Long River Eternity

In the vast, dimly lit laboratory, a towering ring stood silently atop a massive black pedestal. Six men and two women stood beneath it, seemingly as insignificant as tiny insects. The air in the lab was thick with tension, as if even breathing had become labored. Everyone's gaze was fixed on the behemoth, their hearts surging with anticipation and apprehension.

"Yang An, this shuttle is the most important and dangerous one in the Yeming Plan. Are you ready?" A middle-aged man in his 50s with slightly messy hair, a face full of stubble, and wearing a yellowed white coat asked seriously.

Yang An stood tall with his back to the crowd, reaching out to touch the densely packed inscriptions on the ring, which were larger than his palm, and feeling the ancient aura from these characters.

He took a deep breath, slowly turned around, and spoke firmly, "The Yeming Project carries the dedication and efforts of countless Chinese scholars over the past century. It is our honor to be able to participate in this most important operation of this project. We will definitely live up to our mission!"

"We will definitely live up to our mission!" everyone behind Yang An said in unison.

"Okay, okay. You are all the most outstanding talents in your respective fields. I believe that with you here, we will be able to successfully complete this mission."

After saying that, the middle-aged man turned on the communicator on his ear: "The mission begins, start the equipment."

At the same time, he led Yang An and the others back to the edge of the pedestal.

At this time, through the glass partitions on both sides of the laboratory, you can see that all the scientific researchers in white coats are in action, skillfully operating the computers or equipment in front of them.

Soon, the originally dim inscriptions on the ring gradually lit up. When the light filled the entire ring, each inscription shot out a thin line that converged at the center of the ring, as if a sun appeared in the center of the ring.

Suddenly, the ball of light dispersed, and a shimmering passage opened up, like a long river leading to the end of time.

"Okay, the tunnel can only last for 5 minutes. There is no time to lose. I wish you all a successful mission." said the middle-aged man.

"Dr. Wang, we'll see you later. Let's go!"

After saying that, Yang An took the lead in stepping into the door of time and walked forward, and the others followed one after another.

Shortly after everyone entered the time tunnel, Dr. Wang's anxious voice was heard outside the tunnel.

"Stay calm, it's probably just a small earthquake. Don't panic."

When Yang An and the others looked back, the ground outside the corridor had begun to shake. Dr. Wang fell to the ground due to the shaking, and various electrical appliances in the laboratory were sparking.

This is obviously not the small earthquake that Dr. Wang mentioned.

Just as Yang An and the others were about to turn around and return to the laboratory, the space-time gate began to shrink and disappeared in a few seconds. Only seven people were left standing there in a daze, not knowing what to do.

"What...what's going on? Didn't they say it could last for 5 minutes? It's only been over a minute and the door is closed? We won't be trapped here, right? And how could an earthquake happen here? Isn't one of the reasons for building the laboratory here so that there will never be earthquakes?" a fat man said in panic.

"Why are you panicking? Are you full of questions? You have so many questions. You are so big but so timid. Let's hear what Lao Yang has to say." A dark-skinned, burly man said.

At this moment, everyone turned their eyes to Yang An. Yang An stood still and looked around: "There shouldn't be any big problems in the laboratory. Given the sturdiness of the laboratory, even if there is an earthquake, nothing serious will happen."

Yang An paused, looked deeper into the tunnel, and continued, "Our top priority now is to get out of this tunnel and return to the real world. According to the information provided by Dr. Wang, shortly after entering the tunnel, a force will pull us forward. The longer the time span of the journey, the greater the suction. Following the guidance of this force, we will naturally be able to get out of the tunnel. In short, let's move forward first."

After saying that, he took the lead and walked forward ahead of everyone else.

Everyone looked at each other and quickly followed Yang An's pace.

It took about a minute to walk.

"Old Yang, I seem to feel that attraction. Do you feel it?" The burly man walked up to Yang An and said.

"I feel it too, and the further I go, the stronger it gets."

"I feel it too, but the suction seems to be getting stronger and stronger. I feel like I'm being pulled forward now." said a woman with a high ponytail and the smallest figure among the crowd.

"Something's wrong. This force is getting stronger and stronger. My body is a little out of control. Stop for a moment. I..."

Before Yang An could finish his words, the woman with ponytail, who was the smallest, was pulled off the ground by this force.

"Yang An!!" the woman screamed in fear

Yang An quickly reached out and grabbed her arm, but before he could exert any force, he was slowly lifted off the ground.

"Everyone, grab the person closest to you and don't disperse!" Yang An shouted.

Fortunately, the group was not very far away. Soon, the seven of them grabbed each other's arms, formed a line, and followed the suction force to fly towards the depths of the passage.

The speed became faster and faster, and soon it exceeded the limit of human endurance.

"Ah!!!" With everyone's scream of pain, the seven people's eyes went dark and they all lost consciousness.

"Ding-ling~Ding-ling~Ding-ling" a noisy ringing sounded.

A young man woke from his sleep, his clear eyes slowly opening. They were clearly a pair of eyes full of vigor and vitality, but deep within them was an indescribable sense of vicissitudes.

As the boy reached out to turn off the alarm clock and sat up from the bed, the vicissitudes of life deep in his eyes slowly disappeared.

The young man sat on the bed, looking out the window at the blue sky, lost in thought.

"What a strange dream," the young man muttered to himself, "How can there be such a thing as a time machine in this world?"

To the boy, the events in his dream were so real, as if he had personally experienced them, and the scenes and conversations in his dream were so fantastical. The "Yeming Project", the huge time machine, the gigantic laboratory - all of these were too incredible for a boy who had only seen steam cars.

"Lin Ding!!! Are you still not up? Today is the 18-year-old coming-of-age ceremony organized by the school. If you are late, you will be in trouble." Just when Lin Ding was still in a daze, a loud shout came from outside the window.

Lin Ding collected his thoughts, picked up the alarm clock and looked at the time.

"Oh no! I was in a daze for 20 minutes! This damn dream really ruined me."

Lin Ding threw down the alarm clock, jumped out of bed, put on his clothes as quickly as possible, rushed out of the room, washed up in five minutes, picked up a steamed bun from the kitchen, grabbed his schoolbag, and ran downstairs while eating the steamed bun.

Lin Ding's home is a five-story apartment building made of reinforced concrete. There are three households per floor, and the building is home to 3 families in total. Lin Ding's family lives on the fourth floor.

If you stand on the roof and look around, you can find that within a radius of 5 kilometers, only a dozen houses in this area are five-story buildings, and the others are low brick houses with one to three floors.

Soon Lin Ding ran downstairs.

Outside the building, a dark-skinned boy who looked the same age as Lin Ding, but half a head taller than him, kept looking inside anxiously at the door. When he saw Lin Ding finally come out, he breathed a sigh of relief, pulled Lin Ding along, and left.

"What are you doing? You are usually on time, but today is such an important day, and you are late." He complained as he walked

"Don't mention it. I had a strange dream. When I woke up, I was stunned for a while and forgot the time." Lin Ding munched on a steamed bun while walking quickly towards the school along the path paved with bluestone slabs.

"Dream? What kind of dream can make you think about it for so long after waking up. You wouldn't be dreaming about our class beauty Liu Xianxian." The young man said with a wicked smile as if he suddenly realized something.

"Wei Wu! What...what nonsense are you talking about? Can you be serious?" Lin Ding said awkwardly, and then told Wei Wu what he had dreamed.

As Lin Ding was telling their story, they entered the classroom ten minutes before class started.