Chapter 6: Beneath the Rift
I. The Dawn of Fracture
The sky hung low, a dark, unyielding curtain, oppressive and silent.
The morning campus buzzed with subtle unease, students moving in twos and threes along cracked sidewalks, their whispers hurried.
Jason stood on the library's crumbling steps, overlooking the field.
He twirled an inkless pen, his gaze cutting through the mist, locking onto faint shifts in the crowd.
> [HEX64 Prompt: Earth-Thunder Restoration Hexagram Activated]
> - Primary Hexagram: Earth-Thunder Restoration
> - Philosophical Guidance:
> One spark of yang returns, quietly born beneath the earth.
> Beneath the rift, new life lurks.
> Follow the flow, guide the revival.
The wind grazed the field, an invisible hand plucking a loosening web.
Jason sensed:
- Zhao Mingxuan and Lisa Peng's node frequencies remained synced, but slightly slowed.
- James Li had vanished entirely, like sand swept away by a current.
- And in the field's western corner—
Kael Elliott.
A group, distinct from the peripheral nodes, was gravitating toward him.
Former club rejects, lone freshmen, and gray-edged drifters with no belonging.
Scattered, yet subtly coalescing.
Not an army.
More like a pack of stray wolves scenting blood.
> [HEX64 Prompt: New Node Group Analysis]
> - Kael Faction Forming: 5-person core circle.
> - Social Influence Index: 18%.
> - Potential Threat Index: Low-Medium (Growing).
> - Recommendation: Continue observation, avoid intervention. Use opposing force to accelerate peripheral node cohesion.
Jason inhaled calmly, tapping the pen thrice.
The system registered the signal, activating low-frequency dynamic tracking.
He made no move.
Under the Earth-Thunder Restoration's guidance, the best strategy wasn't to crush.
It was to let cracks grow,
Allowing new sprouts to emerge from the mire.
Third period.
An impromptu club representative meeting convened in the student center's old theater.
Ostensibly to "plan next quarter's club integration."
But Jason sensed clearly:
This was—
A power probe.
The school administration's first official attempt to curb the chaotic club ecosystem,
And a natural stage for peripheral factions to clash and test each other.
Jason entered the theater.
The air reeked of old wood and stale dust.
Under dim yellow lights, he scanned the room:
- Zhao Mingxuan and Lisa sat at the tech club's delegate seats, close together.
- Kael Elliott slouched in the back corner, fingers tapping his chair, eyes alert like a feral dog.
- Scattered freshmen, veteran club members, and ex-club drifters filled the space, the atmosphere disjointed and eerie.
Jason took a side seat.
No stance.
Just listening, a silent obsidian stone.
Onstage, the student council rep—a boy in a baggy uniform, voice robotic—read from a script.
Dull, tedious, mechanical.
But Jason heard, behind each cold phrase, the faint—
Crack of rifts.
Clubs must re-register, budgets slashed, priority to the influential.
This meant—
Weak clubs would be merged or erased.
Influence demanded resources, numbers, prestige.
A naked—
Survival war.
Jason lowered his head, fingers grazing the pen.
A faint chill gleamed in his eyes.
He'd foreseen this.
Earth-Thunder Restoration.
Thunder in the earth, fracturing to reborn.
The school's move was the perfect catalyst.
Let the frail shatter.
Let the true core—
Rise from the swamp.
As the meeting ended, Kael cornered Zhao Mingxuan at the corridor's end.
Jason watched from a turn, his gaze piercing the dispersing crowd, locking onto the brewing micro-storm.
Kael said something with a half-smile.
Zhao's face stiffened, brows furrowing.
Lisa stepped forward instinctively, shielding Zhao like a deputy guarding formation.
Kael shrugged, feigning harmlessness, and left.
But Jason knew.
The first probing contact had occurred.
Not an attack.
A measurement.
Testing the peripheral nodes' strength.
Testing the defenses of Jason's hidden web.
> [HEX64 Prompt: Kael Faction Behavior Analysis]
> - Current Action: Non-Hostile Provocation (Information Probe).
> - Predicted Next Move: Small-scale action within 5 days.
> - Recommendation: Release localized wind shifts, guide peripheral nodes to self-reinforce belonging.
Jason watched Kael vanish around the corner.
No movement.
No sound.
Just his fingers, tapping the pen.
Three times.
Short, resolute.
Wind blew through the theater's broken windows,
Carrying the scent of imminent fission.
As the hexagram foretold:
Fracture, then stand.
A new order, lurking in the mire,
Was about to break through.
II. Silent Recruitment
Afternoon sky, heavy as lead.
On the abandoned basketball court behind the school, cracked pavement hummed faintly in the cold wind.
Jason leaned against the derelict bleachers' edge, twirling the inkless pen, waiting silently.
The system whispered:
> [HEX64 Prompt: Earth-Thunder Restoration Hexagram Progress Update]
> - Observe cracks, self-induce belonging.
> - No summoning, no promises, no coercion.
> - True belonging stems only from voluntary approach.
Some peripheral nodes were growing uneasy.
Zhao Mingxuan approached the bleachers with a drink can, his expression complex.
He started to speak but instead handed over the drink, murmuring:
"Things feel… off lately. You've noticed, right?"
Jason took the can, smiling faintly.
No reply.
Lisa Peng followed, standing beside Zhao, frowning softly:
"Kael's recruiting… not openly, but the rumors are spreading.
Especially among those… wary of you."
She paused, adding:
"They're doubting if 'your side' is really safe."
Jason looked toward the sunset's red glow over the ruins.
His voice, soft, nearly carried off by the wind:
"People don't choose when they're safe.
Only in danger do they truly decide
Where they belong."
Lisa's expression shifted, understanding dawning.
Zhao gripped the can, metal creaking faintly.
In the distance, freshmen and fringe students gathered at the court's far end.
Whispering.
Snickering.
Casting complex glances at Jason.
Kael wasn't there.
But his shadow was spreading through the cracks.
> [HEX64 Prompt: Peripheral Node Psychological Temperature Monitoring]
> - Zhao Mingxuan: Loyalty Rising (+3%).
> - Lisa Peng: Belonging Strengthened (+4%).
> - Some Drifting Nodes: Trust Declining (-2%).
> - Recommended Action: Guide peripheral nodes to actively express belonging intent.
Jason stood slowly.
No orders.
No rallying.
He turned, walking toward a broken railing on the bleachers.
His silhouette stretched long in the sunset, solitary yet resolute.
Zhao and Lisa exchanged a glance, resolve hardening, and followed.
Minutes later, Jason leaned against the railing, squinting at the sky, saying nothing.
Zhao hesitated, then spoke softly:
"We're… not leaving."
Lisa nodded, biting her lip:
"No matter what Kael says…
We're staying.
With you."
Jason didn't turn.
Just nodded faintly.
> [HEX64 Prompt: Peripheral Node Belonging Confirmed]
> - Zhao Mingxuan × Lisa Peng: Belonging Established.
> - First Batch of Belief Sprout Nodes Forming…
The system's interface flickered, a faint light blooming in his palm's virtual space.
Like a sprout breaking through a crack.
Then, a cold, mocking voice cut through:
"Hmph, how touching.
Loyalty? Belief?
You playing savior now?"
John Wells—
A tall, cynical neutral who'd wavered among the peripheral nodes.
His eyes betrayed hidden unease.
Zhao frowned:
"What do you want?"
John smirked, shrugging:
"Nothing.
Just a heads-up.
The wind changes, and no one knows when.
Don't bet on the wrong side."
He sauntered off, hands in pockets, leaving the court's air turbulent.
> [HEX64 Prompt: Wind Shift Detected]
> - John Wells Leaning Toward Drift, Likely Absorbed by Kael's Faction.
> - Potential Hostile Node Risk Rising.
> - Strategic Note: No need to force retention. Let fracture proceed naturally.
Jason didn't pursue.
He watched silently.
Let the wind blow away those who wouldn't root.
Let the soil keep only seeds that would grow in the storm.
The sun sank below the horizon.
Cracks spread through the ruins' twilight.
But in the fracture—
True belonging
Was quietly sprouting.
III. Soil of Sprouts
Friday morning, the air heavy, the sky a leaden slab over the campus.
The intercom blared grating announcements,
Declaring a "Future Directions and Crisis Response" mini-lecture.
Location: Old theater.
Audience: Senior students.
The theme was vague, the intent clear—
Another official brainwashing attempt.
But Jason knew.
In chaos and uncertainty,
Every gathering was fertile soil for new beliefs to sprout in the cracks.
> [HEX64 Prompt: Earth-Thunder Restoration Hexagram Sustained]
> - Philosophical Guidance:
> *Restoration is birth.*
> *Growth comes not from coercion, but from sprouting in cracks.*
> - Strategic Notes:
> - Attend discreetly.
> - Avoid speaking out.
> - Observe subconscious crowd wind shifts.
> - Plant core belief seeds when opportune.
10 a.m., old theater.
Under dim lights, creaky chairs groaned as students sat scattered.
Jason took a back-row seat by the wall, Zhao Mingxuan and Lisa flanking him instinctively, like silent guards.
Near the front, Kael Elliott slouched, feet propped on the seat ahead, fingers tapping his thigh, feigning boredom.
Three or four drifters hovered near him.
Two mists, uncommitted to war, drifted silently in the same ruins.
Onstage, a middle-aged lecturer stood behind a worn podium.
In a faded suit, his hoarse voice droned:
"The world has entered a high-uncertainty era.
The future belongs to those who can define themselves in chaos."
Hollow words.
Pale vocabulary.
Jason listened—
Not to the content.
But to the crowd's heartbeat frequencies.
Each silent restlessness.
Each subtle impatience.
Each spark in exchanged glances.
The lecturer paused, awaiting a reaction, then threw out a question:
"When facing a collapsing social order,
What do you want to become?"
Silence.
Brief, awkward stillness.
Mutterings, eye-rolls.
Kael chuckled, muttering:
"Just survive. What else?"
His group snickered, the sound rippling faintly through the theater.
Jason stayed still, eyes on the lecturer,
Calm, measuring the wind's shift.
The system whispered:
> [HEX64 Prompt: Local Belief Field Monitoring]
> - Campus Belief Structure: Severely Fractured.
> - Most Nodes at Cynicism/Survival Instinct Level.
> - Minority Nodes Show Faint Belonging Desire (Peripheral Core Group).
> - Recommendation: Small-scale belief seed guidance.
Suddenly, the lecturer, seeking to break the awkwardness, scanned the room and pointed at Jason:
"You—Jason Carter.
What's your answer?"
All eyes snapped to him.
Zhao shifted, Lisa gripped her chair.
Kael raised a brow, intrigued.
The air froze.
Jason rose slowly, unhurried,
Like one crossing a broken bridge in the dead of night.
He scanned the room.
Softly:
"What do I want to become?"
Four words, igniting a cold flare in the ruins.
He paused, his gaze piercing the theater, landing on an intangible future.
Then, in a low voice:
"To become
The one who, in chaos,
Lights a beacon for themselves."
Silence.
Long, heavy silence.
The lecturer fumbled, mouth opening, but said nothing.
Kael's smirk froze, a flicker of stillness in his eyes.
Zhao and Lisa straightened, as if waking from a daze.
> [HEX64 Prompt: Belief Sprout Monitoring]
> - Peripheral Node Loyalty Up (+5%).
> - Drifting Node Observation Mood Down (-3%).
> - Kael Faction Internal Micro-Fluctuation Detected.
The system's interface traced new crack lines.
Faint, fragile.
But real.
Like a stubborn sprout breaking through frozen soil.
Jason sat calmly, as if nothing had happened.
Cold wind poured through the theater's broken skylight,
Carrying dust, the scent of the future,
Brushing his fingertips.
That beacon—
Had sparked its first faint glow in some hearts.
IV. Trial by First Flame
Night, inky black.
The school's western abandoned parking lot lay under hazy moonlight, a forgotten battlefield.
Broken signs creaked in the wind, shattered glass glinting faintly.
Jason stood in the shadows, watching the open lot.
Zhao Mingxuan and Lisa Peng paced casually nearby,
Two newly loyal nodes hidden behind wrecked cars.
All arranged, silently.
Jason knew.
Tonight, Kael would strike.
Not for victory.
But to probe.
> [HEX64 Prompt: Wind Alert]
> - Kael Faction Small-Scale Action Imminent.
> - Target: Peripheral Nodes (Zhao Mingxuan Primary).
> - Predicted Action: Localized Humiliation/Low-Intensity Pressure.
> - Storm Level: Low.
> [Strategic Recommendations]:
> - Avoid proactive attack.
> - Induce opponent to expose weaknesses.
> - Counter with minimal cost, amplify belonging effect.
Under moonlight, stealthy figures emerged.
Kael, with two followers, crossed the broken fence,
Steps light, demeanor brash.
He twirled a rusted baseball bat,
Tapping his palm with grating ''slaps''
Behind him, John Wells—
Eyes darting, expression conflicted.
Half-convinced, but one foot in Kael's camp.
Kael squinted at Zhao, feigning a stroll, and grinned mockingly:
"Well, if it isn't the tech club's little boss?"
Zhao froze, face tightening.
Lisa stepped forward instinctively, shielding him.
Kael swung the bat lazily, taunting:
"Heard you're all 'united' now?
What, no invite for me?
Afraid I'll ruin your wholesome vibe?"
His followers snickered, the air chilling fast.
Jason stayed silent in the shadows.
Like wind.
Like the deepest quiet before thunder.
Waiting—
For Kael's first cut.
Kael had to break the false balance himself.
Zhao clenched his jaw, about to speak.
Lisa grabbed him, staring Kael down, voice calm but sharp:
"We don't team up with clowns."
Kael's face twitched.
The laughter behind him stopped.
The air locked.
Kael's eyes darkened.
He stepped closer, voice low:
"Say that again."
Zhao's fists shook.
At the brink of collapse—
Jason moved.
He stepped from the shadows, slow and deliberate.
Each step nailed into the silent air.
Kael squinted, smirking dangerously:
"Well, look who's out of hiding.
Think you're what—a savior?"
Jason stopped five paces away.
No reply.
He raised a hand—
Index and middle fingers together, pointing at Kael.
A slow slash,
Cutting the night.
Cutting fate's threads.
> [HEX64 Prompt: Tactical Action Sync]
> - Wind-Thunder Array Activated (Silent Suppression).
> - Target Psychological Fluctuation Reaching Critical Alert.
> - Recommendation: Verbal counter to trigger breakthrough.
Jason spoke.
Voice low, cold, like distant thunder rolling from mountains:
"What do you want?
Prestige?
Belonging?
Or just
The pathetic struggle to be remembered?"
Each word, an icicle piercing the air.
> [HEX64 Prompt: Wind-Thunder Suppression Field Activated]
> - Target Emotional Sync Disrupted…
> - Breathing Pattern Erratic, Verbal Coherence Declining…
Kael's smile froze.
He tried to retort, but his throat seemed gripped by an invisible force.
His breaths shortened, thoughts scattering like broken kites.
His followers stirred, stepping back unconsciously.
John Wells's eyes flickered, his stance shifting slightly toward Jason.
Jason stood firm.
Said nothing more.
Just watched Kael,
Like a beast that had lost its hunting instinct.
The atmosphere shattered.
Kael gritted his teeth, turned, and smashed the bat into a broken sign, the clang echoing.
His followers stumbled after him.
John hesitated, cursed under his breath, and retreated into the ruins' edge.
Only Jason, Zhao Mingxuan, and Lisa remained.
And beneath their feet, the growing—
Soil of belonging and belief.
> [HEX64 Prompt: First Flame Trial Complete]
> - Kael's Initial Probe Failed.
> - Peripheral Node Belonging Up (+12%).
> - Drifting Node Conversion Rate Up (John Wells Belonging Wavering).
> - Campus Rift Widening, Preliminary Belonging Ecosystem Established.
Jason lowered his hand,
Glancing at Zhao and Lisa.
Zhao's eyes were resolute, Lisa nodded faintly.
Cracks were spreading.
But beneath them—
A new order
Was growing.
V. Oath in the Rift
Midnight, beneath the abandoned library's clock tower.
Cracked brick walls lay bare like wounds under moonlight, wind whistling through broken glass, a mournful hum.
Jason stood at the tower's ruined edge,
Behind him, Zhao Mingxuan, Lisa Peng, and—
John Wells.
Yes, the wavering John,
After the silent standoff in the parking lot,
Chose to step this way.
Head low, hands in his torn hoodie,
Expression awkward yet defiant.
Not a surrenderer.
A reluctant wanderer with no other path.
Jason said nothing.
Just gazed at the ruins.
> [HEX64 Prompt: Earth-Thunder Restoration Hexagram Final Analysis]
> - Thunder in the earth, fracturing to reborn.
> - Peripheral Node Purification Complete via Initial Trial.
> - Origin Node Identification in Progress…
> [System Special Prompt]:
> - Current Environment: High Concealment, Belonging Emotion Saturation Rising.
> - Node Oath Module Available, Establish Preliminary Spiritual Bond.
> - Fuxi Philosophical Guidance:
> "Not forced by might, not lured by words. ''
> Only the willing can be the origin."
Jason turned, looking at them.
Zhao's eyes burned with fresh-forged resolve.
Lisa bit her lip, gaze clear, sharp as a blade.
John hesitated, then raised his head.
Their eyes met.
Wind passed between them,
Carrying dust.
Carrying the future.
Jason spoke, voice low, hoarse, like vines growing after collapse:
"No oaths here.
No promises.
You can leave anytime,
No explanation needed.
But if you stay,
Your faith
Belongs to you alone.
Not for me.
Not for anyone.
But for—
A place in this rotting world
Where you can still claim yourself."
Silence.
Long silence.
Only the tower's broken clock hand creaked in the wind.
Zhao stepped forward first.
No grand gesture, just a simple—
Extended hand.
Jason clasped it lightly.
A moment, no fanfare.
Just power, passing silently through fingertips.
Lisa followed.
Her hand, cold but firm, like a flower blooming through winter.
Jason clasped each in turn.
At John Wells, he paused.
John glared, seeking a last escape.
Finally, he muttered a curse, slapping his hand down.
Heavy, stubborn.
Jason smiled faintly.
In that instant,
The first light in the rift
Was born.
> [HEX64 Prompt: Origin Nodes Formally Established]
> - Origin Node Count: 3.
> - Collective Belief Preliminarily Formed.
> - Group Spiritual Bond Activation: 21%.
> - Future Expansion Multiplier: Estimated Initial Growth ×2.7.
Under moonlight,
Atop the clock tower's ruins,
Four shadows merged,
Forming a rough, real primal totem.
Not a blood pact.
Not an oath.
But belief.
Their own belief.
The first dawn of a future empire.
The wind swept through the ruins.
Above the tower, the broken clock hand
Trembled faintly,
As if responding silently—
To the future.