dmims Page 109
Page 109
The fragment of the stone slab he had been searching for, radiating a pure pink glow, lay quietly in a hollow of a branch. It was perfectly integrated with Xerneas's body, as if it were a part of it, and together with the god of life, it had fallen into an endless slumber.
An overwhelming surge of ecstasy, mixed with awe of the divine, pounded violently in his chest.
He forcefully suppressed the cheer that was about to burst out, every cell in his body screaming to rush forward and grab the fragment.
He slowly, little by little, adjusted his breathing, trying to calm his wildly beating heart.
He knew that any act of recklessness could lead to utter ruin.
He carefully lifted his foot, preparing to take his first tentative step toward the lake.
A warning, cold voice suddenly rang out from behind him.
"stop!"
The sound wasn't loud, but it was like a heavy hammer blow, striking Lin Che's taut nerves.
"Who are you? This is a restricted area!"
Lin Che's muscles tensed instantly, and a chill ran from his tailbone straight to the top of his head.
It was discovered!
He turned back sharply.
Not far away, under the shadow of a tree, stood a female trainer dressed in the uniform of a forest ranger from the Kalos region. She had short, neat hair, sharp eyes, and was watching her warily, her right hand already resting on the Poké Ball at her waist.
Lin Che's mind went blank.
He had imagined countless possibilities: being flung away by Xerneas's unconscious domain, being driven away by the will of the forest itself, or even being attacked by some kind of guardian beast.
I never expected to encounter a human in a place like this.
Helpless, utterly helpless.
Under the unyielding gaze of the other party, Lin Che slowly, inch by inch, raised his hands, palms facing outward, indicating that he had no malicious intent.
Finally, under the constant "escort" of the ranger, the two turned around without saying a word and left the sacred lake that he had just found.
Lost at the edge of the forest, the ranger's businesslike yet somewhat sympathetic expression still lingered in Lin Che's memory.
But he was not discouraged at all.
The expulsion merely proves the invalidity of the conventional approach.
Lin Che's greatest skill lies in navigating the gaps between the rules.
Carlos region, Trainers Association headquarters.
Lin Che walked straight through the bustling service hall without stopping for a moment. The insignia on his body, representing the highest authority of the "Dragon's Spine," cleared away all unnecessary inquiries and obstacles for him.
He went directly into the Special Archives, which was not open to ordinary trainers.
The light here is dim, and the air is filled with the mixed smell of old paper and precision instruments.
An elderly man with gray hair and a slightly hunched back was wearing reading glasses and meticulously organizing a newly sealed top-secret document. He was the person in charge here and one of the most senior archives supervisors in the alliance.
"Special adventure registration for the core area of the 'Lost Forest', and the highest level of confidentiality agreement."
Lin Che gently placed his badge and application documents on the table in front of the old man.
The old man paused for a moment.
He raised his head, his cloudy eyes scrutinizing the excessively young figure before him through thick glasses.
"The 'Dragon's Spine' reserve force?"
The old man's voice was hoarse, carrying the weariness that comes with the years.
"Yes."
The old man was silent.
He picked up the badge, verified its authenticity on a specialized instrument, and then slowly retrieved two documents from a safe secured with triple physical locks.
One was a Special Adventurer Registration Form, and the other was a shocking crimson confidentiality agreement.
Throughout the entire process of Lin Che signing the document, the old man did not urge him, but simply watched him quietly with eyes that had seen too many secrets.
Until Lin Che made the last stroke.
"young people."
The old man suddenly spoke, his voice extremely low.
"Let me tell you something: you must be careful."
He turned the monitor next to him and brought up a dynamic data graph, which was a curve that was slowly and steadily declining.
"This is our long-term monitoring report on the life energy readings in the core area of the Lost Forest. Starting seven years ago, its value has been continuously declining in a way that we cannot understand or stop."
The old man extended his wrinkled and age-spotted finger and touched the end of the curve.
That number has fallen into a dangerous threshold.
"It... is dying."
"To slowly and painfully wither away in a way that is beyond our control."
These words were not at all alarmist; they conveyed only a deep-seated sense of powerlessness and sorrow.
Lin Che's fingers tightened unconsciously as he gripped the agreement.
He pinched the edges of the paper, creating distinct creases.
The shadow in his heart grew even heavier at that moment.
This solidified his resolve to go on this trip.
……
Upon entering that vast forest once again, Lin Che did not choose to hike.
The high-pitched cry of an eagle pierced the sky.
The warrior eagle flapped its powerful wings, carrying him like an arrow released from a bow. Guided by Zhixing's centimeter-precise spatial perception, it tore through layers of thick fog and illusions, heading straight for the deepest part of the forest.
Lake of life.
When the shimmering lake came into view, even the wind high in the sky seemed to become quiet and solemn.
In the center of the lake, the giant tree, which was transformed from Xerneas, the god of life, stands silently.
Its branches are strong and still emit a soft, seven-colored halo, like a sacred object from mythology.
But Lin Che's "Eye of Truth" saw through the truth beneath this facade.
The light was faint and unstable.
An indescribable sense of decay, like a persistent, insidious disease, clung to every branch of the giant tree.
This is not a peaceful sleep.
This is more like a protracted, endless self-depletion.
Lin Che did not approach.
He landed a hundred meters away at a concealed spot perfectly hidden by a huge rock.
His gaze pierced through the hundred-meter distance, fixing intently on Xerneas's magnificent antler branches.
There, quietly embedded, is a fragment of a stone slab emitting a soft pink glow.
【Fairy Slate】!
His sole objective on this trip.
However, the prohibition repeatedly emphasized in the most prominent font on that deep red agreement kept echoing in his mind.
Any action that might disturb the deities is strictly prohibited!
[Any form of energy fluctuation is strictly prohibited!]
[Touching the deity's physical form is strictly prohibited!]
Each one is an insurmountable red line.
A direct assault would be suicidal. Even in slumber, the slightest wisp of power unconsciously released by a deity is enough to annihilate all living beings present in an instant.
Sneaking closer?
In Lin Che's vision, the space within a hundred meters of Xerneas was shrouded in a domain invisible to the naked eye, composed of pure life energy. Any outsider, even a flying insect, would be immediately detected if it intruded.
This is a dead end.
A nearly unsolvable problem.
Lin Che leaned against the cold rock, his brain working at an unprecedented speed, proposing countless solutions, only to reject them in an instant.
Time passes minute by minute.
The atmosphere by the lake was so quiet it was almost oppressive.
suddenly.
Lin Che's gaze slowly shifted from the distant deity to the quietly floating figure beside him.
Zhixing.
Its colorful eyes, containing the essence of the universe, were curiously observing the giant tree in the distance, seemingly full of interest in that enormous life energy entity.
A flash of lightning suddenly exploded in Lin Che's mind!
An incredibly audacious plan, demanding an operational precision that pushed the limits of human capability, was instantly constructed within his mental palace.
He didn't speak.
He turned his head and looked at Zhixing beside him with an unprecedentedly solemn gaze.
A pure telepathic connection projected his complex, meticulous, and even insane plan, like the clearest three-dimensional image, into the core of Zhixing's mind.
"Zhixing".
Lin Che's voice resonated deep within his companion's soul.
"Next, we're going to perform an extreme 'telekinetic object retrieval' test."
"Use your most exquisite, stable, and inconspicuous mental power to retrieve that stone slab from a hundred meters away, through that energy field."