Damn.

For someone who never swore, Ji Yushi suddenly found himself thinking of the common expletive used by the Sky Vault Seven Squad.

He muttered, “How did this happen?!”

Li Chun was panicking, “I have no idea! I just turned around, and Captain Song had shrunk!!”

The now-shrunken Song Qinglan was still wearing his adult-sized black combat uniform, with sleeves, pant legs, and shoes far too large, making him look a bit ridiculous. Especially since he looked like a seven or eight-year-old child, yet he was still carrying his Shenmian, creating a comical contrast between the child and the oversized “toy” gun.

Young Song Qinglan had grown up to be a handsome and somewhat cute kid. Except for his sour expression and sharp demeanor, it was hard to recognize him as the same Song Qinglan.

After the incident, Li Chun had hurriedly brought him back to the space capsule, and Song Qinglan hadn’t said a word on the way.

Now, however, he couldn’t stay silent. He finally spoke, explaining, “I slipped while collecting plants, and then I became small.”

Ji Yushi: “…”

Li Chun: “…”

“Is my baby voice funny?” Song Qinglan said with a cold expression. “If you’re going to laugh, do it now and get it over with.”

Time seemed to have reversed for Song Qinglan, but even though he had the body of a child, his mind, intelligence, and personality remained unchanged. When he spoke, it was both funny and unnerving.

Even Li Chun couldn’t bring himself to laugh, his expression solemn.

At that moment, the sound of a scuffle and the bearded man’s incomprehensible curses came from the hallway.

The three of them hurried to the source of the noise, finding the bearded man grappling with the young man who had appeared at the outer hatch.

The bearded man, with his bear-like strength, had pinned the young man to the ground, his hands around the man’s throat, cursing angrily, “Anfala Hagenha!!”

The young man’s face was flushed from the choking, and he was desperately trying to resist. “Help… help…”

“Who is this?!” Li Chun exclaimed in shock. “Where did he come from?”

“Rescue him!” Ji Yushi ordered.

With Song Qinglan now too small and weak to help, Ji Yushi and Li Chun struggled mightily to pull the powerful bearded man away.

The bearded man resisted fiercely, looking like he wanted to tear the young man apart.

The young man gasped for air, sitting back on his knees and coughing. “Are you… from Sky Vault too?”

Everyone there except the bearded man wore the standard black combat uniforms of Sky Vault’s guardians, though the young man was the only one with the number “12” on his chest. Still, it was enough to identify him.

“Yes,” Ji Yushi replied, “Are you a guardian from Sky Vault Twelve Squad?”

The young man nodded as he stood up with difficulty, looking at the bearded man. “Who is this guy? Why did he try to kill me?”

Song Qinglan wanted to say that the bearded man’s behavior was unpredictable, but given his childlike voice, he opted to remain silent.

The bearded man was still agitated, pointing at the young man and saying something to Ji Yushi.

The young man then noticed Song Qinglan. “And who is this child?”

Song Qinglan: “…”

“Why did you end up here too?” The young man, puzzled by this unfamiliar group, asked, “Have you seen my other teammates?”

Li Chun wasn’t sure how to respond, so he awkwardly said, “Well, senior, we’re not from the same era.”

The term “senior” sounded a bit out of place.

The young man took a moment to process this, then asked, “I’m from 1441. What about you?”

There was a brief moment of tension.

As they suspected, the Sky Vault Twelve Squad in the rainforest was indeed the one that had gone missing fifteen years ago.

Ji Yushi’s clear voice answered, “We’re from 1456.”

The young man’s name was Xie Si’an, a member of Sky Vault Twelve Squad from 1441. He and seven teammates were on an A-level mission when their capsule malfunctioned and crashed here. They discovered the junkyard and the space capsule, and after resting in the capsule, they split into groups to explore different directions. Xie Si’an and another teammate entered the city.

According to him, they got lost in the city after one day. His companion claimed to have seen other people and got separated from him. With their communicators out of range, Xie Si’an had no choice but to search for an exit alone in the mirrored city. After about another day, he found some glow flowers on the sidewalk, which led him back to the space capsule.

For Xie Si’an, it felt like only two days had passed since he and his teammate separated.

Xie Si’an was in disbelief, unable to accept the reality. His lips turned pale. “Are you saying that fifteen years have actually passed?!”

Li Chun nodded, “Yes. We calculated that the time inside the space capsule flows 2,880 times faster than in that city. So one day in the city is roughly equivalent to eight years here. So what you thought were two days… was actually fifteen years.”

Xie Si’an’s hand, holding a can of food, began to tremble.

The news was harsh, but Li Chun had to tell him, “Not only does time flow differently there, but there’s also a place where time flows 24 times faster than in the space capsule. Fifteen years in the space capsule equals 360 years there. My teammate… saw the remains of some of your companions there.”

Xie Si’an suddenly looked up. “That’s impossible! How could that be?!”

Song Qinglan, sitting on the sofa with a deep expression, had a look of contemplation on his small face, one typically seen on the adult version of himself.

He, too, was a victim of the time anomaly and had nothing to say.

Ji Yushi spoke with the bearded man for a while, using gestures and simple language to understand the situation before walking over with a drawing.

Now that the bearded man had a spokesperson, he didn’t hold back, plopping down on the sofa with them.

He was enormous, easily over 300 pounds, and when he sat down, the sofa springs creaked under the weight, causing the small Song Qinglan to bounce slightly.

The bearded man showed a keen interest in Song Qinglan’s transformation, with food remnants stuck in his beard. He eyed Song Qinglan with his blue eyes, reaching out as if to pinch the little one’s face.

Without even looking at him, Song Qinglan used the barrel of his Shenmian to push away the dirty hand trying to touch him.

“If you don’t believe me, you can look at this,” Ji Yushi, tall and slender, walked over to Xie Si’an, stopping in front of him. “Do you remember fighting with a red-haired foreigner when you first arrived?”

Xie Si’an was stunned. “How do you know?”

Ji Yushi handed over the bearded man’s drawing. “I didn’t know; the person involved is right here.”

The drawing depicted eight Sky Vault guardians, each with the number 12 on their chests.

They were lined up, with the leader holding a gun, seemingly threatening a tall figure.

“When we arrived here, our capsule was damaged,” Xie Si’an said, looking at the drawing. “We soon found this space capsule. Our mechanic wanted to modify the capsule for a new jump, but the red-haired foreigner refused. A few days later, the mechanic, the vice-captain, and another teammate… they tried to threaten him, but he refused to hand over the key, so they had to give up.”

The so-called threat was essentially an attempted robbery, which Xie Si’an spoke of with difficulty. “I didn’t participate, but I didn’t stop them either.”

Li Chun’s mouth hung open. He couldn’t imagine what people would turn into under such circumstances.

“Is that why you eventually split up?” Ji Yushi asked. “Because you were ashamed of their actions and didn’t want to stay together?”

“The three of them had a falling out with us,” Xie Si’an admitted. “I left with the logistics officer through the outer hatch, while the captain and the wingmen went towards the junkyard. We agreed to meet up in 24 hours.”

As everyone now knew, that separation became permanent.

Xie Si’an asked, “You said the person involved is right here?”

Ji Yushi: “Yes.”

At this, Ji Yushi’s tone grew a bit colder. “Your threats amounted to robbery. You broke his shoulder blade. After you split up, he lived here alone for fifteen years.”

Li Chun and Song Qinglan both realized who the person was… the bearded man.

Xie Si’an looked up sharply. “Was… was it you?”

The bearded man grunted, his tone disdainful. “Anfala Hagenha.”

Fifteen years was enough to turn a tall red-haired foreigner into a hairy, beer-bellied giant.

There was nothing like the physical changes in someone’s appearance to make the passage of time clear. Xie Si’an, who had experienced only two days, went through a series of emotions—guilt, shame, shock, and melancholy, all evident on his face.

No wonder the bearded man used chains to drag people back each time, and why he would lock up the strong ones and starve them for a few days… Who knew how many times this scenario had played out here? The fact that the bearded man could still persist in bringing people back and trying to communicate was a feat few could accomplish.

Perhaps some malicious people had been killed by the bearded man, or maybe some had briefly stayed and, unable to understand his warnings, ventured into the different time flow zones and never returned.

This rift was like a true transit station, categorizing and sending people from various eras and universes to different destinations.

Having temporarily resolved one problem, Ji Yushi turned to look at Song Qinglan across the room.

This… was the most troubling issue.

It was impressive that Song Qinglan remained composed, sitting quietly on the sofa, waiting for them to solve the problem.

Ji Yushi’s head ached.

What if Captain Song couldn’t return to normal?

“Captain Song, let’s go to the spot where you slipped,” Ji Yushi crouched down to speak to him. “If you can’t change back, you might have to live in the rainforest for a decade or two.”

Li Chun, overhearing this, immediately objected, rushing over. “No way! Consultant Ji, don’t scare me like that. That would drive anyone mad!”

Song Qinglan’s small face was expressionless. “…”

Ji Yushi blinked. “Just kidding. It’s likely that the spot where you slipped also has time flow issues. Chaos, remember? Disorder and randomness. As long as we find the right method, we can solve any problem. It can’t be harder than fighting zombies or dodging the black wall.”

Li Chun stayed behind to take care of Zhou Mingxuan and prevent the bearded man from killing Xie Si’an.

Ji Yushi went with Song Qinglan to check the spot where he had slipped.

“Please, Consultant Ji, don’t shrink too!” Li Chun clasped his hands together. “Be extra careful!”

Song Qinglan spoke up, “Then you go?”

Li Chun quickly turned away, “I’ll check if Zhou Mingxuan is awake yet. He’s been sleeping forever! Can’t he get better already? And why haven’t Duan Wen and the others arrived? I’ll call the Sky Vault system to complain—what kind of crappy shuttle service is this?!”

As they left the space capsule, Song Qinglan realized… was Consultant Ji trying to comfort him?

It was a strange feeling.

After all, he wasn’t actually a child.

Ji Yushi, who was almost 1.8 meters tall, towered over the now seven or eight-year-old Song Qinglan.

Their steps were hard to synchronize, and Song Qinglan noticed that Ji Yushi seemed to be deliberately slowing down to let him keep pace, occasionally glancing at him to check how he was doing.

For some reason, Song Qinglan suddenly accepted the reality of becoming the weaker one: “Consultant Ji.”

His childish voice was clear, trying to sound mature.

Compared to Song Qinglan’s usual deep, magnetic tone, Ji Yushi found it quite jarring.

Ji Yushi still remembered the feeling of hearing Song Qinglan’s voice through the public channel for the first time.

Yet here they were, still the same person.

A distant memory resurfaced of a younger voice following him around, persistently calling his name with warmth and affection.

Ji Yushi wondered, had he unknowingly come to know every version of a certain Captain Song?

Ji Yushi responded, “Hmm?”

Suddenly, something warm and soft was placed in his palm.

Ji Yushi looked down to see that little Song Qinglan had taken his hand.

It turned out the warm, soft thing was the little one’s small hand.

Song Qinglan tilted his innocent face up, his expression natural, maintaining that usual laid-back demeanor. “Damn, the shoes are too big. I can’t walk fast, and they keep hurting my feet. I need you to pull me along, Consultant Ji.”

Ji Yushi: “…”

The exterior had changed, but the core remained the same.

It felt so out of place.

Since Song Qinglan had shrunk, the size 44 boots on his feet were practically a burden.

But the frozen ground was cold, and without any suitable replacements, he couldn’t walk barefoot or he’d risk frostbite.

Ji Yushi squeezed the little hand in his, quite literally leading a child.

“Let’s make a deal,” Song Qinglan’s crisp voice spoke again, “When we get back, can we forget this ever happened? At least, don’t tell anyone.”

Ji Yushi wanted to laugh, “I’ll try.”

The aurora flickered overhead, and the glow of the vines lit their path.

Ji Yushi suddenly stopped, letting go of the hand, and squatted down to face Song Qinglan.

In his light-colored eyes, it seemed as if the Milky Way was reflected. “Aren’t the sleeves too long? Captain Song, I won’t laugh if you tell me.”

The coat on Song Qinglan was just draped over him, and the sleeves of his combat uniform underneath hung like opera sleeves.

Ji Yushi wasn’t very good at taking care of people, but he had seen others take care of children before.

Song Qinglan mumbled, “It’s not that bad. Not too long.”

Ji Yushi lowered his gaze, his long, thick lashes casting shadows on his fair skin.

He rolled up the too-long sleeves of Song Qinglan’s black combat uniform, then knelt down to roll up his pants.

“You helped me a lot when I was injured, so you don’t need to feel embarrassed.”

After finishing, Ji Yushi stood up, the height difference making him appear slightly aloof.

“Captain Song, I don’t just hold grudges.”