After systematically reviewing historical documents and modern reports, Lin Jie and William had built a solid theoretical framework for their investigation.
But that wasn't enough. History was cold words on a page, and rumors were nothing more than imagination. They still needed a vivid perspective from an eyewitness to breathe life and detail into their framework.
Their target was Ian MacGregor, the key figure Sergeant William had identified during their successful "pub investigation."
The old man was the direct source of the latest "monster" sighting report in the Inverness Courier, and the center of all the recent gossip.
Yet ever since that sighting, the once-bravest old fisherman on Urquhart Bay had become a different man entirely. He had sold his fishing gear and spent his days hiding in his wooden cottage, shutting himself off from the world with cheap whiskey. Everyone gave the "crazy old man" a wide berth.
The next morning, a hired carriage carried the two men along the winding lakeside road beside Loch Ness, toward the remote fishing village where Ian lived.
The vast Loch Ness was like an obsidian mirror set among the Highland mountains, its still surface reflecting the leaden sky. Beneath that tranquility lay an unknown abyss more than two hundred meters deep.
Fisherman Ian's home was a lonely cottage of wood and stone on the edge of the village.
They could smell the strong reek of alcohol seeping through the gaps around the doors and windows before they even reached it.
William stepped forward and knocked. There was no response from inside, only a string of drunken, slurred curses.
After several failed attempts, William had no choice but to give up.
"Perhaps we should try a different approach."
Lin Jie wasn't discouraged. His gaze passed over the cottage and settled on an old fishing boat pulled up on the shore nearby.
He glanced at the cottage window facing the boat, and a plan instantly took shape in his mind.
"Sergeant William, can you find a way to draw him out of the house, even if only for five minutes? I think this boat might tell us more than its owner."
William immediately understood what Lin Jie had in mind.
He nodded, then circled around behind the cottage. Before long, a series of thunderous crashes rang out from the pine woods, accompanied by several deliberately imitated stag cries.
The cursing inside abruptly stopped. A moment later, the cottage door was yanked open, and a disheveled, red-faced old man stumbled out, clutching an ancient hunting rifle. "Which damned poacher is it?" he roared, lurching toward the source of the commotion William had made.
Now was their chance.
Lin Jie hurried over to the old fishing boat.
He didn't touch it right away. Instead, he inspected it carefully, circling it like an experienced appraiser.
He soon spotted several unusual, enormous gouges along the keel. They looked as if something had lifted the boat from underneath.
The discovery made his theory about the UMA's nature all the clearer.
Without further hesitation, he took off his leather glove and pressed his bare palm firmly against the boat's side, the wood icy from the lake water.
[Touch of Afterimage] quietly activated.
Lin Jie's vision was immediately engulfed by a fractured sensory image, a jumble of lake water, moonlight, and an enormous shadow!
He "saw" it!
He saw old fisherman Ian on a bright moonlit night, his boat knocked off course by a sudden underwater current and headed straight for a field of jagged rocks.
At that critical moment, an enormous shadow emanating a gentle blue light slowly rose from the lakebed. It steadied his little boat and pushed it away from mortal danger!
For that instant, Lin Jie's consciousness became perfectly attuned to old fisherman Ian's.
He clearly "felt" what Ian had truly felt then—not fear at all, but the rapturous joy and reverence of a devout believer finally witnessing with his own eyes the "Guardian Deity" he had worshipped all his life, appearing with an irresistible and solemn majesty. The old man had been so overwhelmed that his whole body trembled and he could hardly breathe!
What old fisherman Ian had seen was no hideous water monster, but the kind and mighty "Guardian Deity" he had heard about since childhood!
Lin Jie pulled his hand away and gasped for breath.
He finally understood why old fisherman Ian drank himself senseless every day and shut everyone out. It wasn't because he was afraid, but because of his profound anger and disappointment!
He had witnessed a miracle. But when he shared that sacred experience with an ordinary world already corrupted by money and reason, all he got in return was merciless ridicule and insults.
Everyone had taken him for a madman.
Just then, William emerged from the pine woods, bringing along the grumbling old fisherman.
When Ian realized he had been tricked, his face flushed with rage. He raised his hunting rifle, ready to drive the two damned outsiders away.
But as he roared and loaded the gun, Lin Jie slowly raised his head and met his furious gaze. In a calm, understanding voice, he said:
"The Guardian Deity of the Lake of Tears and Light... I understand."
Old fisherman Ian's furious, drunken roar caught in his throat.
He stared at the unfamiliar young man from the East in disbelief.
At last, the Scottish Highlander, who had been so steadfast all his life, slowly sank to his knees and burst into sobs that had been pent up for weeks.
Once Ian had calmed down, his attitude toward the two men changed completely.
He welcomed them into his little cottage and told them everything about that night without holding anything back. He also angrily denounced the "exploration equipment that wants to blast open the lakebed," further confirming Lin Jie's theory that human industrial activity was the main reason the UMA had appeared.
After comforting the old man and promising to pass his "warning" on to "those who needed to know," Lin Jie and William left the lonely cottage.
"Looks like our mission report will be a lot more interesting than the Association expected."
Sergeant William spoke thoughtfully. "But we're still missing the final piece: some 'academic' evidence to tie all these fragments together."
Lin Jie smiled and took a small piece of newspaper from his pocket.
It was an academic article on the "Historical Origins of the Loch Ness Monster," written by Alistair MacDonald, a local folklorist dismissed by mainstream academia as an "eccentric."
Using the address provided by the newspaper office, they made their way to an old stone cottage on the other side of the lake.
Unlike Ian's home, this place was old but meticulously kept.
The man who opened the door looked to be in his fifties. He was tall and lean, with graying hair, but his eyes were bright and alert.
He wore a clean tweed jacket and thick, round-framed glasses. His gaze held both curiosity and scrutiny.
"If you're reporters looking to dig up some cheap stories, you can turn right back around," he said before Lin Jie could speak, in a courteous tone that nevertheless kept them at arm's length. "I reserve my time for genuine 'seekers of knowledge.'"
"I'm afraid we'll disappoint you, Mr. MacDonald."
Lin Jie smiled and took out a handwritten analysis he had drawn himself, comparing the legends of Loch Ness's "Guardian Deity" with Celtic star charts.
"We're not reporters. Just two amateurs who, like you, have a deep respect for the truth and a curiosity about it."
The moment the scholar's eyes fell on the manuscript, covered in complex symbols and ancient maps, his wariness gave way to immense excitement!
"Good heavens... This method of comparative analysis..."
MacDonald was so excited he could barely get the words out. "Young man! Quick! Come in!"
The eccentric scholar who had just been keeping them at arm's length ushered them into his cottage, which resembled a private museum.
Huge bookshelves and specimen cabinets filled every corner of the room. The walls were covered with hand-drawn hydrographic maps and sketches of legendary creatures.
It was a sacred hall, built by one man's lifetime of devotion to the "legends" he cherished.
The scholar showed the two rare kindred spirits the precious "treasures" he had spent his whole life collecting, from prehistoric whale vertebrae etched with ancient marks to extraordinarily detailed maps of the underwater terrain of Loch Ness.
He talked without pause. His vast knowledge resonated with Lin Jie's analysis, based on information from the Underworld, transcending the barriers of dimensions and understanding!
"So, Mr. MacDonald, what's your final conclusion?"
After listening to the scholar's fascinating "lecture" for hours, Lin Jie asked him solemnly.
The scholar adjusted his glasses. His fervent expression gradually gave way to solemnity and gravity.
"My conclusion," he said, each word deliberate, "is that an unknown ancient creature truly lives in Loch Ness."
"But it is certainly no bloodthirsty water monster."
"It is a being of a higher order."
"It may be the last Titan on this planet to retain its pure 'natural divinity.'"
"It is not our enemy. It is the last silent guardian of these Highlands."
"And we so-called 'civilized people' are using our arrogance and ignorance to drive it, step by step, toward... either total extinction, or... the desperate point where it bares the fangs it has forgotten for thousands of years."
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