A Heartbeat from Beneath the Water

When Lin Jie's palm closed around the metal cable, an immense flood of sensory information surged along it, racing across this "bridge of solid matter" and nearly overwhelming his consciousness.

This was utterly unlike any experience he had had with an Afterimage before. It wasn't a single emotion or fragment of memory, but the profound, majestic "soul" of an entire lake spanning millions of years.

He "heard" the mournful cry of enormous glaciers grinding and pressing against the rocks on the lakebed as they slowly moved during the Ice Age.

He "saw" the first ray of sunlight pierce the ice, and the most primitive joy of life returning as the first aquatic plant took root on the lakebed.

He "felt" countless schools of fish roar past "him" like silver storms, and the lingering warmth of the earth's veins falling into eternal silence after the last eruption of a volcano on the lakebed.

For an instant, his consciousness seemed to leave his insignificant body and become Loch Ness itself. He became its water, its rocks, every grain of sediment, and felt everything this ancient body of water had experienced since its birth.

The vast experience of connecting with a lake's "memories" made his very soul tremble. He felt as though he might dissolve into the river of time at any moment.

Sergeant William's battle cry yanked Lin Jie's consciousness back from the brink of that fatal "assimilation" just as it was beginning to scatter.

Lin Jie shuddered violently, only then realizing that his spiritual energy was being drained at a terrifying rate.

He immediately steadied his mind and forced himself to pull away from the vast "memories of the lake."

He began filtering out every irrelevant sound: the glaciers' mournful cries, the fish schools' clamor, the silence of the earth's veins.

His entire will focused into the finest probe, searching the abyss of endless information for the unique frequency that belonged to a colossal "living being."

There, in the profound darkness and cold that not even sunlight could reach, he found a voice.

It wasn't a sound heard with the ears, but an ancient, slow, and vital pulse felt through the soul.

Thump... The sound was incredibly heavy, with a long pause between each beat.

Thump... There was no malice in that pulse, no predator's greed or guardian's fury. It held only the most primal "existence" itself.

It was a serenity and tranquility that transcended joy and sorrow, almost akin to the "Way." Like a venerable monk who had meditated for a thousand years, each heartbeat resonated perfectly with the breath of Loch Ness.

Lin Jie's consciousness was deeply drawn to that immense "heartbeat." He felt an urge to approach it, to merge with its absolute calm.

He could tell that if he relaxed his will even slightly, the pulse—warm and peaceful as a mother's womb—would completely "embrace" him, and he would fall into a sweet, dreamless slumber from which he would never wake.

An alarm blared in Lin Jie's mind. Danger!

He immediately realized that this "serenity" was itself a more deadly danger, one on an even higher level!

It was like a beautiful, fragrant poppy, enough to make any mortal creature that touched it lose itself and become its servant.

He bit down hard on his tongue. The pain instantly cleared his mind, and he began desperately wrenching his consciousness away from that fatal attraction.

The process was far more difficult than he had imagined. That serene pulse had sensed the presence of an outsider, and its gentle power began to hold him back with a hint of irresistible insistence.

Lin Jie cried out in his heart, Heart of Serenity!

His right hand, gripping the cable, had nearly gone numb, but his left hand, resting at his waist, fought with all its strength to clutch the grip of the Webley revolver!

A cold spiritual force, imbued with absolute "reason" and "Zen," surged from it!

The force was weak, but its nature was exceptionally pure.

It did not try to oppose that immense pulse. Instead, it focused on guarding the small domain of "self" within Lin Jie's consciousness, preventing it from being completely assimilated.

As one side waned and the other waxed, Lin Jie finally managed to pull his consciousness inch by inch out of the abyss!

The instant his consciousness fully returned to his body, he fell backward uncontrollably. A mouthful of blood sprayed from his lips, staining the deck in front of him red.

William and the scholar both cried out in alarm, then rushed over and helped him up.

Lin Jie felt the world spinning around him. Everything swayed, and all he could hear was a buzzing in his ears.

All the strength had been drained from his body. He couldn't move so much as a finger. His spiritual energy had been depleted far more severely than ever before.

Yet in his unfocused eyes, dimmed by weakness, shone the brilliant light of a man who had discovered the truth.

He managed to say haltingly, "I... I heard it... It... It's right below us... It's alive... It's the heartbeat of this lake..."

Alistair was supporting Lin Jie, his whole body trembling with excitement. He had no idea what Lin Jie had just gone through, but he saw the blood at the corner of his mouth and felt how weak he was.

He knew that the young man had just risked his life to touch the ultimate secret they had spent a lifetime pursuing, in a way none of them could understand.

He asked in a trembling, pleading voice, "What... what does it look like? Did you see it?"

Lin Jie shook his head, struggling to put the experience beyond ordinary perception into words. "I... I didn't see what it looked like."

"It isn't something... that can be described by its shape. It's more like... more like a pure aggregation of energy, a living spiritual field."

"It's ancient and serene, but... also extremely dangerous."

"Any mortal consciousness that tries to approach it will be assimilated by the immense 'calm' it radiates, and then... vanish completely."

He turned to the old soldier, William, and delivered his final conclusion. "We have to reassess our mission report."

"This thing... its threat level is definitely not Caution Rank."

"In terms of sheer power, it far surpasses the Town Rank Mist Walker I encountered before."

"The only reason it hasn't been assigned a higher rank is that it has no 'malice.'"

"It's like the sun high in the sky. It has no intention of harming anyone, but any moth that tries to get too close will be burned to ash by its irresistible light and heat."

William and Alistair were both deeply shaken into silence by his words.

A guardian with no malice, whose very "existence" was enough to pose a fatal threat to mortal creatures?

After delivering his final words, Lin Jie could no longer hold on. His head lolled to one side, and he fell unconscious.

At the final moment before losing consciousness, though, a satisfied smile tugged at his lips.

He had finally confirmed, in his own way, that the enormous living energy source beneath the lake existed. The price had been most of his spiritual energy.

But it had all been worth it.

From now on, the mysteries of the "Loch Ness Monster" held no secrets from him.