novelraw Chapter 165: Mimicry
Chapter 165: Mimicry
"Point the gun at them."
A venomous whisper coiled deep in Lin Jie's brain, while William's furious roar still echoed in his ears. The two forces waged a life-and-death battle within Lin Jie's neural center, which had become a battlefield.
On one side was the seductive warmth of the fabricated personality's past, on the other was the loyal protection of his comrades in reality.
His consciousness was being torn and ground at the vortex center formed by these two opposing forces, teetering on the brink of collapse.
His finger, obeying the mental command from the "Lina" phantom, uncontrollably tightened on the trigger of [Serene Heart].
He could feel that with just a bit more pressure, the next second the alchemical bullet would fire toward the comrade gripping his shoulder.
This would be an unforgivable betrayal.
This would also be the tragic and ironic end of the Iron Triangle team.
But, at the moment Lin Jie's rational defenses were about to be breached.
A gentle, protective force flowed upstream from the palm of his right hand tightly gripping [Serene Heart], like a clear spring pouring into his boiling mental sea.The dreamlike blue scale from the Loch Ness Guardian beneath the gun barrel, sensing its wielder's crisis, erupted with pure "guardian" divinity.
This force, together with the deep-sea Hearing Bone, propped open a tranquil domain around Lin Jie's nearly submerged soul.
Within this domain, all malice, temptation, and false emotions were temporarily and gently sealed out.
Lin Jie's unfocused black eyes suddenly trembled.
The "Lina" phantom haunting him hadn't vanished, but its form became blurred and distant under the shroud of this "Zen Guardian" domain, as if viewed through thick frosted glass.
In contrast, William's face and Julian's horrified gaze became clear within this tranquility.
The coordinates of reality and illusion were forcibly recalibrated in this moment.
"Gahhhhh!"
Lin Jie let out a pained roar, as if trying to tear his very soul from his throat.
He mustered every ounce of willpower for a final struggle against the invisible force attempting to control his body.
His gun-holding right hand trembled violently from the conflict of the two forces, his muscles and bones emitting cracking sounds.
Finally, accompanied by a furious shout, he swung the [Serene Heart] in his hand, pointing the muzzle toward the sky.
"Bang!"
A resolute and angry gunshot shattered this bizarre mental standoff.
The bullet didn't hit anyone, merely vanishing into the gray-white, foggy sky.
But it was a declaration.
A declaration that Lin Jie had reclaimed sovereignty over his own body in this war against his fabricated self, albeit in a brutal manner.
After the gunshot, Lin Jie seemed drained of all strength, his legs giving way as he half-knelt on the muddy ground.
He gasped heavily, cold sweat rolling from his temples and soaking his collar.
His face showed lingering fear and terror—just a moment ago, he had almost destroyed everything with his own hands.
A chilling thought wormed into his still-buzzing brain.
Why?
Why was the impact of this mental attack on him so immense this time?
He had ventured deep into the Paris catacombs and experienced the Catacomb Nightingale's "Emotional Plunder."
That time, while he felt immense mental pressure, it was nowhere near the point of losing himself and nearly becoming a "puppet" like today.
Was it because this UMA was stronger?
No.
Lin Jie's intuition told him that wasn't the case.
It was because his own "soul" had a problem.
He remembered.
He remembered the brutal life-and-death struggle in Heidelberg with the Doppelgänger concerning "self" and "authenticity."
Although he ultimately defeated the counterfeit attempting to steal his identity with his own unique "history."
That battle, it seemed now, was not without cost.
Unbeknownst to him, he had been "grafted" with fragments of Karl's "personality remnants" onto his own "Lin Jie" personality.
That's why! That's why the Lina phantom mimicked by the Swamp Tree Fiend possessed such devastating power.
"Lin! Are you okay?" Julian was the first to rush forward, supporting his teetering body.
Lin Jie didn't answer immediately, merely raising his head with bloodshot eyes to look at William.
"I'm fine now," he said hoarsely. "Thank you, William. If not for your roar..."
William silently withdrew his large hand, which had been gripping Lin Jie's shoulder, and said, "We're comrades."
These four simple words held more power than any consolation.
Lin Jie nodded, etching this debt of gratitude deep into his heart.
"What exactly was that thing?" Julian's voice came from the side;
he had sensed the danger from this mental crisis.
Lin Jie took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the churning mental aftershocks in his mind, and began analyzing the previous attack in an objective tone.
"I'd call it Mimicry," he offered his definition. "This isn't a conventional Mental Impact nor a simple illusion."
"That UMA can read and empathize with the gaps in a target's deepest consciousness, then use that as a blueprint to 'mimic' an image that can make the target surrender."
His gaze swept over his two partners present.
"It read the complex empathy I developed for Lina while interpreting Karl's diary."
Lin Jie didn't voice his conjecture about his personality contamination;
fewer complications were better at this time.
"So it 'mimicked' Lina's phantom for me."
"Every word the phantom spoke, every action it took, was precisely built upon my subconscious thought of 'If I had been there then, how would I save her?'"
"That's why it couldn't be easily seen through."
"Because in a sense," he paused, revealing a truth that chilled Julian and William, "that 'phantom' was an incarnation of my own consciousness."
Hearing this conclusion, the color instantly drained from Julian's face.
As a scholar studying the occult, he instantly understood the tricky nature of this attack method.
"My God, it's a perfect inner demon!" he exclaimed. "It exploits not external power but our own consciousness and memories!"
"It transforms the precious things within our hearts into sharp daggers pointed at ourselves!"
"How do we defend against such an attack?"
"There is one person who can," Lin Jie's gaze fell upon the man who had remained unshaken from beginning to end.
"Why?" Julian asked, puzzled.
"Because he has no 'gaps,'" Lin Jie gave a seemingly simple answer.
"A veteran who has experienced wars of mountains of corpses and seas of blood, who witnessed thousands of innocent civilians slaughtered before his eyes, who long ago buried emotions like fear, regret, and sorrow in the red soil of Africa—his heart has long been filled with something purer and more solid."
"That is willpower."
William, this man whose heart is filled with a soldier's willpower, is like an insulator immune to magic attacks for the Swamp Tree Fiend, which relies on illusions as weapons.
He is the only "Anchor Point" the team can trust not to waver within this swamp of deadly seductive traps.
A single feasible tactic slowly formed in Lin Jie's mind.
"William, you'll lead from now on," Lin Jie's voice regained its decisiveness.
"Julian and I will follow behind you. We'll use climbing rope to connect the three of us together."
"You are our 'eyes' and our 'insurance.'"
"If either Julian or I show any abnormality, don't hesitate to wake us up in your most direct way."
"Whether with a rifle butt or a fist."
This plan immediately gained Julian's agreement.
William retrieved a roll of special climbing rope from his backpack.
Actions speak louder than words.
Soon, a peculiarly configured "three-person expedition team" was formally assembled.
William walked at the forefront, gripping his loaded rifle tightly, each step exceptionally steady.
Lin Jie and Julian followed closely behind. The tough climbing rope connected their waists, forming an inseparable community of fate.
Thus, carrying vigilance toward the unknown traps, they formally stepped into the Fairy Marsh shrouded in thick fog.
The mud underfoot was softer and stickier than imagined;
each step required great effort to pull their feet out.
The smell of marsh gas and corpse rot constantly invaded their mouths and noses, attempting to pollute their willpower.
Yet more deadly than the harsh physical environment was the constant mental harassment from deep within the swamp.
The "Lina" phantom continued to flash before Lin Jie's eyes.
Sometimes she appeared behind a distant dead tree, beckoning to him;
other times she transformed into a reflection in the water, smiling at him.
But this time, with the protection of [Serene Heart] and the mountain-like reliable back ahead serving as an anchor point, Lin Jie could finally examine this deadly temptation with a "bystander" mindset.
He forced himself to analyze the pattern, angle of the phantom's appearance, and the direction it tried to lead him.
He was transforming his "weakness" into a "compass" for tracking the enemy.
Just as the team had arduously advanced several dozen meters toward the swamp's center.
Julian, walking behind Lin Jie, suddenly stopped.
Lin Jie immediately sensed the abnormal pull from the climbing rope at his waist.
He looked back to see the French scholar standing frozen in place as if under a petrification curse.
His face showed a mix of reverence and shame.
His eyes were fixed intently on the empty, fog-shrouded center of the swamp ahead.
His lips trembled uncontrollably.
"Mentor..."
A word filled with awe escaped his mouth.
William also stopped, his gaze coldly falling upon Julian's distraught face.
The second trap had been triggered.