As direct witnesses to the entire incident, William Yan Qing and Lanice, along with the others, inevitably became global celebrities.

  According to official statements, they had departed for the Genesis region two weeks earlier to conduct an on-site investigation. However, just three hours into the mission, all contact with the base was lost. At the exact moment the unidentified flying object vanished, the five of them suddenly reappeared on the ground at the location where the craft had originally hovered.

  Of the fifteen members of the Genesis expedition team, only these five returned.

  “I’ve told you how many times already?! They’ve already left! Who knows where the hell they went!!”

  After more than ten hours of interrogation, the people in front of him still refused to let him go. Aiden finally exploded in anger, shouting at the top of his lungs. He could almost picture Sam, whose temper was even worse than his own, pacing furiously in another interrogation room nearby.

  “Would you like some coffee?” one of the interrogators asked calmly.

  “Coffee my ass!!” Aiden roared.

  Next door to Aiden’s interrogation room, another member of the team—Professor Yan Qing—was also being questioned.

  Only his interrogation was far more detailed than the others’.

  “Professor, could you try once more to recall what they looked like?”More than one person sat behind the glaring spotlight. They were leaders in the scientific community—along with military officials and politicians.

  The young man surrounded by them did not answer immediately. Prolonged exposure to extreme psychological pressure had left exhaustion etched clearly across the scientist’s refined features.

  “…”After a brief silence, he finally spoke, his voice slow and drained.

  “They referred to themselves as Teleopeans. Aside from wings and tails, they are largely indistinguishable from humans in appearance. The wings and tails are the result of evolution from a multi-limbed ancestor. Additionally, their biochemical structure is very different from ours—their genetic material is composed of elements closer to metallic substances…”

  This information had been obtained from Chen.Xing.Chen’s memories—an unexpected byproduct of their encounter.

  “That’s impossible!” someone suddenly interrupted. The harsh lighting made it impossible for Yan Qing to see the speaker’s face.“Metals are chemically stable. They can’t react with organic compounds—there’s no way they could form genetic material!”

  Yan Qing felt a headache coming on. He was exhausted by the endless questioning. Pressing a hand to his forehead, he frowned.

  “This is what I learned from them. As a physicist, I find it strange as well.”

  After a brief, hushed discussion, a voice spoke again.

  “That will be all for now. Thank you for your cooperation, Professor.”

  Stepping out of the Special Administrative Agency building, Yan Qing released a long breath.

  He had been informed that, for “security reasons,” he would be temporarily removed from his position.

  The excuse was laughably flimsy.

  At the top floor of the same building, the middle-aged man who had overseen the interrogation stood by the window, watching the Asian scientist’s retreating figure below.

  “Sir, are we really just letting them go like this?”A secretary standing behind him asked respectfully.

  The man’s eyes glimmered with an unusual, glass-like sheen as he took a puff from his pipe.

  “This was his decision,” he said calmly. “No one is allowed to disobey it.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  The secretary withdrew silently.

  The man frowned faintly, his gaze never leaving the figure below until the taxi disappeared around a distant corner.

  “William Yan Qing…”Pale blue smoke drifted through the air. Perhaps it was a trick of the light, but an unnatural luminescence flickered briefly in his eyes.“Are you truly worth this much?”

  [I’ve always worked with my life on the line, and now they’re talking to me about personal safety?!]

  Aiden’s voice nearly blew out Yan Qing’s phone speaker.

  “I don’t know what they’re thinking either,” Yan Qing replied helplessly, rubbing his ear,“but they do decide when we get paid.”

  The complaint-filled call came the moment he got home. Aiden’s straightforward personality made it impossible for him to bottle things up.

  It wasn’t just the scientists—every surviving member of the Genesis team had effectively been put on leave, confined to their homes.

  Lanice and Aiden didn’t own property in New York and were staying temporarily at Sam’s place. Joe had returned to Los Angeles to spend the unexpected break with his family.

  [I thought scientists would be more enlightened than us gun-toting brutes, Professor.]

  Aiden joked over the phone, prompting a soft laugh from Yan Qing.

  “Scientists still need to eat.”

  [So tell me—where do you think they went?]

  They referred to the Teleopeans.

  The intelligent beings from another universe. There was no denying the shock they had brought to the Genesis team—especially their commander, who had left a deep impression on Yan Qing.

  —I will return. I’ll come back to see you.—

  Under the lights, the alien commander’s golden eyes had glowed faintly, his elegant, almost feminine features illuminated by a smile.

  That person…

  [Yan Qing? You still there?]

  The silence made Aiden frown.

  “Sorry,” Yan Qing said awkwardly. “I got distracted.”

  [Ooooh—thinking about your sweet wedding?]

  Yan Qing was set to marry his girlfriend of five years in two months.

  “Y-yeah,” he said, slightly embarrassed. “There’s a lot to prepare.”

  [Someone’s blushing~]

  Voices sounded in the background.[Ah, gotta go—Sam wants to head out. You coming?]

  “Sorry, Xiaowen has already organised something tonight.”

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  [Alright, later then. Goodbye, shut-in.]

  “Bye.”

  Aiden’s easygoing nature was comforting. After the Genesis incident, the five survivors had become inseparable.

  After hanging up, Yan Qing looked out the window. New York’s bustling cityscape was draped in deep night—Earth’s rotation carrying the country once again into the part of the universe untouched by the sun.

  “It’s already been a month…”

  Where in the universe had they gone?

  If they could traverse space itself, interstellar travel would hardly be an issue. They were probably tens of thousands of light-years away by now.

  Lost in thought, Yan Qing absentmindedly rested his right hand over the bracelet on his left wrist. The metal felt warm—unnaturally so. It wasn’t his body heat. The bracelet had been warm from the start.

  It was a farewell gift from Chen.Xing.Chen.He hadn’t told anyone.

  “What am I thinking?!” Yan Qing knocked lightly against his own forehead. He was getting married soon. And besides—those words had probably just been polite courtesy.

  He needed to get ready for the date.

  Xiaowen told him that they were catching up with her friends in a restaurant. It was the kind of high-end Manhattan restaurant Yan Qing would never have chosen on his own—elegant, discreet, and designed for people who didn’t need to check prices.

  Thirty minutes later - somewhere in central Manhattan district.

  Yan Qing arrived ten minutes early.

  He always did.

  The restaurant sat on the upper floor of a restored colonial building, all marble columns and warm amber lighting. The kind of place where the menu had no prices and the waitstaff spoke softly, as if volume itself were vulgar. Yan Qing had checked the address twice to make sure he hadn’t misread it.

  He adjusted his jacket in the rearview mirror, then stepped out of the car just as the glass doors slid open.

  Xiaowen appeared in the doorway.

  She was petite, almost delicate in build, her long hair styled loosely over one shoulder. Her face was soft in a way people trusted instinctively—large eyes, gentle features, a smile that seemed permanently on the verge of apology. The kind of woman strangers held doors open for without thinking.

  She waved when she saw him, already smiling.

  “Sorry,” she said lightly as she approached, though she wasn’t late. “Did I keep you waiting?”

  “No,” Yan Qing replied. “I just got here.”

  She leaned in and kissed his cheek, cool perfume brushing his skin. “You’re always so punctual.”

  It wasn’t praise. Not quite.

  Inside, Xiaowen’s friends were already seated.

  They rose as she approached—two women in tailored dresses and their partners in understated suits. Everyone looked… finished. Polished. Like they belonged exactly where they were.

  “Xiaowen!” one of the women exclaimed. “You look gorgeous.”

  Xiaowen laughed softly. “You’re exaggerating.”

  Yan Qing noticed no one said anything about him.

  Introductions were made, names exchanged. Hands shook. Smiles measured him quickly—his posture, his shoes, the watch he wore. He smiled when appropriate and stayed quiet when conversation moved too fast.

  The waiter pulled out chairs. Xiaowen sat without hesitation. Yan Qing waited a beat, then followed.

  “And you must be Prof. Yan Qing,” one of the men said. “I've heard so much about you—you were involved in the Genesis incident, right?”

  Yan Qing paused—just long enough to remember where the line was.

  “Yes,” he said carefully.

  “So,” another asked, leaning forward, “what was it? The news said it wasn’t aliens, but—”

  “It wasn’t,” Yan Qing said immediately.

  His tone was precise. Neutral. Rehearsed.

  “There is no evidence of extraterrestrial life,” he continued. “That’s the official position.”

  Xiaowen smiled, relieved, as if he’d said the correct thing.

  “But something appeared,” one of the women pressed. “You all vanished. Then came back.”

  “There was an anomalous gravitational event,” Yan Qing said, his tone remained neutral. “The rest is speculation.”

  It sounded like a line lifted straight from a briefing document.

  A beat of silence followed.

  “That must have been terrifying,” someone said at last.

  Yan Qing hesitated.

  “The more interesting part,” he said slowly, “was the physics.”

  Xiaowen’s fingers twitched.

  “The Genesis singularity behaved in ways we didn’t predict. The collapse pattern didn’t match any known black hole model. If it wasn’t stabilized externally, then—”

  “—Yan Qing,” Xiaowen said lightly, laughing under her breath.

  She tilted her head toward him, affectionate. Public.

  “You promised you wouldn’t turn dinner into a seminar.”

  A few people chuckled.

  Yan Qing flushed. “Sorry.”

  One of the men smiled politely. “Occupational hazard.”

  “He’s like this,” Xiaowen added fondly. “Always retreats into equations when he’s nervous.”

  That wasn’t what he’d been doing.

  She reached for his hand under the table, a gentle squeeze. A signal.

  “So,” she continued smoothly, reclaiming the flow, “we’re just grateful everything turned out fine. Right?”

  Yan Qing nodded.

  “Right,” he echoed.

  Later, when someone asked again—half-joking—“So you’re sure it wasn’t aliens?”—

  Xiaowen answered before he could.

  “Absolutely,” she said. “The government was very clear.”

  Yan Qing didn’t contradict her.

  He focused on his water glass, the condensation sliding down the side in slow, quiet lines.

  By the time dessert arrived, Yan Qing had spoken less than a dozen full sentences. Xiaowen, meanwhile, was radiant—laughing, praised, admired.

  When the bill came, one of the men reached for it.

  “Oh, please,” Xiaowen said. “Put it on my family’s account.”

  She turned to Yan Qing with a soft smile. “Don’t worry about it.”

  He hadn’t been.

  Still, something tightened.

  On the drive home, Xiaowen hummed quietly, scrolling through her phone.

  “You were quiet tonight,” she said casually, without looking up.

  “I was listening.”

  She smiled. “You always do.”

  Yan Qing watched the road, city lights blurring past the windshield.

  He told himself it was fine.

  This was a normal life, he thought.

  Once they were married, things would feel different.

  The dinner went a big longer than Yan Qing had anticipated, when they got back the time was already passed midnight.

  The apartment was quiet.

  Too quiet.

  Xiaowen slipped off her heels by the door and set them neatly against the wall. Yan Qing hung up his jacket, moving automatically, as if still performing a role.

  She didn’t speak at first.

  He waited.

  Finally, she sighed.

  “Did something happen tonight?” she asked softly.

  Yan Qing paused. “What do you mean?”

  “You seemed… distant.” She turned to face him, concern smoothing her features. “I kept checking on you, but you barely said anything.”

  “I thought it was better not to interrupt,” he said. “Everyone was talking.”

  Xiaowen smiled faintly. “So you were uncomfortable.”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “But you were,” she said gently. “I could feel it.”

  Yan Qing frowned. “I just didn’t have much to add.”

  She tilted her head. “You don’t have to pretend with me, Yan Qing.”

  The way she said his name made his chest tighten.

  “I wasn’t pretending.”

  Xiaowen walked past him, setting her bag down, movements unhurried. “It just… puts me in an awkward position when you withdraw like that.”

  He blinked. “I wasn’t trying to—”

  “I know,” she said quickly. “I know you don’t mean to. You just don’t realize how it looks.”

  “How what looks?”

  She hesitated, as if choosing her words carefully. “Like you’re judging them. Or me.”

  That landed harder than it should have.

  “I wasn’t,” Yan Qing said immediately.

  “I’m sure,” Xiaowen replied. “But my friends don’t know you the way I do.”

  She smiled again—soft, reassuring. “They asked me afterward if something was wrong.”

  His stomach dropped. “They did?”

  “Only because they care about me,” she said. “They were worried.”

  Yan Qing searched his memory of the evening, replaying it—his silence, his nods, the way he’d looked at the table instead of meeting eyes.

  “I didn’t want to embarrass you,” he said.

  “And I appreciate that,” she replied. “Truly. But sometimes your… restraint comes off as disapproval.”

  “I’m not good in groups,” he said quietly.

  “I know,” Xiaowen said. “That’s why I usually try to help.”

  Help.

  She stepped closer and took his hands. Her grip was warm, grounding.

  “But tonight,” she continued, “I felt like I was carrying everything alone.”

  “I didn’t realize.”

  She sighed. “That’s kind of the problem.”

  Silence settled between them.

  “I just want us to be on the same page,” she said finally. “We’re getting married. People are watching us now.”

  “I’ll do better,” Yan Qing said, the words leaving him before he’d fully decided to say them.

  Her shoulders relaxed immediately.

  “I knew you’d understand.”

  She leaned in and kissed his cheek. “You always do.”

  Yan Qing stood there after she pulled away, hands still slightly raised, as if he’d meant to say something else.

  Something sharper.

  Something truer.

  But the moment had passed.

  “I’m sorry,” he said instead.

  Xiaowen smiled, satisfied.