The Return of Stars to the Jianghu

Floating Continent, Shijiazhuang in the northwestern region of the Wu Kingdom.

"Mr. Ding, still no news? Judging by the dates, Luo Yi should arrive in Shijiazhuang today, right?" Wan Li asked.

“Wait a little longer. If you really can’t wait, you might as well go out and look for it,” Mr. Ding replied.

Wan Li was speechless for a moment. He was in an unfamiliar place and had no idea where to start looking.

“Okay, we’ll set off to look for it tomorrow morning,” Ye Xuehan, who had been silent until now, finally spoke.

“Okay, I’ll send someone with you,” Mr. Ding said.

“Alright, let’s set off immediately,” Ye Xuehan said.

"Shi Jiang, you should go with them."

"Okay, Mr. Ding."

“Mr. Wan, please wait. Someone needs to stay and wait. If you all go, and Luo Yifei comes back and can’t find you, it will have been a wasted trip.”

“Okay, then I’ll stay,” Nan Tian replied.

“I think it would be most appropriate for Mr. Wan to stay,” Mr. Ding said, looking at Wan Li.

"Alright, I'll stay. You guys go ahead. If you don't find any clues, come back as soon as possible. Time is running out." Wan Li waved his hand.

The group left the room, leaving only Mr. Ding Wenyuan and Wan Li from the Phoenix Society.

"Get to the point, what task did your team leader, Zhang Zhaoyi, give you?" Mr. Ding asked.

“Take those children back within thirty days, take as many as you can.”

"What if we don't find a single one in thirty days?"

"Let Ye Xuehan and Nan Tian go back, I'll stay."

"What are you going to do staying?"

"Make sure the tunnel is closed."

"That's his style, but let me tell you, sixty years later, he was lying in a hospital bed and gave me a mission. I came to the Floating Continent from the Martian tunnel. Thirty years have passed, and I've been here for a full thirty years."

"What? Impossible."

"Let me show you a picture." Mr. Ding took out a black rectangular brick.

He waved his hand, and the screen lit up, displaying a photo of Mr. Ding and Captain Zhang. Captain Zhang's hair was now white, and his face was covered in wrinkles.

"You know what? I'm completely feeling my way across the river by feeling for stones. I thought this ancient world was going to have an industrial revolution, but who knew there were things like true qi martial arts, divine weapons and magical artifacts here. I went to practice martial arts, and now I'm stuck at the second rank. I even looked for magical treasures from the era of immortals and gods, and these things actually exist, and even 22nd-century technology can't understand them."

When you came over, that thing called "Wind-Riding Sail" couldn't be explained by aerodynamics at all, you know? I have a lot I want to tell you, but I can't. Not only can I not tell you, but I can't tell anyone else either. I can only cautiously reveal a few clues.

"Why?" Wan Li asked, looking puzzled.

"Did Captain Zhang really send you?" Mr. Ding asked, looking equally puzzled.

"Yes, I volunteered. Team Leader Zhang went to the Arctic."

"What, to the Arctic?"

"Yes, to the Arctic."

“No, Captain Zhang’s biggest regret is not going to the Arctic himself back then. Wait, let me think about it.” Mr. Ding waved his hand, stopping Wan Li from speaking.

There was a long silence.

"Alright, I know why Lin Quan and Li Chao wanted you to come here. It seems these tunnels really do need to be closed. I never expected this. Cause and effect are inescapable. To break free from the timeline, the only option is to go to the realm of gods."

"What are you talking about? What divine realm?"

"You know about the three books, right?"

"I know, it's from the legend of the Orchid Pavilion."

"The world depicted in 'The Libationer' is called the mortal realm, which is Earth. 'The Vengeance of Gods' depicts the divine realm, which is said to be called the Illusionary Continent. 'Agamemnon' depicts the celestial realm, which is called the Mysterious Heaven Continent. You and I are not on the same timeline. No matter how much I tell you, it is actually useless. You are in your own timeline, or rather, in your mother universe."

"So, you're from a parallel universe?"

"That's understandable."

"So, Lin Quan's son, Lin Fan, are you from the same universe?"

"Lin Quan's son? Tell me more." Mr. Ding's expression had returned to its usual calm and composed state.

"Four years ago, aliens first appeared and were mistaken for terrorists. The areas that were attacked were all thought to be the work of hostile forces. A year later, the United Nations refuted the claim. Four years later, there are still many places on Earth where war continues."

"Well, don't worry. Even without those ghosts, that country would still go to war. It has little to do with aliens. At most, it's a catalyst or a trigger."

"Alright, that makes sense. Before these ghosts appeared, wooden boats were discovered in various places. Captain Zhang made preparations in advance and organized a youth team."

How were the personnel selected?

"I heard it's someone who has the Z gene."

"The Z gene is a hoax. You wasted a hundred years because of a single academically fraudulent paper. You tried every method for a hundred years before you finally came up with the idea of ​​overturning the original proposition."

"What do you mean a hundred years? Papers about the Z gene have only been published for less than thirty years!" Wan Li asked.

"Sorry, I forgot again, we're not on the same timeline. So you can save yourself over seventy years of time. Please continue."

"Lin Fan was one of them. He participated, and then on the plane to the training base, he performed superpowers, saying he could fly, and jumped off the plane."

"What? You didn't stop them? They're just kids. Even if they have some superpowers, you think you can just let them jump out of a plane?"

“We confirmed that his superpowers were real, but we didn’t expect that there was a hunting area below the plane at the time, and a hunter mistook it for an eagle and shot it down. When we arrived, he was already dead in the hospital.”

"Wait, how did Lin Fan travel through time?" Mr. Ding asked.

"Mr. Ding, could you please not interrupt me and let me finish?"

"Okay, okay, you say."

"Shortly after, we received a call from Lin Fan. Eighteen-year-old Lin Fan. He said that four years later, humanity lost to the aliens, so all the time tunnels opened. He traveled back to help us. We found him in the forest northwest of the West City New District of Qianmo City. He then joined us in the battle, guiding our technicians to make glasses that could see ghosts, as well as cold weapons that could kill ghosts. We ended the battle with the ghosts in one to one year. As for the continued war, that was humanity fighting itself. Now Lin Fan is studying at Tsinghua and Peking Universities."

"How old was Lin Fan, who was shot by the hunter?" Mr. Ding asked.

"Twelve years old."

“Alright, twelve years old is already on the battlefield here.” Mr. Ding paused for a moment. “I don’t know if the Lin Fan who transmigrated here is from the same parallel universe as me. Let me tell you my story.”