Chapter 48: The Lakeless Person

“Li Yuan, Pingjiang Special Execution Group, 000146. This is the individual who requires a lake opening, Qi Xin,” Li Yuan said, her expression revealing nothing. “You should have received the relevant files by now?”

“Of course. Let’s sit down and talk first.”

The woman with a gentle demeanor smiled softly. Li Yuan felt a slight daze, a sudden and inexplicable pang of reluctance rising in her heart. The woman before her didn’t seem as… cruel, or rather, as cold as she had imagined. Dressed in a patient’s gown, she looked like a kind-natured older sister from the neighborhood.

An extremely faint, sharp sting suddenly came from her right earlobe, jolting Li Yuan back to her senses. It was an earring she had bought from the Tang Family, capable of sensing anomalies and alerting its owner.

Realizing the previous sense of wrongness, cold sweat beaded on her skin in an instant. Her right hand subconsciously moved to her lower back, her voice slightly hoarse. “What did you do?”

“Calm yourself, Miss Li Yuan,” the woman said, lowering her eyes, her words gentle. Yet in Li Yuan’s current view, she was no different from a devil using words to ensnare its victim. “That wasn’t something I actively did. You should know, in my current state, I cannot invade another’s lake. The disturbance you just felt is something I cannot control… In your terms, it’s an innate Syndrome, isn’t it?”

“Is there no way to turn it off?” Li Yuan asked in a low voice, her fingertips resting on her holstered gun.

“It shuts off when I lose consciousness,” the woman replied calmly. “Of course, in that state, I would be unable to open the lake for this young lady here.”

Seeing Li Yuan’s extreme vigilance, she thought for a moment and explained, “There’s truly no need for such concern. This influence only exists within this room, and besides—making me appear harmless in your eyes is its only effect. It’s that simple.”

“Why didn’t you tell me at the start?” Li Yuan pressed, not relaxing in the slightest.

“I assumed you already knew about my physical constitution issue,” Tian Xi offered a reason Li Yuan couldn’t easily fault, “as it isn’t any hidden secret.”

After a moment of silence, Li Yuan finally moved her hand away. She stood up, maintaining a distance from Tian Xi, and said quietly, “Continue. I’ll just observe from here.”

Tian Xi nodded, clapped her hands softly, and rose to her feet, addressing Qi Xin: “Please, have a seat. There are some preliminary steps.”

Qi Xin glanced at Li Yuan. Only after seeing her nod did she sit on the edge of the neatly made bed.

“First, please close your eyes. You can relax a bit; no need to sit so stiffly.” Tian Xi smiled.

Obediently closing her eyes, Qi Xin felt the gentle touch of slender fingers moving in a slow, clockwise circle on her forehead. A gentle voice spoke close to her ear: “Relax a little. Imagine the blue sky, white clouds, a pond in a park… Slowly lean back, as if sinking into the water… Don’t worry about anything else, just relax…”

Following her instructions precisely, Qi Xin slowly lay back on the bed. She felt the woman remove her shoes and guide her legs flat onto the mattress. Strangely, she felt not a single trace of resistance throughout these steps. The woman’s movements were slow, yet the rhythm felt just right, as if everything was developing naturally, a matter of course.

Once the girl was completely reclined and relaxed on the bed, Tian Xi stopped her circling right hand on Qi Xin’s forehead and instead placed her palm flat against it, pressing down slowly.

“!”

As the pressure gradually increased, Qi Xin felt as if the bed beneath her was no longer a flat mattress but something softly undulating like waves. All sense of direction vanished entirely, leaving her unable to distinguish up from down. This disoriented feeling persisted until she heard the woman’s gentle voice by her ear again:

“You can open your eyes now.”

Qi Xin opened her eyes and found herself lying on a bed. The gentle woman in the patient’s gown was sitting beside her. Everything around them was dim, empty, and void, a chilling sight to behold. It was as if this single, small bed existed alone within a colossal, boundless space—like a Noah’s Ark shrunk countless times over, utterly isolated.

No wind. No sound. No source of light. Yet the darkness didn’t press in around the bed. She could see the woman beside her quietly gazing into the distance, lost in thought. Qi Xin didn’t break the silence. She simply sat up and silently gazed along with her.

After a long while, the woman seemed to come back to herself. She smiled softly, her tone gentle. “Is there something you’d like to ask?”

“Is this my lake?” Qi Xin asked.

“No, this is the Dead Lake,” the woman shook her head. “This is the lake shared by all of us Lakeless Persons. It is dead, dried up, never to return.”

“The Dead Lake?” Qi Xin’s expression was lost. “Did the lake opening fail?”

“You still don’t understand what I mean?” The woman smiled, gently stroking the girl’s head with a warm touch. “You are also a Lakeless Person, child. You are a born Lake Cutter.”

“I am a Lake Cutter?” Qi Xin murmured quietly.

“Yes. Only Lakeless Persons can come here,” the woman’s voice was as soft as a dream murmur. “This is our destiny, our fate. No matter where in the world we come from, what lives we lead, what pasts we have—we will all meet here. Like destiny.”

She spoke slowly, observing the girl’s expression with interest, and finally sighed. “You don’t seem afraid.”

“Why should I be afraid?” Qi Xin asked, puzzled.

“There are many reasons to be afraid,” the woman said, leaning gently against the bedside. “Confusion about your own future life. And figuring out how to explain things to Miss Li Yuan, who’s waiting for you outside… She sympathizes with you deeply. It seems she views you almost like her own little sister. If she learns you’re actually a born Lake Cutter, what will she do? Will she be pained and conflicted, or will she reject you? Regardless of which possibility it is, one thing is certain: the relationship between you two will never return to what it is now.”

“That would be a pity,” Qi Xin said quietly.

“…Just a pity?”

The woman was slightly taken aback. Then, observing Qi Xin’s calm expression, she suddenly laughed. “Your personality… it’s truly interesting. I mean it. A born Lake Cutter through and through. Make sure you hide your true nature well. If Miss Li Yuan discovers the truth, she’ll likely be crying into her pillow.”

Qi Xin didn’t respond, only gazing silently into the distant darkness.

After a considerable pause, the woman spoke again. “Speaking of which, how about a deal?”

“What are the terms?” Qi Xin asked.

“What else could they be?” The woman smiled gently, tenderly stroking the girl’s cheek. To an uninformed observer seeing this scene for the first time, it would certainly look like a warm picture of sisterly affection. The reality, however, was the complete opposite. “I will keep this secret for you. I’ll report a fake file. And I will teach you all the Lake Cutter arts I possess. You will become my student. Come to think of it, you would be my first disciple.”

“Then, what price must I pay?” Qi Xin asked calmly.

“I’m helping you with three things, so you must do three things for me. First, deceive Miss Li Yuan. Tell no one of our deal. Second, assist me in regaining my freedom. I have my own plan for this; you only need to cooperate with my arrangements…” Tian Xi said softly. “As for the third thing, I haven’t thought of it yet. Consider it a debt owed for now.”

“So? Do we have a deal?”

Tian Xi extended her hand, her smile gentle.

“Then the deal is made.”

Qi Xin took her hand, speaking in a low voice.