Ganda woke up then, looking at the three of them, trying to sit up, but unable to manage it, only coughing continuously. Lu Zong hurriedly patted his back to ease his breathing. Ma Xiong signaled Lu Zong to go out with him again, and Lu Zong stood up.

Ganda suddenly spoke, saying, "Lu Zong, Ma Xiong, whatever happens, we face it together. Don't look down on our capacity to endure. Sharing hardship is the basic principle between brothers. Why are you two discussing things without us? Difficulties require unity to overcome; one more person means more strength. Ma Xiong, did you discover something wrong? Say it here."

Lu Zong stopped in his tracks, looked at Ganda, and then nodded, saying, "Alright, based on what you just said, we'll share the difficulty right here so we can solve it together. Ma Xiong, tell everyone what you found."

Ma Xiong gave a wry smile and said, "Then I won't be polite."

The Fatty, who had been showing extreme impatience on the side, suddenly burst out cursing, "Damn it, why are you acting like a woman, stuttering your words? Hurry up and speak! Time is life right now; don't endanger everyone because of your shyness!"

This actually spurred a bit of anger in Ma Xiong. He said, "Fine, since you all treat me as a brother, I'll be direct. Which set of footprints did you all look at? Did you notice anything suspicious?"

The three looked, finally replying in unison, "No."

Ma Xiong patted his head, feeling he was far too clever; he deliberately made them look but they couldn't understand. He knew he was countless times smarter than them, especially since he figured it out through sheer stumbling.

He explained, "Look at the distribution of the footprints on both sides and the direction of the footprints in the middle. How are they different?"

Lu Zong was the first to spot the issue and explained, "Ma Xiong, I know what you mean. This is actually connected to something you mentioned before. See if my reasoning is correct."

Then he began his Lu-style deduction.

We entered this cavern only from the central position, so the footprints should naturally be distributed in the center, and their direction should be inward toward the cave. However, the footprints on both sides are facing outward, and none of us have gone out—at least, not in our immediate memory. This means those footprints are problematic. So, let's walk over now and measure our own footprints against those to see if they match."

Saying that, he walked over first and was astonished to find his own footprints—the sole pattern, the size, and the distance between the legs were all nearly identical. It was a shocking similarity. He froze on the spot. He thought for a moment; he certainly hadn't been out of here. But why would his footprints be here?

The Fatty on the side also exclaimed in surprise, "Look here! Fatty's footprints are here too! It's truly magical. But everyone knows I never went out! Why are Fatty's footprints showing up here?"

Ma Xiong looked at the footprints matching his own shoes and said, "Everyone quiet down. We've all been tricked by our memories; these footprints are ours. We have walked this path before."

The three stopped and thought deeply for a long time. Lu Zong finally said, "No, I remember clearly. After we came in, we were searching for Ganda the whole time and never left. You must be mistaken. Fine, since you say we went out before, tell us what happened and where."

Ma Xiong declared with certainty, "I feel this is related to the Ice Crystal Jade Embryo."

The three asked curiously, "How is it related? Tell us."

Ma Xiong said, "I feel all four of us passed through the Time Tunnel and returned again."

The other three stared at Ma Xiong in disbelief. Lu Zong even ran over and touched Ma Xiong’s forehead, asking, "Ma Xiong, do you have a fever?"

Ma Xiong slapped Lu Zong's hand away from his forehead and stated carefully and seriously, "Yes, that's what I believe. We were indeed carried to another temporal space by the Time Tunnel within the Ice Crystal Jade Embryo, only its power wasn't enough to send us far back into ancient times; instead, it placed us in a situation that just recently transpired. That's why our memories are somewhat hazy—it's why we feel the scene before us is so familiar, as if we've been here before."

Lu Zong found Ma Xiong's explanation somewhat plausible and signaled him to continue.

Seeing Lu Zong's support, Ma Xiong launched into an endless stream of talk: "In my opinion, we must have encountered some danger previously that prevented us from passing through the middle, which is why we took the sides. But for some reason, we ended up crossing over. So, we started by rescuing Ganda, repeating what we had done before, while time, without changing at all, kept moving forward. In other words, time left us behind for a few minutes, then picked us back up."

Fatty was practically drooling. Seeing Ma Xiong pause, he urged him on, "Keep talking! I love science fiction novels the most."

Ma Xiong ignored Fatty and continued to explain, "I feel we are trapped in a loop. We don't know how many times we have cycled before this current time, which allowed us to discover the truth. I feel we must cherish this opportunity and not waste it. I wonder if, in the next cycle, there will be someone as smart as me to discover this problem."

Lu Zong was also captivated by the story, but he snapped back to reality relatively quickly. He realized Ma Xiong's words had some logic. He asked, "So, if we follow the previous steps and walk along the sides, we will cross over again, start anew, and fall into an infinite loop until we starve to death?"

Ma Xiong nodded and said, "That's highly possible."

Lu Zong stated, "That's easy then. We won't follow what happened before; we'll go through the middle position and see if we can still escape. Will we fall into the crisis loop?"

Ma Xiong countered, "No, I feel there must have been a reason we didn't choose the middle before; there were thoughts and considerations at that time. Let's check the middle position now for anything wrong—any traps or anything."

Lu Zong explained, "No way. There were no traps when we came in either. It's impossible for there to be one when we go out."

Ma Xiong mused, "Perhaps because of the long passage of time, the sensory effect wasn't very obvious, so it only takes effect upon the second sensing. Let's try it."

He pushed a large stone from beside him, letting it roll away.

However, the stone rolled all the way to the bottom edge and dropped off the cliff, yet no mechanism was triggered.

What on earth was going on? The four fell into deep thought.