Chapter 16 · Heart of Dispersion
Section One · Undercurrent Emerges (Part One)
[HEX64 Main Hexagram Binding: Wind Over Water (Huan)]
[The situation is turbulent, a true controller never forcefully drags the situation, but guides the tide to turn on its own.]
There was an unspeakable strangeness in the air.
Even the most sluggish students could feel the change in the school's atmosphere these past few days.
Whispers were more frequent than before; eyes met more often and with more temperature and intent.
At the corner of the abandoned teaching building, two older students in worn hoodies walked side by side, their conversation hushed extremely low.
"...Heard about it? The underground passage node behind the sports field, someone messed with it the night before last."
"...Whose people? TRACE periphery? Or...?"
"...Who knows? But, some people are starting to actively investigate the list."
In the shadows, information slowly intertwined like fine threads, extending, tearing at the originally loose but stable school social network.
[HEX64 Prompt: Peripheral Node Fluctuation Perception · Stability decreased by 8%.]
Jason stood quietly by the damaged railing on the second floor, looking down at the scattered groups of people on the sports field.
The wind blew, causing his coat hem to flutter almost imperceptibly.
The world in his eyes was no longer a blur of people, but a series of subtly changing situation maps:
——Node trajectories.
——Momentum changes.
——Information gaps.
They had started to notice.
Not everyone. But a sufficient number.
"TRACE peripheral team," Jason marked silently in his mind.
This meant that his actions in manipulating the peripheral node structure within the school had attracted a low level of alertness from external forces.
However, clear hostility had not yet formed.
They had only perceived a faint "anomaly," but did not yet know whom to attribute it to.
This was the effect Jason desired.
[HEX64 Prompt: Situation Phase Assessment——Invisible Disturbance Level. Active Exposure Risk: Extremely Low.]
He slightly narrowed his eyes.
No need to forcefully block, no need to rush into action.
This river needed to change its course on its own.
Just as the Fuxi Hexagram stated:
"The Great Dispersion, the King approaches the temple. Advantageous to cross the great river."
When the general trend is dispersing, it is an opportune moment to reconstruct faith and order.
Downstairs, a group of younger students were discussing.
Their gazes were occasionally cast towards Jason's direction, but quickly withdrawn.
"Is that... Jason Carter?"
"Heard he took down Brandon, even the Vice President didn't dare touch him..."
"Really? Doesn't look like it, he's clearly just... very quiet..."
"What do you know? Truly dangerous people never look dangerous."
Amidst the whispers, emotions rose like steam.
Awe.
Curiosity.
Fear.
And a hint of, hidden expectation.
Jason lowered his head, his fingertips lightly tapping the old railing.
The rhythm was extremely slow, yet precise, like some kind of invisible secret code.
[HEX64 Prompt: Peripheral Node Observation——Newly added spontaneous approach intention nodes +5.]
He understood.
The node ecosystem within the school was starting its first natural reorganization.
It wasn't forced by him.
Rather, driven by momentum, weaker nodes were beginning to converge towards him.
And external forces could only speculate in the dark, not daring to intervene rashly.
All of this was exactly——
Jason whispered silently in his mind:
"Control is not about pushing, but letting the world rotate around you."
Just as he was about to turn and leave, his upper right field of vision caught a slender but steady stride.
A white shirt, dark skirt hem, a long shadow intertwined with light patches as she walked.
Emily Lin, passed quietly from the end of the corridor.
She did not look at him.
Not even a hint of fluctuation was revealed in her peripheral vision.
As if it were just an unintentional passing.
But Jason captured it keenly.
The instant Emily rounded the corner, her left hand's knuckles tightened slightly——
It was an extremely brief tension reaction, undetectable by ordinary people.
[HEX64 Prompt: Peripheral Observation Node F-08 · Micro-momentum Change Perception——Attention Intensity +12%.]
Jason imperceptibly withdrew his gaze.
He did not follow. Did not greet.
Nor did he make any further movements.
Because——
The game had not yet reached the moment to place a piece.
A distant bell rang, interrupting this silent undercurrent.
Jason slowly turned, blending into the crowd.
But as his footsteps landed, each step was placed precisely on the intersection lines of invisible nodes, without error.
Just as that ancient proverb said:
"In times of turmoil, a true empire is not defined by boundaries on a map, but by sowing belonging deep within the heart."
Node Diffusion (Part Two)
[HEX64 Main Hexagram continues binding: Wind Over Water (Huan)]
[Do not compel people with force, but lure them with momentum; true controllers know how to build bridges in the current, not resist the flood.]
The afternoon sun shone through the broken blinds, casting dappled and fragmented light on the grey-white corridor floor.
Jason walked quietly back to his classroom, his ears unconsciously picking up the fragmented and faint conversations around him.
"...Heard he left something behind at the sports field."
"...Heard he chatted with some of the student union bosses, might be setting up his own line."
"...Really? Then can we too...?"
"...Getting closer can't hurt, right?"
The voices were intermittent, yet like a tide beginning to seep into the fissures.
Jason's pace remained unchanged, his gaze subtly sweeping around——
Several faces that were originally unrelated were appearing around his path with an extremely unnatural frequency.
On the surface, they still pretended to be passing by, conversing, or looking for something, but the stiffness and superfluous details betrayed their true intentions.
[HEX64 Prompt: Peripheral Node Autonomous Diffusion Rate +17%. Node Observation Index elevated.]
The system's whisper flowed in his ear, cold and precise.
A clear structural diagram emerged in Jason's mind:
Peripheral nodes, like unguided vines, were naturally converging towards him——but too haphazardly, difficult to utilize directly.
Absorbing them rashly would only introduce too many unstable factors.
Constantly refusing would lose the optimal rhythm of the situation's natural evolution.
Therefore——
He chose a third way:
Guidance.
Not direct acceptance, nor cold expulsion.
But setting up invisible barriers, allowing truly potential nodes to cross the threshold themselves and remain.
After school, by the dilapidated courtyard next to the cafeteria side door.
Jason stood alone in front of the water dispenser, his slender fingers slowly twisting the valve open.
Mark Cooper, a younger student, cautiously approached with his drawing board, followed by two unfamiliar students, their eyes reflecting a keen willingness to try.
Jason looked up, giving a faint glance.
Mark swallowed, and spoke first:
"Hey, Jason... uh, I drew some things recently... if you don't mind, could you... take a look?"
He handed over a sketchbook, his movements slightly nervous.
Jason took it, casually flipping through a couple of pages.
Every drawing depicted the same theme——
In the dark night, vines entangled the cracked earth, struggling to grow in wind and rain.
He gently nodded, without saying much, just returned the book to Mark.
This reaction was just right.
Neither cold and distant, nor overly enthusiastic.
It gave a signal, but did not state it explicitly, leaving space for the other party to make their own decision.
[HEX64 Prompt: Peripheral Node · M-04 (Mark Cooper) Stability elevated.]
The two unfamiliar students behind him exchanged a look, slightly hesitant, but ultimately did not speak.
They realized:
Approaching Jason was not just about impulse or cleverness, but required truly approaching with value.
This was screening.
It wasn't Jason selecting them,
But——
Whether they had the qualification, to prove themselves.
Before evening study hall.
Jason walked slowly through the narrow alleyway between the main building and the dormitory building.
The sky had darkened, and the streetlights cast dim and fragmented halos of yellow light in the air.
In the distance, several older students stood beneath a withered sycamore tree, discussing something in low voices.
Jason couldn't hear the content, but he didn't need to.
[HEX64 Prompt: Peripheral Node Cluster Group generated × 3 groups. Intention: Observe → Approach.]
Subtle momentum fluctuated in the air, like an undercurrent about to take shape.
He slightly tightened the collar of his coat, his pace calm.
This school, once a stagnant furnace,
And now, silently, was being reignited and rewoven by him.
[Fuxi Hexagram Prompt]
A true controller never actively recruits anyone.
He only needs to ignite a storm,
Letting all wanderers find their direction on their own——
Ultimately converging beneath his feet.
Intersecting Blades (Part Three)
[HEX64 Main Hexagram continues binding: Wind Over Water (Huan)]
[In turmoil, blades intersect, probing rather than dueling; truly dangerous conversations are always hidden in the calmest words.]
Night had completely fallen.
The teaching building's lights were sparse and dim, the long corridor seeming to extend into endless darkness, only footsteps echoing in the emptiness.
Jason walked alone towards the library side door——a secluded path, rarely used on weekdays.
He deliberately chose this path.
Because according to the system prompts, the information flow caused by peripheral node diffusion had entered a critical stage, and excessive exposure was inadvisable today.
[HEX64 Prompt: Momentum Flow Critical Alert · Potential contact risk 5%.]
Jason walked very slowly.
Each step was precisely placed on the boundary line between shadow and light patches, as if silently defining the boundaries of his existence.
As he was about to turn past the door of an empty classroom——
A cool, clear voice came from the shadows:
"So late, still inspecting your territory?"
The voice was calm, without obvious hostility,
But carried a strange penetrative quality.
Jason paused, turning his head to look.
Emily Lin leaned against the door frame, holding a copy of "On War" with a worn cover, her fingertips casually tapping the cover, the rhythm slow and deliberate.
She wore a dark grey coat, her school skirt revealing slender and taut legs, her long hair gently swaying in the night wind.
Her eyes, in the dimness, were like blades slicing water, both calm and harboring a subtle sharpness.
Jason did not respond immediately.
He simply looked at her quietly.
Observing.
Deconstructing.
Evaluating.
[HEX64 Prompt: Node F-08 (Emily) Parameter Analysis initiated.]
——Logic Curve Deviation Rate: High.
——Intention Prediction Success Rate: Low.
——Emotional Shielding Rate: Medium-High.
——Current Projected State: Probing × Risk Aversion × Induction × Self-Preservation.
As complex as an inverted spiderweb.
Jason realized, she wasn't here to challenge, nor to submit.
She was here to test the boundaries.
"I thought," Jason finally spoke, his voice low and restrained, "the art of war is not inspection, but... waiting for the prey to expose itself."
Emily chuckled softly, her smile very faint, yet extremely penetrative.
She slowly took two steps closer, stopping three meters away from him.
Not far, not close.
Just outside the critical danger zone, yet close enough for the conversation to carry weight.
"Prey?" She raised an eyebrow, "In a place like this, it's hard to say who is the hunter and who is the prey, isn't it?"
Jason narrowed his eyes slightly.
Her words were both a challenge and a hint.
Hinting that she knew he was laying a layout.
But at the same time, subtly expressing——that she herself did not plan to be easily caught.
Jason tilted his head slightly, his gaze sweeping past a flickering old streetlamp at the end of the corridor.
"Uncertainty," he said slowly, "is the most dangerous thing.
——More dangerous than violence, more dangerous than conspiracy, more dangerous than the betrayal of loyalty."
The light in Emily's eyes moved slightly.
The next second, she lowered her head, opened the worn copy of "On War" in her hand, turned to a page, and read softly:
"The most important war is never a war of guns and cannons, but a war of will."
She looked up, meeting Jason's gaze.
"Are you preparing for a war?" she asked.
Her voice was so calm it was almost indifferent.
Jason was silent for two seconds.
Then, he smiled slightly.
A smile devoid of any emotional fluctuation, merely like a ripple spreading slightly on the water's surface.
"Not a war," he said, "it's... climate."
Emily slightly narrowed her eyes, seemingly pondering the meaning of this sentence.
"War can end," Jason added, his voice almost inaudible, "climate... does not."
The air was silent for an instant.
Like two sharp knives rubbing against each other in the air, lightly colliding, emitting silent sparks.
Emily said nothing more.
She closed the book, took a step back, nodded slightly, and turned to leave.
Her long hair arced in the wind, disappearing at the end of the corridor.
And Jason, standing in place, watched her leave.
[HEX64 Prompt: Node F-08 (Emily) First active probing completed.]
→ Analysis Result: Maintains distance, but interest is rising.
→ Prediction: Will not be hostile in the short term, tends towards observation → penetration → decision.
Jason slowly exhaled.
This conversation, seemingly calm, was in reality more dangerous than an open confrontation.
Because Emily Lin was not a simple pawn.
She was a free node that had not yet belonged to any faction.
And free nodes——
Could either become an asset to the empire,
Or become the most fatal variable in the future.
[Fuxi Hexagram Prompt]
In the undercurrent, the hardest to control are not enemies, nor allies,
But those who have not yet made their choice.
They, are the true variables of the situation.
Dispersion and Convergence (Part Four)
[Main Hexagram continues: Wind Over Water (Huan)]
Dispersion leads to the flow of water, advantageous to find friends in the southwest, lose friends in the northeast. Secure and upright brings good fortune.
——In turmoil, natural screening, discard the superficial, gather the genuine.
The night deepened further.
The city's neon lights flickered at the distant skyline, like the weak pulse of a tired heart.
Jason sat on the small balcony at the end of the fourth floor of the dormitory building, holding a thick notebook, opened to the back pages——dense with records of information flow changes over the past week.
Node coordinates, interaction frequency, emotional curves, potential intentions...
Everything, clear as a weaving spiderweb.
[HEX64 Prompt: Peripheral Node Natural Dispersion Index elevated. Core potential nodes being screened.]
Jason quietly watched the data stream change, expressionless.
The natural diffusion of peripheral nodes had entered the second phase:
A portion of people began to gravitate towards him on their own, trying to ingratiate themselves, gain favor, or seek protection.
A portion of people gradually distanced themselves out of fear or disappointment, returning to their original camps.
Silent dispersion was quietly happening in the air of this dilapidated school.
And Jason did not try to retain any node that left.
He simply sat there, like a silent magnet, attracting only those who truly resonated with his trajectory.
On the other side of the teaching building, Emily Lin walked alone on the flagstone path in front of the library.
In her hand, she clutched the copy of "On War," its cover already creased from her fingertips gripping it tightly.
Under the dim yellow streetlights, her shadow was stretched long, occasionally swaying slightly with the wind.
She was thinking.
Jason Carter——
That almost extreme sense of control about him,
That ability to subtly manipulate the surrounding atmospheric flow without visible movement,
Evoked a complex and contradictory feeling in her:
Dangerous,
Yet inevitably, attracted.
Emily slowly closed her eyes.
She knew, she was approaching a situation from which it would be difficult to withdraw.
And this situation——
Perhaps one day, would determine her belonging, and even the trajectory of her entire life.
Around a corner in the dormitory area, three students were conversing in hushed tones.
"Heard he's starting to take people in?"
"Really? How do you get in?"
"It's not like you can just walk in... you have to figure it out yourself."
These few short sentences, like signals flowing in the wind,
Intertwined in the darkness into an invisible net.
Jason lowered his head, sketching a new diagram in his notebook.
Not a complex power structure.
But something resembling a naturally growing脉络图 (network/vein diagram).
The center was slowly expanding.
But the edges were automatically peeling away.
This was the ideal state.
Not by force, not by bribery, but by natural momentum-driven screening.
He paused his pen, lightly tapping the edge of the notebook.
A line of small text, like a whisper, fell onto the paper:
——"Wind moves and water disperses, dispersed but not溃 (crumbling), flow of water finds its way."
[HEX64 Prompt: Peripheral Node Screening Completion reached 35%. Recommended initiation of preliminary structure weaving mechanism.]
Jason closed the notebook.
The night wind swept past, carrying the unique dust scent of the ruined city.
He stood up, tightening his coat, his gaze piercing through the night, looking towards the endless distance.
The first invisible脉络 (network/vein) of the empire,
Had quietly taken root above the ruins.
Night of the Oath (Part Five)
[Main Hexagram continues: Wind Over Water (Huan)]
Therefore, those who can disperse without scattering, and gather without stagnation, have attained the Tao.
——Only those who solidify themselves in turmoil can bear the weight of the future.
Night, so deep it could almost swallow everything.
Outside the dormitory building, the abandoned sports field wailed in the wind, broken wire mesh clanging against the railing, echoing clangorously, like a crippled symphony no one listened to.
Jason walked through the dim corridor, arriving at the small classroom at the end of the fourth floor that had long been abandoned.
The door was ajar, opening with a gentle push.
Inside the room, there was only a worn-out desk and an emergency light that had long been out of repair but occasionally flickered a few times.
He pushed the door open, closed it behind him, the entire world seeming to be isolated by this small, narrow space.
Jason walked to the desk, spreading out the notebook, pen, and a stack of old printer paper he had brought with him.
No sense of ritual.
Only silence.
Only resolve.
[HEX64 Prompt: Current state entering · Covert Oath Node.]
→ Explanation: The beginning of all layouts must be rooted in a heart's vow.
→ Host free choice: Whether to record the first empire oath.
—
Jason quietly stared at the blank page in the notebook.
His fingertips lightly tapped the desk, the rhythm like a heartbeat——short, precise, suppressing the power about to erupt.
Outside the window, a dark cloud passed over, completely obscuring the weak moonlight.
This city, this ruined, fallen, corrupted free state world of ideals and dignity,
Was slowly, painfully, and irreversibly collapsing.
And upon this endless ruin——
He would sow his own rules.
Not for salvation.
Not for revenge.
But for——control.
Control of chaos.
Control of the future.
Control of, everything that had once enslaved him.
Jason picked up the pen and wrote the first line.
His handwriting was thin and firm, the strokes contained, yet carrying a nearly cold clarity between the lines.
——"The empire is not born above the masses, but in the chaos of all things."
——"I, do not need to be the light."
——"I, will be——the shadow of order."
The pen scratched across the paper, making a rustling sound, as if carving a hidden decree in the darkness.
He did not stop writing, continuing to write a few short lines:
——"Not by bloodline do I vow."
——"Not by deities do I vow."
——"Not by compassion do I vow."
——"Only by——will and layout, do I vow."
The last stroke fell.
Jason slowly put down the pen, closing his eyes.
A low and dense sense of vibration, slowly surged from the depths of the HEX64 system,
Like the subtle tremor of an ancient deep-sea giant turning over.
[HEX64 Prompt: Host Will Density Critical Value reached · Preliminary Empire Heart Vow Binding completed.]
→ New System Function Unlocked: Passive Influence Mapping.
→ Local Momentum Perception Threshold elevated.
→ Peripheral Node Natural Dispersion Guidance effectiveness increased by 12%.
Jason opened his eyes.
Deep within his pupils, a faint, almost imperceptible silver light was reflected——
As if some higher-dimensional rule had been quietly implanted in his body.
In the distance, at the teaching building corridor corner.
Emily stood in the half-light, half-shadow, holding the copy of "On War," its cover already creased by her fingertips.
She watched the ajar classroom door from afar, not approaching.
Just quietly, quietly standing.
In her eyes, there was no hostility.
But also no trust.
Only——
An emotion so complex it was almost inexpressible:
A sense of danger.
A premonition.
And... a faint, uncontrollable, curiosity.
She knew.
Tonight, some irreversible change had quietly occurred in this school, in this ruin, in this undercurrent.
[Fuxi Philosophy]
"The most yielding, moves covertly in darkness; the most rigid, breaks the situation without visible form.
A gentleman facing the masses, speaks not of authority, but guides only with the overwhelming trend."