Xiao Liu’s voice sounded in Nan Qingchuan’s ear. He had already handcuffed the suspect, while the onlookers around them had also begun dispersing. Logically speaking, their team should now be escorting the suspect back.
But Nan Qingchuan hesitated. He was afraid someone else might accidentally wander into that strange place again.
“Wang Qiang, you and Xiao Liu take the suspect to the police station. I’ll stay here to help disperse and calm everyone down.”
Nan Qingchuan watched the frightened aunties gradually disperse. He wanted to wait until everyone had left before trying it again.
If he confirmed that it was a passage capable of instantly reaching another location, he would definitely report it to his superiors.
Meanwhile, Gu Jiaqi had discovered that Xiaoshu was an extremely adorable little girl. As long as Gu Jiaqi did not mention anything about her original world, Xiaoshu was remarkably accepting of everything.
For example, all traces of timidity and shyness had already disappeared from Xiaoshu. She was happily playing with a toy Gu Jiaqi had played with as a child: an intelligent dress-up doll.
Gu Jiaqi had no intention of telling anyone about Xiaoshu’s existence. There were countless eccentric mad scientists and people who treated human rights as worthless in the interstellar world. If they learned that an ancient human like Xiaoshu existed, Xiaoshu would likely face unimaginable danger.
But the most important thing about humans interacting with the world was learning. Without learning or reading, one’s understanding of the world would become distorted. She did not want Xiaoshu to become someone whose mind was imprisoned, or even someone who would grow up with an inferiority complex. So, for the time being, she decided to keep this poor child with her.
Gu Jiaqi still did not dare to try to see whether she could enter the black hole. She believed that all passages were two-way, and if she could not enter, it could only mean that she had not found the right method.
There were two things Gu Jiaqi wanted most to figure out right now. First, could she enter this black hole, and would she be harmed if she did?
Second, was this black hole unique? Could only people from Xiaoshu’s world enter it? If that was the case, then since the hole was underwater, the chances of anyone entering it would be greatly reduced. She could safely work as a bounty hunter and earn money to support Xiaoshu.
To verify these two things, Gu Jiaqi returned to the black hole. In truth, the hole looked somewhat terrifying. Especially after she had fought the Zerg for more than seven years, every time she saw a black wormhole like this, she instinctively wanted to flee. Her body’s reaction had already become stronger than her conscious mind.
But there was nothing she could do. Gu Jiaqi had nowhere else to go now. This was her planet, and currently the only place she could rely on.
Gu Jiaqi brought up the virtual screen. On it was a photo of her and her good friend Guan Wan.
Three years ago, during the Empire’s war against the Zerg, she, Guan Wan, and Sois Lahr had all been soldiers in the same unit. After one battle, Guan Wan and Sois Lahr’s teams were ambushed. After that incident, Guan Wan died, while Sois Lahr was also seriously wounded.
It was only a few days ago that Gu Jiaqi learned from Sois Lahr’s drunken, half-mumbled admission that Guan Wan had been pushed out by him to take the bullet for him. To prevent another comrade who had witnessed the incident from revealing the truth, he had even framed that comrade, causing his mental power to run rampant and forcing him to take the blame before falling into a coma.
Sois Lahr was the son of an imperial viscount. The Empire’s written regulations stated that other imperial soldiers had an obligation to protect the nobility.
But at the time, the instructor leading them was Teacher Laixi, and she had clearly stipulated that everyone in the unit was equal. The nobility had no special privileges, and every soldier’s life was equally precious. On the battlefield, the commanding officer had the final say.
Unfortunately, after that great battle against the Zerg, more than half of their comrades had been killed or wounded. Teacher Laixi had also been left in a coma from her severe injuries and devastating damage to her mental power. It was highly likely that she would never wake up for the rest of her life.
To be honest, learning that Sois Lahr had cheated on her was nowhere near as infuriating to her as what he had done to Guan Wan.
Gu Jiaqi knew that she could not stand against the forces behind Sois Lahr right now, but she did not regret beating him up.
She had broken three of that bastard’s ribs. Even with a medical pod, he would have to lie in the hospital for half a month. On top of that, she had taken the opportunity to tamper with Sois Lahr’s mental power a little. Consider it a just reward.
Although she had paid a heavy price for it, even selling her house to pay the fine, Gu Jiaqi still could not help feeling happy whenever she imagined Sois Lahr suffering in the future.
“Serves you right.”
Thinking this, Gu Jiaqi walked all the way to the enormous steel tree where the black hole was located. The black hole was still slowly writhing, and just looking at it instinctively made Gu Jiaqi want to back away and run.
Black holes appearing anywhere in the universe were nothing unusual. Black holes had always represented destruction and devouring, but this black hole was clearly more like a passage.
Gu Jiaqi took a long tube from the spatial chip and had her mecha, Xiao Hong, poke the black hole with it.
“Bang!”
The tube struck the trunk of the steel tree, producing a loud sound.
Gu Jiaqi then took the tool herself and tried many more times. Each time, it struck the trunk. It seemed that trying it with a tool was not going to work.
After thinking for a while, Gu Jiaqi slowly extended her hand. She was wearing her most durable explosion-proof glove.
Her arm still passed through the thin black hole, as though passing through a layer of mist, and touched the tree trunk.
Gu Jiaqi could not pass through. She guessed that she was not the person chosen by the black hole and had merely happened to appear here.
Of course, there was another possibility: Xiaoshu might be able to take her through it. But there was no way to test that possibility right now because she did not have any diving equipment with her. The black hole was at the bottom of the lake, and if anything went wrong, not only would she die, Xiaoshu would suffer as well.
The first question would have to be set aside for now. The second was even harder to determine. For this reason, Gu Jiaqi took a cosmic-energy surveillance camera she had removed from her original home and installed it on a steel tree opposite the black hole. She told her artificial-intelligence mecha, Xiao Hong, that if it detected any living organism appearing in the hole, it was to inform her immediately.
After finishing all this, Gu Jiaqi returned to her shelter to organize things. After all, she was someone with a family now. Although the house was nothing special, it still needed furniture and other necessities inside.
By this time, Nan Qingchuan had already returned to the scene. He found himself somewhat distracted as he maintained order, directing the panicked passersby near the square-dancing area to evacuate.
Every report had to be based on facts and reason. If he reported it without a shred of evidence, he would not only be causing trouble for himself, but also for his superiors.
Nan Qingchuan was determined to try again. He believed that with his physical strength and reflexes, he could retreat safely after obtaining evidence. But if he returned to the unit based only on an assumption, it would be troublesome for him to come back out again. This thing was so dangerous that he had to figure it out as soon as possible.
After finally waiting until all the civilians had evacuated, only seven or eight staff members from his side remained. He took his phone with him and pulled the mask over his face, leaving only a pair of dark eyes exposed.
While his comrades were patrolling elsewhere, he crouched beside the flower bed in front of the black vortex and, as though resigned to death, moved one step forward.
Sure enough, he was not dreaming!
It was still that same forest!
Nan Qingchuan immediately took out his phone and started recording. First, he filmed a large expanse of towering black trees around him. Then he walked a few steps forward. He did not see any animals, but he saw an enormous, imposing weapon that radiated a red metallic sheen!
And behind that red weapon was an equally enormous machine, almost as tall as a mountain, though somewhat more worn and roughly the same size!
The place was about 200 meters from the black vortex. Nan Qingchuan hesitated over whether he should go closer. Originally, he had only wanted to confirm whether this was another area, perhaps some remote corner of their own planet, with the vortex simply serving as a rapid passage.
But when he saw such a strange weapon casually piled up there, he suddenly realized that this might not be the world he knew.
From Nan Qingchuan’s current angle, part of the weapon was blocked by a tree. If he wanted to capture the entire weapon on camera, he would have to step out of his current blind spot, but doing so would also expose himself to the weapon’s range.
After hesitating for a while longer, Nan Qingchuan still decided to move forward a few steps so that his phone could clearly capture the weapon’s shape.
However, just after he had taken two photos of the weapon, a person dressed in silver suddenly appeared from behind it and quickly ran toward him.
Nan Qingchuan had excellent eyesight. He could clearly see that the person running toward him was tall and slender, with a strange weapon in hand. But because the person was wearing a helmet, he could not see what they looked like. His body jolted, and he immediately retreated, hurriedly running back into his own world.
The Gu Jiaqi chasing after him instantly increased her speed, but she still failed to stop the stranger from escaping.
“Why is this guy so fast?!” Gu Jiaqi shouted angrily as she reached the black hole and planted her hands on her hips.
Gu Jiaqi had never been as good at sprinting as she was at long-distance running. She had practically pushed herself to her limit just now, but she still could not catch up.
“Xiao Hong, did you capture what that person looked like?”
“Master, I have already captured a clear video. This is a humanoid life-form. Judging from the clothing, it appears to be an ancient human.”
As Xiao Hong spoke through its analysis, it brought up the video for Gu Jiaqi to see.
Gu Jiaqi watched the tall man moving swiftly in the video. He was wearing a black uniform with a helmet on his head and holding a very bulky ancient phone in his hand.
“Just as I thought, he’s not from the same era as Xiaoshu. Judging from his build, he looks like a soldier.” Gu Jiaqi looked at the old-fashioned phone that she had only ever seen in history books. An ancient human like Xiaoshu definitely would not have something like this.
After taking a screenshot from the video and searching it, Gu Jiaqi found that this type of clothing had never appeared in the history of her world. There was also a national flag on the chest of the uniform, but Gu Jiaqi had never seen that flag either. Unless it belonged to some obscure, forgotten small country in history, there was a good chance that this person was from another parallel universe.
Gu Jiaqi took a chair out of her spatial chip and placed it opposite the black hole. She removed her massage helmet and sat down.
“Fast runner, huh? Fine, I’ll wait right here for you. I don’t believe you won’t come back…”
That ancient person had clearly been interested in a high-level mecha like Xiao Hong and had run out to secretly take pictures. As a soldier herself, Gu Jiaqi knew very well how irresistible advanced weapons could be to a soldier. That person would definitely come back.
“Xiao Hong, activate the strongest warning mode.”
“Understood.”