The northern edge of the university campus was noticeably quieter than the rest.
Most students rarely came here unless they had specific research projects.
Older academic buildings stood among tall trees, their stone walls showing decades of weather and renovation.
Li Wei followed the path shown on the system map.
After a few minutes, he saw the building.
A small two-story structure with a plaque near the entrance:
Department of Anthropology — Research Archives
The place looked almost forgotten.
Only a few bicycles were parked outside.
Li Wei slowed slightly as he approached.
He spoke in his mind.
"System."
[ONLINE]
"Confirm node."
[CORE INFORMATION NODE DETECTED]
LOCATION: ANTHROPOLOGY ARCHIVE ROOM — SECOND FLOOR
Li Wei looked at the entrance.
This building was less restricted than the main university archive.
The door wasn't locked.
Students involved in anthropology research probably came and went regularly.
He stepped inside.
The interior felt older than most campus buildings.
Wooden floors creaked faintly when he walked.
Display cases along the hallway contained ancient pottery fragments, stone tools, and photographs from excavation sites.
Some research posters were pinned to the walls.
Most of the lights were off.
Only the staircase area was illuminated.
Li Wei walked upstairs quietly.
The second floor contained several archive rooms.
One door stood slightly open.
Inside were tall shelves filled with labeled boxes and document folders.
A desk lamp was on, but no one seemed to be there.
Li Wei stepped inside and glanced around casually.
Ancient cultural research.
Excavation reports.
Artifact documentation.
Exactly the kind of place filled with historical information.
Then the familiar notification appeared.
[CORE INFORMATION NODE CONFIRMED]
[SIGN-IN AVAILABLE]
Li Wei walked slowly between the shelves.
No footsteps nearby.
No voices.
"Sign in."
A moment passed.
Then the system responded.
[SIGN-IN COMPLETE]
LOCATION: UNIVERSITY ANTHROPOLOGY ARCHIVE
Another message appeared.
[REWARD GENERATED]
PATTERN RECOGNITION — LEVEL 1
Li Wei blinked.
A strange sensation passed through his mind.
When he looked at the rows of archive boxes around him, something felt different.
Small details stood out more clearly.
Labels.
Dates.
Categorization patterns.
His brain automatically began identifying relationships between them.
Almost like solving puzzles faster.
He exhaled slowly.
"Interesting."
Memory indexing helped recall information.
Logical reasoning helped analyze problems.
Now pattern recognition improved the ability to detect connections.
The system rewards seemed carefully selected.
Then the familiar alert appeared again.
[ARCHIVE NODE ACTIVITY REGISTERED]
[EXTERNAL RESPONSE DETECTED]
Li Wei closed the box he had casually opened.
At this point, he knew that somewhere in the city something always reacted when he activated a node.
Still, no one had confronted him yet.
So he calmly walked out of the room.
Outside the building—
A car slowly pulled into a nearby parking space.
Su Yan stepped out.
She had received the monitoring alert only minutes earlier.
The signal spike was weak, but it had appeared very close to the university anthropology building.
Exactly where she was now standing.
She looked toward the entrance.
Students occasionally walked past.
But one person was currently leaving the building.
A young man.
Calm.
Unhurried.
Hands in his pockets.
Su Yan's eyes narrowed slightly.
It was the same student from the earlier camera footage.
Li Wei.
She didn't approach him.
Instead, she simply watched as he walked down the path toward the campus lake.
Her intuition told her something important.
Coincidences rarely repeated this many times.
Li Wei continued walking naturally across campus.
The evening sky had begun turning orange.
Students were gathering near the cafeteria for dinner.
Everything looked completely ordinary.
But inside his mind, the system interface updated again.
[TOTAL CORE NODES ACTIVATED: 6]
NEXT SYSTEM UPGRADE AT: 10 NODES
Li Wei raised an eyebrow slightly.
"Four more."
The rewards so far had been subtle but useful.
If the system upgraded again at ten nodes…
It might unlock something more significant.
Behind him, near the anthropology building—
Su Yan quietly spoke into her earpiece.
"I've identified a potential subject."
A voice replied.
"Confirmation?"
"Not yet," she said calmly.
"But the probability just increased."
She watched Li Wei disappear among the evening crowd of students.
Her expression remained thoughtful.
"Let's see where you go next…"
Meanwhile, Li Wei reached the campus cafeteria.
Chen Ming waved from inside.
"Over here!"
Li Wei entered and grabbed a tray.
For the moment, life returned to something simple again.
Friends.
Dinner.
Campus conversations.
But the invisible game surrounding the Archive System had quietly taken its next step.
And now someone was beginning to follow the trail.