Volume 1, Chapter 47: The Fifth Spacetime Marker

In the evening, after dropping Luo Jiazhuang and Gong Leilei off at their respective homes, Li Yan tidied up briefly, preparing to head back home the next day.

If he didn't return soon, his mother would likely start worrying incessantly.

In his past life around this time, when the villagers heard he had been accepted into university, their jaws nearly hit the floor. There was no help for it; Li Yan had been far too conspicuous during his junior high school days.

Back then, right in the thick of the non-mainstream trend, he had followed the "葬爱家族" trend by growing his fringe long enough to cover one eye, sporting a slanted bang so dense it could block out the rain, having his school uniform trouser legs tailored into bell-bottoms, constantly carrying an MP3 player in his pocket, and walking with the swagger of someone who believed "the whole world fails to understand me."

Being summoned to school for parent-teacher conferences was a daily routine, to the extent that whenever the villagers mentioned him, they would shake their heads and say, "This kid will be off to Guangdong to tighten screws the moment he graduates junior high."

Later, when he barely scraped past the cutoff score to enter the Linshi No. 1 High School, the village erupted in an even greater uproar. Gossip spread all along the way, claiming, "He definitely cheated" or "A blind cat caught a dead mouse."

Some even remarked, "Spending three years in high school is just a waste of money; he'd be better off going out to work and make money early."

Now, he had actually been admitted to a university. Recalling the shocked yet resentful expressions of those people in his past life, Li Yan could not help the corners of his mouth curving upward.

It seemed this "face-slapping performance" would have to be staged all over again. Just thinking about it felt quite anticipated.

As his thoughts drifted far away, a wave of weariness washed over him, and he drifted off to sleep in a haze.

Thinking this and that, Li Yan gradually fell fast asleep.

In his dream, Li Yan felt as though he were standing beyond the endless fabric of space and time.

Right before him lay a parallel world, evolving while being pulled along by the timeline.

"What is this?" he asked in bewilderment.

Suddenly, his field of vision zoomed in closer, and he beheld the living creatures within this parallel world.

In this world, there were no humans, nor any towering modern metropolitan architecture.

Instead, there were dense, profound primeval forests, and he caught sight of familiar dinosaurs.

"How familiar, this world."

Very soon, he was reminded of that strange world he had visited previously.

Wasn't this it?

However, Li Yan abruptly saw numerous dinosaurs becoming contaminated and beginning to evolve in the direction of Void-Devouring Beasts.

The contaminated dinosaurs possessed glowing crimson eyes and started slaughtering one another.

The sight made him draw a sharp breath of cold air.

If every single dinosaur in the entire world were to evolve into Void-Devouring Beasts, how terrifying would that be?

Suddenly, a beam of white light descended from the heavens.

Radiating terrifying energy, that beam pierced right through the world from top to bottom.

Immediately afterward, the entire world began to tremble.

Boom...

A massive explosive sound echoed, and the entire world was completely blasted apart, dissipating along the timeline.

Was it destroyed?

Better that it was destroyed; otherwise, if so many Void-Devouring Beasts were to escape, it would spell absolute disaster for all other worlds.

Just as Li Yan was pondering this, he suddenly saw a strange, tiny rune break through the space-time continuum right after the world's collapse, hurtling directly toward him.

With a whoosh, it plunged straight into his body.

What was this?

Li Yan began to inspect himself carefully, yet he could detect no anomalies whatsoever.

Beep, beep, beep...

An urgent sound rang in Li Yan's ears.

With a start, Li Yan jerked awake directly from his dream.

At this moment, the space-time locator on his wrist had returned to its original appearance.

"Warning, warning..."

"Multiple overlapping and disordered space-time markers detected on your person. Please return to the Order Bureau for recalibration as soon as possible."

Li Yan's expression shifted. "What? Multiple overlapping and disordered space-time markers?"

He had no idea what had happened.

However, the space-time locator had already opened an intangible portal back to the Order Bureau.

Li Yan quickly dressed and stepped right through the portal.

Upon arriving at the Order Bureau, Li Yan briefly transmitted the situation to Yue Chengze and Wu Xu.

Before long, the two of them also arrived within the Order Bureau.

"Multiple space-time markers? And overlapping and disordered?" Yue Chengze looked utterly baffled upon hearing this.

Wu Xu said, "Let's report this to the Captain."

"Right, it's best to run a scan with the Order Compass just in case."

Yue Chengze led Li Yan into an extremely spacious grand hall while simultaneously reporting the situation to Captain Wei Anlan.

Suspended right above the center of the hall was a crystal compass emitting multicolored light, slowly rotating.

Countless hair-thin transparent threads connected to the crystal compass, appearing exceedingly mystical and extraordinary.

Wei Anlan, Captain of the Ninth Squad of the Space-Time Order Bureau, walked into the hall wearing combat armor symbolic exclusively of a captain, her sturdy boots striking the white floorboards and producing rhythmic clacking sounds.

The three of them turned to look simultaneously.

To their astonishment, they saw a woman clad in form-fitting combat armor walking toward them, though her face was shrouded by a ball of white light, making her features completely indiscernible.

This was a protective measure implemented by the Order Bureau for members at the captain level.

Across the entire Space-Time Order Bureau, there were only forty-nine squads, and every captain was a pivotal figure within the bureau.

Should anything happen to one, the loss would be catastrophic.

Yet even the combat armor failed to conceal Wei Anlan's exquisitely proportioned figure; presumably, her face was likely quite striking as well.

"Captain," Yue Chengze stood at attention, speaking respectfully.

"Captain!" Li Yan and Wu Xu followed closely behind.

Wei Anlan nodded slightly and uttered a soft acknowledgment.

She cast an interested gaze toward Li Yan. "So this is the new recruit who just joined your squad, the one bearing four space-time markers?"

Yue Chengze nodded. "Yes, that's him."

"Heh, interesting," Wei Anlan's voice came through the white light, carrying a metallic tinge. "Throughout the entire Order Bureau, only four people possess multiple markers. I didn't expect the Ninth Squad to snag one as well." She paused briefly before adding, "Those four markers of yours rank third in the bureau. Not bad, looks like we struck gold."

While it sounded like a compliment, the words lacked any real warmth. Unsure how to gauge this captain's temperament, Li Yan could only offer a dry laugh as a polite response.

Yue Chengze chimed in at the appropriate moment, "Captain, Li Yan's space-time locator detected overlapping and disordered markers. What do you think..."

"Let's scan him with the Order Compass first," Wei Anlan gestured with a raised hand. "The bureau has encountered similar situations before; the markers might have simply fused within his body." She looked at Li Yan. "Step beneath the compass."

"Understood." Li Yan felt both curiosity toward this captain and the respect instilled by Yue Chengze's warnings.

He obediently walked underneath the massive compass.

Wei Anlan operated her space-time locator for a moment, and the Order Compass overhead began to spin at an accelerated pace.

Multicolored light rapidly diffused outward, completely enveloping Li Yan.

Soon enough, strange symbols materialized in the air ahead, condensed entirely from multicolored light.

One, two, three, four.

Four distinct symbols, each representing the space-time marker of a parallel world civilization.

Yet that was not the end of it; abruptly, the few of them beheld a fifth symbol.

It was a symbol exuding a primordial aura, its patterns twisted like vines. Merely looking at it made one feel as though they could hear the roars of an ancient jungle and sense the boundless antiquity and wildness originating from billions of years in the past.

"Five space-time markers?!" Wei Anlan's voice fluctuated for the very first time, clearly showing extreme shock.

Yue Chengze's eyes widened. "How can that be? There were clearly four... where did an extra one come from?"

Wu Xu muttered, "This kid... is truly an anomaly."

Enveloped in the light, Li Yan remained completely clueless because he could not see those five symbols.

What did this mean?

Five space-time markers? How did an extra one appear?