The Phoenix Bar.
A month had passed since it had been sealed off.
After that baffling incident, the bar's owner thought he had offended someone he shouldn't have and transferred ownership overnight.
Then, two weeks ago, the bar had reopened.
Although the owner had changed, the furnishings inside hadn't changed at all. It still had the same old feel, and it hadn't lost many of its regulars. Business was as good as ever every night.
Every so often, customers could be heard boasting to the new waiter about their "inside information" on the night the bar had been sealed off, while discreetly probing just how well-connected the new owner was...
Whenever he heard this, the new young waiter would give an awkward smile, looking a little embarrassed.
The bar's staff had also been replaced.
The middle-aged man sweeping the floor was a veteran instructor. He pushed the garbage cart as though it were an ammunition crate.
The DJ spinning records was a machine gunner. When he worked the records onstage, he looked as though he were turning an ammunition drum.
The young woman serving drinks was a champion driver. She never spilled a single drop from the glasses.
As for the bartender stationed behind the bar, he had previously been a criminal investigator.
His name was Bai Xu.
After half a month in isolation, Bai Xu had been released.
His job had changed, too.
He had gone from being a criminal investigator to serving on a task force directly under the relevant authorities, and he himself was its leader.
Then there was that piece of paper with the phone number that had been taken away.
He didn't know whether this was a blessing or a curse.
The phone on the bar suddenly rang.
It was the phone with that special SIM card.
A call was coming in.
Had this been the first couple of days after his isolation ended, Bai Xu would have answered in great excitement, eager to communicate with whoever was on the other end.
But not anymore.
Because...
There were just too many phone scams!
Bai Xu answered, still imagining how wretched the unlucky scammer on the other end would look a day later, when he discovered he was surrounded by a large police force.
Yet all he heard from the other end was the clatter of pots, bowls, and pans.
There was no classic scammer's opening line.
Then,
Bai Xu heard a voice he would never forget for the rest of his life. It was so ordinary, yet so confident. "Come out for a meal. We're just waiting for you. Hurry over!"
As though he were certain Bai Xu would show up.
But the person on the other end had guessed right.
Hearing that voice, Bai Xu fell into a daze. His brain seemed to thump twice along with his heart, and he finally managed to say, "Okay. Where are you?"
"Boss, where is this?" On the other end, Zhang Tianyuan raised his voice to ask the owner.
"Oh, the address is..."
"You got that, right? Hurry over!"
After hanging up, Bai Xu left a few people behind to clear out the customers, then rushed out of the bar with his other subordinates, all of them immensely excited.
Around the bar, vehicles quickly started up and pulled onto the road, smoothly forming a long convoy that headed straight for the farmhouse restaurant Zhang Tianyuan had mentioned.
Whether he was human or ghost, today would tell!
Half an hour later, Bai Xu reached his destination.
The moment he stepped inside, he saw that familiar figure sitting there, holding a roast duck leg and gnawing on it with grease all over his mouth...
"You're here." Zhang Tianyuan suddenly put down the roast duck leg, a faint smile on his gleaming, greasy lips.
"Yes, I'm here." Bai Xu nodded and sat down with mixed feelings, recalling that terrifying scene from that night once more.
It was hard for an ordinary person to imagine the psychological shock of witnessing a real, living person suddenly vanish right before their eyes.
At the time, he had still been holding Zhang Tianwu's arm, only to suddenly find himself clutching empty air as the man disappeared in an instant.
His entire worldview had nearly collapsed!
Zhang Tianyuan patted Bai Xu on the shoulder, glanced at the people following him, then pointed at the food on the neighboring tables. With easy familiarity, he said, "Everyone, dig in. Thanks for all your hard work during this time. Call the guys outside in, too. Don't let it go to waste."
The veteran instructor, the machine gunner, and the champion driver sat beside one another next to Bai Xu.
Many unremarkable-looking people came in from outside one after another and took their seats. They sat without a word, their gazes seemingly wandering but actually fixed on Zhang Tianyuan's table the whole time.
After serving the last dish, the owner looked at the silent, grim-faced figures filling his restaurant, every one of them secretly watching the table in the very center. It looked straight out of a nineties Hong Kong movie. His eyelids twitched with fright, and, thinking gangsters were about to have a showdown, he returned to the counter and quietly called the police.
Then a phone suddenly rang at the table beside the counter. The man checked the caller ID on his phone, then looked at the owner.
"What are you calling the police about?"
The owner looked at him, too, and their eyes met.
The owner hung up, and the phone stopped ringing.
The owner called again, and the phone rang again.
Things became a little awkward.
Until someone took out a bulky laptop, did a flurry of things on it, then told the owner:
"You can make calls normally now."
The owner backed away two steps and forced a smile. "No need. Heh, heh..."
"Tsk, tsk." Watching this, Zhang Tianyuan asked Bai Xu beside him, "This many people already know about me?"
Bai Xu gestured with his lips. "Only the people at this table know the details. Don't worry."
Unexpectedly, Zhang Tianyuan tore off a piece of fragrant, crispy, reddish roast duck skin and put it in his mouth, then actually sighed. "That answer really disappoints me."
Bai Xu: ???
Zhang Tianyuan shook his head. He wished as many people as possible knew about what had happened in the bar, but unfortunately, it seemed the news had been kept tightly under wraps.
"How have you been these past few days?"
Bai Xu pointed at his dark circles. "These past few days have actually been all right. At least I can eat and sleep now. But a month ago, after you suddenly disappeared from the bar, I kept having strange dreams for days on end..."
Zhang Tianyuan suddenly stopped chewing.
"Did you say a month?"
Bai Xu nodded and even took out his phone to check the calendar. "Yes, a month."
Zhang Tianyuan narrowed his eyes at an inconspicuous corner of the Spacetime Tunnel interface:
[Time ratio: once the Spacetime Tunnel has existed in the current world for a cumulative total of 10 seconds, it will automatically synchronize with the main world's time.]
"Then it's nothing."
So there was that setting, too.
In other words, he had spent three days at the base, while thirty days had passed in the 2012 world.
However, the portal to "2012" had already been opened three times, for one second each time. That meant this time difference would disappear once the portal had been opened in this world at most seven more times.
Bai Xu couldn't see the base panel. All he knew was that Zhang Tianyuan had asked a baffling question, then stopped talking and buried himself in his meal again.
Was the food here really that good?
He was acting like he hadn't eaten in eight lifetimes.
He couldn't even find an opening to ask a question.
His three colleagues had even less chance of getting a word in.
The scene consisted of four people watching Zhang Tianyuan enjoy his meal all by himself.
Only after Zhang Tianyuan had eaten and drunk his fill and satisfied his taste buds did he remember another important question. "Did you report everything I told you that day?"
"Of course I did. Otherwise, I wouldn't be sitting here in front of you with them."
"Was there any feedback?" Zhang Tianyuan was quite eager to hear the result.
"I'm afraid you'll be disappointed." Bai Xu sighed. He had been keeping a close eye on any news about this lately, but unfortunately, even as someone directly involved, he couldn't find anything out. The report he had submitted was like a clay ox sinking into the sea.
Bai Xu leaned closer and continued, "But I think if you could demonstrate that again, perhaps things might take a turn..."