any other possibilities, so he focused on the ”Rotating Door” metaphor.

”It’s theoretically possible, but I’ve looked at their experiment logs. The focus of their tests was always on ’consistency of phase and frequency,’ not on ’command execution rate.’”

Yang Yiyi rested her chin in her hand. The curve of her jaw was as smooth and delicate as a drop of water clinging to a fingertip.

”Besides, subconscious implantation during sleep can typically only influence long-term emotions, preferences, or instincts. It’s probably not for ’admitting’ complex control commands.”

Yu Xian leaned back against the sofa and stared at the ceiling, feeling like his train of thought had hit a dead end.

’It’s not for the MCH audio, and it’s not for implanting commands. So what on earth are they after?’

It was like a thief who went to the trouble of inventing a master key that could open every security door in the world—a key that could even make every door on the planet spring open at the exact same second.

’But he doesn’t steal money, he doesn’t kidnap anyone, he doesn’t even go inside?’

’He’s just obsessed with making all the doors, in that single second...’

’...open in perfect unison with a single CLICK?’

’What’s the point of it all?’

Yang Yiyi’s brow also furrowed slightly. She tilted her head to look at Yu Xian, her lips pursed.

”Is it possible... that we have cause and effect backward?”

Yu Xian suddenly turned his head and stared into her eyes, murmuring to himself,

”What if the act of ’opening the door’ is the goal itself?”

”’Opening the door is the goal itself...’”

Yang Yiyi repeated the phrase thoughtfully, her brow still furrowed. The theory clearly hadn’t convinced her.

”Maybe. But I still think opening the door is just a prerequisite, like the general anesthesia before a craniotomy. It’s just that we’re missing too many pieces of the puzzle to see the whole picture.”

Yu Xian nodded. He felt that he and Senior Sister Yiyi were like the blind men and the elephant. He’d felt the leg and the trunk, but he still couldn’t piece together the full image of the beast.

”Let’s not worry about that for now.”

Yu Xian glanced at the time. It was almost ten at night.

”It’s Saturday night. Monday is just a day away, and classes are starting up again.”

He looked at Yang Yiyi, his expression a mixture of worry and guilt.

”Any news... from the research group?”

Although Senior Sister Yiyi seemed safe hiding in his apartment, as long as that login log hadn’t been overwritten, it was a time bomb ticking beneath their feet.

Yang Yiyi shook her head and opened a large group chat named ”Academician Mo’s Big Family (All Members Muted).” Inside, there were indeed a few official notices and some equipment damage spreadsheets posted by a few of the postdocs.

”I heard the labs on the first floor of the School of Life Sciences were hit hard.”

Yang Yiyi zoomed in on a photo. It was the School of Life Sciences building. The floor-to-ceiling windows were completely shattered, covering the ground in broken glass.

”One of the senior girls in the group said a lot of expensive equipment and petri dishes were destroyed. A bunch of grad students are in the chat complaining that all their experimental data is gone and they’ll have to delay graduation.”

Yu Xian froze for a second, and a thought struck him.

”Then...”

”Lab W112 is pretty out of the way, at the very end of the hall. I don’t know if it was affected...” Senior Sister Yiyi guessed what he was about to ask.

”If it wasn’t destroyed, is that a good thing or a bad thing?” Yu Xian asked with a wry smile.

If W112 had been smashed, the local server might have been wrecked along with it, wiping out the login logs. It would be a shame to lose all the local data that hadn’t been backed up, but for Senior Sister Yiyi, it would be the safest outcome.

”With everything so chaotic, everyone must be busy assessing the damage and salvaging data. They probably won’t have time to check login logs.”

Yu Xian said reassuringly, but he was still worried.

”It’s just... won’t it look suspicious if you don’t show up on campus for a few days?”

Yiyi’s fingertips gently toyed with a strand of her hair as she spoke softly.

”Don’t worry. Even though I’ve already been accepted into the direct-entry Ph.D. program, I’m technically still a fourth-year undergrad. The second semester of senior year is for writing our theses and looking for jobs anyway. A lot of students are off-campus doing internships. So no one will think it’s weird if I don’t show up at the lab for a few days. I don’t even need to ask for time off.”

”That’s good.” Yu Xian breathed a sigh of relief.

”What about you? Classes start up again on Monday. Are you going back?”

Yang Yiyi asked hesitantly.

”I saw on the school forums... those audio files are spreading like wildfire. They all have the MCH inhibition waveform. If something were to happen...”

Yu Xian didn’t answer. He just gazed out the window at the light rain.

’I just hope this isn’t the calm before another storm.’