32: Chapter 32 The Masked Walker on the Abyss

Chen hour. In the quiet room, Dr. Li pressed her fingers together like a sword, and a wisp of earth-yellow aura, dense as glue and heavy as lead, condensed at her fingertips—this was the Earthly Origin Fetal Breath drawn from the deeper parts of the leyline.

With a solemn expression, she lightly tapped three vital acupuncture points on Lin Yuan: the glabella, the center of the chest, and the sea of qi.

With every tap, that earth-yellow aura seeped in a little further. Lin Yuan felt a deep, sluggish, and seemingly eternal weariness surge like a tide from the tapped points, rapidly spreading to his limbs and bones, soaking into every inch of muscle, and even into the depths of his soul.

His heartbeat became extremely slow and weak in his perception, his body temperature dropped rapidly, and his breathing almost ceased.

All his externalized auras—the vitality of a living person, the faint light of his divine spark, and even the fluctuations of his soul—were perfectly covered by this thick layer of Taixi, simulating a state of deep sleep where he was on the verge of dissipation, with only a thread of faint, barely perceptible vitality remaining.

Even the cluster of Void God Spark within his divine spark had its radiance seemingly veiled by a layer of gray, becoming dim and static, like a candle in the wind at the very moment before it extinguishes.

"Remember, twelve hours. Your actions must be secretive; avoid using power beyond the limits simulated by Taixi at all costs. I have imprinted the method of dispelling it into your consciousness. Once the time is up or if you encounter a life-or-death crisis, you can trigger it yourself, but you will be exposed immediately."

Dr. Li withdrew her finger, her voice echoing directly in Lin Yuan's consciousness, "The exit is behind the third brick on the east wall of the quiet room, leading directly to a maintenance hatch in the abandoned drainage system in the south of the city. Once you get out, you are on your own."

Lin Yuan managed to gather a sliver of will and nodded slightly. At this moment, from the outside in, he was like a "living corpse" with only weak life signs remaining. Only his mind, wrapped in Taixi, remained clear, though it was like looking through a thick layer of frosted glass, making his perception of the outside world dull and blurry.

He followed instructions to find the mechanism and pushed open the movable brick, revealing a narrow, damp, and dark passage that only allowed one person to crawl through. Without looking back, he curled his body and crawled inside.

The passage was long and filthy, filled with the stench of aged silt and rotting matter. Like the slowest of reptiles, relying on muscle memory and his remaining sense of direction, he inched forward in the absolute darkness and stench, towards the direction Dr. Li had indicated.

He did not know how much time had passed when a faint sliver of light appeared ahead, along with the vague sound of flowing water. He pushed open the rusted iron grate above his head, and air carrying the city's dust and a faint smell of car exhaust rushed into his nostrils.

This was on the edge of an undeveloped area in the south of the city, an abandoned drainage outlet half-hidden by weeds. The sky was overcast, with lead-gray clouds hanging low. It was the ambiguous time between dawn and day, and there were few pedestrians on the street.

Lin Yuan crawled out of the maintenance hatch and leaned against the cold concrete pipe wall, panting heavily—though under the simulation of Taixi, this panting was so weak that the rise and fall of his chest was barely visible.

He quickly observed his surroundings, and after confirming it was safe, he took out a small, waterproof, sealed bag from his inner pocket. Inside was the "emergency identity" Boss Qian had prepared for him long ago: an unregistered prepaid phone card, some small-denomination cash, login credentials for an anonymous email account, and a slip of paper with several encrypted addresses and contact information written on it.

He first used cash to buy an inconspicuous baseball cap and an old dark gray jacket from an unattended old newsstand by the road. He changed out of the coarse cloth clothes Dr. Li had given him (carefully putting them away) and slightly altered his appearance.

Then, he found a public phone booth and inserted the phone card.

He did not call Boss Qian's number directly, but instead dialed a voicemail number from the paper that had been routed through multiple connections. He left a short message encrypted with pre-agreed code words: "The 'goods' have been temporarily transferred to 'Safe House No. 2'. Need the 'Shopkeeper' to confirm the latest 'market price' and 'road conditions'. See you at the 'old place' in one hour."

Here, the "goods" referred to himself, "Safe House No. 2" was the quiet reading room of a small private library in the south of the city as agreed upon, the "Shopkeeper" was Boss Qian, "market price" referred to the external situation, "road conditions" referred to safe routes, and the "old place" was a 24-hour chain fast-food restaurant in the west of the city, which was crowded and convenient for concealment.

After doing all this, like a truly critically ill person, he walked towards "Safe House No. 2" with his head down, shoulders hunched, and his steps unsteady.

Along the way, he tried his best to avoid the main roads densely packed with surveillance cameras, traveling through old residential alleys. The Taixi state allowed him to perfectly blend in with those patients or drunks staggering about in the early morning, without any sense of incongruity.

An hour later, he was sitting in the corner of that fast-food restaurant, with a cup of cold plain water in front of him. He kept his head down, the brim of his hat pulled very low, as if he were dozing off.

A figure sat down opposite him; it was Boss Qian, but he had used a simple disguise—wearing a pair of glasses and a more casual jacket. He placed a rolled-up newspaper on the table and tapped his fingers on the tabletop in a specific rhythm.

The code matched.

"You're still alive; you can endure more than I thought." Boss Qian's voice was very low, with a hint of imperceptible relief. "But your current state... Dr. Li's method?"

Lin Yuan nodded almost imperceptibly, and a very hoarse, faint voice issued from his throat: "Twelve hours. Keep it brief."

Boss Qian's expression turned serious, and he quickened his pace of speech: "The situation is not looking good. Tianji Pavilion has raised your search level to 'Yellow Character No. 7', meaning they believe you possess 'medium potential threat' and 'high research value'. They have used the secondary authority of the 'Spirit Net' to scan the energy residue from that night and the surveillance of all related locations. All electronic communications within a two-kilometer radius of your studio may be monitored for keywords. In addition, they contacted Zhang Qiming and Zhao Zong, under the guise of 'providing more comprehensive employee welfare and risk management plans', attempting to extract details about your Optimization technology. However, those two were quite alert and managed to deal with it for now, but the pressure is immense."

Lin Yuan's heart sank slightly. Lingxiao Capital's actions were fast and ruthless.

"What about Old Ghost Mo?" he asked.

"Even more troublesome." Boss Qian frowned deeply. "The acquisition of special materials in the black market hasn't stopped, and there are several new faces, making their actions even more secretive. The two cases of children fainting were officially classified as 'mass psychogenic reactions', but a friend of mine in the system told me privately that trace amounts of an unknown neural inhibitor were detected in the children's blood, from an unknown source. More importantly," he leaned forward, his voice dropping lower, "I received an unverified but highly credible tip—Old Ghost Mo may have already locked onto a candidate for the main soul of the ten thousand infant banner. It's not an ordinary child, but a teenager with innate 'Yin-Yang Pupils' and an extremely special fate, who lives near the veteran cadre sanatorium in the north of the city and seems to have official backing. Specific information is still being verified."

Innate Yin-Yang Pupils? Special fate? And official background? Lin Yuan's thoughts raced. If this was true, Mr. Mo's target was likely more troublesome than imagined, and the implications were even broader.

"Also, that cult 'Crimson Feast' has clearly increased its activities in neighboring cities and counties recently, holding several small-scale animal blood sacrifice rituals. It seems they are 'warming up' or preparing for some kind of summoning. I am worried that Old Ghost Mo will really use them to cause a major disturbance to attract fire or complete a bloody part of the ritual," Boss Qian added.

Information flooded in, each piece pointing to a deeper vortex. Lin Yuan quickly digested it and then asked the question he was most concerned about: "Is there any news about breaking the Curse Soul Seal, or rare materials for 'stabilizing the soul' or 'blocking tracking'? Also, Dr. Li mentioned an 'abandoned medicinal garden'. Do you know its specific location or situation?"

"Materials for breaking the soul seal are rare and hard to find. I'll keep an eye out for you; a few have appeared sporadically in the black market, but they are either astronomically priced or have suspicious origins." Boss Qian took a small electronic notebook from his pocket, pressed a few buttons quickly, and pushed it to Lin Yuan. It contained a few lines of encrypted records. "As for the 'abandoned medicinal garden'... Dr. Li mentioned it to you? I know that place. It's on the southern foothills of Luoxia Mountain in the east of the city. It's a private plot of land belonging to a Chinese family that emigrated overseas years ago, who entrusted it to an old gardener to look after. But more than a decade ago, for some reason, the vegetation on that land began to wither inexplicably, the soil hardened, and even the insects became scarce. Countless experts were hired but couldn't find the cause, and it gradually became abandoned. The old gardener is still guarding it; he's a bit eccentric, but Dr. Li seems to have some friendship with him. I've sent the location and basic information about the old gardener to your anonymous email account."

Southern foothills of Luoxia Mountain... private land... inexplicable withering... Lin Yuan noted these keywords. This sounded like a typical place where the "earth energy" or "energy field" had gone wrong, which was perfect for him to verify his new insights.

"I need to go there as soon as possible. Also," Lin Yuan said thoughtfully, "I need you to do two things for me. First, continue to keep an eye on materials related to the soul seal and all of Old Ghost Mo's movements, especially the exact information about the teenager with Yin-Yang Pupils. Second, help me prepare a set of inconspicuous equipment suitable for outdoor activities, and some basic surveying tools, and place them at 'Point No. 3' (another safe handover point). I will pick them up later. Also, pass a message to Zhang Qiming and Zhao Zong, saying that I have been called away for temporary research, and the subsequent Optimization plans will be sent via encrypted email. Tell them to continue with the existing steps normally, and to be polite but never give anything away to the people from Tianji Pavilion."

"Understood. The equipment will be at Point No. 3 in an hour." Boss Qian nodded, then looked at Lin Yuan with some concern. "In your current state... will you be okay going to Luoxia Mountain? Although it's remote, it's not absolutely safe."

"I must go." Although Lin Yuan's voice was weak, it was decisive. "There might be something I need there. Time is running out."

Boss Qian stopped trying to dissuade him and sighed. "Be careful. Twelve hours, and it is now..." He checked his watch. "Three quarters past the Chen hour. You must return to a safe place by this time tomorrow."

"I know."

The short meeting ended. Boss Qian stood up and left like an ordinary diner. Lin Yuan sat there for a while longer before slowly getting up, walking towards the back door of the fast-food restaurant, and disappearing into the gradually increasing crowd of the early morning.

He first went to "Point No. 3"—a self-service storage locker—and used the password to retrieve the backpack Boss Qian had prepared. Inside was a set of durable dark outdoor clothes and pants, hiking boots, gloves, a headlamp, a portable multi-functional tool, an old but functional compass, several packs of compressed food and water, and a small, weak energy detector disguised as a power bank (Dr. Li provided the technology, and Boss Qian had someone modify it).

After changing his equipment and putting the remaining items into his backpack, he changed his attire again, looking like an ordinary hiking enthusiast or a geology student. He avoided the main roads, took several buses, and mixed into the crowd as he headed towards the east of the city.

The Taixi state continued to take effect, making his aura almost disappear. Along the way, he felt the faint, cold scanning sensation sweep over him several times, some from seemingly ordinary municipal facilities on street corners, and others from special-model drones occasionally flying in the sky. But the "near-death slumber" state simulated by the Earthly Origin Fetal Breath clearly worked, as most of these scans just swept past without lingering on him for long.

More than two hours later, he arrived at the foot of Luoxia Mountain. The southern foothills had not yet been developed into a scenic area, and there was only a dilapidated cement road leading to a few old-style villas and the private mountain land halfway up the mountain. Following the information provided by Boss Qian, he left the main road and slipped into the dense but lifeless mountain forest.

The further he went inside, the more abnormal the environment became. Although the trees were tall, their branches and leaves were sparse, and the trunks were often covered with morbid spots. The ground vegetation was sparse, revealing gray-white, hardened soil, with almost no trace of insects or animals. The air was filled with a dull, desolate, and lifeless feeling, and even the wind seemed listless as it blew.

The leyline energy here... seemed to have been "locked" or "drained" by something? Lin Yuan mobilized his weak Leyline Affinity perception, which was suppressed by Taixi but still existed, and indeed found that the flow of earth energy here was abnormally sluggish, like blood vessels suffering from severe thrombosis, and the overall energy level was extremely low, carrying a sense of weakness and resentment after being drained.

Resentment? Lin Yuan's heart tightened. Can the land also have "resentment"?

He followed the core area where the energy was most abnormal and also most "resentful" according to his perception. After passing through a patch of nearly dead bamboo forest, his view suddenly opened up, and a relatively flat mountain hollow appeared. This must have been where the medicinal garden once was, and some remaining, heavily weathered traces of ridges and collapsed bamboo frames could still be seen. In the center of the hollow, there was a simple stone hut with a thatched roof, and there was no smoke from the chimney.

In front of the hut, an old man wearing an old, patched military-green cotton jacket, with messy gray hair and a hunched figure, was squatting on the ground with his back to him, using a small hoe to dig at the stone-hard soil, one strike at a time. Hearing footsteps, the old man stopped and slowly turned his head.

It was a face carved with gullies by the mountain wind and time, with dark, rough skin and cloudy eyes, but deep within his gaze, there was a stubborn, almost numb calmness. He saw Lin Yuan, showed no surprise, and did not ask any questions, but just used those cloudy eyes to look him up and down, lingering for a moment on the bulging backpack on his back.

Then, the old man lowered his head and continued to use the hoe to dig at the hard soil that seemed impossible to ever break open. In a hoarse, dry voice, as if talking to himself, he said: "Another one here to see the 'dead land'? Look then, and leave when you're done. Nothing can grow here, not even mice come."

Lin Yuan stepped forward. Without directly stating his intention, he mimicked the old man's posture, squatting beside him, also looking at the hard, barren land. His Leyline Affinity and the artistic conception of "Ruins" told him clearly at this moment that the "illness" of this land was deeper and even more... bizarre than he had imagined.

"Old man," he began in the same calm tone, his voice still hoarse and weak, "this land... it's not sick, it's 'heartbroken', isn't it?"

The old man's digging motion suddenly stopped.