Her words made me feel a slight pang in my heart.

  I continued: "We were on the boat and also met Ou Yu's sister. She was supposed to die a month later, but she was still alive on the boat."

  Zhuang Yu said, "Sister?" I then remembered that Zhuang Yu still didn't know about the case, so I told her the whole story from start to finish. From Wu Yun being a top student to them getting on the boat, we lost our memories of what happened afterwards. Then there was his sister's murder, their mother passing away, him giving up his studies and working as a mechanic searching for the killer everywhere... We went back to that boat again, and then returned to the present.

  I finally sorted out the timeline for Zhuang Yu, and she indeed has a vulgar nature. After I told her so many twists and turns, her first reaction was to raise an eyebrow and say: "Dazhu, when you mention Wu Ou, your tone is a bit sultry and flirtatious."

  Whatever pot doesn't boil, pick up another one.

  I didn't want to show weakness, so I smiled and said, "Don't mention me, what about you and Shen Shiyan? I think he's a bit unusual towards you?"

  I thought it would be embarrassing for a moment, but she was stunned and said: "Shen Shiyan? Isn't he your blind date detective? What does he have to do with me?"

  I was stunned for a moment, she didn't seem to be pretending, and Zhuang Yu wasn't that kind of person. Could it be that I overthought it, and there was no chemistry between them? Or at least not on Zhuang Yu's part?

  "Alright, let's get down to business," I said. "Zhuang Yu, help me analyze this, what exactly is going on?"

  Zhuang Yu's expression turned serious, and she twirled the pen in her hand before drawing several parallel lines on the paper. However, they were not aligned but instead extended like a staircase. She said: "You see, time is like a straight line that extends forward in one direction. I drew it segmented to make it easier for you to understand."

  I nodded.

  She drew a point on the bottom line, and another point on the line above it. Then she connected the two points with an arrow and said: "Now, according to your description, you went from this point back to that point." She drew a reverse arrow: "And then came back. Your timeline with Ou Ye has become curved and knotted. We always think such things are unbelievable because time seems to us to be an intangible, one-way thing. But actually, time is also a dimension. Just like the spatial distance dimension, we can freely move from this point to that point, from Dali to Kunming, then from Kunming to Shanghai, and then back from Shanghai to Dali. If conditions are met on the time dimension, why not?

  It's a bit hard to accept, but I understand. I was silent for a while and then asked: "What is the reason that causes this phenomenon?"

  Zhuang Yu took another sip of beer, looking at me with an extremely profound and mysterious gaze: "The reason is not good to say. Wormholes can be achieved; have you heard of wormholes? It's something that bends and connects two points on the time dimension; in addition, more than 26% of the matter in the universe is still dark matter, and 70% is dark energy, and scientists know nothing about their capabilities; for example, do you know a saying that the universe is like a bubble? In fact, there are many such bubbles, also known as multiple parallel spaces. You may have gone to a parallel space... So this question of yours, even if scientists were asked, they might not be able to answer it. So..."

  She suddenly grabbed my shoulder again and said, "Damn! I still can't believe it, you really went back to the past? Why didn't this happen to me? I'm willing to let the hands of time play with me! Your face is still so pale, do you know that in the eyes of sci-fi fans, this is a lifelong miracle..."

  I pressed her excited face with my hand and said irritably, "So, you don't know anything now?"

  She said, "It can't be said like that. Although we can't know the specific reason, we can also make some basic conjectures." Her expression became even more serious than before, saying: "To cause this time reversal, it must be an extremely powerful cosmic energy to achieve. And the secrets of the universe must be hidden. Can't you just be struck by a thunderbolt in broad daylight and still have no awareness? And just you and him were struck? So, Dai Zhu, think carefully, have you ever been to any place that was very unusual before?"