Bearded Man’s space capsule was large, and since the group hadn’t been there long, they hadn’t explored every room. Therefore, no one knew there was a capsule pod.

Seeing trouble, Bearded Man and his teammates approached. This group from PU-18 was also young, and as Bearded Man spoke to them, they curiously observed the man kneeling in the middle, as if he was explaining what he had encountered alone.

Facing Bearded Man, Ji Yushi asked him something.

Bearded Man hesitated, then nodded and said a few words.

Ji Yushi relayed to his teammates, “There is indeed a capsule pod in the space capsule. It was left behind by another team and can be used after repairs.”

Li Chun was puzzled and couldn’t help but ask Xie Si’an, “But if the rift is closed, everyone will return to their original positions. What do you need a capsule pod for?”

Kneeling on the ground, Xie Si’an stared at the others in silence.

Captain Qi said, “Because he doesn’t want to go back to his original position.”

Sky Vault Team Twelve had been sucked into the rift during their mission, trapped there with no way out. During this time, they found Bearded Man, who was living alone in the space capsule. With his help, they collected usable parts from damaged capsule pods and successfully repaired one functional capsule pod.

However, with so many people and only one capsule pod, they agreed to wait until they had enough capsule pods to return together.

But this wait dragged on for months.

The barren land, the world without day or night, and the scarcity of resources soon made it impossible for them to continue waiting. They decided to search for another way out.

One day, a few teammates robbed Bearded Man—they somehow believed he would steal the capsule pod and leave alone, leading to a fierce fight. When Captain Qi and the other two teammates returned, they learned that the misunderstanding was caused by Xie Si’an due to a language barrier.

In such a desperate environment, it was hard to distinguish good from evil, but Captain Qi chose to trust him.

To prevent a similar situation from happening again, Captain Qi and a few teammates took Xie Si’an with them to scout for a way out. They entered the rainforest together, and after resting and eating by a stream, they showed symptoms of food poisoning, with only Xie Si’an remaining unharmed.

It was he who had added poisonous mushroom juice to their food, killing them.

What happened to Xie Si’an after he left the rainforest was something everyone could piece together.

The rain poured down in torrents.

Thunder rumbled.

Bearded Man stood aside, speaking in his language, and Ji Yushi translated: “Bearded Man was injured during the fight but didn’t hand over the capsule pod key. Xie Si’an and the others had to continue searching for a way out. Whether those people got lost or met the same fate as Captain Qi’s team, only Xie Si’an knows.”

At this point, Ji Yushi paused. “Bearded Man didn’t tell us about the capsule pod because he was afraid history would repeat itself. And Xie Si’an didn’t expect that after leaving the city, fifteen years had passed.”

“So he was lying to us from the start,” Li Chun said angrily. “When he first came out of the rainforest, he distanced himself from the robbery to try to return with us, appearing clean.”

Xie Sian’s plan had failed.

He hadn’t expected that this group, driven by the Sky Vault mission, would quickly realize that they were in a time rift and treat the situation as a puzzle to solve. When Ji Yushi figured out how to escape, Xie Sian’s surprised and emotional reactions masked his panic.

He must have been terrified that if all his teammates truly revived and returned to their original positions, he would be doomed.

Zhou Mingxuan cursed, then said, “It’s just a matter of time.”

Rainwater streamed down Song Qinglan’s small face, his eyelashes wet, his eyes dark and bright. “So earlier, you deliberately told those newly revived people that we were fighting over the capsule pod. Were you trying to profit from it or just buy time?”

Without waiting for a response, Song Qinglan continued, “Now you want the capsule pod to escape to another era before the rift closes. But aren’t you afraid that if we return, the authorities will eventually catch up with you?”

With his narrow intentions exposed, Xie Si’an felt humiliated but gritted his teeth and said, “Being on the run is better than certain death. Besides, even if I regret it now… is it too late?”

If he had known things would turn out this way, he might have suppressed his malicious thoughts. But reality is unpredictable.

Everyone else had a chance to start over—he didn’t.

Song Qinglan said, “It’s too late.”

Xie Si’an replied, “Then trade me the capsule pod. Once I enter it, I’ll tell you where the glowing flower is. Otherwise, you won’t be able to go back.”

Everyone was stunned.

A small circle of light remained at the garbage mountain, and they were close to succeeding.

Would they really let Xie Si’an escape first?

Captain Qi’s gun remained pointed at him, his finger whitening on the trigger under the rain’s pressure. “Give it to him.”

Everyone: “???”

Tang Le protested, “No way!”

Tang Qi had been tricked by Xie Si’an. If it weren’t for the accelerated time, he wouldn’t have pushed Tang Le aside in time, and Tang Le would have suffered the same fate.

Except for Song Qinglan, no one noticed Ji Yushi frowning as he quickly thought things through.

Ji Yushi replayed every scene involving Xie Si’an in his mind. His memory was flawless—anything he had seen, heard, or felt, even the smallest detail, could not escape his search.

Where would Xie Si’an hide the glowing flower?

Xie Si’an entered the space capsule and fought with Bearded Man.

Xie Si’an sat on the floor and talked to them.

Xie Si’an holding a can, sitting on the sofa and talking…

“Cramond beans…” Ji Yushi muttered, and Xie Sian’s face suddenly changed.

Li Chun exclaimed, “Damn, did he hide the flower in the Cramond Bean can?!”

In the space capsule, everyone avoided the Cramond beans—even if they had to eat worse-tasting vegetarian canned food, they wouldn’t touch them.

The Cramond Bean Can was practically considered garbage.

Ji Yushi looked at Xie Si’an. “No, it’s not in the Cramond Bean Can.”

Xie Si’an glared back at Ji Yushi, his expression cold and silent.

Ji Yushi had guessed it, and so had Xie Si’an.

It was a battle of wits between two observers.

Ji Yushi’s voice was calm but chilling: “Captain Qi, you can shoot.”

Everyone was shocked by Ji Yushi’s words.

Except for the members of Sky Vault Team Seven—they knew their consultant could always see through the fog and grasp the essence of the situation.

Captain Qi hesitated.

Ji Yushi said firmly, “The glowing flower is inside Xie Sian’s body.”

Zhou Mingxuan immediately stepped forward and violently tore open Xie Sian’s black combat uniform.

The young body was not weak, but it had a sickly pallor. A fresh 10-centimeter wound was visible on his abdomen, stitched up, with a small plant hidden inside. Xie Si’an had embedded this trace of time within himself, nourishing it so it could survive undetected. His determination to escape had reached the point of obsession, driving him to such extremes.

Xie Si’an slumped to the ground, his face ashen. “How… did you know?”

“You told me,” Ji Yushi replied. “When you were pinned by Bearded Man and released after gasping for air, the first thing you did was brush off your clothes—you couldn’t stand his smell. You sat on the floor and talked to us, avoiding the carpet because you disliked its odor. When Song Qinglan and I went out briefly, you took a shower, and every time Bearded Man walked by, you held your breath. Strangely, when we talked in the control room and Song Qinglan asked what I’d remember most about Bearded Man, I said it would be his smell. You agreed, yet you didn’t hesitate to sit on his sofa and drape his blanket over yourself.”

Xie Si’an: “…”

Was Ji Yushi’s memory just that good, or was he even smarter than he thought?

Ji Yushi continued, “More importantly, after starving in the city for two days and only eating a vegetarian can I gave you, when Bearded Man allowed you to have a luncheon meat can, you didn’t finish it. In fact, you only ate a third.”

Xie Si’an laughed coldly, a mix of resignation and fate: “You never considered that I might just hate the taste of luncheon meat, like you?”

Song Qinglan, nearby: “…”

Does Consultant Ji hate luncheon meat?

Ji Yushi shook his head. “Because by that time, you had already placed the plant inside your body. You were too weak to stand or eat because your body was in too much pain, right?”

Xie Si’an fell silent.

In the quiet, Captain Qi’s voice, low and firm, broke the tension: “Xie Si’an, by the name of the Time Witness and the Time Guardian, I charge you with treason.”

There were about fifty or sixty time travelers present.

They came from different worlds and times, some speaking different languages, some the same, translating the current situation for each other.

As time witnesses, they were bound to their duty and looked at

 Xie Si’an with disdain.

“Bang!”

A gunshot rang out, and Xie Si’an fell to the ground.

A bullet hole appeared in his forehead, his eyes wide open, devoid of life.

Everyone knew that once the rift was sealed, Xie Si’an would revive in the capsule pod and be captured by his teammates, returned to Sky Vault, where he would again face charges of murder in his own time.

This was not the end for Xie Si’an.

The torrential rain suddenly stopped.

Dozens of time travelers worked together and quickly collected the last wave of glowing flowers, including the final one taken from Xie Sian’s body, and burned them all.

The kaleidoscope-like city reflections disappeared.

“Look!” someone shouted.

Everyone looked up to see that the magnificent auroras in the sky also vanished along with the city.

Was this the end of the time rift?

As the last flicker of the glowing flowers’ fire was about to extinguish, a cacophony of loud noises erupted from the sky.

Immediately after, a massive medieval ferry appeared out of thin air, emerging from the ground. Its mast instantly impaled several time travelers. The ferry surged toward them at an unimaginable speed, carried by non-existent waves.

“Run!!”

Amid the shouts and screams in various languages, the time travelers scattered in all directions, driven by their instinct to survive.

Ji Yushi instinctively grabbed young Song Qinglan’s hand, but the ferry disappeared before their eyes in an instant.

In its place, cliffs appeared, followed by deserts, grasslands, planets, polar regions, volcanic infernos—everything changed unpredictably.

In mere seconds, centuries of different worlds and times overlapped and cycled through.

The world was in chaos, time and space intertwined, leaving no path visible in any direction.

No one ran anymore.

The time travelers stood still, at the center of the time vortex, feeling smaller and more insignificant than ever.

Ji Yushi noticed the tallest man in the crowd with a red beard, now restored to his youthful, slender, and clean appearance, waving at him.

He saw Tang Qi slowly open his eyes, the wound on his body healing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

He also saw the garbage mountain completely disappear as more time travelers emerged from it.

The flames grew smaller, gradually dimming.

With a faint sound, the last vine burned to ashes and vanished from sight.

Just before they were plunged into complete darkness, Ji Yushi felt the small, tender hand he was holding grow rapidly, transforming into a large, strong hand with defined knuckles. The fingers were slightly rough, with calluses left from extensive training with firearms.

The hand didn’t let go; instead, it wrapped firmly around his.

Ji Yushi felt warm breath near his cheek.

Someone taller than him by half a head stood close by.

In the darkness, a deep and pleasant voice belonging to a grown man said, “Consultant Ji…”

The sentence remained unfinished.

For a long time after, Ji Yushi wondered what Song Qinglan had intended to say at that moment.

The next time Ji Yushi became aware, he found himself back in the capsule pod.

“Warning! Warning! You have deviated from your destination coordinates! You have deviated from your destination coordinates!”

The alarm blared loudly in the capsule pod, with red lights flashing incessantly.

Amid the violent shaking of the pod, Ji Yushi saw countless images flash rapidly across the transparent panel in front of him, accompanied by a sharp ringing in his ears.

For a moment, he felt like he had lost his hearing.

Was it starting again?

After a brief silence, the red lights and alarms stopped, and the capsule pod stabilized. A different notification sound played.

“Unauthorized warp detected! Successfully intercepted!”

“The current mission is terminated. You are now in the return phase.”

Ji Yushi’s pupils widened slightly, and he could hardly believe what he was hearing.

Successfully intercepted?

Which Sky Vault system had intercepted them?

Had the Third Command Center finally detected their anomaly and terminated the mission just in time to prevent another hijacking, allowing them to return?

Ouroboros and Chaos.

Had everything that had plagued them with nightmares and mired them in despair finally stopped?

Soon, the capsule pod came to a halt.

A system prompt appeared in front of Ji Yushi, displaying the current time coordinate: [14:51:40].

A mechanical arm quickly delivered a nutrient solution, waiting for the lifeform to consume it, but it didn’t. The arm wobbled slightly, trying to draw the lifeform’s attention to the nutrient solution.

“Welcome, Ji Yushi. Welcome back to Sky Vault.”

As the pod door opened, Ji Yushi found the light outside almost blinding.

Someone holding a flashlight pried open his eyes, shining the light into his pupils, and urgently called out, “Here! The observer is showing pre-shock symptoms! We need immediate medical assistance!!”

Ji Yushi recognized the voice.

It belonged to the medical examiner who had checked his health before they departed.

As he slipped into unconsciousness, Ji Yushi thought, They’re back.