第39章

I did manage to talk to a different person, who seemed to know something about the rain forest and its history. When I mentioned the Lim Ling and the Lin Xiao, he became very serious.

“Those are old stories,” he said, his voice low. “Some believe they are real. The forest has its secrets.”

He didn’t confirm or deny anything, but his tone left no doubt that he took the legends seriously. And he gave me a chilling piece of advice.

“Be careful in the mountains,” he said. “The mountains also have their spirits. And some are not as… benevolent as the forest.”

Mountain spirits? Different from the Lim Ling?

His words added another layer of complexity and potential danger to my planned trip.

But I was committed. The vision of the mountainside structure, the pull from the sculpture, the feeling that I was on a path I was meant to follow – it was too powerful to ignore.

I told my editor I was taking another leave of absence, citing “personal reasons and research for a new project.” He wasn’t happy, but my previous success gave me some leverage.