Lin Qin, who was stirring the pot, heard this sentence and her hand trembled—she nearly dropped the utensil to the ground.
The term “Internet”—she had only seen it in history books.
Tiantian’s eyes also trembled slightly. She looked at Qiao Jiajin and asked with a serious expression, “Qiao Jiajin, you said before… what year were you born?”
“Didn’t I already say? ’79.” Qiao Jiajin extended a finger to scratch his nose, saying nonchalantly, “1979. What about it?”
Tiantian slowly stood up, staring cautiously into Qiao Jiajin’s eyes. “You’re not joking with me, are you? If you were really born in ’79, you should be over forty years old this year.”
Lin Qin was slightly stunned when she heard this and turned to look at Tiantian. “That doesn’t seem right…”
Qi Xia paid no attention to the group’s argument and instead served himself a bowl of meat.
Qiao Jiajin’s brow furrowed. He found what Tiantian said extremely difficult to understand. “Tiantian, what’s wrong with you? Are you stupid from hunger? How do I, a handsome guy in my prime, look over forty?”
Yes, he didn’t look forty.
Judging by his appearance and physical condition, he couldn’t possibly be over forty.
Xiao Xiao on the side heard the conversation and, like Qi Xia, remained motionless the whole time.
Lin Qin’s mouth moved slightly as she asked, “Qiao Jiajin, what year is it now?”
Qiao Jiajin stared at her suspiciously. “2006.”
He turned his head and found Tiantian and Lin Qin staring at him with disbelief, which made him feel even stranger.
“Why are you all staring at me?”
Lin Qin felt that the entire matter revealed an indescribable strangeness. She turned to look at Tiantian and asked, “Tiantian, what year are you from?”
“I’m from 2019…” Tiantian said with a frown. “What’s going on?”
Lin Qin felt weak all over and slowly sat down. “Everyone… I’m from 2068…”
“What??” Qiao Jiajin was shocked. “2068??”
After hearing this, Qi Xia silently nodded.
Yes, she really did seem like someone from the future.
This way, everything made sense.
In her era, people had to wear masks from childhood. Masks would be as common as ordinary clothing, widespread from birth.
So when she didn’t wear a mask, she showed a strange expression, feeling like she wasn’t wearing clothes.
With the rapid development of the internet, she also didn’t need to know what a “flyer” was—online advertisements would be dazzling enough.
Qi Xia shook his head silently. He hadn’t expected everyone would still notice this problem.
“Doesn’t this make it even more bizarre…” Tiantian’s lips trembled slightly as she said to everyone, “We’re not from the same time period, yet we’ve gathered on the same day. Could this really be the work of a ‘god’…”
After hearing this, Lin Qin also said in disbelief, “If we’re not from the same day, then the ‘earthquake’ we experienced before coming here wasn’t the same event either…”
After saying this, she looked at Qiao Jiajin again. “But in my memory, I’ve never heard of large-scale earthquakes in the regions where you all were…”
“What about you?” Tiantian suddenly asked Qi Xia. “What year are you from?”
“I’m from 2022.” Qi Xia said.
“What the hell is going on?!” Qiao Jiajin felt somewhat dizzy. “Little Liar, why is this happening? You’re so smart—have you guessed anything?”
Qi Xia shook his head. None of the theoretical knowledge he possessed could explain the situation before him.
Why were they all from different time periods?
When the “god” selected these people, was it random, or intentional?
What was the time span among the participants?
“No matter what, we’ll only gather here for ten days.” Qi Xia looked at the dark red sky outside the window, his eyes very determined. “Whether or not all this is done by a ‘god,’ I don’t care. Right now, I just want to fill my stomach and find ‘Dao’ as soon as possible. Even if you’re very concerned about this issue, I don’t suggest you seek the truth.”
After hearing Qi Xia’s words, everyone slowly sat down.
Yes, Qi Xia was right. They needed to get out.
No matter what year they came from, they all had a common goal—to escape this godforsaken place and return to their original lives.
If they spent several days investigating the “time period” issue, it would run counter to their goals.
The five people fetched small bowls from the restaurant. Each person filled a bowl with meat soup, their expressions still somewhat unnatural.
The mysteries of this place seemed to be layered one upon another. There were many things everyone wanted to understand.
But as Qi Xia said, seeking the truth would certainly waste a lot of time.
What was more important—the “truth” or “escape”?
“Yeah… let’s not think about it.” Tiantian sighed. “Haven’t we experienced enough ‘unbelievable’ things?”
Lin Qin and Qiao Jiajin looked at each other and both shook their heads helplessly.
Tiantian picked up an old spatula and slowly tore the meat off the bear arm, putting some in everyone’s bowl.
The bear arm had already been stewed until it was falling apart. With a light touch, the meat separated from the bones. A meaty aroma wafted out, carrying scalding, rich juices that assaulted everyone’s nostrils.
“It’s… actually quite fragrant.” Qiao Jiajin swallowed and took his bowl.
Qi Xia also held his bowl in his hands without moving.
He glanced at Xiao Xiao with his peripheral vision. After seeing that she had also started eating, Qi Xia silently waited a while longer.
Only after confirming that the food before him had absolutely no problems did he tear off a strip of white meat from the bone.
He brought the bear meat to his nose and sniffed—it smelled fragrant. Then he threw the meat into his mouth and bit down lightly. Scalding meat juices exploded in his mouth.
“Phew…” Qi Xia was burned and hurriedly exhaled a few breaths of hot air. Then he chewed haphazardly and swallowed the white meat.
Awful.
He had never imagined that bear meat would be so unpalatable.
The texture in his mouth was both fatty and greasy. After chewing a few times, it left his entire mouth with a rank, fishy taste.
Perhaps it was because they didn’t have any seasonings, or perhaps bear meat just tasted like this. In any case, after eating just the first bite, Qi Xia no longer wanted to touch this bowl of food.
He looked at Lin Qin beside him. She was also frowning, her features twisted together, as if she had eaten an extremely sour lemon.
Qiao Jiajin and Tiantian, however, seemed unaffected. They chewed the meat in large bites while looking at the two.
“What’s wrong? Doesn’t taste good?” Qiao Jiajin asked.
“What do you think?” Qi Xia asked. “We’re from different time periods—are our taste buds different too?”
“It really is awful.” Qiao Jiajin said with his mouth full. “But we’ve got to stay alive, Little Liar. You probably never ate leftover food from the garbage when you were young, right?”
Hearing Qiao Jiajin’s words, Qi Xia found them somewhat interesting. He put down the bowl in his hand and said with slight mockery, “Qiao Jiajin, your usual diet is quite substantial. You’ve not only eaten bear paw, but also garbage?”
“Little Liar, you’re getting a bit presumptuous…” Qiao Jiajin stuffed another large piece of meat into his mouth and said, “Do you know how much older I am than you? From now on, call me ‘Master Qiao,’ and I’ll look after you. Master Qiao has eaten more garbage in his lifetime than you’ve eaten bear paws.”
“I’ll say it again—I’ve eaten neither bear paws nor garbage.”
Tiantian and Lin Qin were amused by these two again, as if the food in their hands had become a bit more palatable.
Yes, no matter what era they came from, right now they were all comrades-in-arms.
Qi Xia stopped bickering with Qiao Jiajin and picked a few more pieces of meat from his bowl to eat.
No matter what, eating something was better than going hungry. They didn’t know what kind of games they would have to play next and needed to maintain abundant physical strength at all times.
The paw portion of the bear happened to be in Qi Xia’s bowl. He had thought that the so-called “bear paw” would be different from other parts, but after taking just one bite, Qi Xia retched repeatedly.
This part was even more greasy than the other parts. Eating it was like biting into snot with a fatty meat flavor—extremely rank and foul.
“Did the ancients really consider this thing a delicacy?”