Genius Club

Lin Xian rose from his crouched position, looking down at Chu An Qing, who stood a head shorter than him. “Are you feeling better now?” he asked.

Chu An Qing nodded, then shook her head. “I’m sorry… I almost caught the time-space particle, but just as I jumped, the tether rope yanked me back. Not only did I miss the jump, but I also got pulled off course.” She continued, “The time-space particle brushed past the edge of the rice cooker, pierced through my hand, and then vanished again.”

Lin Xian narrowed his eyes, catching the underlying information in Chu An Qing’s words. The reason Chu An Qing had reacted so violently earlier—screaming, nosebleeding, staring blankly, trembling—was because her body had come into contact with the time-space particle. Lin Xian had considered this possibility. But now, apart from Chu An Qing, no one could see the time-space particle. No one knew if she had actually caught it.

Regardless, the rice-cooker-like time-space particle catcher had fallen from the sky, right before his eyes, crashing onto the hull of the space shuttle and rolling into the clouds below. It seemed Liu Feng’s concerns were valid. Human contact with time-space particles could cause harm, unlike the silent and subtle effects on inanimate objects.

However…

Lin Xian pondered, recalling Chu An Qing’s earlier frantic crying and her desperate, pleading look at Yellow Finch. She had broken down completely, crying hopelessly after getting a definite answer. What had triggered such a strong emotional response? What made her desperate for a negative answer, and why did she eventually calm down and speak to him about their secret note?

On Lin Xian’s 25th birthday, Chu An Qing had invited him to a dark, empty training room. The moment the lights came on, she held up a homemade birthday cake and wished him a happy birthday. It was then that he had shared with her a challenging riddle he couldn’t solve. The puzzle was so difficult that even the confident Chu An Qing was stumped. Just reading it had fried her brain, leaving her without a single clue. Lin Xian hadn’t expected much from her at the time, and they both laughed it off.

But now…

Could it be related to her recent contact with the time-space particle? Why was Chu An Qing so sure, so certain about the content of that note, confident it could meet those stringent conditions?

“Lin Xian,” Chu An Qing called, her emotions now fully in check. She raised her slightly muddied but beautiful face and looked at him. “Remember our agreement? Even though I’m not as sharp as you, as your friend, I promised I’d find a way. And now, I finally know the answer! Trust me, Lin Xian. I know what needs to be written on that note!” She turned her gaze to the viewport, where the time-space particle continued its eerie, flickering path, moving up and down with its original speed and direction. “Hurry, Lin Xian. Our time… it’s running out!”

Yellow Finch let out a sigh and opened her eyes, turning to Gao Yang. “Gao Yang, get a piece of paper and a pen from the secured case for An Qing.”

For safety, items like pens and paper were locked in a briefcase secured to the wall, preventing them from floating around in zero gravity. Gao Yang, understanding the complexity and urgency of the situation, ran to the briefcase near the control panel without his usual complaints. He quickly unlocked it, took out an A4 sheet of paper and a space pen, and handed them to Chu An Qing.

The radio crackled with the pilot Wei Cheng’s anxious voice: “The space shuttle’s altitude has dropped below 40,000 meters! 39,000… 38,000 meters… Commander! Awaiting your instructions!”

The situation was dire. The time-space particle capture was hanging by a thread, and they were about to miss their last chance.

Chu An Qing wasted no time. She took the paper and pen from Gao Yang and dashed to an empty corner of the equipment bay, beneath the ladder leading to the mechanical arm chamber. Here, no one could see her, and no cameras could capture her actions. It was a blind spot. She crouched under the steel ladder, back to the others, kneeling on the ground. With a rip, she tore a piece of the A4 paper about the size of a credit card, placed it on the floor, and gripped the pen in her gloved right hand.

Scribble, scribble…

She quickly wrote two lines on the small note, then folded it twice, pressing the creases firmly to ensure it wouldn’t unfold. Standing up, she walked back to Lin Xian, her expression emotional, her gaze flickering. She bit her lower lip, swallowing her words, and looked into Lin Xian’s eyes. “Lin Xian, take this.” She held out the folded note with two fingers, handing it to him solemnly. The light note felt like a heavy burden of the century.

“Read it… when you get there,” Chu An Qing said softly. “You’ll understand.”

Lin Xian took the note, holding it between his fingers. It felt almost weightless, unreal even through the thick gloves of his spacesuit. Yet, it also felt immensely heavy. This note carried the weight of 600 years of time, the burden of an entire world’s reality.

He nodded, shifting his gaze from the note to Chu An Qing’s face. “Alright, I promise. I trust you.” He unzipped the chest pocket of his orange spacesuit, one of the two private pockets meant for personal items like photos, notebooks, or lucky charms. Sliding the note into the pocket, he followed their plan. No one else was to know its contents until he read it in the dream world. Opening the aluminum alloy safe and seeing the note in the dream would make everything clear, revealing the truth and fiction of the dream world. This was a double-blind experiment. Neither he nor the enemy could know the note’s content until that moment in the dream world. This cross-time, cross-reality battle would be decided the instant he read the note 600 years later.

“Altitude! 36,000 meters!” Wei Cheng’s voice shouted over the radio. “An Qing! Watch the time-space particle and guide me if we need to adjust direction or speed!”

Chu An Qing glanced out the viewport. Wei Cheng’s piloting skills were indeed top-notch. Even without navigation or guidance, he had kept track of the time-space particle. From the viewport, they could see the sunlight rising from the Earth’s edge due to their altitude, even though the ground below was still in darkness. Chu An Qing blinked. Despite the bright sunlight, the eerie blue glow of the time-space particle remained visible to her alone.

Turning back to the team, she said, “Let’s continue capturing the time-space particle.”

“What!? You’re going again?” Gao Yang jumped up. “You can’t! You were bleeding all over and you’re going back? Are you crazy? Besides, we saw the rice cooker fall! Without it, how do we catch the time-space particle? Are you seriously suggesting we catch time-space particles by hand, like catching dragonflies and butterflies? That’s nonsense! Liu Feng already said that time-space particles don’t have a physical form. They pass through anything they touch, except maybe what’s inside the rice cooker…” Gao Yang trailed off, suddenly realizing something.

He turned around, looking at the mechanical arm control station where he had been sitting. He finally understood. There were two time-space particle catchers! One had fallen, but the other one was still installed at the top of the mechanical arm, fully functional!

“But your body…” Gao Yang glanced down at Chu An Qing, his concern evident. He admitted to himself that he was genuinely moved by this petite girl’s bravery and fearlessness.

Gao Yang didn’t know Chu An Qing well. Their first meeting was at the MX company’s celebration banquet. Back then, he was too focused on eating lobster to pay much attention to her. Besides, Lin Xian and Chu An Qing were just acquaintances then, meeting for the first time. Gao Yang soon forgot about her. Their second significant encounter was at Ji Lin’s birthday party, where Chu An Qing had asked him about any high school girls or old acquaintances who resembled her. They played guessing games and board games together. Chu An Qing left an impression on him as a simple, cute, and well-off little princess with a pleasant personality.

During astronaut training at the space center, Chu An Qing had shown impressive talent, which made Gao Yang take notice. Still, he saw her as a carefree, kind-hearted college sophomore whose essence hadn’t changed. But now…

“Don’t worry, Senior Gao Yang,” Chu An Qing smiled at him. “Look at me now. I’m fine, right? It shows that the time-space particle didn’t cause any substantial harm to my body. I think the injury from before was a one-time thing. If I accidentally touch it again, nothing will happen.”

Lin Xian studied Chu An Qing for a few seconds. Observing her current state, she seemed fine, fully recovered and in her usual condition. Wei Cheng had already reported that the space shuttle’s altitude had dropped to 36,000 meters. This might be their last chance.

“Let’s give it another try,” Lin Xian suggested, pointing to the closed inner door of the mechanical arm chamber above. “We’ll open the inner door, take down the rice cooker from the top, and Chu An Qing and I will go up again. I’ll hold her from behind while she holds the rice cooker and tries to capture the particle, just like before.”

“No, that’s not going to work,” Chu An Qing shook her head. “You all can’t see the time-space particle, so you don’t know the exact situation during the capture attempts. I almost caught the particle several times with the rice cooker. Really, I was so close, but the last time, it accidentally touched my hand, causing the incident.”

She raised her head, “I can’t explain the feeling, but I didn’t predict the particle’s trajectory. I had a strong intuition, a sixth sense, about where it would appear next. At first, I thought it was luck or coincidence, but the more it jumped, the more I realized I could predict its movements! Its jumps seemed random, but I always guessed right, every time, without fail.”

Gao Yang looked out of the porthole in disbelief. He remembered trying to predict the particle’s jumps while using the mechanical arm but only succeeded once by luck. The rest of his attempts were mere guesses that never worked.

“If you can predict its path every time, capturing it should be easy!” Gao Yang sighed. “If I had your ability, I’d catch the particle in two or three tries!” He patted the control station. “This thing is very flexible and precise if used correctly. Compared to standing on top of the space shuttle with a rice cooker, the mechanical arm is a thousand times better!”

“Exactly,” Chu An Qing nodded. “That’s why I said we can’t use the mechanical arm chamber above like before to catch the particle.” She pointed to her untied safety harness and the stability locks on the inner wall. “These safety straps do keep me secure, but they also restrict my flexibility. With them on, I can’t move freely or jump, making it too stiff to catch the particle. Several times, I almost caught it, but I couldn’t jump! I couldn’t move!”

“If not for the harness restraining me during the last attempt, I would have caught the particle by jumping fully. The mechanical arm chamber above is too small. With two people and the folded arm, there’s no space to move, making the capture opportunities too rare.”

“So…” Chu An Qing looked around at everyone. “I need a platform where I can move freely, run, and jump, at least within a certain range. That would make capturing the particle much easier.”

Everyone fell silent, understanding her logic. But where on the space shuttle could they find such a platform? Even without safety straps, letting Chu An Qing walk freely on top of the space shuttle wasn’t feasible. The plane’s top was a curved surface, and at an altitude of over 30,000 meters with temperatures near minus 100 degrees Celsius, much of the surface was frozen.

“We might have to abandon the plan,” Wei Cheng’s voice came over the radio. “An Qing, the kind of flat platform you need doesn’t exist on the space shuttle, or any spacecraft. I know it would be perfect for catching the particle, but the conditions don’t allow it. I recommend we abort the capture mission and prepare to return.”

“No, there is such a platform!” Chu An Qing’s eyes sparkled with determination as she pointed outside the porthole at the broad, flat wing of the space shuttle. “The wing of the space shuttle is a perfect platform!”

“Let me stand on the wing and use the last rice cooker to capture the time-space particle!”

Her words left everyone in stunned silence.

“That’s crazy!” Wei Cheng’s voice crackled with frustration over the radio. “You kids have lost your minds! This is like something out of a Hollywood movie!”

It was clear that Wei Cheng, usually calm and gentle, was now near breaking point. “It’s impossible!”

Gao Yang couldn’t stay seated any longer. Following Wei Cheng’s lead, he burst out, “We’re astronauts, not acrobats! Actually, we’re not even real astronauts! An Qing, stop thinking crazy things! This is nothing but suicide! Did you see how that rice cooker fell earlier? If you stand on the wing, you’ll fall just like that!”

Liu Feng, who had been silent, stepped forward as well. “I don’t agree with this plan either. It’s too dangerous. No… dangerous isn’t even the right word. It’s suicidal.”

He continued, “There’s no passage to the wing from inside the space shuttle. The closest place is the outer door at the junction of the equipment and passenger compartments, the main door we use to enter the space shuttle from outside. How do you plan to get there? You can’t just open the door and crawl along the edge, clinging to windows and locks. Even in Hollywood, James Bond wouldn’t do something like this. Lin Xian, what do you think?”

Without hesitation, Lin Xian replied, “I don’t agree with the plan either. Absolutely not.” He turned to Chu An Qing, shaking his head. “We’ll stick to the original plan. We’ll go back into the mechanical arm chamber and try again, just like before. We’ll keep trying. If we catch it, great. If not, we leave it.”

“The time-space particle is important, but not worth sacrificing a team member. Since we’re being honest here, I’ll say it straight, Liu Feng.” Lin Xian faced Liu Feng, “The Universal Constant might not be as complex as you think. We might not need things like the Guizhou Sky Eye, time-space clocks, or time-space curvature. I’m not saying your research path is wrong, but the time-space particle isn’t the only solution. If we can’t catch it, we’ll find another way to study the Universal Constant.”

Liu Feng nodded firmly. “I understand. If we can’t catch the time-space particle, I’ll find another way. Like you said, there are other paths to studying the Universal Constant.”

But Chu An Qing shook her head resolutely. “No, Lin Xian. Sister Yellow Finch is right. The time-space particle is far more important than you think.”

She bit her lip. “This particle… we must get it, no matter what!” Turning to Yellow Finch, she pleaded, “Sister Yellow Finch, let me go!”

To everyone’s surprise, even Yellow Finch, who had been solely focused on capturing the particle, hesitated. She was silent for a long time, clearly torn.

“Sister Yellow Finch!” Chu An Qing raised her voice.

Yellow Finch closed her eyes, frowning.

“Commander Yellow Finch!!!” Chu An Qing shouted, almost breaking her voice. “Why did you come back if not for this?!”

Yellow Finch’s eyes snapped open. She gritted her teeth and pressed the helmet’s visor. “Everyone, close your helmet visors! Activate the constant pressure and temperature devices, stabilize the suit’s internal pressure, and secure your safety straps to the interior locks. Wei Cheng, prepare to depressurize the equipment bay and match the external atmosphere before opening the main door!”

“You’re crazy!”

“Commander Yellow Finch!”

“Cold-blooded! You’ll kill Chu An Qing!”

“What are you doing?!”

The radio was filled with shouts of disbelief.

But Yellow Finch had made up her mind. Her usually bright blue eyes seemed to dull momentarily, like a fogged mirror. But the moment was fleeting, too short for Lin Xian to notice clearly. The visor clicked into place, covering Yellow Finch’s face.

The wind howled outside the open space shuttle door, creating a whistling effect. The plane was at an altitude of 31,000 meters, in the stratosphere. The equipment bay’s pressure had been equalized with the thin, cold air outside, just a fraction of sea level pressure.

With everything ready, they opened the main door of the space shuttle’s equipment bay, ensuring pressure balance to prevent objects and astronauts from being sucked out by turbulence. Now, except for Chu An Qing, everyone in the equipment bay—Lin Xian, Yellow Finch, Liu Feng, and Gao Yang—had their spacesuits inflated by internal pressure, looking like Michelin men. The temperature was dropping rapidly, even the electronic equipment in the bay was at freezing temperatures, yet still operational, designed for such harsh conditions. Each of them was tethered to the bay’s walls with safety straps. Chu An Qing, standing by the howling main door, also had a safety strap, much longer and thicker than the others, ten meters long. One end was secured to her suit, the other to an interior lock, and the middle part held by Lin Xian, Gao Yang, and Liu Feng. This way, if she fell, they could pull her back.

The space shuttle’s engines were at the tail, unlike conventional jets with engines under the wings. This was the only piece of good news. If she fell off a jet wing, she’d likely be sucked into the engine, shredded and burned. But on the space shuttle, the wings were simpler, with no such danger. Though falling was still risky, at least she wouldn’t end up in the engine.

According to their plan, the rice cooker was secured to Chu An Qing’s suit. Her hands were free. Tethered by the long safety strap, she would climb out and move half a meter back, standing on the wing—a move so dangerous it would terrify even the world’s top astronauts or acrobats. Yet this young girl, a sophomore at university, was ready to challenge this world record.

“The space shuttle’s speed is 0.97 Mach; altitude, 28,000 meters; with a tailwind, relative wind speed is 16 meters per second, which is manageable,” Wei Cheng reported over the radio. “I’ll keep the flight as stable as possible, ensuring the left wing is as level as I can. But this isn’t guaranteed. Despite stable wind and no clouds ahead, turbulence is common. The extravehicular astronaut must prioritize their balance.”

“Copy that!” Chu An Qing’s clear voice responded over the radio. She gripped the lock on the open main door frame

, ready to exit. Holding tight, she placed her right foot on the exterior lock, found her foothold, and pushed her body lightly. With everyone’s hearts in their throats, Chu An Qing successfully stepped outside, clinging to the space shuttle’s exterior!

Gao Yang, witnessing this, closed his eyes, unable to watch. His entire body felt like ants were crawling over it, a mix of tension and terror. This is 30,000 meters high! On the shell of a space shuttle!

Luckily, Chu An Qing had the innate physique of an astronaut, which was incredibly robust. At the astronaut training base, she had scored near-perfect marks in almost every activity, surpassing many active astronauts in terms of physical fitness and coordination. It’s no wonder she was a great dancer but lacked the artistic talent—strong and coordinated, but without the creative spark. Today, however, her unique talents were exactly what was needed for this unimaginable task. She might indeed have been born for this moment of greatness, to live for this historic highlight!

The wing of the space shuttle was only about half a meter from the main door—not far at all. With a tailwind, the relative wind speed was low, and Chu An Qing felt little pressure. Lin Xian, Gao Yang, and Liu Feng tightened their grips on the safety rope, ready to pull her back inside at the first sign of trouble.

Thud.

The eerie silence of the radio channel was broken by a heart-stopping landing sound. “Reporting! I’ve successfully reached the wing! Maintaining balance with no issues!” Chu An Qing’s reassuring voice came through.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Lin Xian peered out the window beside him. Below, the Earth appeared both blue and dark. The blue was sunlight at this angle, illuminating the high atmosphere, and the dark was the land below, still in the night due to the straight-line propagation of light. Shifting his gaze slightly, he saw the pearl-white wing of the space shuttle. Chu An Qing was crouched, stabilizing herself on the trapezoidal wing, two meters wide, three meters long, and tapering to about one meter wide at the end. She had already unhooked the time-space particle catcher and opened the device, which resembled a rice cooker. Holding it like a magical tool meant to capture spirits, she advanced slowly.

“A bit closer, Coach Wei Cheng… higher, lower, a bit lower… a bit to the right… good! Keep this direction and speed!” she instructed as she directed Wei Cheng to adjust the space shuttle’s posture. Standing on the horizontal wing at 26,000 meters, Chu An Qing prepared to capture the time-space particle. The three men held the safety rope tightly.

“Heave-ho—” Chu An Qing lunged forward, thrusting the rice cooker ahead. No feedback. She hadn’t caught it. Like a cobra poised to strike, she waited a moment.

“There!” She swung the rice cooker to the left but still missed.

“Ugh…” She gritted her teeth. “Always just a bit off! If I could jump, I’d be more agile. Not being able to jump means I can only use the speed and strength of my arms. But if I could jump, I could use my legs’ power and speed, and I’d definitely catch the time-space particle in time!”

“The problem isn’t predicting its path or catching it… it’s that my arms aren’t fast enough! Every time I see the particle and predict its path, I can only push the rice cooker with my arms. But it’s too slow! The particle jumps away again! The issue isn’t anything else; it’s that my reaction is too slow because I can’t jump!”

Jump? The radio channel exploded with voices.

“No, absolutely not! Jumping is out of the question!”

“You’re staying balanced on the wing because of the friction between your feet and the wing! If you jump, you’ll definitely, absolutely, for sure be thrown off!”

“We’re at 25,000 meters! Air friction is considerable. You can feel the wind because of the force it exerts on you! If you jump, the space shuttle will throw you backward!”

“Absolutely no jumping! That’s a strict rule! Better to miss the catch than to jump!”

Liu Feng was frantic. “An Qing, if it’s really impossible, aim at the time-space particle and throw the rice cooker! I’ve said before, as long as the inner part of the rice cooker covers the particle, it’ll lose activity. It won’t jump or flicker… it’ll become observable again, following our universe’s physical laws.”

“Even if the rice cooker falls and breaks, it doesn’t matter! Once the particle loses activity, we can track it with the time-space particle tracker once we’re back on the ground!”

“Don’t jump! Trust me! If you can’t catch it, just throw the rice cooker like a basketball! Aim for the particle’s next spot and throw!”

Liu Feng’s suggestion was good and constructive. But Chu An Qing was reluctant to throw the rice cooker away. She knew this was the last rice cooker, their final chance to capture the time-space particle. If she threw it and missed, they’d have no other options. She couldn’t give up this hope! So, she wouldn’t heed Liu Feng’s advice to throw the rice cooker.

Time seemed to crawl by, heavy and slow.

“Altitude 24,000 meters… 23,000 meters… 21,000 meters… 20,000 meters!” Wei Cheng’s voice on the radio grew more anxious. “We’ve broken 20,000 meters! This won’t work! We’re near the troposphere now, with increasing turbulence and cloud cover! It’s dangerous! The lower we go, the greater the turbulence! Chu An Qing is still stable because of calm air and low relative wind speed! But in turbulence, with winds up to hundreds of meters per second, she’d be blown off immediately! Commander Yellow Finch! We must abort the mission! This is too risky!!”

At this moment, everyone realized it was too difficult. This time-space particle was nearly impossible to catch. It flashed and flickered unpredictably, resisted physical contact, became invisible, and repelled matter. It was an impossible mission!

“Throw it!!” Liu Feng’s face was red with urgency. “An Qing! Throw the rice cooker at the time-space particle! Just throw it and get back here immediately!”

Chu An Qing had been outside trying to catch the time-space particle for a while. But this game of catching dragonflies and butterflies wasn’t working because she couldn’t jump and wasn’t agile enough. Finally, Chu An Qing, breathing heavily, crouched on the wing, no longer moving. Was she giving up? Had she finally decided to quit?

Everyone was preparing to bring her back when suddenly she spoke over the radio, her voice calm. “What time is it?”

The group exchanged puzzled glances. Why was she asking about the time now? Yellow Finch looked at the clock embedded in the cabin wall. “00:39,” she said softly.

Chu An Qing chuckled, feeling her whole body relax. She turned back, looking through the porthole at Lin Xian, who was tightly gripping the safety rope inside the cabin. They were barely a meter apart, separated by a steel wall, but it felt like a chasm, an unreachable distance.

“I wanted to talk to you more,” Chu An Qing whispered. Her voice was so soft that it was drowned out by the wind and the radio static.

“An Qing? What did you say?” Lin Xian called out, keeping his eyes on the girl outside.

But she just smiled and turned away, facing the horizon, the wing, and the flickering time-space particle.

Click.

She switched off her helmet’s radio, cutting off communication. Then, she reached behind and unhooked her safety harness from the suit.

“An Qing!” Lin Xian suddenly realized what was happening.

Outside the porthole, the girl took two steps back, pressed herself against the space shuttle’s shell, and bent her knees, ready to sprint.

Images flashed through Lin Xian’s mind, overlapping in this instant:

“I feel like everyone around me is amazing…” Chu An Qing had said, smiling in the university lab. “Compared to you all, I’m nothing but Chu Shan He’s daughter.”

“I’m sorry, Lin Xian, I think I did something silly,” she had admitted at the New Jersey stadium. “But everyone thought you couldn’t win! I just wanted to cheer you on!”

“Wow!” At the top of the Aman Hotel, her eyes wide with wonder, she had asked, “Is this really the center of the world?”

“Since I won’t see you tomorrow, good morning, good afternoon, and good night,” she had laughed, turning in the Manhattan night wind.

“If the plane keeps flying east without stopping in America, we’ll never reach tomorrow! We’ll always live in today!” she had exclaimed at Pudong Airport. “If it flies faster, we could travel back in time!”

“Don’t get lost, Lin Xian!” she had waved cheerfully at the milk tea shop. “Don’t get lost and not find your way back to me!”

“Ta-da!” She had jumped out with a cake at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. “Happy birthday, Lin Xian!”

The center of the world. Chu An Qing had spread her arms, facing the sky, the moon, and the stars. “You jump, I jump!”

“Come back!” Lin Xian let go of the safety rope and shouted, his voice raw.

But it was too late. Chu An Qing sprinted down the narrow wing like a charging cheetah, leaping high at the edge, three feet into the air, holding the rice cooker aloft like a holy grail facing the sun.

Boom!

The rice cooker closed in midair as she hugged it tightly to her chest.

Beep, beep.

The time-space particle tracker at the copilot’s feet suddenly lit up, signaling a capture.

“Liu Feng!” Wei Cheng’s voice crackled with excitement over the radio. “The tracker caught the time-space particle’s signal!”

But no one responded. Liu Feng, staring at the porthole at Chu An Qing falling off the wing, slumped to the floor.

Click, click.

Lin Xian had already unlocked the safety rope clips and rushed to the open door of the equipment bay.

“Come back, Lin Xian!” Yellow Finch, secured by her safety rope, shouted desperately. “Don’t save her! You don’t have to save her!”

But it was too late. Lin Xian had already leaped out, free-falling through the 20,000-meter sky. Yellow Finch’s vision darkened, and tears streamed down her face. “She’s a Millennium Stake phenomenon!”

Whoosh~

The wind howled around the spacesuit Lin Xian wore as he fell freely from 20,000 meters.

Gravity.

Weightlessness.

Acceleration.

High altitude.

Temperature.

Turbulence.

None of it mattered.

Catch up!

He must catch up!

Lin Xian glared, searching the chaotic clouds below for Chu An Qing. In the third dream… he had jumped from 20,000 meters hundreds of times. He knew this well. He was skilled at it. Spreading his arms, he adjusted his body to catch more air, changing his direction.

In the third dream, countless nights of practice and lessons from red lasers had made him as adept as a bird in the sky, controlling everything. Wei Cheng had once explained that the orange spacesuit, known as the Advanced Escape System Spacesuit, was equipped for safety and utility. It had a radio, flashlight, medicine, and even a parachute and emergency survival gear.

If he could catch Chu An Qing, he could save her!

“Found her!” Sliding through the clouds, Lin Xian spotted Chu An Qing falling fast below, a tiny orange figure hugging the brown rice cooker. She wasn’t struggling or moving, just holding the cooker, calm and serene, ready to face whatever came.

He could catch up! He could catch up!!

The wind was sharp as lightning around him. Just like those countless nights in the third dream where he fell from the sky, the 20,000-meter drop didn’t scare Lin Xian anymore!

He could accurately navigate through an invisible anti-aircraft gap without any reference points. Naturally, he could catch up to a bright orange girl.

“An Qing!!!” Lin Xian shouted as he flew through the sky and clouds.

Damn it. Why can’t I go faster? Faster! Even faster!

He constantly adjusted his posture to reduce air resistance, using every bit of physics to fall faster!

What’s the terminal velocity for a grown man? He had looked it up but couldn’t remember—probably about 90 meters per second. It was definitely faster than the terminal velocity of the less-than-100-pound Chu An Qing!

Whoosh, whoosh!

The endless, torturous wind roared around him as Lin Xian didn’t know how long he had been free-falling.

His eyes were fixed on the ever-nearing orange figure!

Not only was the orange shadow getting nearer, but the lights and details of the ground were also becoming clearer!

Judging by the height, they were now less than 3,000 meters from the ground.

He had to catch her before the minimum parachute deployment height!

Closer… Closer… Closer!

The distance was only a few meters! Ten meters! Five meters! Three meters! Two meters! One meter!

He caught up!

From a 20,000-meter free-fall to now, 2,000 meters from the ground, he was only one meter away!

“An Qing!!!!” Lin Xian yelled. Although Chu An Qing had exited the radio channel, she seemed to sense him. She looked up, her face hidden in the darkness of her helmet.

“Hand! Give me your hand!!!” Lin Xian shouted, reaching out his right hand. She raised her head, her left hand still clutching the rice cooker, and extended her right hand upwards.

Their right hands reached out, the distance between them shrinking but still impossible to close, their fingers just millimeters apart!

Faster! Faster!

Lin Xian could taste blood in his mouth, probably from biting his gums too hard. He hated the physical laws that made it so hard to go faster!

The ground’s details were now clear. They were likely less than 2,000 meters from the surface.

His right shoulder was nearly dislocated from reaching out so far… Swinging his right hand desperately, he still couldn’t catch her.

Just a bit more. Their fingertips were just centimeters apart!

Ten centimeters! Five centimeters! One centimeter!

It was right there!

Lin Xian summoned all his strength, lifting his right hand and swung it—

Smack!

He caught her! Their hands clasped tightly!

Lin Xian gritted his teeth, pulling Chu An Qing and the rice cooker into his arms. Quickly, he freed his left hand to pull the parachute release cord.

Whoosh!

A white line shot out, and the parachute bloomed like a flower in the night sky.

….

USA, Texas, Boca Chica, SpaceX Starship Launch Site.

Observation Tower.

Elon Musk stared at the USB drive in his hand. Clear, blue, shimmering like a crystal galaxy, like shattered sapphire. Beautiful, stunning. Exquisitely made. Then…

The light on the USB drive flickered and dimmed, turning transparent and weightless. A breeze blew by. Then the solid drive disintegrated into blue specks, scattering in the wind, disappearing like collapsing quantum particles into dust and void.

Elon Musk clenched his hand, then opened it, feeling the lingering sensation of the drive even though his palm was empty.

“It seems…” He smiled slightly. “My loop is complete.”

His shocked secretary pushed up her red-framed glasses, staring in disbelief. “What happened to your USB drive? Did it just disappear? Is this some Hollywood magic trick?”

Elon Musk chuckled, clapping his hands as if dusting them off. “It’s a fun magic prop, a gift from a friend. Isn’t it interesting?”

“Friend?” The secretary looked puzzled. “I manage your schedule every day. I don’t remember you seeing any friends recently. When did you get a magician friend?”

“Let me introduce you!” Elon Musk laughed and snapped his fingers. From the iron shed of the observation tower, a girl wearing sunglasses stepped out.

“Shit!” The secretary was startled. Who would have thought there was someone hidden in the shed—a girl who looked only about fifteen or sixteen! She took a step back, examining the girl.

The girl, under 1.6 meters tall, wore a simple Adidas tracksuit. Her black short hair was neat, with bangs, her small frame showing signs of training. Hands in her pockets, she walked out quietly and coolly, exuding a mysterious, deadly aura.

The secretary couldn’t see her face clearly due to the large sunglasses but noted her clear jawline, fair skin, and bright red lips—cute yet intimidating.

The girl stopped in the middle of the observation deck, silently facing the secretary.

Elon Musk spread his arms, introducing, “This is my friend who gave me the USB drive and the super virus!”

The secretary was stunned. “She’s so young! How long has she been here?”

“Oh, a few months,” Elon Musk said, rubbing his chin.

“Mr. Elon Musk…” The secretary stammered. “You might face even more serious charges now. Not even your friend running for president can save you.”

Elon Musk laughed heartily and turned to the girl. “Now that my loop is complete… you can act freely, right?”

The girl nodded, pushing her sunglasses up, causing the secretary to gasp. The girl was stunningly beautiful, with cold, sharp, blue eyes, like shattered sapphires.

….

Somewhere in the countryside of an unknown country or city.

The parachute, once taut, was now crumpled and deflated, swaying in the evening breeze. Lin Xian’s feet touched the ground, but the momentum brought him to his knees, still clutching Chu An Qing.

“An Qing! An Qing…” He gasped, pushing back his helmet visor to breathe fresh air, then lifting the orange spacesuit-clad girl.

But something was wrong. She was too light. Even if Chu An Qing was slim, she shouldn’t weigh so little. It felt like he was holding just the suit.

“An… An Qing?” Lin Xian’s heart sank. He quickly unlocked her helmet, lifting the visor. No…

No one was inside. The suit was empty!

“Where… where is she?” He tore the suit open. It was empty, except for some faint blue particles that quickly vanished.

“Where is she?!!” He stood up, shouting, but got no response.

Thud, thud… As Lin Xian stood, the time-space particle catcher rolled from Chu An Qing’s arm, settling on the yellow grass.

The device, resembling a rice cooker, blinked twice before displaying a message:

Time-Space Particle: Capture Successful!

Capture Time: March 28, 2024, 00:42

Volume Three: The Millennium Phenomenon, to be continued.