Xiao Tangyuan let out a few soft chirps in her hand, her voice delicate, almost like a cat's.
"I didn't expect it to be real," Zhuo Jin chuckled, placing it back on the ground. "Pack your things, we should head back."
"Miss Gu, what is this thing? And are the words he spoke true?"
Zhuo Jin walked away without looking back. "If you don't believe him, you can think he's crazy and send him to a mental hospital."
If these things had owners, or were looked after by someone, then the unexplained disappearances at the research institute wouldn't be so strange.
Their owners had arrived.
On the drive back.
The man couldn't help but look around, reaching out to cautiously touch the bulletproof glass. "Is this glazed glass? To use such fine material for your carriage, your family must be quite wealthy. Why then must you personally hunt these beasts? Is this young lady your mistress? I see she possesses remarkable martial skills; may I ask who her master is?"
"Can you be quiet for a moment?"
Uncle Sheng, impatient, was furiously typing on a laptop on his lap, his eyes brimming with curiosity and completely ignoring the man's questions.
Zhuo Jin was engrossed in a chat with Zhu Zhongyan on her phone, a smile gracing her lips as she looked at the baby photos he sent.
The others were thoroughly annoyed by the man.
The man smiled awkwardly, his demeanor gentle and refined. "I have been unable to speak for over a month since my death. To be able to converse with others again, I am overcome with emotion. Please bear with me."
The captain’s attitude was stern. "My soldiers are injured and need to rest. You are disturbing them!"
The man smiled apologetically and fell silent.
However, it seemed he had held back for too long and was too curious about everything around him. He couldn't help but touch things here and there, or try to strike up conversations with others. Despite being a handsome man in ancient attire, he acted like a chatterbox with ADHD.
The car journey lasted over three hours before they finally reached their temporary accommodation, one of the "shelters" built by the authorities in various locations, equipped with cages for the异形 (yi xing - alien creatures) and some weapons.
They redistributed the 异形 crammed into the cages. Since many were injured, especially one severely, they decided to stay the night.
After a long day of exertions, with many people injured, they were too tired to verify the man's claims. They assigned him a room, instructed him not to wander off, and then locked him inside.
Shortly after, someone brought him food.
The man, holding two packets of compressed biscuits, clearly didn't know where to begin. He pulled the person who brought the food.
"Young sir, is there a place where I can bathe and change? My undergarments are still wet, and it is truly uncomfortable. Could you please bring me some hot water and a change of clothes? Once I find my wife, I will surely offer a thousand gold pieces for this great kindness!"
The man in the camouflage vest couldn't fully understand his words, but he grasped that he wanted to wash and needed clean clothes. "The bathroom has hot water. I'll ask if anyone brought extra clothes and get you a set."
He then left.
The man watched the man's retreating back with a hint of bewilderment. "Bathroom, where?"
Unfortunately, the soldier had already gone.
A short while later, he returned with a set of clothes belonging to Uncle Sheng – a shirt and trousers – and tossed them to him.
He chuckled, "You've been waiting here the whole time?"
The man instinctively caught them, then looked at them and asked, "What are these?"
"Clothes."
He held them for a while, his eyes full of confusion.
The soldier sighed and explained how to wear the clothes. Just as he was about to leave, he heard the man ask about the bathroom again. The man was like a helpless child, truly as if he had traveled from ancient times.
He silently recited the twenty-four character motto, "Reject superstition, embrace science," as he briefly explained the bathroom amenities, even pointing out which knob controlled hot and cold water. He even helped the man tear open the compressed biscuits before he could finally escape.
Returning to where the others were gathered, he recounted the amusing incident, much to the amusement of many.
After they finished laughing, Uncle Sheng looked up and asked what had happened.
Everyone looked at him with exasperation.
The captain briefly explained. Uncle Sheng didn't laugh but looked at Zhuo Jin, who was playing on her phone in the distance. He had a multitude of questions he wanted to ask her but didn't know how to begin.
After watching for a long time, Zhuo Jin became annoyed and looked up, "If you have something to say, just say it."
He quickly seized the opportunity. "Miss Gu, is that person truly a time traveler as he claims?"
"Yes."
Uncle Sheng was astonished. "But how is that possible? Isn't that something from novels and TV shows? How can a person possibly travel through time?"
"Tsk." She let out a laugh. "You actually watch novels and TV shows?"
Uncle Sheng blushed and didn't reply.
"Do you consider this superstition? There are so many things that humanity cannot yet explain. The universe is vast and infinite. What humans can see with their eyes is only one ten-billionth. The matter that can be detected is only 20%. There are too many unknowns. You cannot attribute everything you don't know to superstition."
Uncle Sheng: "..."
Every time he heard her speak, he felt as though he was being brainwashed.
He always felt that what she said was either too far-fetched or too ethereal, in short, impractical.
However, 60% of what she had said had come true, and the remaining 40% made sense upon closer reflection.
Indeed, one cannot attribute all unknowns to superstition.
Decades ago, some people might have seen foxfire and thought it was ghost fire, but now, most people know its origin.
"You mean, that person really traveled through time?"
The speaker was the captain.
Zhuo Jin put down her phone and explained, "Don't associate the word 'time travel' with superstition. Doesn't humanity have theories about spatial dimensions? We exist in three-dimensional space: length, width, and height. Four-dimensional space simply adds the time axis. The gap between three and four is not large. Perhaps, time travel is simply people in four-dimensional space moving along the time axis?"
Uncle Sheng was stunned for a long moment. "But multi-dimensional space is just a hypothesis, and it hasn't been verified yet. How do you know if it's true or false?"
"I don't know, and you don't know. You ask me, and I explain my thoughts to you. Is there a problem with that?"
Uncle Sheng: "..."
ps:
Multi-dimensional space is just a hypothesis. Interested readers can look it up. Some theories suggest that our three-dimensional space is also known as four-dimensional spacetime. According to some explanations, "time" does not exist in three-dimensional space; it is a concept introduced by humans and should exist as a physical entity in four-dimensional spacetime. (Imagine three-dimensional spacetime as length, width, and height; four-dimensional spacetime adds the time axis.)