I listened to * speak of increasingly outlandish things, mentioning superpowers, and cut in, "Hold on! *, there’s something I need to tell you."

paused for a beat, then asked me, "What is it?"

I hesitated for a moment before telling him, "My grandfather is fake; he's a straw effigy in disguise. I suspect we’ve been fooled by the powder from the Ming Moth from the very beginning, and that what's been happening to us might not even be real."

Hearing this, * immediately asked in astonishment, "Your grandfather is fake? But how could a straw effigy impersonate a person, and for so long without giving itself away?"

I replied, "I don't know. I found a box of Ming Moth powder in my grandfather's room. I think he might have been secretly putting this powder in our food or water, or perhaps just sprinkling it on himself, allowing it to spread through the air, causing our entire family to be trapped in an illusion for so long."

fell silent for a moment, then inquired, "If you were all under an illusion the whole time, how did you discover your grandfather was fake? Did you suddenly wake up today?"

*’s reminder seemed to hit upon a crucial point.

I thought back—I hadn't done anything particularly different today, only going to knock on my grandfather's door quite suddenly.

The only explanation was that the straw effigy needed a certain amount of time to set up its disguise as my grandfather, and I had interrupted him during that preparation window.

Thinking of it this way, the illusion I was seeing wasn't a permanent fixture; meaning, time and space were real—only the grandfather was false.

When we were in the underground cavern, it was highly probable that only a few individuals or objects were fake, and most of the events that transpired were true.

This realization brought me considerable relief, as it meant that * and I, along with Da Xiong, might have been deceived simultaneously, rather than them actively plotting against me.

As long as there was someone left I could trust, I wouldn't completely collapse.

I had previously considered the variations in time and space to be merely part of the hallucination, but now it seemed they were genuine.

So, I asked *, "What were those superpowers you mentioned just now? Tell me about them."

said over the phone, "Honestly, I’m only in the experimental stage. I’ve discovered that occasionally, inadvertently, we can cause specific spacetime distortions. Take yesterday, for instance: I broke a jade cup I dug out of an Eight Banners noble's tomb. It broke my heart. I subconsciously wished that the cup could just be restored. A few hours later, I returned home and saw the cup sitting perfectly intact on my table. When I broke the cup, I was drinking with a friend, so I called him. He said he never saw me smash the cup at noon, meaning the period during which I broke it had been erased."

I countered, "A single cup doesn't prove anything. Maybe it was just a coincidence involving a temporal gap."

responded over the phone, "You’re right, that’s what I initially thought. But it happened again yesterday. I went to the wet market in the evening to buy groceries. I was going to buy three hairy crabs; they were already packaged. But the price of hairy crabs had gone up, and I didn't have enough cash, so I returned one. At that moment, I was just complaining about how high prices were—two hundred yuan couldn't even buy three crabs. But when I got home, guess what? I had three hairy crabs in my pocket."

Hearing this, I remembered what Da Xiong had told me previously about twice receiving refunds when buying things.

Given his miserly nature, if he had this ability, getting back a small amount of money would certainly be in character for him.

Reflecting further on my own hourglass experiment, I realized I had unintentionally wished for the sand to return to its original position, which explained the resulting anomaly.

If we ourselves could truly control such a superpower, the implications were far more terrifying.

As expected, * warned me over the phone, "Whatever you do, do not genuinely wish for any ancient figure to be alive. If you do, it could trigger a time distortion spanning hundreds or even thousands of years. As a result, every living person in the world would lose centuries or millennia of their lifespan, meaning everyone would die."

I thought to myself that I was fortunate not to idolize any historical figures too much, or I might have caused an extremely serious consequence.

But upon closer thought, I grew frightened and asked him, "Liang Qian also made it out of that cave alive, and possibly Boss Wu and his numerous subordinates. If they all possess this ability, there’s no telling if someone might do something foolish."

replied, "Well, at least not yet. Otherwise, this world would have ended already."

I frowned deeply and said, "*, I think we need to report these matters to the higher-ups. I believe it's terrifying for this kind of power to be held only by us."

sighed on the other end of the line, saying, "Don’t assume the higher-ups are omnipotent. The only thing they might do is kill all of us, because they will see us as the source of everything."

I conceded that point and asked him what we should do then.

said, "Since we can't go back to Xinjiang either, we can only maintain the status quo for now and wait for new developments. Making any rash move now won't change anything; it will only create more trouble."

I disagreed with *’s suggestion to sit idly by, pressing him, "So much has happened. How are you expecting me to live peacefully? Seeing everyone around me unable to live normally, I can't find any peace, no matter what."

explained, "Things will progress eventually. The stolen time, as a massive force, must have a very important purpose. We can just wait and see. During this time, we need to practice diligently how to better operate this unusual ability. It might prove crucial at the right moment."

"Practice?" I asked, slightly confused. "*, do you realize that every time a temporal gap occurs, the lifespans of everyone nearby are shortened by minutes or even hours?"

responded over the phone, "But even if we don't intentionally control it, these gaps will still happen. Since that's the case, why not utilize it for good?"

His reasoning did hold water, so I didn't argue further.

"Alright, I have other things to attend to. Just remember one thing: never tell anyone about these matters." * finished, then hung up.

I tossed my phone carelessly onto the ** and sighed, unable to shake the complicated feelings.

Lying on the **, pondering many complex issues, my cousin knocked on the door from outside.

I could hear the fear in her voice as she asked, "Brother, what happened to Grandpa? I saw that strange thing still lying in the yard. Is everything alright?"