On the bridge of the Orion Missile Cruiser, a stern-faced man was standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window of the cockpit.

The distinct contours of his rugged features and neatly combed black hair showed not a trace of disarray.

His name was Zhao Tianhe, a colonel around the age of forty, the captain of this starship, and the highest commander of the 3,000 crew members on board.

Gazing intently at the boundless starry sky outside the window, he finally spoke after a long silence.

"No movement yet?"

The navigator's face showed a hint of difficulty.

"We've already entered the hyperspace passage, but... for some reason, it's like we've stopped moving."

He spoke cautiously, as he couldn't quite figure out what was happening either.

Normally, when they entered the hyperspace passage, the starry sky outside the window would instantly turn into a deep blue-violet, and after a violent shake, a daylight-like brightness would burst forth from the center of the darkness ahead.

But now, none of those things were happening.

Strangely, the warp engine was clearly activated, and all data indicated they were at the hyperspace passage, yet they were "stuck" at the entrance.

Zhao Tianhe didn't speak, while a woman around thirty next to him wore a look of astonishment on her face.

"How is it possible? Entering the hyperspace passage but not moving... Can the hyperspace jump really come to a halt? Such a thing... is unheard of!"

Her name was Wu Mengke, the executive officer of the first unit — the so-called ship command department — of the Orion Missile Cruiser.

This position, in layman's terms, was the captain's deputy, responsible for assisting the captain in managing the daily affairs of the ship and arranging the duties of the service department, among other things.

The structure of the United Space Army was similar to that of the navy of old times, though there were differences in specific functions.

Zhao Tianhe fell into deep thought, his expression gradually growing serious.

As his deputy mentioned, since the establishment of the United Space Army, there had never been such an occurrence.

No——

Strictly speaking, this had never happened since human civilization stepped into the interstellar era and developed the warp engine!

The navigator slowly continued speaking.

"...The strangest part is right here. We've already checked, the engine is operating well, with no abnormalities found. As you said, it's as if we're stuck right at the entrance of the hyperspace passage."

"Can you confirm it's the entrance?" Zhao Tianhe suddenly asked.

The navigator was taken aback, ready to nod, but then showed difficulty and shook his head.

"This... can't be confirmed."

Hyperspace is not the classical universe but a tunnel bridged between massive celestial bodies.

In this tunnel, only point-to-point movement can be accomplished, and the coordinates in the classical universe as well as distances relative to massive celestial bodies cannot be measured.

The bridge was silent.

The crew members present looked at each other, no one uttered a word.

After a while, Zhao Tianhe looked at Wu, who was also in deep thought beside him, and asked solemnly.

"What do you think it might be?"

"I don't know. If it's purely speculative guesses, the possibilities are too many," Wu Mengke, having calmed down, shook her head and said with a complex expression, "Perhaps the scientists in the fifth department can give us a reasonable explanation."

Zhao Tianhe nodded slightly, casting his gaze out the floor-to-ceiling window, and said gravely.

"Hopefully."

He had a foreboding feeling.

And as time passed, that feeling grew stronger...

At this moment, hurried footsteps were heard at the entrance of the bridge, and an officer strode through the open alloy door and hurriedly reported.

"Report! There's been a collision on the lower deck! An unidentified flying object has hit us!"

The bridge resounded with voices of astonishment and doubt.

Zhao Tianhe did not hesitate, quickly walking to a terminal, and looked at the holographic screen.

The staff sitting at the terminal swallowed, looking flustered and said.

"No structural damage detected on the ship... are you sure there's no mistake?"

The officer immediately said.

"Impossible! My people are at the scene! We have already sealed off the affected area according to the emergency protocol in the safety handbook!"

Staff: "But..."

Without listening to their argument, Zhao Tianhe stared at the screen without blinking, a look of surprise appearing on his stern face at the same time.

The deflection shield was functioning well.

The integrity check of the ship was also all normal...

But he trusted that his crew would not lie, especially since there was no reason for them to do so.

Standing beside him, Wu Mengke's face also showed a complex expression.

"Strange occurrences one after another... do you think it could be the trick of the Gemini?"

Zhao Tianhe spoke in an indisputable tone.

"They are already dead."

Wu Mengke questioned.

"What if they're not? No one actually went to check."

"...There's no need to verify, we indeed penetrated their shield, that's a definitive fact; let's not discuss this any further."

Expressionless, Zhao Tianhe paused for a moment and continued.

"Moreover, even if, by the slimmest chance, they escaped, there is no possible way for them to trap us in the hyperspace passage."

The hyperspace passage can be closed; you only need to create a large gravity well to disrupt the nearby gravitational field, which is not difficult.

But for an already open hyperspace passage, closing it is absolutely impossible.

At least with the technological means known to humanity today, it's not achievable.

Wu Mengke sighed and said.

"Then it can only be alien intervention in our war."

"Unless there is conclusive evidence proving their existence, I don't want to make such baseless assumptions."

Leaving this conversation, Zhao Tianhe looked at the officer standing at the bridge door and said.

"Can you confirm what hit us?"

The officer clearly was also confirming, with his index finger pressed to his ear for a long time before saying with a strange expression.

"It's a... uh, lifeboat-grade civilian spaceship? My subordinates are unsure... but there's no friendly identification on the spaceship."

"Civilian spaceship?"

Wu Mengke's eyebrows slightly raised, the crow's feet showed a hint of surprise.

"Why would there be a civilian spaceship here?"

"Maybe it's an extremist organization member, or maybe some unlucky journalist... Is there anything on it?" Zhao Tianhe continued to ask the officer.

Confirming the situation on site through the communication system, the officer looked at the captain and said.

"We found a sleep cabin on the spaceship, inside lies a young man who looks about seventeen or eighteen... He claims to come from an organization called the Alliance? Affiliated with the Burning Corps..."

"Alliance? Burning Corps?" Wu Mengke's complexion changed slightly, muttering to himself, "Could it really be aliens..."

Zhao Tianhe's expression also turned somewhat weird, staring at the officer and continuing to ask.

"What else did he say?"

"He said quite a lot..."

The officer was silent for a moment, then suddenly his face changed slightly, and he raised his head to speak.

"He has started fighting with our people..."

...

In the cybernetic repair room of the engineering and maintenance department, Luo Yi, who had successfully subdued a certain teenager, was leaning back on the operating table, allowing the mechanical arm suspended overhead to fiddle around his left arm.

Standing next to the control terminal, Koala, wearing work clothes, skillfully operated the tablet, cutting open the bionic skin on Luo Yi's left arm and extracting a burnt black metal tube from inside.

"The capacitor is burned out... need to replace it with a new one."

"Is it serious?" The big guy standing with arms crossed nearby frowned and asked.

His name was Xiao Yong, and like Luo Yi, he belonged to the Space Combat Squad under the sixth department, his rank also being sergeant.

"Serious... not really, just a burnt capacitor, what's most abundant here is capacitors," Koala grinned and shook his head, saying, "But these young people sure hit hard, they strike to kill with no holds barred."

"Young people indeed have no restraint, whoever did the cybernetic surgery for him must've grown tired of living." Xiao Yong couldn't help but curse.

According to the cybernetic management act, bionic cybernetics are prohibited from installing harmful applications, especially harmful applications on minors not yet fully developed.

They have already saved evidence and will file charges against the person involved once they return to Earth.

Sitting on the operating table, Luo Yi looked at his newly replaced right hand cybernetic, remained silent for a moment before suddenly speaking.

"That guy has been on the battlefield."

Standing beside him, Xiao Yong raised an eyebrow.

"Do you mean he's a soldier?"

"Yes."

Seeing Luo Yi nod, Xiao Yong was surprised and lowered his arms crossed in front of his chest.

"... Do we have soldiers that young?"

At eighteen, one should be in high school, joining the army requires at least a university degree.

As for the rebel forces in the colonies...

Those guys should have turned into ashes by now.

Luo Yi looked up at him and said.

"Didn't you hear him say he came from the Alliance?"

Xiao Yong frowned.

"Do you really believe what he says?"

Luo Yi's expression became a bit complicated and he shook his head.

"I don't know, but his reaction speed and combat quality are not weak, even... if it wasn't because he had just thawed, I might not have been able to subdue him by myself."

Xiao Yong looked at him in shock.

"You must be joking, that kid?"

Luo Yi seriously looked at him and said.

"I'm not joking, I'm serious."

That guy could anticipate his attacks and instinctively reacted, but his body couldn't keep up.

This is definitely not a skill trained on a practice field, but rather learned from close combat battles.

There's only one doubt.

Just as his colleague said, this kid is too young; in their eyes, he's just like an undeveloped child.

At that moment, an unexpected voice inserted itself from the entrance of the repair room.

"I share Sergeant Luo Yi's view, that kid is definitely not a civilian, he's a soldier, and unlike you guys... he fought his way out of the wasteland."

Three pairs of shocked eyes floated toward the door, only to see their "ship pastor" holding a jug of whiskey, drunkenly stumbling in from outside, even burping a wine hiccup when crossing the threshold.

Xiao Yong frowned.

"Wasteland? Is that some kind of movie?"

The fifth department is the department with the lowest presence on the entire missile cruiser.

This department was established supposedly to deal with the unpredictable and changing cosmic environment, but since its establishment, no fifth department on any starship has ever been heard to be in action.

The scientists who act with the ship neither repair engines nor have any say in strategic deployment, their only use being to produce a pile of academic garbage called papers.

He did not deny physicists' contributions to the Prosperity Epoch, but he merely doubted whether "deploying a research team on every starship" was necessary.

Facing Sergeant Xiao Yong's suspicion, Wu Xinghuan couldn't help but burp again, apologetically wiping his mouth.

"Movie? It's not that... This kid came from our future, or rather, he is our future."

Koala looked at him with a strange expression.

"What are you talking about madness?"

Xiao Yong also sneered, disdainfully saying.

"That kid? If he's our future, then humanity is truly hopeless."

"Haha, don't say that, who hasn't had a youthful time? I bet when you were young, you were more of a jerk than he is, and probably not as skilled," Wu Xinghuan chuckled twice, glanced at everyone present, cleared his throat, and continued, "Also, let me bring everyone some unfortunate news, our spaceship is stuck in the hyperspace passage... and that time traveler might be the reason we're stuck."

The room fell into a strange silence, with three pairs of eyes looking at each other bewilderedly, exchanging confused glances.

Hyperspace passage...

Stuck?

Seeing the other two looking at him, Koala quickly raised his hand and said.

"Don't look at me... I've never heard of such a thing, and fixing the FTL engine isn't my job."

Xiao Yong couldn't help but ask.

"Aren't you the engineering supervisor?"

Koala coughed and explained.

"The full name of the Fourth Department is Engineering and Maintenance, the hyperspace engine is the maintenance department's job, it has specialized engineers responsible... and such critical equipment is directly managed by the First Department, which falls under the Captain's purview."

Xiao Yong felt dizzy from the explanation, patted his head.

"We have too many departments, we should cut some."

Koala snapped his fingers.

"Good idea, I also think the Fifth Department is unnecessary."

"Ahem," Wu Xinghuan hid the bottle of wine behind him awkwardly and said, "Is this the time to talk about this..."

"I need to think this through..." Luo Yi pressed his index finger against his brow, furrowed his brow in thought for a moment, and said, "You mean, that child is from the future? And our future... is Wasteland? So... our world is destroyed?"

"The world isn't destroyed, our civilization just moved from one historical stage to the next," Wu Xinghuan finally steered back to the main topic, quickly continuing, "Did you notice the clothes he was wearing? That's the jacket from the shelter, not some high imitation."

Xiao Yong sneered.

"If he's just cosplaying, wouldn't that be awkward for you?"

Wu Xinghuan looked at him with bright eyes, unable to contain a hint of excitement in his tone.

"But he clearly isn't, we found spores of mutated slime fungus on him, and spores we've never seen before!"

The room fell silent again.

This time not just Xiao Yong, but Luo Yi's face changed too.

However, Wu Xinghuan didn't care and continued to chatter on.

"I know this is hard to accept, but this is what happens in the future! In the distant future, people have already achieved coexistence with mutated slime fungus; they are no longer deadly to us, and we no longer view them as enemies, but have become part of each other."

"You're talking nonsense." Xiao Yong cursed, "According to you, the war was fought for nothing?"

Looking at this brute who couldn't accept it, Wu Xinghuan shrugged, smiling.

"From an individual's perspective, it might indeed be so, but from the height of civilization, isn't that always the case? We shouldn't view civilization issues from an individual's level, nor should we look down on individuals from the height of civilization. Problems in the same dimension should be researched with the same dimensional perspective. Believe it or not, the facts are as they are... I need to refine my theory; you should feel honored, you are on the same ship as the future star of the physics world."

"What does this have to do with a physics star?" Koala scratched his hairy head, puzzled.

"Isn't it obvious?" Wu Xinghuan smiled and spread his arms, revealing the bottle of wine hidden behind him again, "Time is reversible, the movement of matter is reversible, entropy is reversible, I have discovered a new physics."

"I think you're crazy."

Xiao Yong snatched the bottle from Wu's hand, ignoring his protests, and took a swig.

He still couldn't accept it.

After three years of this war, it turned out to be like this, and in the distant future, spirited kids not only carefree put on combat prosthetics but also drove quasi-spaceships with anti-gravity devices, scurrying around the universe like cockroaches.

If that's the ending, it might as well be destruction.

Luo Yi sighed, pinched his nose.

"You said earlier we were stuck?"

"Yes, that's right."

Seeing the bottle of wine emptied, Wu Xinghuan disappointedly gave up the idea of snatching it back.

Luo Yi looked speechlessly at this complacent guy, supposedly a future academic bigwig.

"I'll believe what you say, but given the situation now... you should think about how to help us get out of this predicament first."

Hearing this, Wu Xinghuan's face once again showed a confident smile.

"This is actually very simple, although I don't know if that guy fell into a black hole or hit some neutron star thing, anyway, he stumbled into our timeline."

"So what?" Luo Yi didn't find it simple, he even started to feel a headache.

However, Wu the Doctor standing in front of him clearly had a different view.

"So we just need to figure out what happened to him before he came here, and then send him back."

After hearing his explanation, the three in the repair room were stunned.

Could it really be that simple?

It sounded like just tidying up an overturned box and then putting the lid back on.

Luo Yi had a bit of skepticism in his eyes, but looking at Wu Doctor's bright gaze, he couldn't help but believe a little.

At least this guy is professional.

"It seems our Fifth Department will finally play its role," Koala shrugged, "Saving a kid from the future on the eve of the war ending, and saving over 3000 crew members."

"My achievements are far beyond this; I believe many years from now you'll remember today's meeting... and the friendly me."

Wu Xinghuan exaggeratedly did a nodding bow motion, as if standing on the award podium.

Xiao Yong snorted disdainfully, still with an unconcerned expression.

"Though this sounds stupid, let's give it a try first..."

Although the home planet was affected by the war, it was far from falling into the Wasteland's level.

Especially reconciling with the mutated slime fungus...

Wouldn't that mean those who messed everything up, the Radical Faction, won the ultimate victory?

Don't even think about it!

"Let's solve the immediate problem first."

Luo Yi didn't want to think so far ahead; he had been away from home for too long and just wanted to go back earlier.

If it's reconciled, then let it be.

The universe is so vast, apart from South Gate Two, there are countless star systems, allowing them to have their own star is not unreasonable.

Giving the other party a chance to live is also a chance to let go of oneself.

Besides, that planet originally belonged to "Gaia." They lived well there, and if it weren't for the human colony ship disturbing their dreams, they would probably continue playing alone until the entire universe became silent.

From the standpoint of the United Human, the three-year War was undoubtedly glorious, but from the other side, it might not be the same.

Getting up from the operating table, he moved his arm a bit and cast his gaze at Dr. Wu standing at the door.

"That young man called… Night Ten? Where is he now?"

Wu Xinghuan smiled and said.

"He's in the medical room; Xiao Lin examined his body, and he's basically fine now."

Luo Yi nodded.

"Go and see him."

"I'll go too." Koala raised his arm, hurriedly turned off the devices, and followed the three people.

Although the ship's security is the work of the third division, he couldn't miss such an interesting matter.

Besides, someone mentioned that this moment witnesses history!

The four arrived at the door of the medical room, only to see many people gathered there.

Not only doctors and nurses from the Medical and Life Support Department but also people from other departments, even senior officers from the ship's command department.

Here, Luo Yi even saw artificial intelligence experts from the "Robot and Artificial Intelligence Department."

Even people from the tenth division came to join the fun, which he really didn't expect.

Luo Yi felt a slight chill in his heart and couldn't help but glance at Dr. Wu next to him.

This big mouth…

Clearly, the fact that this guy came from the future has spread, and now all the crew know that a visitor from the future has arrived on their ship.

"Make way, let me through…"

Wu Xinghuan raised his arm, like a star, squeezing towards the center of the "stage."

Seeing this guy from the fifth division, people gathered around made way, curiously watching him, wondering what he planned to do.

He walked straight to the boy sitting dazedly on the treatment bed, Wu Xinghuan, smiling kindly, squatted slightly beside him.

"Let me introduce myself. My name is Wu Xinghuan. I'm a scientist here."

Night Ten looked at him, always feeling that this person didn't seem like a scientist, more like a clown.

However, thinking of those people from the Academy, he felt relieved and nodded expressionlessly.

"Oh."

His mind is quite chaotic now.

On one hand, after so long, he's unsure whether Jiang Xuezhou is still alive.

On the other hand, he can't quite figure out his current situation.

Two possibilities.

Either he's in some single-life game replica, or he's genuinely traveled across time.

Seriously considering, although the latter seems silly, he can't help but panic.

Ah Guang still hasn't responded, and the forum buddies can't be reached since he hasn't logged out.

He even somewhat regrets not letting Fang Chang stay in the cockpit at the time, instead of himself.

If it were Brother Fang Chang, he'd surely solve the problem in minutes…

Or even Old White.

At least that guy might be more mature in handling things.

Night Ten carefully reminisces about his gaming career, figuring that most of the time he relies on "recklessness" rather than wit.

"Perhaps I can help you." Wu Xinghuan, looking genuinely sincere, tried to win the trust of the boy before him.

"Help me?" Night Ten slightly turned his face towards him, the corners of his mouth suddenly curling into a playful smile, "You?"

While speaking, he already caught the smell of alcohol.

This guy reminded him of Mosquito; no one is more unreliable than that guy.

In comparison, ah Wei might be slightly more reliable, at least not truly messing up things.

But this guy probably didn't realize his alcohol hadn't worn off and went on endlessly.

"Based on my inference, you probably encountered some trouble during hyperspace movement. Perhaps I can help you… it's good for both of us."

Night Ten eyed him with a playful expression.

"From this, it seems your inference isn't very reliable. My research ship doesn't have a warp engine; it merely uses an anti-gravity device to lift off from the ground and can't perform hyperspace travel."

Wu Xinghuan gestured with his fingers, continuing.

"I know, single anti-gravity device's technology principle is actually similar to a warp engine, merely a different usage of gravitons. And… uh, maybe it was just an escape boat; you have other ships nearby—"

This guy probably drank too much, unable to speak clearly.

Night Ten smirked and continued.

"It's a research ship organized by the Academy. I don't have other ships, just this one. Do you know about the Academy? I remember this organization existed before the War."

"An academic organization… wait, you mean they played a significant role after the War?" Wu Xinghuan looked at him with surprise, like he discovered a major secret.

Night Ten could guess what he was thinking. This guy probably already planned on which major institution to cozy up with once back on Earth.

However, this guy really overestimated things.

As for why…

"We ran into a neutron torpedo. Even if it didn't hit us… that thing exploded nearby. I'm not sure how much the deflection shield blocked, but the spaceship lost control and crashed into yours..."

At this point, Night Ten paused for a moment, looked into the so-called scientist's excited eyes, and said something that chilled his listeners instantly.

"Guess what I was going to do? Or why did we collide with you?"

"Correct, I was going to dig a grave."

"Your grave."

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