The morning on Fitzroy Island was so sunny it felt fake.
Lin Bei stood on the coral rubble beach of Welcome Bay. The crunching sound of the white coral skeletons beneath his feet sounded like chewing on dry bones. He turned the heavy metal rock in his headphones to maximum volume, trying to block out his father Lin Jianguo's endless nagging.
"Lin Bei, the currents here are complex. Do not go to the rocky area behind Nudey Beach, do you hear me?" Lin Jianguo wore a sun-bleached quick-dry shirt, clutching the black leather notebook he never let out of his sight.
Lin Bei didn't speak; he just pulled his hood down lower.
He hated it here. He hated the salty sea breeze, the rainforest with no signal, and he especially hated the look in his father's eyes—a mixture of "pity" and "judgment." Lin Jianguo was a paranoid marine biologist; in his eyes, the growth rate of coral was far more important than his son's final exam grades.
"I'm going back to the lab this afternoon. You stay at the resort." Lin Jianguo patted Lin Bei's shoulder. The touch was light, yet it made Lin Bei feel an inexplicable sense of rejection.
That was the last time Lin Bei saw his father "alive."
A Bizarre Scene
Three hours later.
When Lin Bei was called to the Secret Garden track by the island's security captain, "Big Shark," his first reaction was that the old man was playing some "immersive research" game again.
But the scene before him instantly sobered him up.
It was a freshwater pool surrounded by rainforest, the water so clear it was nearly transparent, only deep enough to cover an adult's knees. Steep rock walls surrounded the pool, and the only exit was a moss-covered path.
Lin Jianguo's notebook, sun hat, and even a pair of neat dark blue slippers were placed on the reef beside the pool.
What was eerie was that the toes of the slippers were pressed tightly against the rock wall, presenting an extremely awkward stance, as if in the second before disappearing, Lin Jianguo was terrified and trying to squeeze himself into the hard stone.
And the trail of footprints extending from the jungle vanished into thin air the moment they stepped into the edge of the water.
"No struggle, no blood, not even a ripple on the water surface." Captain Big Shark picked his teeth, his tone carrying a trace of Australian laziness and unconcealed contempt. "Kid, does your dad have a habit of sleepwalking? Or did he think this half-meter-deep water led to Atlantis?"
The surrounding rescue team members let out a low laugh. In their view, this was just a farce of an old bookworm getting lost.
Lin Bei didn't refute them. He crouched down and gently touched the pool water with his finger.
The moment his fingertip touched the surface, a weak but clear "electric shock" shot from his nerve endings straight to his brain.
In his vision, the originally calm pool water rippled with circles of pale blue waves. These waves didn't spread outward but contracted inward, converging into a bottomless, rotating blue hole.
"Hey, don't touch the evidence!" Captain Big Shark shoved Lin Bei aside.
Lin Bei stumbled but used the momentum to pry a small object out of the crevice of Lin Jianguo's diving watch, which had been left behind.
It was a semi-transparent blue coral fragment. It didn't look natural; it looked more like a semi-organic, semi-metallic crystal. It heated up slightly in Lin Bei's palm, its frequency perfectly synchronized with his heartbeat.
Thump—thump—thump.
Siren Energy Intervenes
Just as Lin Bei was about to investigate further, the roar of helicopters came from the distance.
Two black helicopters emblazoned with a silver fishtail logo—"Siren Energy"—hovered over the trail. The gale blew the surrounding coconut trees askew and dispersed the rescue team's casual atmosphere.
A group of people wearing black special ops suits and full-coverage helmets jumped off the helicopters, moving as uniformly as machines.
The leading man took off his sunglasses, revealing a face as cold as a knife's edge.
"I am the Project Manager for Siren Company." The man didn't even look at Lin Bei, ordering his men directly, "Seal this area. Initiate 'Heat Source Scan.' If the 'Container' is damaged, initiate cleanup procedures immediately."
"Container?" Lin Bei keenly caught the word. "You're looking for my dad?"
The man turned his head, looking at Lin Bei like he was cargo, a playful smile on his lips. "Mr. Lin's son? You really look exactly like him. But don't misunderstand, we aren't looking for your father. We are looking for the company's 'Asset'."
He pointed to the half-meter-deep pool, his tone cold. "Since he took the Core, he is no longer a 'person'."
Prologue to Awakening
Lin Bei was roughly driven out of the cordon.
He hid in the shadows of the jungle, clenching his fists. The blue crystal in his palm was getting hotter, hot enough to almost burn through his skin.
Suddenly, the heavy metal music in his headphones vanished. Replacing it was an ethereal, cold voice, sounding as if it came from the bottom of an abyss:
"Don't go to the resort. They've prepared an operating table for you there."
Lin Bei whipped his head around. Behind him were only the dense rainforest and strange bird calls.
"Go west. Beneath the lighthouse trail, inside the rock crevice, is the 'other half' he left for you."
Lin Bei looked down at the crystal in his hand, which was emitting a faint blue glow.
He suddenly realized that his father Lin Jianguo's "alienation" and "paranoia" over the past seventeen years might not have been because of a lack of love, but because of extreme fear.
He was afraid of Lin Bei.
"Spare part... Container... Other half..."
Lin Bei sneered, the confusion of youth fading from his eyes, replaced by an extreme calmness. Instead of walking toward the exit, he turned and plunged into the primitive jungle that the islanders considered a forbidden zone.
"Since you think I'm a jar for holding things, let's see what kind of big surprise is packed inside."