12: Chapter 12 The Half Second of Slowing Down

The shadows of the pine forest were stretched long by the sun. Chen Jie crouched by the pool under the waterfall. As soon as his fingertips touched the water, the icy stream made him recoil. Zhao Kai was circling the pool with his phone raised, filming the splashing water incessantly. His pant legs were still dripping—the wet pants he'd fallen into the creek with that morning hadn't dried at all, and the wind made them cling to his legs like a layer of ice.

"Can you stop staring at that piece of junk jade stone?" Zhao Kai suddenly turned back, nearly dropping his phone into the pool. "This waterfall is way rarer than that piece of junk jade stone of yours. If you post a video of this on Moments, the likes will go through the roof—by the way, how did you catch that thermos this morning? It looked like slow motion to me."

Chen Jie didn't respond, pulling the dark green jade stone out of his tool kit.

In the sunlight, the patterns on the surface of the stone were becoming clearer. The horizontal and vertical lines looked as if someone had traced them with white paint, and the curves at the corners were perfectly rounded, looking quite like the "Water-Suppressing Talisman" Old Liu had mentioned. He sprinkled some pool water onto the jade stone. The droplets trickled slowly along the lines and actually gathered into a small ball of water at an intersection, hovering half an inch above the stone's surface without dripping, as if suspended by an invisible thread.

"What on earth is this?" Zhao Kai leaned in, pushing his phone camera extremely close. "Has your stone become a spirit?"

No sooner had he spoken than a "boom" echoed from upstream—a boulder the size of a millstone rolled down from the cliff face, crashing into the water with a fishy stench. The resulting wave was half a person's height, rushing straight toward them.

Zhao Kai's legs went weak with fright, his phone "plop"-ing into the pool. He froze on the spot, his eyes wide with fear that hadn't yet faded. Chen Jie felt his temples throb violently, and the wrench in his tool kit suddenly clicked. Immediately after, everything around him slowed down: the arc of the churning wave became clearly visible, the trajectories of the water droplets in the air solidified like silver threads, the expression on Zhao Kai's face was stretched into a blurry afterimage, and even the gravel rolling down the cliff seemed suspended in mid-air, every single piece visible. This feeling was more intense than when he caught the thermos that morning, as if the entire world had been put on slow-motion.

When Chen Jie looked down, he saw the patterns on the surface of the jade stone glowing with an orange-red light. The speed at which it flowed along the lines was three times faster than before, looking just like dancing flames in a stove. Subconsciously, he grabbed Zhao Kai's arm and pulled him behind the giant rock by the pool—the movement was so fast that even he was surprised. The Spiritual Qi from his fingertips surged through his arm, carrying a warm sensation.

"Bang!" The wave crashed against the giant rock, splashing both of them all over.

Only then did Zhao Kai snap back to reality. He scrambled to feel around in the pool for his phone, cursing, "My new phone! Why didn't you tell me sooner that a rock was rolling down—wait, why did you run so fast just now? You looked like a gust of wind to me."

Chen Jie didn't speak, touching the jade stone in his pocket. The orange-red light had faded, but the surface of the stone was searing hot, like a piece of charcoal just raked out of a fire.

He suddenly remembered what Auntie Wang had said—the stones at Suiyu Slope were touched by the Jade God's Spiritual Qi and could move on their own. Could it be that this jade stone didn't just absorb smoke and slow down time, but could also sense danger?

"Strange, how strange."

Old Liu emerged from the bamboo forest upstream, the embers on his pipe flickering in the wind. "I heard a commotion at the top of the cliff just now and knew something was going to happen—are you two alright? The stones by this pool are slippery. The older generation says they are all fragments of the Jade God that manifest their power when they encounter someone fated."

Zhao Kai finally fished out his phone, the screen black as a brick. He was so angry he knocked it against a rock. "Manifesting power? I think it's causing mischief! If I'd known, I wouldn't have come to this lousy place. The money to fix the phone would have been enough for me to stay in a hotel by the sea for three days."

Chen Jie stuffed the jade stone into his tool kit. When his fingertips touched the patterns on the surface, he suddenly froze—within those horizontal and vertical lines, a shape resembling a wrench was vaguely visible. It was clearer than what he had seen at Auntie Wang's house, and even the non-slip grooves at the end of the wrench were clearly discernible. His heart skipped a beat, and he pulled the wrench out of his tool kit to compare it. The outlines of the two were exactly the same.

"What are you spacing out for again?" Zhao Kai kicked him. "Let's go, I've had enough of this place."

Chen Jie stood up, looking at the place on the cliff top where the gravel had rolled down. The sunlight shone through the bamboo forest, weaving a golden net on the surface of the pool. The pebbles in the water glowed with a soft light, as if covered by a thin veil. He suddenly felt that this half-second of slowing down was no accident—just like when repairing a grandfather clock, when gears suddenly jam and then re-engage, there was always an invisible force pushing everything forward.

"Let's go." He pulled Zhao Kai up. The jade stone in his backpack vibrated gently, as if in response.

Chen Jie looked down and smiled. The warmth of the jade stone still lingered on his fingertips, but his mind was crystal clear: the secrets of this jade stone were likely far more than he had imagined. And this seemingly ordinary graduation trip had long since veered into an unexpected fork in the road—just like the old objects he had repaired, where, upon taking them apart, he always discovered hidden parts he had never seen before. Zhao Kai grumbled ahead, and Old Liu's pipe tapped against the grass with a "clack, clack" sound. Chen Jie followed behind, his steps much lighter. He touched his tool kit, and the wrench and jade stone collided gently, making a "clinking" sound, as if counting something—perhaps the time for the next slowdown, or perhaps a greater secret hidden in Suiyu Slope. The wind passed through the bamboo forest, carrying a cool and refreshing scent, sending the shadows of the three men deep into the mountain path. Only the giant rock by the pool still bore water stains, like a half-finished talisman drawn on the stone by someone.