Bai Yang decided to put this matter to rest. He felt that continuing to believe that old ICOM 725 could communicate across time would be an insult to his intelligence.

Although the drama queen sister still wouldn’t give up and tried to argue, Bai Yang had lost patience. He’d played along with her for so long, it was time to end it. This time his resolve was firm—every extra second spent on this would be a betrayal to his physics teacher.

I’m a senior high school student, do I look that free?

The next evening, Bai Yang dug up the time capsule again. Since he’d decided to stop caring about this matter, there was no need to leave the time capsule there. In another quiet night, Bai Yang went downstairs with a shovel, knife, and flashlight, pried open the floor tiles under the corridor, and quietly dug out the time capsule. He named this operation “Depression.” Looking at the heavy stainless steel can in his hands, Bai Yang sighed—how had he ever believed such ridiculous nonsense?

Even spending time and money preparing a time capsule.

He stood on tiptoe to place the stainless steel capsule on top of the bookshelf, putting it away for good.

Then he flopped onto his bed, spreading his arms and legs like a star.

With all this free time, why not do something else… maybe check Steam for new game sales? It was a rare National Day holiday when his parents allowed computer time.

Thinking this, Bai Yang sprang up like a carp and turned on his computer to see if “Mount & Blade” was on sale.

He was going to become a lord.

Use the enemy’s skull as a bowl!

—248 yuan.

Well, no becoming a lord then.

He’d use Gabe’s skull as a bowl instead!

At seventeen or eighteen, high school students are at their most energetic and vigorous age, and their attention shifts extremely quickly. Amateur radio was just one of Bai Yang’s many hobbies, and when there was time to play “Civilization 6” and “Mount & Blade,” games held more appeal.

The next three days passed in the joy of playing “Civilization 6” online with He Leqin. The young master was terrible but addicted, obsessed with building wonders. Bai Yang would play as Scythia or Macedonia, and by mid-game would press with his army while He Leqin scrambled to patch holes, getting crushed every time.

He Leqin would cry out in anguish: “Can’t you just let me finish building my wonder!”

Bai Yang: “Wonders will ruin the country, Your Majesty.”

“Civilization” was the real time machine.

Turn on the computer, turn it off, look up and it’s already dark.

Until noon on October 4th, when Bai Yang was sent by his mom to take out the trash. Just as he walked out of the building entrance, he ran into Wang Ning.

Wang Ning wasn’t tall but had put on middle-aged weight, sweating profusely in the sun, and was balding. To cover his shiny forehead, he combed a few strands of hair from one side to the other—the classic hairstyle common to political education directors in schools nationwide.

“Uncle Wang!”

“Oh, Little Bai.” Wang Ning greeted him. “Is your dad home?”

“Just got back from driving.” Bai Yang held the trash bag. “He’s home.”

“Taking out the trash? You know how to help around the house, what an obedient kid.” Wang Ning said, “How many days off for National Day?”

“Mom made me take it out. Seven days for National Day.”

“You’re in your senior year, study hard and try to get into Nanjing University, don’t end up like your dad and me.” Wang Ning patted his shoulder. “Stop messing with that IC-725, I’ve heard you talking to yourself twenty meters late at night recently, with loud background noise. Couldn’t make out what you were saying… With the college entrance exam coming up, this isn’t good. Rest is important.”

“Nanjing University is impossible, can’t get in, even Nanjing Aeronautics will be tough.” Bai Yang laughed awkwardly, then suddenly froze. “Talking to myself? Uncle Wang, I was talking to myself?”

“Yeah, who were you talking to?” Wang Ning asked him. “Was anyone talking to you?”

Bai Yang threw the trash bag into the sorted garbage bin, lost in troubled thoughts.

He turned to look at Uncle Wang, but Wang Ning’s chubby figure had already entered the building. He was surely going up to chat with Dad. Bai Yang knew Wang Ning well—he rarely joked with him, and his tone hadn’t been joking either.

Bai Yang stood motionless at the garbage station, frowning, staring at the trash bin for a long time. He appeared to be spacing out, but his mind was in chaos. A sanitation worker came with bags to clear the trash and had to step around him, giving him a couple of extra glances, probably wondering why this young man was standing by the trash bin staring at nothing.

Bai Yang never expected his supposedly returned-to-normal life would be suddenly shattered like this. Wang Ning’s casual remark stirred up huge waves in Bai Yang’s heart, even making his scalp tingle. The strange radio station that Bai Yang had pushed to the back of his mind came back, and in a way, he couldn’t understand.

What was going on?

Why did Uncle Wang say he was talking to himself?

Could the Radio Management Committee not detect BG4MSR’s signal?

In the depths of his mind, Bai Yang heard a sharp scraping sound—that was his physics teacher pushing hard against the coffin lid, while Maxwell and Einstein, who had been peacefully sleeping, opened their eyes again.

The sanitation worker was emptying water bottles from the trash bin, unscrewing caps to pour out water, when she froze.

This young man had been staring at the bottle in her hand for quite a while.

So she tentatively held out the water bottle:

“You want this?”

After throwing away the trash and returning home, Uncle Wang was already sitting and chatting with his dad, while his mom was setting plates on the table.

“Yang, your Uncle Wang is here… Yang? Your Uncle Wang is right here, why aren’t you saying hello?”

“It’s fine, it’s fine, Xiaowen, we already met downstairs.”

“This child is so impolite.”

Bai Yang ignored them, walking through the living room in a daze, straight to his room, then closing the door and leaning against it.

His gaze fell on the black ICOM 725 amateur radio—something was strange about this!

The Radio Management Committee could monitor all radioactivity in the city, amateur or not. Unless you were using military radio with encrypted communication, all normal radio activity was under their monitoring. But encryption was strictly forbidden in amateur radio communication—amateur radio contact must use plain language, and if the other party encrypted their communication, Bai Yang wouldn’t be able to receive or decrypt it either.

There was no reason why signals his old ICOM 725 could receive couldn’t be picked up by the Radio Management Committee’s professional radio monitoring equipment.

Bai Yang gently patted his ears with both hands. Was there something wrong with his mental state? Was BG4MSR just his imagination?

He shook his head—impossible, his mental state was completely normal.

Then where was the problem?

Could she be living twenty years in the future?

Then why hadn’t she received his time caps… Bai Yang suddenly froze.

He saw the stainless steel can on top of the bookshelf.