After the waveform on the projection remained still for a few seconds, Nana's voice rang out.

"Data matching complete. Twelve hours before each of the three micro-earthquakes, a brief negative pressure zone appeared on the ground surface, lasting between three and seven minutes."

Chen Hao stared at the screen, his brows furrowing deeper and deeper. He grabbed a highlighter from the table, drew a circle on a piece of paper, and then crossed it out forcefully.

"I still don't understand. If a gust of wind blows from the sky and the ground shrinks slightly, how can the mycelium underneath hear the movement? That doesn't make sense."

Susan looked up at him and said, "Yesterday you said that cell phone signals could penetrate walls because it was magic."

“That’s two different things,” Chen Hao muttered. “I accept the magic, but this… sounds like a bedtime story someone made up.”

Carl didn't speak, but had already opened his tablet and started drawing a flowchart. The lines extended from top to bottom, divided into five segments, each labeled with a word: sudden change in wind direction, decrease in humidity, surface contraction, microseismic transmission, and spore release.

Nana walked to his side, the optical module flashed, and new parameters appeared in the air.

"Analogous to Earth phenomena: In desert regions, the air cools in the early morning, increasing in density and creating localized low pressure. At this time, weak airflow exchanges occur in underground cavities. Our planet has a thinner silicified layer, making it more sensitive to these reactions."

"Wait a minute." Chen Hao raised his hand. "You mean... ground-based air intake?"

“That’s one way to understand it,” Nana nodded. “It’s like how your chest tightens before you take a deep breath.”

"Did the mycelium also take a breath?" Chen Hao grinned. "And then, in its excitement, it released all its spores?"

No one laughed.

He stopped smiling: "...Did I say something wrong?"

Susan pointed to a line of small print in the corner of the document: "It mentions here that the enhancement of mycelial fluorescence occurs four and a half minutes after the formation of negative pressure, earlier than the arrival time of the micro-vibration."

“That means they sensed ‘inhalation’ first,” Carl continued, “and then prepared to respond to the vibration.”

"So it's not just a matter of shaking it a couple of times," Chen Hao said, stroking his chin. "It has to be when there's a dry wind, the ground feels tight, and the stones are buzzing!"

He paused for a moment after saying that.

That last sentence sounded like you really understood?

Nana brought up a new screen. A 3D cross-sectional view slowly rotated, its color transitioning from light gray to deep red, revealing the underground rock strata structure.

"The eastern region contains a large number of quartz veins, which are distributed in a network. Their physical properties are suitable for conducting high-frequency vibrations, with an attenuation rate of less than two percent."

“In other words,” Carl added a layer to the flowchart, “the micro-seismic activity on the Earth’s surface is amplified by the quartz network, allowing it to travel deeper and faster.”

“No wonder ordinary sensors couldn’t detect it.” Susan flipped through her notebook. “We were using broadband monitoring before, but we didn’t lock onto a specific frequency band.”

Chen Hao looked at the picture and suddenly reached out and pressed pause.

"Wait a minute. If this mechanism works, then we don't need to wait ten days to verify it."

"Do you want to try it out in advance?" Susan asked.

“No need to try,” he said. “We can perform it right now.”

He stood up and pushed his chair back.

"Come on, let's role-play. Who will play the atmosphere? Who will play the earth's crust? I'll play the mycelium. I'm best at lying flat and then suddenly exerting force."

Susan sighed, but still stood up: "I'll play the surface. Carl, you'll be in charge of the wind and humidity changes."

Carl nodded, picked up a pen, and wrote "Wind speed ↑ Humidity ↓" on the paper.

Nana stood to the side, turned on the projector, and played the corrected simulation animation as a comparison.

“Begin,” she said.

Susan raised her hand and slowly pressed it down: "The wind is blowing, the moisture is evaporating faster, and I'm starting to dry out."

Karl said, "The earth's surface contracts, creating localized negative pressure."

Chen Hao squatted on the ground, covered his head with his hands, and hissed, "I can feel it! The air is being sucked away, I can't hold my breath!"

"The microseismic signal is transmitted through the quartz network," Nana continued the broadcast.

“The vibration frequency has reached a critical value,” Carl added.

Chen Hao jumped up suddenly, holding up a highlighter: "Spore release!!!"

The room fell silent for a moment.

Then Susan smiled. Carl's lips twitched. Nana's optical lens subtly adjusted its angle, as if examining some new discovery.

“You…didn’t read the prompt just now,” she said.

"Of course not." Chen Hao put the pen back in the pen holder. "I've memorized it all. Dry air, negative pressure, and specific vibration—we can only start working when all three are in place. Not one can be missing."

“Good.” Susan sat down again. “At least now you can distinguish between negative pressure and a sudden drop in air pressure.”

"Of course," Chen Hao said smugly. "One is vacuuming, the other is an explosion releasing gas; they're worlds apart."

Nana updates the model synchronously, importing the latest logic chain into the system.

On the screen, the previously broken curves finally connected into a complete path. The red warning disappeared, and a green indicator appeared at the bottom: [Ecological Mechanism Closed Loop Established].

“Next,” Carl turned to a blank page in his notebook, “I will list the key points that must be captured during on-site monitoring.”

“First, the timing of the sudden change in wind direction,” Susan said.

"Second, the surface humidity has fallen below the threshold," Chen Hao answered quickly.

“Third, negative pressure confirmed,” Carl wrote.

"Fourth, the initial wave of the microseismic event arrived," Nana added.

"Fifth, mycelial fluorescence reaction," Susan added as the last item.

All four people looked at the projection at the same time.

The animation started again. This time, every step was seamless, without any interruptions.

Chen Hao leaned back in his chair and let out a long sigh: "I finally understand. It turns out that this planet doesn't rely on the sun for warmth, but lives by 'breathing' on its own."

“It regulates its own ecology,” Nana said, “similar to the metabolic processes of an organism.”

"So the place we're living in is actually a living thing?" Chen Hao scratched his head. "Then when I carved my name on the rock wall last time... did that count as scratching my skin?"

"I suggest you don't carve it randomly in the future," Susan said casually. "If it gets itchy, a couple of twitches will be enough to make us suffer."

Chen Hao shrank his neck.

Carl closed his notebook and wrote the title: [Monitoring Priority List].

Nana began organizing the data package, preparing to import it into the portable terminal.

Susan took out a piece of white paper and began to draw a simple diagram. She broke down the entire process into five steps, each accompanied by a small icon: wind, water droplets, wavy lines, mountains, and glowing points.

Chen Hao leaned closer to look: "Your drawing is much better than mine."

“Because the wavy lines you drew look like noodles.” Susan didn’t look up.

“That’s artistic expression!” he protested.

“The expression failed,” Carl said.

Just as Chen Hao was about to retort, he suddenly saw Nana's projection flash.

A new data stream is loading.

“I’m comparing historical weather records,” she said, “to see if there are any similar events that have gone unnoticed.”

The screen scrolls, and lines of timestamps flash by.

Suddenly, a certain record was highlighted.

“We’ve discovered a potential case.” Nana paused. “Seventy-three days ago, a short-term negative pressure and unexplained tremors were recorded in the western edge area.”

“We weren’t here yet then,” Susan frowned.

“The sensor automatically archives the data,” Nana replied. “No alarm was triggered; the data is categorized as background noise.”

“Let’s go take a look.” Chen Hao sat up straight. “Maybe we can find more evidence.”

Nana retrieved the detailed information. The time was 3:17 AM, and the duration was four minutes and twenty seconds. The location was approximately eighteen kilometers northwest of the base, near an abandoned observation station.

"Is it still possible to go there now?" Chen Hao asked.

“The terrain is stable,” Nana replied, “but transportation is inconvenient; you have to walk across the gravel belt.”

“I’ve been there before,” Susan said. “I passed by when I was doing geological sampling. The rocks were severely exposed and there was hardly any vegetation.”

“But there are quartz veins.” Carl pulled out a map. “The data shows that the area is rich in crystals.”

“That matches up.” Chen Hao slammed his hand on the table. “If the east can transmit earthquakes, the west may also have a similar network.”

Nana had already started downloading the surrounding terrain map. She tapped her finger in the air, and several possible routes appeared.

“The fastest route takes two and a half hours on foot,” she said. “With equipment, the round trip is expected to take six hours.”

“We can send drones,” Susan said.

“No,” Chen Hao shook his head. “The signal is prone to drop in those places. Besides, we need to take close-up samples to see if there are any spores left.”

“Then we’ll have to do it manually,” Susan sighed.

"I'll go." Chen Hao stood up. "Anyway, I should get moving. If I get any fatter, even climbing a hill will be difficult."

"Are you sure?" Susan looked at him. "Last time you said you wanted to lose weight, but you ended up secretly eating three packs of compressed biscuits."

"That was an emergency reserve!" Chen Hao argued. "Besides, I'm different now. I've grasped the truth of the universe."

“You’ve got the procedure you just memorized five minutes ago,” Susan sneered.

“But I can repeat it,” Chen Hao said, puffing out his chest. “Test me if you don’t believe me.”

“Okay.” Susan closed her notebook. “Let’s talk about the three necessary conditions for mycelial activation.”

Chen Hao immediately explained: "First, the dry surface causes localized negative pressure; second, micro-vibrations at specific frequencies are transmitted through the quartz network; third, the superposition of these two signals triggers a physiological response. All three are indispensable."

The room was quiet for a few seconds.

Susan nodded: "It seems you really have remembered it."

“I didn’t just memorize it.” Chen Hao picked up a pen and drew a triangle on the paper. “I also gave it a name—the Trinity Activation Protocol.”

"That's such a cringey way to start," Susan said.

"It's better than nothing," Chen Hao retorted. "Now I can impress people when I write reports."

Nana has finished backing up the latest model and switched to portable terminal testing mode.

Carl added a new item to the list: [Check Western Anomaly Records].

Susan made an extra copy of the illustrated manual and put it in the folder.

No one left their seats, and no one said it was over.

Chen Hao lowered his head and continued to write down the key points from memory, writing slowly stroke by stroke, but without making any more corrections.

Nana's projection is still running the simulation, looping the entire energy transfer process.

Susan turned to the last page of her journal and found a line of almost faded writing on the back:

"After the third recording, the mycelial fluorescence range expanded by 40 percent."

She stared at the words without saying a word.

Carl noticed her pause and followed her gaze.

"Does this change make sense?" he asked.

Before Susan could answer, Chen Hao looked up.

“Of course it makes sense,” he said. “It shows they are becoming more active.”