I rubbed my forehead, wondering for a moment, but then decided I must have been overly anxious; my cousin was just playing a prank on me.

To stop myself from overthinking, I picked up the public speaking book from the bedside table, sat down at the computer, and resumed reading.

After about twenty minutes, I looked up and glanced out the window. The sky outside had already darkened, and the neon lights of the nearby villas and the distant city skyscrapers were beginning to illuminate.

Just then, a pair of headlights flared at the entrance of the courtyard. I stood up to look; it was Uncle Er’s car.

Stretching, I murmured to myself, "It’s time for dinner again. Should I tell Uncle Er about today's events?"

I thought it over and secretly decided against it. Since those people had already left, there was no need to cause Uncle Er extra trouble.

Watching Uncle Er’s car drive into the courtyard, I rubbed my hair, preparing to go downstairs for dinner.

But at that very moment, right before my eyes, Uncle Er’s car reversed by half a meter.

Cold sweat instantly streamed down my forehead.

Because I had seen it too clearly: the car wasn't moving backward by engaging reverse gear; rather, it had already passed a point and then reappeared there, like a frame skipping backward when replaying a DVD.

"What was that? What happened?" I touched my forehead, looking downstairs in disbelief.

"Could it be that I really have neurasthenia recently? No, that’s not right; I’ve been sleeping quite well these past few days," I mumbled.

Then, I watched Uncle Er’s car drive into the garage. Seeing that no further oddities occurred, I hurried downstairs.

Before Uncle Er could even reach the main hall door, I intercepted him halfway.

He chuckled, asking, "What’s wrong, big nephew? So happy to see me back."

I shook my head and said, "No, Uncle Er, did you feel anything strange when you were driving into the garage just now?"

Seeing my serious expression, Uncle Er paused in thought, then laughed, "A strange feeling... Oh, yes."

He held up the oil-blanched duck and preserved meats he was carrying and said, "The strange feeling is that I’ve finally arrived home and I’m starving. Let’s eat first!"

I considered that if I told him what just happened, he would probably tell me to see a doctor. So, I could only smile and say, "Alright."

Nothing strange happened during dinner, but I remained distracted the entire time, feeling that something was amiss.

Fortunately, this wasn't the first time I'd been distracted, so Uncle Er’s family was used to it.

By the time we finished eating, my cousin had already placed a bowl of meat for me.

I snapped back to attention then and finished all the food in my bowl.

After dinner, I went straight back to my room and started pondering the problem.

First, I checked online to see if anyone else had encountered similar incidents before.

The search results were all about bizarre tornado cases.

For instance, in Australia, a family was sleeping soundly inside their house, but when they woke up the next morning, they found the roof and walls gone, yet the furniture remained perfectly in place. Furthermore, the entire family had inexplicably woken up hundreds of kilometers away in the wilderness.

There was also a carriage in England traveling across a clear, sunny grassland when a strange gust of wind blew through, making the four horses pulling the carriage vanish, leaving the carriage stranded alone where it stood.

These were all verified as the work of tornadoes, but there were no real examples of spatial distortion or temporal regression.

I searched for a long time without any results, so I shut down the computer and began to meditate.

Thinking it over, I increasingly felt that what had happened before was an illusion. To prove it wasn't, I repeatedly flipped the decorative hourglass on my desk, watching to see if time would freeze or regress.

I repeated this action over a hundred times, but the phenomenon of time reversing never appeared.

Feeling somewhat disheartened, I placed the hourglass on the desk and walked toward the restroom.

In the restroom, I stared into the mirror for a long time, then washed my face with cold water, muttering to myself, "It must have been an illusion. I need to get some serious rest these next few days."

Wiping the water droplets from my face with a towel, I sat by the bed, preparing to turn off the light and sleep.

But just as my hand reached for the switch beside the bed, I happened to glance at the hourglass sitting on the desk, and I was suddenly startled.

I jumped up hastily and hurried back to the computer desk, picking up the hourglass.

I muttered, "This isn't right, it's impossible..."

The reason I was so shocked was that I distinctly remembered placing the hourglass behind the computer’s LCD screen when I last handled it.

After observing the hourglass for a long time without noticing anything strange, I had casually placed it in front of the keyboard.

But when I came out of the restroom after washing my face, the hourglass had returned to its position behind the screen.

Time had indeed jumped!

A sense of panic began to set in. Clutching the hourglass, a flood of thoughts rushed into my mind, overwhelming my senses.

However, after much thought, I couldn't grasp the underlying principle, but I felt strongly that this must be something terrible.

So, I immediately called * and wanted to ask for his opinion.

Unexpectedly, the first thing he said when I connected his call wasn't "hello," but, "You noticed it too?"

I asked curiously, "Noticed what?"

replied, "The sparrows in the sky clearly flew away, yet after a while, they reappear in the same spot. People on the street take ten steps forward only to stumble one step back. When drinking soup, I clearly finished the hot liquid, but a moment later, a pool of it slowly resurfaces at the bottom of the bowl. And the people next to me can't notice at all; they think the birds never left, or that the person only walked ten steps instead of eleven, or that the soup wasn't finished yet."

Hearing this, my scalp tingled. I thought, this phenomenon has occurred in Chongqing too! I quickly said, "Yes! Yes! What is going on?"

was silent on the other end for a long time, then replied, "Chuanzi, I think this situation is very serious, far more serious than we imagined."

His tone was so heavy that I fell silent too. After a while, I finally said, "Yeah... This is huge."

was silent again for a long time and then said, "Let's split up and investigate. You call Da Xiong too, ask if he's experiencing the same phenomena, and then we'll gather more data. We’ll meet in Chengdu in a month to figure out a solution. But remember, absolutely do not tell anyone else about this, or it might cause trouble."

Although I didn't know what kind of trouble he meant, I agreed.

After hanging up with *, I immediately called Da Xiong.

When he answered the phone, he was slurping noodles, his voice muffled.

I asked him, "Da Xiong, has anything strange happened around you recently?"

Da Xiong paused to think and vaguely replied, "No... my luck has been great lately."

I asked, "How has your luck been so good? Tell me about it."

Da Xiong said, "The tube of toothpaste I recently bought seems unusually full. Even though it’s been empty for a while, I can still squeeze a bit out the next morning. And also, when I bought seafood at the market, I spent over two hundred, and I distinctly remember giving the vendor the money, but when I got home, the money was back in my pocket. However, that vendor knew me, so he came to my house to ask for it again. But the time I bought Coke at the supermarket, I definitely made a profit."

Da Xiong thought for a moment and added, "But there’s been bad luck too; I often feel like I haven’t finished when I go to the bathroom. I just finished, but a moment later, I feel like I haven't gone completely. Maybe my kidneys are weak lately; I need to eat some mutton waist to replenish them."

Hearing that, I knew his situation was the same as ours, but this simpleton didn't find these events strange.

So, I told Da Xiong, "Buddy, listen, this isn't money reappearing after you spend it; this is genuine time reversal. It's happening several times a day for both * and me."

Da Xiong was silent on the other end for a moment, then said, "Really? That bizarre? No wonder things felt weird lately. What is going on?"

I told him, "I don't know, but it seems like only those of us who entered that cave together are experiencing this; others can't see it. * said we should meet in Chengdu in a month to discuss this matter."