Chapter 1: Death of the Professor

Book: Moon Demon

Author: Huang Yi

Chapter 1: Death of the Professor

Ling Duyu returned to his home, as the hanging pendulum in the hallway clock struck 12:00, announcing the end to another day.

The buzzing of the mountain cicadas faintly penetrated through the windows and doors spreading throughout the house. It was a modernized replica of a foreign-style house. Ling Duyu's home was built near the top of a mountain. In the living room there was a wall made completely of glass giving a broad view of the surrounding landscape. It had a panoramic view of the harbor and the opposite shore, with the many lights of an enchanting city coloring both banks brightly. The sea reflected an inverted image of the beautiful city making it difficult to tell which was real and which was not. It was like a scene straight out of an imaginary dream.

Ling Duyu turned on some soft music, and sat down on his sofa. His back sank into the soft pillow sending a feeling of comfort throughout every nerve of his body.

That day a strange matter had occurred which was still puzzling him. Ling Duyu took out a blue leather-bound booklet from his bag. On the cover there was a clear title inscribed "DIARY" in bronze type-face. The letters were made of flying dragons, and little dancing phoenixes, showing how much thought the craftsman put into it.

He wasn't interested in the diary's elegant design, but the contents dwelling within. When he discovered Professor Xie's corpse, the diary was clasped tightly in his thin hand. It was held so tightly that if one looked close enough they still might be able to see the finger marks left on the cover. Whatever was inside this diary had to be an astonishing secret since even in death he could not put it down.

Ling Duyu did not dare to rashly force Professor Xie's fingers from the book. When he died he was already grasping the book tightly. In death his muscles began to stiffen and become even more rigid. At this point the only way to remove the book would be to break the fingers one by one.

Luckily this was Ling Duyu who used acupuncture. Taking one of the needles he carried with him, he pricked Professor Xie in the arm, then on the shoulder following several acupuncture points. While he pricked the professor he began to pull on the Professor's body at several different places. Only after going through all of this was he able to control the hand.

Soon the hand loosened and opened up allowing him to retrieve the book. He learned many methods for dealing with the dead from his teacher, during his childhood in Tibet's celestial burial place.

Since that event, earlier in the day, he never had the opportunity or the time to read the diary. At noon he received a long distance phone call from Chen Wupeng in the US. With a breathless and frightened voice Chen asked him to hurry immediately to his Uncle Professor Xie's place, but he would not tell him the reason why.

Ling Duyu's disposition was to take care of any request even if it was from someone passing on the street that he didn’t even know. His righteous attitude would never let him refuse Chen Wupeng who was part of the same secret organization as Ling. They had also shared several life and death trials and in the process became best friends.

Jumping into his pearl white vehicle he quickly accelerated to 80 miles per hour. When he noticed a policeman on a motorcycle chasing him, he tried to shake him. After running five red lights he was able to safely continue. He quickly rushed to Professor Xie's suburban residence, but was shocked to discover that the Professor was already dead. The corpse's chest was still a little warm. Ling estimated that he had been murdered about half an hour earlier.

As he observed the corpse he noticed that it was situated in a strange position. The professor had apparently suffocated to death. His breastbone also appeared to have been completely shattered. What was strange was that there was no obvious bruising or trauma visible on the skin. Even with a slight hit you would expect it to leave a small mark. How was this even possible? It would take a force of a thousand pounds or more to shatter a breastbone like that.

Very carefully he examined every inch of the room, but he could not find anything that a criminal could have used to cause these wounds. The room was actually in good order. There were no signs that a struggle took place. The front door and window were both intact. Ling Duyu used two steel wires he took from his suit to skillfully unlock the door and quietly enter. Even the unwitting ghost inside did not notice his entry.

Professor Xie's eyes were both wide open. Fear was reflected in his eyes, his facial expression registered a state of panic and dread. He looked like he didn't want to believe that his death was happening at all. Even for someone with a lot of courage like Ling Duyu, after looking at this scene, he couldn't help feeling afraid.

The corpse seemed to have tumbled from a chair looking up, the mouth was open wide where it unwillingly sucked in its last breath of air. The ash white face was raised to an impossible angle, eyeglasses hung suspended from the right ear swinging back and forth longing to fall to the floor. He seemed to have met with an invisible demon who tightened its powerful hand around his frail throat.

Throughout Ling's strange and wonderful life, he had never seen someone die like this before. He once saw someone whose skin was peeled off until they died, another man he saw completely dismembered leaving him with no arms or legs. Even though both of those methods were extremely cruel and merciless they weren't necessarily worse than the strange and inexplicable death Professor Xie endured. What could cause such a terrifying death?

Professor Xie's left hand hung limply to the side, while his right hand lay between his chest and belly with the grasping fingers that Ling retrieved the blue leather diary from. He quickly eliminated any evidence of his forced entry, and then calmly reported it to the police. The diary was concealed for himself. He has only ever trusted in his own ability. At the same time within the diary there was a great secret waiting to be discovered. He hoped he would be able to keep it safe until Chen Wupeng came back.

When the police arrived he appeared to be very calm as they repeatedly interrogated him in order to get to the bottom of their investigation. At Dusk, later that day, he also hid a phone call he made from the police. He was able to find Chen Wupeng in the United States and told him the bad news about Professor Xie's death. Chen had always been very irritable, but when he heard the sad news about the Professor his reaction was unusual. Instead of being distressed and agitated, he responded vaguely, "He is really dead, he really did die..."

Ling Duyu asked, "Wupeng, is there an explanation for what happened?

The conversation turned out to be one sided. Chen didn't hear a word and only muttered,  "This was really unexpected, I was the only person that knew..."

Abruptly, he madly screamed out, "What kind of hideous ... its too much!!"

Ling was secretly amazed. Chen had been through many great storms, any matter that could make him act so abnormally must be very frightening. After five minutes of gasping for breath Chen finally started to calm down. Ling listened until he forced himself to respond with a great surge of willpower saying, "Wait for me to come back, we'll speak again." With that single phrase the call ended as the line went dead.

Ling expected his conversation with Chen to clear the dense fog, but it only made the puzzle more complex. At least he would shortly be on his way back.

A new song brought Ling out of his reverie as he opened the diary to the first page. The date written on the page was March 15, 1984. It was written four years ago. The diary entry read:

This morning I returned to the University Research Institute. I had a chance encounter with Lao Xu. I found out his friend Dr. Zheng Yunlin died right in front of him. I couldn't bear the sound of his sobs. From the spring of birth to the autumn of death is like a cloudy dream. His fame and fortune are nothing to him now, all he has is the grief and sighs of old friends...

Ling turned several pages. The diary was not continual. Sometimes several months would pass between entries, it would be more appropriate to call it a registry.

Professor Xie Ning became an internationally known archaeologist at the age of 35 when he published "The Migration of the African Coast Populations". The world archaeological community praised his efforts, propelling him forward as a leader in the field. After that he spent dozens of years meticulously researching the culture and language of ancient Egypt, he became a recognized archaeological authority in the world of education.

His life was devoted to educate others, he was also a renowned traveler. The Professor was a modern Xu Xiake. The inexplicable death of such a prominent scholar was definitely a huge loss to the archaeology community that could never be reclaimed.

This year the Professor was 65 years old. He had retired from teaching five years ago. According to what Chen Wuping said, for the last 20 years the professor had been infatuated with finding ancient civilizations. He believed that before modern civilization emerged, there existed on Earth other highly civilized cultures possibly with "the Peking man" and "the Lantian man". This was around 400,000 to 500,000 years ago in prehistoric times. This particular theory belonged in an archaeological no-mans land. If a credible discovery could be found to prove it, it would be a landmark day and an astonishing feat.

With disquieting thoughts, he continued to browse through the archaeological giant's notes, the contents not recording his life's feelings but his studies, newly acquired knowledge, and penetrating analysis of archaeology. Ling galloped through the scholar's unbounded inner world of thought, his famous reputation was not undeserved. This great scholar had a high level of academic attainment, coupled with a daring and rich imagination. There was a huge difference between him and others who filled their brains with small facts just to become so-called scholars.

For example on July 7, 1985 he wrote:

Humanity has become used to a tiny knowledge of its present immersion in history spanning a narrow space of time. Like an ostrich hiding its head in the sand, it remains to be seen whether or not they have the courage and perseverance to search out history's numerous unsolved mysteries.

For example in each established culture's history, there has been recorded a flood that encompassed the entire earth. Our Chinese history speaks of Da Yu who was able to control the rivers. His father tried to block the waters, but his method failed. Da Yu later unblocked the rivers and led the water away. Only after this solution did the flood finally disappear. This great flood endured for 15 years before it was able to subside.

A skillfully written account also appears in the Jewish culture who speak of Noah's Ark. In the Holy Bible it is written that Noah was warned by God that a flood was coming and he was instructed to build a great boat. He was to sort all of the animals of the world into male and female pairs and put them on the boat. Noah ,and the animals he took on the boat, were the only life-forms that were fortunate enough to survive the great flood allowing humanity to continue. Currently there are people seeking traces of Noah's Ark.

Other histories, like Greece and India, don't fail to mention shocking accounts of a catastrophic flood. This should be irrefutable proof, that every modern civilization's history has recorded some version of a global catastrophic flood that did not subside for a long time. Over the entire earth through different nationalities there are abundant examples in their ancient histories of this great and terrible disaster.

Such a great disaster could have possibly destroyed the remnants of any former civilization. The current modern society is actually a recently developed civilization. The question therefore is can such a great flood repeat? This is most certainly an extremely urgent question.

Ling Duyu was not a scholar, but the professor presented his argument concisely making it easy to understand how such a great disaster could plague humanity again at a later date.

The journal continued on:

In 1976 on the ice-fields of Siberia a herd of mammoths was discovered. The mammoths were a species that could only survive in a tropical environment. These mammoths had three interesting characteristics.First their bodies were completely intact, and the meat taken from the bodies was still edible. Secondly, inside of their mouths and stomachs undigested green grass was found. Finally their stomachs were inflated, indicating that they died of suffocation. The only reasonable explanation for this phenomenon is that when the tropical mammoths were grazing, the weather suddenly changed to an extreme cold that instantly froze them.

Could this be the most significant evidence of a shift in the earth's axis? There is a prevalent theory in scientific circles.  According to the principle of centrifugal force, an object revolves around a single point with the greatest mass.  This is how the earth also rotates around it's own axis.  It rotates around the point having the greatest mass, therefore the earth's rotation must be about the equator, which also has the greatest diameter and mass.

According to an investigation it was demonstrated that the ice at the North and South poles is continually growing more layers. When the ice at both poles becomes heavier than the equator, the rotational balance can be broken. At that moment the entire Earth would reverse. The poles would become the new equator and the equator would establish new North and South poles.

This model adequately explains the mammoths instant death. The tropical mammoth would have most likely been grazing in a prairie located at or close to the equator. The earth suddenly made this reversal transporting them from the tropical prairie to a new world of ice and snow as Siberia froze in an instant. At the new equator the sudden increase in temperature melted the ice causing an astonishing global flood. Scientists estimate that if the ice at both poles melted all at once, the Earth's water level could surge upwards by 50 meters or more.

This would certainly cause Noah to escape in a boat, it would also explain how Da Yu became a flood conquering leader. When the earth shifted its axis there were earthquakes, and tsunamis everywhere. In the face of such a sudden occurrence any civilization could instantly disintegrate and disappear like a puff of smoke. This type of calamity could be a cyclical event. With each occurrence of the cycle one civilization is destroyed with a new one taking its place.

Ling sucked in his breath heavily. A sudden worldwide transformation could happen at any time. He looked farther down the page, written a week later,

Many people who are relentlessly searching for the answers to Earth's myriad mysteries aspire to the thought that the answer lies in outer space. They believe that visitors from other worlds could be responsible. I prefer to believe that the answers are right in front of us. The explanation for these riddles comes from previous civilizations who were highly advanced, and it is even possible that they were not all of the human species.

Prehistoric history has always puzzled me. The earliest memories of the primitive African cultures all testify to the worship of the same god named Sirius. Given to this god was the position referred to as 'the Dark Partner'. It was said that 'the dark partner' was the possessor of the 'most important materials of creation'.

This ancient belief results in an amazing revelation. Modern astronomy was recently developed within the last century. Accordingly, astronomers have discovered that the star known as Sirius travels along an unusual path. Based on these findings, it has been shown that Sirius is a double star system. The second star is a neutron star which does not emit light. Could this neutron star be the 'dark partner'?

A cubic meter of a neutron star is an extremely dense body of matter. The nature of it is an extremely dense form of matter sometimes referred to as neutronium. It is quite possible that such a small amount of matter from a neutron star would be heavier than the entire Earth. Could the neutronium be 'the most important materials of creation'?

Science is currently trying to develop more advanced telescopes to prove these theories. Why did these primitive cultures have such a creative knowledge of the universe? Did a previous highly advanced civilization leave them with pieces of their memory??? 

The Professor put three questions marks at the end of the entry, illustrating his confusion. Ling read with interest 10 more pages all written between 1985-1986. Every single entry focused on the repeated discussion of prehistoric civilizations, and this continual question.

Turning to the page marked August 8, 1986 another strange account was written,

The day before yesterday I finally contacted M. He has seen the material that I transcribed for him personally. He asked why I didn't take any pictures. He doesn't know how hard this was for me. Only after offering a bribe was I allowed, one evening, to enter into the temple library. Only then was I able to copy the flagstone's inscriptions. It is an extremely rare find to have an an artifact, such as the flagstone, that has seen the horrors of war survive intact and in such good condition.

M bluntly stated that he doesn't believe the inscriptions left on the flagstone. He said that it is just a myth and a fictional account that has been grossly exaggerated.

Yes! It caused me to linger in Egypt for three full months! I must make the significance of the flagstone known. They are really stupid. They don't even dare to touch it. Even others who have requested to study it have been strictly prohibited and sent away.

Ling thought to himself, "Who is M? What kind of incredible artifact could it be? What could possibly make the experienced Professor Xie marvel so much? Why didn't the people even dare to touch it?"

The next page was written on March 2 1987. It was written half a year after the previous page,

Last night I received a phone call from M in Paris. He called to let me know he was taking a trip to Cairo. He said that he had witnessed a strange event that he still can't believe really happened. He admitted that he saw a strange "world" and at the time he began to weep.

The stone is really fantastic. Even separated in a display case behind a thick sheet of glass it still possesses a magical power. If we simply followed the method described on the flagstone, then during the autumn lunar cycle we could ascertain whether or not it really works. If it works would it be possible to examine unknown worlds, and other dimensions?

I certainly did not believe in existence of spiritual realms and other dimensions before. That thing could quite possibly be part of an earlier civilizations higher technology left behind, that is way beyond our comprehension. Maybe it is like our video cameras, recording the civilization as it was then. If this were the case then its value would be impossible to estimate.

But why does it correspond to the lunar cycle? Does it draw some kind of energy during this time? Although science has never established a reasonable explanation for the "full moon phenomenon", statistics have firmly demonstrated that during the full moon phase, traffic accidents increase greatly. Psychologists have also observed that during the full moon phase, the human mood is generally more unstable. In fairy tales and myths the werewolf would change form only during the full moon. Poets from our country would see the moon and burst forth with many sad verses, their minds in a deep place feeling a strength that others didn't understand. Maybe 'that thing' can use this different power emanating during a full moon.

It is important to find the answer. In order to find the solution it must be tested thoroughly. I am confident that M will be able to research it extensively, but he said he requires the help of a good friend from Japan, who is from the Bunya Okono family. He is going to have to bring him over secretly. Luckily he has many connections in high places that can help."

Ling was stunned and paused for a minute. It was difficult for him to make his brain associate the Bunya Okono family with an actual person. He was simply unable to accept that written within a master archaeologist's diary the name of an internationally active yakuza family could appear. How could he be associated with the Bunya Okono?

The Bunya Okono family was a yakuza society that began in Japan after World War II. They had a spectacular rise to power in the underworld. Reportedly these people cannot be compared to common yakuza but operate according to righteous principles and rules. They did not use wanton slaughter and violence to intimidate, and they did not engage in the drug trade or any other crimes against humanity.

Because of their cunning and ability to be successful in all aspects of social interaction, like helping the needy and giving to charities, they were able to operate on two fronts. They have a legitimate face that is legal and accepted, but they also have the underworld side.

Ling received very reliable information about Bunya Okono. They secretly control one of Japan's major political parties. If Professor Xie's friend "M" is truly part of the Bunya Okono family, then his true identity would not be the same as what Professor Xie thought. This whole affair had become extremely complicated.

“The diary still needs an expert to examine it more completely” he  thought to himself as he got up. Taking the diary through the hallway and up a revolving staircase he moved South through his house into a studio. His study was about 600 square feet with Chinese calligraphy and paintings hung on the walls. There were also bookshelves loaded with books.

He always loved to surround himself with a vast selection of books. He was proud of his collection ranging from literary history to the most state of the art scientific and technical books. Interested in every possible subject, through books he was able to contact the great minds of the world which allowed him to unceasingly increase his knowledge.

A large majority of the books on his bookshelf were devoted to linguistics. He always believed that the only true way to study other cultures was to study the language that the culture spoke. Language is the mark of that culture's experiences, for example the Eskimo people have more than a dozen adjectives for the word snow. This reflects on the life experiences of the Eskimo people who live in a world of ice and snow. Only through understanding their language could someone comprehend their culture and their way of life. This is why Ling devoted so much time to studying each language. It also gave him a convenient reason to extensively travel the world.

In the center of the studio was a large desk. Near the desk a computer sat as his most effective research assistant. On the wall opposite of the desk hung a vividly colored portrait of a person. The eyes flashed within the painting as the appearance of a dignified Lama was depicted. Below the portrait there was a verse written in Tibetan.

Ling Duyu stared at the portrait respectfully. Slowly he muttered a ritualistic chant, "Father! I am good." He then sat down in the chair facing the computer and turned it on. The computer screen blinked to life and began to run through its self-checking procedures. Soon he started typing on the keyboard. This equipment allowed him to record his thoughts in a file. He would then transfer it via the Internet to a secret data warehouse located in America. Using a password known only to him and a small group of people, he was able to access his information from any location in the world as long as he had the basic equipment. This was by far the most secure method of archiving his information.

The computer stopped at a login screen. Ling Duyu quickly typed several passwords and the screen turned black with the following display,

"[instruction]# "

Opening the diary to the first page he set it on the scanner. The scanner copied the physical page temporarily into the machine's memory, and then sent the information on to the secret data archive. He continuously worked until two o'clock in the morning. The work was almost complete when Ling suddenly began to curse vehemently. Unexpectedly the final two pages of the diary were torn by the scanner. These two pages had the most crucial information written on them.

Closing his eyes he began to exhale slowly through his nostrils. He began to take slow and steady breaths following a strange rhythm. He followed this routine every day before going to sleep. Ever since he was taught this ritual he never deviated from its daily practice. Within several minutes his spirit reached a calm state, he had entered a void full of empty calmness. His breath continued in a powerful yet slender rhythm slowly diminishing until it appeared to be one single continuous breath. Suddenly he stopped breathing completely from his nose and switched to "foetal breathing" proceeding from the mouth as he entered into the spiritual level of his meditation.

In some secret Tibetan monastic scriptures there is a so-called breath type mentioned, "There exists a breath from the heart, not from the rest". The character 'xi' ,meaning rest, is composed of 'zi', which means self, is the top component, and underneath 'xin', which is heart. This is because one must abandon the worldly desires of the heart in order to enter into the spiritual meditation. As a result the "foetal breath" is an important step in the process of freeing one's heart from earthly desires. Ling had already achieved a very high level in this practice. Soon his body was loose with the sensation of tingling everywhere. Some popping noises could be heard as his qi began to flow freely. He experienced a heightened clarity in his awareness.

After twenty five minutes, a feeling of danger approaching suddenly rushed forth into his spiritual sense. This ability has been labelled by Psychologists as "Forest Awareness". A common example of this phenomenon is the behavior of wild animals right before an earthquake. They tend to behave unusually. This is because they are attuned to the rhythm of nature and when there is a small variation in the natural rhythm it does not escape their senses, resulting in their restlessness.

Ling possessed this awareness, not only on a physical level, but also on a spiritual level. The great Lama's called this spiritual sense "Universal Consciousness" which can be achieved when the common consciousness that people experience every day has been surpassed. The average person can only reach this state if they are dreaming. In this spiritual state many people experience strange and wonderful dreams that can be interpreted as omens. In Ling's world of rigorously training his heart and mind awareness, being without this sense would be like a normal person missing the sense of touch.

Although in the material world there does not appear to be any apparent differences or changes he felt a dangerous presence.

Opening his eyes, he continued to breathe through his nostrils before stopping mid-breath. His breathing suddenly changed from the full body foetal breath to his regular respiration through the nose.

Ling looked at the portrait on the opposite wall and thought, "Father, has something terrible happened?" He had never met Lama Ling Da portrayed in the painting. He was the leader of Tibet's most mysterious secret religion "Shang Mi Sect", the 36th generation incarnation of the Living Buddha. Because he was born in the ninth month of Lama Ling Da's journey to the joyful boundaries of death, he was miraculously born without a father. In Lama Ling Da's 98th year of life, the venerable, holy living Buddha made something marvelous happen to Ling Duyu's mother. Ling Yahuai was a Chinese woman from America who came to pay her respects to him. Within her he placed his child and three days later Lama Ling Da died in a sitting posture. After he entered nirvana Ling Yahuai gave birth and named her child with her own family name - Ling Duyu. She also obeyed the instructions that Lama Ling Da had given her. He ordered her to leave her son in Tibet to receive their strict teachings and lead a pious life until he was 15. He would then be able to return to see her for the first time in America and receive a Western education.

This is Ling Duyu's strange family background.

Outside the house the sound of a car could be heard.  The house was located at the end of a private drive. Ninety nine percent of cars that could be heard this close ended up at his house.

Switching off the computer, he grabbed Professor Xie's journal and placed it in the desk drawer. As he walked back downstairs the doorbell rang.