Li Du was not sure how much time had passed but his mind was becoming increasingly fatigued and he was slowly losing control over his senses.
He felt that he was going to break down soon, a feeling that kept torturing him over and over. Finally, they reached the bottom of the lake. The broad spiral suddenly emerged from the earth’s surface and appeared in front of them.
The Inuit signaled for him to fix the propeller to the bottom of the lake, then held on to Li Du’s arm and swam slowly against the spiral.
Of course, the light did not reach that far down the lake so he could not see properly. He was looking at all of this through the eyes of the little bug.
An undercurrent hit them all of a sudden and Li Du felt himself lose control of his body. At the same time, the little bug’s connection with him was cut off as well, which meant to say its vision disappeared.
On top of losing control over his body, he had lost the support of the little bug. Li Du was overcome with fear and despair, the emotions swirling in his chest. All of a sudden, his body spun and he was washed away by the water current in the blink of an eye.
What was even scarier to him was the fact that the Inuit had let go of him!
A fear he had never felt before seized him and he could not help but scream out in the water. It was embarrassing and cowardly of him but this situation was truly too sudden and horrifying. He had lost any semblance of control over his emotions and he was breaking down.
Luckily for him, a pair of large hands caught his right one and the tempestuous undercurrent vanished. His body steadied in the water once again.
The large hand grabbed onto him and the person swam forward with some difficulty. As the person swam, Li Du could feel himself being pulled this way and that. All he saw in front of him was pitch-black darkness and nothing else; his fate was no longer in his hands and he could only sit back and take what came.
Abruptly, he felt another pair of hands grab onto his other arm, and then he was dragged up and his body became much heavier.
Though his body felt heavier now, his heart was a lot lighter, because this was proof that he had emerged from the lake water. He stepped onto land and the solid ground under his feet was further proof of that.
Someone wanted to help him remove the diving helmet but did not know how to. He spun it round and round but could not remove it. Li Du was about to tell the man that he would remove it himself when a familiar voice rang out, “Let me help him.”
Li Du was shocked at the voice, but he quickly recovered from the shock and shouted in joy, “F*ck, Steve!”
This was Steve’s voice. The man heard him call out, then said with a laugh, “You came, Li, you came here after all.”
Li Du removed his helmet quickly with Steve’s help. A musty scent hit him and he choked on it.
He hurriedly pulled on Steve and asked after his coughing died down, “What’s going on with you guys? Where did you go? Damn, do you know—”
“We found a way into the fifth dimension!” Steve interrupted. “That’s right, we found a way into the fifth dimension. We’re the Gods of Time and Space in this world!”
“Don’t sully the god’s name like this!” The Inuit shouted, not sounding very happy.
Steve apologized immediately. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to insult your faith. Can I take my friend around the area?”
No response. They took the silence as implicit approval.
Everything was as Li Du expected. As they walked, he said, “Alright, so you guys found the entrance, but have you gone in?”
Steve heaved a sigh as he said, “I haven’t because I’m not ready yet, but I’ve seen it. It’s really magical, man. The fifth dimension is the dimension of the gods!”
Li Du asked, “You haven’t been in the fifth dimension? What are you waiting for? What do you guys know? And the others? The Ford brothers?”
Steve fell silent. Something was strange about the pitch-black space.
Li Du tried to summon the little bugs but to no avail. It was as if he lost them or something, because he could not command them at all.
His heart grew anxious, so he said impatiently, “I’m asking you. Steve?”
Steve said, “They went to the fifth dimension. They thought they were prepared enough. I don’t know where they are.”
Li Du asked, “What do you mean? What’s the fifth dimension? I saw Peter, did he go to the fifth dimension, too?”
Steve came to a halt at Li Du’s words. He asked, a little agitatedly, “You, you saw Peter? Where did you see him?”
Li Du told him everything he knew about Peter and Steve sucked in his breath after he finished. “They’re telling you the truth. This will drive people insane — to their deaths, even.”
“Who are ‘they’?” Li Du asked immediately. “Also, Peter knew about some of my secrets. Do you know what’s going on?”
Steve said, “The ones who brought you here are the Inuit. As for Pete knowing about your secrets? To be honest, all of us know. There are no secrets in the fifth dimension.”
Li Du was stunned and did not know how to respond.
There were too many questions swimming around in his head, so he fired them at Steve in rapid succession. “What’s the deal with the Inuit? What is this place? Just what is going on here? What do you mean there are no secrets?”
Steve tugged him down to make him sit, then said, “Take a break here first. Don’t be anxious, I’ll tell you everything I know, but I don’t know a whole lot either so you might be disappointed.”
“These Inuits came from the land. Since you found this place, you should also know about the missing Inuit village that used to stand by the side of Lake Angikuni? You guessed right — these Inuits were from that village.”
Li Du was shocked. “So what you’re saying is that they’re the descendants of the villagers from that time? But how did the second generation come about? This is some degree of consanguineous marriage, no?”
Steve said slowly, “They’re not the descendants of those villagers, they are those villagers!”
Li Du had vaguely guessed as much, but hearing Steve actually say it still shocked him so much he could not say anything.
After some time passed, he said listlessly, “You’re saying they’re already in their eighties? No, but wait, they should be even older?”
Steve said, “That was what I had thought at first, but they keep all of this under wraps — about their history, about their everything, really.”
Li Du sat in the darkness, confused and yet sober.
Many things suddenly made sense to him. No wonder these people had such fair skin — they were always living in the darkness so it was only natural that their skin would be unnaturally pale.
However, he still had little to no clue about his whereabouts. He asked Steve, who replied, “We’re inside the Island of the Lost, but I’m not too sure where exactly we are. I only know this is the internal area of the island.”
Li Du questioned, “What do you mean? Inside the Island? We’re underground?!”
Steve said, “Yes, we’re underground — or rather, we’re beneath the island. You passed through the spiral from the crust of the lakebed, right? That was a river channel, a curious undercurrent. When you were swept into it, it brought you here beneath the island.”
“So you can imagine or picture the area beneath the island as a cavity, and what connects this space to the island is the bottom of the lake, but the passage is filled with lake water. Because of the differences in air pressure and horizon, the lake water cannot flow into this cave through the passage.”
“You went along the passage and floated all the way up before finally reaching this space. Any other questions? Ask me anything, I’ll tell you everything.”
Li Du took a deep breath before saying, “I have too many questions, but that’s not what I care about right now. What I care about now are Sophie and her child. Come with me, Steve, let’s leave this place!”
Steve was taken aback by his words. He said, “You don’t want to know the truth about the matter? Like how the Island of the Lost came about? You probably don’t know this, but the island is very strange and its vegetation grows unusually quickly. Weren’t you curious? About why the tree rings on the trees on this island were so dense—”
His last sentence shocked Li Du greatly. “How did you know about that? Can you observe the island from here?”
Steve laughed. “No, you can observe the whole world from here! Not just that, actually, it’s the history of the world! The issue of the tree rings is nothing much, it’s just that the seasons change unusually quickly here and time passes quickly too. What’s really interesting is some of the mysteries of history.”
“For example, why was President Lincoln murdered? Why was President Kennedy murdered? Or maybe the mysteries of Chinese history? There are some really interesting ones, like where Genghis Khan’s tomb is, or the secrets of each dynasty that had existed. All the answers are right here! And also—”
Li Du could not help but interrupt him, “How do you know all of this?”
Steve said, “I’ll bring you to a place. You didn’t bring any animals with you, right? You absolutely cannot bring any animals there. Animals are not intelligent so if they start making trouble, it could lead to rather terrible consequences.”
At this point, Li Du was already numb from the shock. He moaned, “My… everything, you know about it?”
Steve replied proudly, “I told you, there are no secrets in this world that I don’t know about. Your secret’s no big deal, it’s just a little bug. There are plenty of those at the entrance to the fifth dimension!”
Li Du asked reflexively, “If my secret isn’t big, then what is?”
Steve said, “There is plenty of that. Come along, I’ll bring you to where the fifth dimension is. There, the whole world belongs to you!”
As he spoke, he stood up and moved to pull Li Du with him.
Li Du followed behind him, but then his pace started to slow. He said, “Steve, if you know about my secret then you should also know how I succeeded, and that I want to go home to be with Sophie and our child. Let’s leave this place, okay?”
Steve shook his head. “No, Li, I’m not leaving this place. I want to get ready so I can enter the fifth dimension to save my parents, to save this world!”
Li Du called out, “You want to change history?”
Steve said, “The history you know is the result of interference! Think about it, Li. We go into the fifth dimension, we go back to the past, and we’re practically gods! We can make our mark on history, like President Washington, like Mahatma Gandhi, like Emperor Taizong!”
Li Du shook Steve’s hand off himself and bit back, “I don’t want to be a god, I just want to go back to Sophie! What about you? Do you know how worried Mr. Elson was after you disappeared? You— no, you know this, you know all of this, don’t you?”
Steve, who had been consumed by his own zeal, finally seemed worried. He murmured, “I know, of course I do, but I want to save my parents, so I can’t leave this place.”
Li Du said, “You don’t want to save anyone, you just want to be a god!”
Steve stopped speaking. After some time passed, he spoke listlessly, “You’re right. Everyone who’s gone in search of the fifth dimension only did so to become a god. Don’t you want to be a god? How did it feel to have the little bug help you control everything? If you enter the fifth dimension, you’ll have much more power than the little bug!”
The more he spoke, the more excited he became. “Really, Li, any woman or love pales in comparison to time and history! Come with me, we’re almost there. All you have to do is go in and take a look with me. You’ll know even just standing at the entrance to the fifth dimension. Everything is great! The feeling of being a god is just amazing!”
He tugged at Li Du as he kept moving forward, but Li Du shook his grip off and said, “I’m only going to ask you this: do you want to go back up to the land with me?”
“Go back to being a mortal?” Steve asked.
Li Du responded, “Perhaps.”
Steve immediately shouted, “No, I’m absolutely not going back to that life of ignorance and meaningless work! I refuse to die without accomplishing anything, to be forgotten after a few years, like a Thanksgiving turkey that’s burned to death without anyone remembering it!”
He snatched Li Du’s hand and pulled it forward, and said, “This is the door. If you push it, you step into the fifth dimension. There, you will experience what it feels like to be a god. Go experience it for yourself!”
Li Du raised his hand and it came into contact with some kind of crystal: cold, smooth, heavy.
“Open it, open it and you’ll find answers to everything you’ve ever wondered about, you’ll even find out about the origin of humans! You can interact with history, make history, and have the whole world know your name!” Steve murmured feverishly from beside him.
Li Du swallowed. He could hear, clear as day, the gulp of his swallow and the thump of his heart.
“Cross into the fifth dimension and you’ll see the most beautiful woman in the world, you’ll unravel the mysteries of all time, and you’ll enjoy the most beautiful of sceneries. As long as you’re prepared, you can step in — just like that, you can become a god!”
Steve was nearly maniacal. “Just push open the door. I’m not exaggerating, Li, all you have to do is stay in there for a little while and you’ll never want to leave this place.”
“I’m not going to say too much. I’m going in now. If I didn’t know you were coming down I would never have left to waste time out here.”
Steve took a big step forward as he spoke and Li Du heard the sound of him gasping and of a rock being pushed. Then there was silence.
Steve was gone and he was the only one left there.
He slowly raised both of his hands and they came into contact yet again with the familiar feel of crystal.
“Do you want to go in?” He heard the Inuit’s unique accent.
Li Du countered with his own question, “What Steve said just now, is it true?”
The Inuit responded, “It is, but it’s not for everyone. If you wish to return, then follow me. If you want to experience what it feels like to ‘become a god’, then push open the door.”
Li Du closed his eyes. He raised his hand to pat the gate gently…
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