Feng Yi sipped his drink, it tasted pretty good, then he looked the old man up and down, "Should I call you Old Squad Leader?"

"Hehe, a lot of officers who step out of this shuttle call me Old Squad Leader. So, are you surprised I am not wearing any rank insignia?"

"Hmm, I am a bit curious."

Hearing that Feng Yi was curious, the old man immediately laughed, "Now, I'm not military. Why should I carry any rank? Just calling me Old Li is fine." Old Li explained, "This route is a bit peculiar, I've run this route for decades and handled all kinds of incidents. Even after retiring, the military wanted to retain people like me, so I took up this role." He spoke with a certain pride, implying that he was often called upon to handle emergencies that the navigator couldn't understand.

Feng Yi then realized, and asked in confusion, "Old Li, what do you mean by peculiar?"

"Hehe, that's a good question, do you believe in physics?"

"I suppose so." Feng Yi nodded.

"And what about metaphysics?"

"Metaphysics?"

"Yes, all kinds of strange and supernatural phenomena can be classified as metaphysics."

Feng Yi was unimpressed by this, and after a moment of contemplation, he nodded and then shook his head, "Explain."

Old Li did not answer Feng Yi directly but pondered for a moment and then said, "This is the fastest route to Big Macs but is rarely used. Unless there is a pressing need for supplies, our shuttles generally take a detour. Can you guess why?"

Feng Yi really couldn't figure out what Old Li was getting at - this route didn't have space pirates, and he had heard some instability about the Space Jump point, but none of it explained anything clearly.

Old Li said, "This route is trouble."

Trouble? That was a broad statement - instability could be considered trouble, having robbers was trouble, and in the metaphysical sense, encounters with unnatural phenomena could be considered trouble. Feng Yi was in the dark about what Old Li meant by trouble, so he filled Old Li's cup and asked, "What do you mean by trouble?"

Old Li was evasive, "I've personally encountered no fewer than seven such incidents." He began counting on his fingers, "Space Folding events count as one, high-speed light travel also counts as one, encounters with alternate dimensions count as another, and even entering Four-dimensional Space could be considered one." As for the rest… He stopped short, seemingly hesitant to continue.

At some point, Amelia had sat down next to them out of boredom and was keenly listening to their conversation, her dainty chin propped on her hand, looking quite mischievous.

Old Li continued, "The remaining experiences are a bit more esoteric. I'm a man of science, but do you know, many famous physicists developed a strong interest in metaphysics in their later years, like Newton, or Einstein, even the authors of A Brief History of Time - Hawking, Yoshida, West, and so on..."

Old Li began listing examples. These people were all prominent figures who lived before the Great Age of Exploration. But in their time, humanity was experiencing an unprecedented peak in the advancement of technology.

Newtonian mechanics, Einstein's theory of relativity, Hawking radiation, Dr. Yoshida's light transmission, West's origin of intelligence - despite their respective expertise in these areas, all of them eventually delved into the study of metaphysics. Some say they were aliens living on Earth, and others say they were guided by God. But one cannot deny that there may be phenomena that scientific understanding cannot explain.

Old Li then said that the remaining three incidents he experienced were extremely difficult to describe.

Thirty years ago during a voyage on this route, they seemed to encounter something akin to an ancient "ghost wall" event, where the shuttle lost all contact, and no matter how they tried to position themselves with known coordinates, they couldn't escape the region of magnetic field disruption. They would fly around only to end up back at the beginning. This was now a famous event in textbooks known as Space Dislocation.

Next was the Four-dimensional Space event, which happened 42 years ago. Old Li said he was an experienced soldier at the time. He reported that during an urgent mission on this route, they accidentally fell into Four-dimensional Space. Four-dimensional Space is a realm that humans cannot forget, with multiple perspectives. You could see smoke being sucked into your lungs from another dimension or extract your own heart with your bare hands. Under such physical conditions, anything you do could potentially cause irreversible damage to your body.

The last experience built upon the concept of Four-dimensional Space. In other words, when you are in Four-dimensional Space, you could not only see yourself but also your soul.

At first, none of the soldiers noticed this. When the shuttle fell into Four-dimensional Space, the navigator tried to establish a direct connection with the star system, but to no avail. The captain finally ordered the star image to be projected and locked onto Alpha, repeatedly boosting the message transmission power... Whether due to anxiety or impatience, everyone didn't think too much of it, constantly enlarging the projection of Alpha, as if looking at Alpha would provide some comfort to the soldiers on board.

However, something shocking happened then - the troops saw the human soul...

If I had to describe it, it would be something like a realistic image formed by electric particles, clear yet also nebulous. It was clear because while you are in Four-dimensional Space you can capture the true form of the soul through the magnetic field, which is no different from normal people. It was nebulous because, according to our known theories, you simply cannot capture its form when in three-dimensional space. One could imagine that the sound emitted by such a magnetic field would be like the unintelligible static of a radio broadcast.

This is the difference between observing from Four-dimensional Space and from three-dimensional space. One could also say, whenever any matter is in Four-dimensional Space, its physical perspective elevates to a higher level, even if it's a camera. The image it captures would be beyond the imagination of a three-dimensional space.

Old Li finished and took a hearty drink!

Amelia fell into deep thought. Her knowledge far exceeded that of Feng Yi and Old Li. When it came to physics, she was an authority. But right then, she listened quietly without saying a word, looking like a well-behaved child.

Feng Yi asked, "Old Li, how many times have you run this route?"

"Not a hundred, but there must be eighty or so."

Amelia's indifferent demeanor was gone, replaced by astonishment.

Hearing this, Feng Yi was even more shocked, his agape mouth could've fit a goose egg, "Are you joking, Old Li? So are you saying that the probability of encountering such strange incidents on this route is one in ten?"

"Ha ha ha... I'm not saying it's not. That's why the military didn't want to let me retire. As for us old birds, we don't care so much about this. Young man, sometimes it's better to take things with a grain of salt."

This old fellow was truly wise beyond his years, and while Feng Yi wasn't entirely convinced by what he said, the older you get, the more you don't care. After all, they were still the bright future of the Federation.

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