Chapter 2: Uneasy Contemplation

The sun was setting, and a few students still ran on the school's playground, their laughter echoing across the open space. Long Hua and Lin Ruoxi sat on a secluded bench behind the teaching building, surrounded by tall plane trees whose dancing shadows provided them with an undisturbed space for conversation.

"So," Lin Ruoxi broke the silence first, "what did you see in the experiment?"

Long Hua took a deep breath, organizing his thoughts. "A peculiar interference pattern with a perfect hexagon at its center, surrounded by complex radial lines, like some sort of symbol or code." He paused. "The strangest thing is that my students could only see a slight anomaly, while I could see all the details. A camera couldn't capture it at all."

A gleam flashed in Lin Ruoxi's eyes. "That's exactly the characteristic of the 'Thousand-Eye Light' described in ancient texts." She lowered her voice. "Legend has it that this is the projection of universal laws into the material world, visible only to 'Clear-Eyed Ones.'"

"That sounds like some mystical explanation," Long Hua frowned. As a science educator, he was naturally skeptical of unverified mysterious phenomena. "Could it be some kind of special visual perception difference? Perhaps some people can see a wider spectrum of light?"

Lin Ruoxi smiled slightly. "I appreciate your scientific approach. But the ancients weren't ignorant either; they conducted systematic research on this phenomenon." She took out a small notebook from her bag and turned to a specific page. "According to the 'Record of Celestial Phenomena,' the 'Thousand-Eye Light' isn't just a visual phenomenon—it can change with the observer's intention. Did you notice this as well?"

Long Hua looked at her in surprise. "How did you know? Indeed, when I concentrated on observing it, the pattern would subtly change."

"Because that's one of the characteristics of a 'Clear-Eyed One,'" Lin Ruoxi's tone became more certain. "You not only can see it but can also influence it to some extent. In ancient texts, this is called the first step of 'Mind Connected to Universe.'"

Long Hua felt dizzy. It was all too bizarre, yet couldn't be explained by conventional science. After pondering for a moment, he decided to share more: "Actually, I've been able to see special light phenomena since childhood, especially when sunlight passes through gaps in leaves. My father... seemed to know something about it, but he passed away before he could tell me."

Long Hua's voice trembled slightly at the mention of his father. Lin Ruoxi seemed to notice his emotional change and gently asked, "Did your father leave anything behind?"

Long Hua hesitated, touching the ancient bronze compass in his pocket. "Some things, including a strange compass and some special drawings. Today in the laboratory, the compass needle pointed directly at that unusual light pattern and began to oscillate in a regular manner."

Lin Ruoxi's eyes brightened. "You have the compass with you? May I see it?"

Long Hua slowly took out the compass and placed it on the bench between them. In the glow of the setting sun, the ancient bronze compass gleamed with a warm luster. Its surface featured intricate, complex patterns that seemed beyond modern manufacturing capabilities. The needle currently pointed west, exactly where the sun was setting.

"This is..." Lin Ruoxi gently stroked the compass surface, her voice filled with reverence, "a 'Void Locator.' It's said to sense the flow of universal energy and guide 'Clear-Eyed Ones' to special energy nodes."

"Void Locator?" Long Hua repeated the unfamiliar term. "Sounds like something from a science fiction novel."

"The wisdom of the ancients often exceeds our imagination," Lin Ruoxi said seriously. "Many things considered superstition by modern people might simply be science we haven't yet understood." She pointed to the patterns on the compass surface. "These patterns form an ancient rune system used to record the direction and intensity of energy flows."

Long Hua recalled the special papers among his father's belongings: "The papers my father left behind also have similar runes! I always thought they were just some kind of ancient astronomical charts."

"They're likely much more than astronomical charts," Lin Ruoxi said firmly. "They could be universal observations recorded by 'Clear-Eyed Ones.' I'd need to see those papers to be certain."

Long Hua put the compass back in his pocket. "All of this is too incredible. If these runes truly record some kind of energy or law, why can't modern scientific instruments detect it?"

"Perhaps," Lin Ruoxi's gaze deepened, "because this energy or law exists in dimensions or planes we don't yet understand. Like the superposition state in quantum mechanics, where multiple possibilities exist simultaneously before observation."

Long Hua fell into deep thought. As a physics teacher, he knew that quantum mechanics indeed contained many counter-intuitive phenomena, such as quantum entanglement and wave function collapse, which early physicists had considered "bizarre." Perhaps the abnormal light phenomena he observed were indeed projections of higher-dimensional physical phenomena into three-dimensional space.

"I need more evidence," Long Hua finally said. "As a scientist, I can't accept these theories based solely on ancient texts and personal experience."

Lin Ruoxi nodded. "I understand your caution. In fact, I'm also approaching these ancient knowledge systems with a scientific attitude. If you're willing, we could design some experiments together to try to verify the objective existence of these phenomena."

"That's exactly what I was thinking," Long Hua's eyes lit up. "I can use the laboratory after school hours to attempt to recreate today's phenomenon and conduct more systematic recording and analysis."

"Perfect plan," Lin Ruoxi agreed. "Meanwhile, I can provide some special observation methods recorded in ancient texts to see if they help us better understand these phenomena."

They exchanged smiles, reaching a consensus. At the intersection of science and mystery, they seemed to have found a common language and interest.

"It's getting late," Lin Ruoxi checked her watch. "See you tomorrow, Teacher Long."

"See you tomorrow," Long Hua watched her leave before turning in another direction, his mind full of thoughts.

---

Upon returning home, Long Hua didn't immediately start grading papers or preparing lessons as usual. Instead, he went straight to his study and took out the wooden box carved with celestial patterns from his bedside cabinet.

He carefully opened the box and laid out the special material papers on his desk. Under the desk lamp, the runes on the paper appeared clearer, some even seeming to glow faintly, though Long Hua wasn't sure if this was just an effect of light reflection.

He carefully compared the runes on the paper with the pattern he had seen in the laboratory today and was surprised to find that they indeed had similarities. Especially the central pattern on one of the papers, which almost perfectly matched today's light spot!

"This can't be coincidence," Long Hua murmured. "Father must have known something."

He continued examining the items in the wooden box and discovered a small compartment at the very bottom that he had never noticed before. Opening it gently, he found a yellowed note inside, written in somewhat hasty handwriting:

"Ming, when you see the runes in the light, seek the old pavilion on the mountaintop. The answer lies there. —Father"

Long Hua's heart raced. This was a message his father had left specifically for him! And his father seemed to have anticipated that he would see "runes in the light." The old pavilion on the mountaintop undoubtedly referred to the ancient pavilion in the photo where his parents stood, probably on a mountain in the suburbs.

Amid his excitement, Long Hua also felt a tinge of unease. If all this was true, then the laws of physics as he knew them might be just a small part of the cosmic truth. More importantly, these abilities and knowledge seemed destined to lead him down an unknown path.

He took out the compass and placed it next to the papers. Unexpectedly, the compass needle began to spin rapidly before ultimately pointing to a specific rune on one of the papers. When Long Hua's finger touched that rune, he felt a slight electric current flow from his fingertip throughout his body, followed by a strange sensation, as if something deep within his consciousness had been awakened.

Suddenly, an unusual wind sound came from outside the window. Long Hua walked to the window and was surprised to find that the stars in the night sky seemed brighter than usual, and some of them formed a peculiar pattern strikingly similar to one of the runes on the paper.

"What is happening..." Long Hua murmured, feeling both confused and fascinated.

He returned to his desk and decided to conduct a small experiment. Taking a pen, he copied the light pattern he had seen in the laboratory onto a blank paper. Shockingly, when he finished the last stroke, the entire pattern seemed to "vibrate" slightly, as if imbued with some kind of life force.

Long Hua rubbed his eyes, suspecting he was hallucinating from fatigue. But when he looked at the paper again, the pattern was indeed faintly glowing in his vision, albeit extremely weakly.

"I must clarify all this," Long Hua resolved. "Systematic experiments start tomorrow."

He took out a notebook and began to meticulously record today's findings and observations, trying to analyze these strange phenomena in a scientific manner. As a physics teacher, logic and empirical evidence were his instinctive responses, even when faced with extraordinary events.

Halfway through his writing, he suddenly thought of Lin Ruoxi. This mysterious female teacher seemed to know a lot of inside information, and her appearance almost coincided with these abnormal phenomena—could this really be just coincidence?

"Perhaps she knows more..." Long Hua pondered, deciding to find an opportunity tomorrow to delve deeper into Lin Ruoxi's background and research. In any case, having a like-minded companion on this exploratory journey was better than proceeding alone.

Long Hua closed his notebook and looked up at the starry sky outside the window. The special celestial pattern had disappeared, and the night sky had returned to its ordinary appearance. But he knew that his world had been forever changed.

The journey into the unknown had begun, and this was just the first step.