Deal

Chapter 9: Dreaming Lake Quantum

Marquis Yi of Zeng Chime Bell Lab, 3:47 AM

As the vibration frequency of the bronze chime bells abruptly breached 20kHz, Summer realized the cloud-and-thunder patterns etched on each yongzhong bell were actively reconfiguring LIGO's gravitational wave maps. When Jason filled an ice-crackle glaze Longquan cup with 'Full Lake Spring' wine, the ethanol molecules instantly underwent esterification with the quantum key from the Sanxingdui Bronze Tree, searing an Oracle Bone Script firewall derived from the Chu Ci anthology onto the bells' surfaces.

"They're using a 'Nine Songs' algorithm to encrypt wormholes!" Lily's quantum projection seeped from the Marquis Yi sarcophagus, the jade cong she held abruptly unfolding into a laser matrix patterned after the Big Dipper. "Look here—"

The bell pedestal cracked open, revealing an ice core database. Sunspot data from the Ming Dynasty Little Ice Age was being actively rewritten into artificial aurora parameters. Just then, twelve NeuroLink drones smashed through the dome ceiling; the blue-and-white porcelain coating on their wings quantum tunneled, projecting a holographic swamp mimicking Lake Jiucha across the lab.

Nanhe Ancient Ferry Metaverse Battlefield, 5:33 AM

The black-canopied boat Tyler piloted suddenly sank into a digital swamp, its oars churning through blockchain data streams instead of river water. When Summer slotted a Makou pottery shard into her AR headset, a Warring States era dragon kiln resurrected within the virtual space, 108 quantum forges simultaneously blasting ceramic plasma designed to counter the climate weapon.

"Catch!" Wenhao flung satellite camouflage netting woven from Yongchun paper weaving, each mulberry silk strand imprinted with SpaceX Starship design flaws. "Use the 'Full Lake Spring' algorithm from Dreaming Lake to intoxicate their AI!"

The instant the wine's aroma exploded in quantum space, NeuroLink's killer satellite constellation began performing a chaotic Chu state shamanistic dance. Lily seized the opportunity, injecting Li Sao code into low Earth orbit. A virtual effigy of the Sanlü Dafu [Qu Yuan], holding symbolic mugwort, rewrote the satellite navigation systems to follow the ancient Ji Shui waterway map.

Shennongjia Wildman Gene Bank, 12:01 PM

Within the quantum foam surrounding the cryo-preserved embryos, Jason discovered the Wildman DNA's third helix strand was actively compiling a wormhole. When Summer dropped Anxi Tieguanyin tea seeds into the gene editor, the tea polyphenols instantly formed a Calabi-Yau manifold within the superfluid – the precise spacetime key needed to navigate the Ming Little Ice Age.

"They modified the Wildman's olfactory genes!" Wenhao's AR glasses suddenly displayed hotpot base ingredient formulas mapped directly onto the genome. "These gene scissors can smell dark matter ten light-years away..."

As NeuroLink's EMP struck, the Wildman embryos suddenly resonated with the deep boom of the Marquis Yi chime bells. The bronze yongzhong frequencies triggered quantum resonance throughout the lab, folding the entire gene bank into a perfect hologram of the Lake Jiucha fishing village described in the obscure Dreaming Lake novel.