At first, there was nothing.
No sound. No light. No sense of time.
Not even darkness.
Just… absence.
If Lin Mo had been aware enough to think, he might've called it peaceful.
But he wasn't.
Something shifted.
Slowly. Almost carefully.
A faint sensation appeared.
A dull, constant cold pressed in from every direction, like he was submerged in something thick and unmoving.
His thoughts came in fragments.
Scattered at first.
Then, less so.
…This isn't—
The thought slipped away before it could finish.
Something interrupted it.
A sound.
Distant. Muffled. Repeating.
Thump.
A pause.
Thump.
It took him a moment to understand—
It wasn't outside.
It was coming from him.
Awareness followed.
Heavy. Unfamiliar.
His body didn't feel right.
Too small. Too tight. Like he was wrapped in something that resisted even the idea of movement.
He tried to move his hand.
Nothing happened.
Not because he couldn't—
because he didn't know how.
A strange confusion settled in.
He had a body.
He could feel it.
But it didn't respond the way he remembered.
The sound came again.
Thump.
Stronger now.
With it came something else.
Warmth.
Faint. Weak. But there.
It spread slowly through him, pushing back the cold.
Instinctively—without thinking—he reached for it.
Not with his hands.
With something deeper.
Something familiar.
And it responded.
The warmth didn't just surround him.
It shifted.
Slipped into him.
Merged.
Lin Mo went still.
That feeling—
He knew it.
Not exactly the same. Not as clear as before.
But close enough.
Absorption.
There was no excitement. No relief.
Just… recognition.
It still works.
The warmth faded too quickly.
Like there hadn't been much of it to begin with.
His body felt heavy again. Sluggish.
Limited.
Still limited.
Pressure began to build around him.
From all sides.
Then—
A sudden force.
Everything tightened at once.
His body was pushed, compressed, dragged forward without his control.
The space around him shifted.
For the first time since waking—
something close to panic surfaced.
Not fear of pain.
Fear of not knowing what was happening.
Then—
Light.
It wasn't gentle.
It broke through all at once.
Blinding. Harsh. Overwhelming.
Sound followed—loud, chaotic.
Air hit his lungs, sharp and unfamiliar.
Cold—real this time.
Something struck his back—hard.
A reflex took over.
His body reacted before his mind could catch up.
A sharp, broken breath—
Then a cry.
The sound echoed in his ears.
Thin.
Weak.
Not his.
Lin Mo tried to stop.
But the body kept going—breathing unevenly, crying without control.
He couldn't stop it.
Couldn't even fully understand it.
Shapes moved above him.
Blurry.
Voices followed.
Muffled—but clearer now.
"…alive—"
"…healthy…"
"…strong…"
Strong?
The word felt wrong.
He tried to focus.
Tried to think.
But everything came too fast.
Too much.
Too new.
Still—
Through all of it—
he noticed one thing.
The warmth from earlier.
It was back.
Faint.
Barely there.
But present.
And just like before—
without thinking—
he reached for it.