From American Internet Celebrity to God Among Men

What impressed Alex the most was a submission from a former steelworker, who had used a safety hammer to strike ”scales” on scrap steel plates with varying degrees of rust. He explained: ”Different degrees of rust make the sound ’dull’ or ’bright’ differently. This dullest piece was soaked in acid rain; this one with a bit of metallic ring was left in a dry indoor environment... These are the last songs my old buddies can sing.”

Alex immediately had the operations team feature this ”Rust Scale” and the submitter’s story. It perfectly fit the theme and was full of human warmth. The platform once again proved its unique eye for discovering the ”extraordinary in the ordinary.”

On Friday night, Alex and Taylor decided to go out to eat at a casual French bistro in downtown Los Angeles that they both liked, as a way to celebrate the EP nearing completion and to take a breather from the studio.

The restaurant was warmly lit, with whispered conversations. They ordered simple dishes and a nice bottle of red wine. Chatting about the details of the EP, interesting submissions on the platform, and the trivial joys of daily life over the past few weeks since returning, the atmosphere was cozy.

During dessert, Alex’s phone vibrated very slightly in his pocket. It was an encrypted message notification from Lin (Team K). He calmly picked up his napkin to wipe his mouth and said to Taylor, ”I’m going to the restroom.”

In the restroom stall, he quickly read the message. The content was more interesting and open-ended than expected: ”Based on the primary screening model built from the ’History’ data, after the initial run, seventeen ’potential secondary association points’ have been marked globally. Most of them are sparsely distributed with weak signal characteristics. But one cluster has attracted attention: located in a certain island region in the South Pacific, there are three marked points with potential connections in time, space, and characteristics. Preliminary speculation suggests that this region may contain a relatively ’active’ or ’higher residual intensity’ secondary node, or may have been a ’hotspot area’ in the history of this phenomenon. Attached is the preliminary analysis briefing (non-technical summary version) and public geographic and cultural background information for the region. For your perusal in your spare time, no immediate action is required. The team is conducting further data mining and model optimization.”

South Pacific islands? The images of azure seas, blue skies, volcanoes, and the distant seafaring legends of the Polynesians immediately surfaced in Alex’s mind. This place sounded much more like a ”vacation” than ice fields, the deep sea, or highland ruins, but the labels of ”potential secondary node” or ”historical hotspot” cast a veil of mystery over it.

He encrypted and archived the message, washed his hands, and returned to his seat with a normal expression.

”What’s wrong?” Taylor acutely noticed the flash of light in his eyes. ”Work news?”

”Sort of,” Alex didn’t hide it, saying in as relaxed a tone as possible, ”From K, the model ran some new results. It mentioned some islands in the South Pacific, possibly with some... interesting ’historical acoustic phenomenon’ remnants. They gave us some materials to look at when we have time, just for background reading.” He specifically emphasized ”we” and ”background reading.”

Taylor raised an eyebrow and scooped up a spoonful of crème brûlée: ”South Pacific? Sounds more suitable for a vacation than Greenland or Tibet. Does the material mention anything delicious or good to listen to?”

”I’ll keep an eye out,” Alex smiled. ”Maybe there are records about ocean tides, volcanoes, and ancient canoe sailing chants.”

”That’s more like it.” Taylor nodded with satisfaction. ”Next time if we go for ’field reading,’ I’ll have to learn how to weave leis and do the hula in advance.”

The two smiled at each other, turning the possibilities of the future into jokes at the dinner table.

On the way home, Taylor drove, and Alex looked at the night scenery passing by the window. The South Pacific... a new coordinate with tropical flair was quietly marked on the world map in his heart. It didn’t necessarily represent immediate danger or a mission, but rather a newly opened window, filled with sunshine and sea breezes, with another expanse of blue outside that might hold ancient secrets.