Chapter 401: Zhao Henian’s Whereabouts

The ceiling light in the room was still on, bathing every corner in an even, white light.

The clock on the wall ticked on, its second hand jumping from one mark to the next with a faint clicking sound.

The two burlap sacks on the floor still lay there, stuffed full.

Zhai Yu and Zhai Jia held their positions, watching with wide eyes.

He didn’t know for how long.

‘Maybe it’s only been a few minutes, or maybe longer,’ Wan Ze thought.

In a state like this, the concept of time became hazy. It was hard to tell the difference between one minute and five.

The moment Wan Ze opened his eyes, bewilderment flashed across the faces of both Zhai Yu and Zhai Jia.

“Ah Ze?” Zhai Jia was the first to speak. He leaned forward, bringing his face close to Wan Ze’s, his voice laced with urgency. “Are you back already? Or did you not even go?”

Wan Ze looked at Zhai Jia’s face, which was etched with confusion, then at Zhai Yu’s grave expression.

“I’m back,” Wan Ze said.

As he said this, he noticed something was off about Zhai Yu and Zhai Jia’s expressions. They looked utterly baffled.

“What is it?” Wan Ze asked, his gaze shifting between the two of them.

Zhai Jia looked unsettled. His lips twitched, and he scratched his head before saying hesitantly, “Actually, when you closed your eyes just now, I was watching very carefully. I didn’t miss a second. I was staring at your eyes, I watched you close them, and then…”

He paused, as if the memory was baffling. “And then you opened them.”

Wan Ze froze.

“You just… closed your eyes, then opened them. Nothing in between,” Zhai Jia said earnestly. “I was watching so closely I would have noticed if your eyelashes even twitched. Seriously, nothing happened. You closed your eyes, maybe two seconds passed—three at most—and then you opened them. I hadn’t even had time to wonder when you would wake up, and you were already awake.”

Wan Ze raised an eyebrow.

Zhai Jia kept talking, his speech a little faster than before. “I thought you’d have your eyes closed for a long time. I was ready to wait for half an hour. I was even thinking that if you didn’t show any reaction, I might have to try calling your name or patting your face or something. But before I could even finish that thought, you opened your eyes. Honestly, my first reaction wasn’t that you were back. It was… maybe you never even went at all.”

Wan Ze turned his head to look at Zhai Yu.

“Brother Yu, did you see the same thing?” Zhai Jia’s gaze followed Wan Ze’s.

Zhai Yu’s expression was grave. He met their gazes and nodded. “I saw the same thing as Xiaojia. You closed your eyes, then opened them. I can’t be precise down to the second, but the interval was no more than three seconds.”

Wan Ze fell into thought.

“I’ve tested this before. Roughly twenty minutes in Huangliang is about one minute in reality. I’ve tested this ratio several times. It’s different every time, but the approximate range is stable, around a twenty-to-one ratio.”

He paused, then recalled, “I was in Huangliang for more than an hour this time. Based on the previous ratio, at least three or four minutes should have passed in reality.”

Wan Ze looked up from Zhai Yu to Zhai Jia. “But you two only felt like two or three seconds passed? That’s not right. But it’s what happened, and I have no explanation for it.”

The room fell silent for a moment.

In that instant, the clicking of the clock on the wall became exceptionally clear.

It suddenly dawned on Zhai Jia. He asked hesitantly, “Ah Ze, are you saying… time flows at different speeds in the two worlds?”

Wan Ze nodded.

While Zhai Jia was still struggling to wrap his head around the idea, Zhai Yu had already whipped a communicator out from his belt.

His movements were swift—he reached for his waist, pinched the edge of the communicator, pulled it quickly from his pocket, and pressed his thumb on the power button. The screen lit up, casting a white glow.

Zhai Yu’s gaze lingered on the time at the top of the screen for a second before his pupils contracted.

“We got out of the car at 3:23 AM. It took two minutes at most to walk upstairs, so generously speaking, we arrived in this room at 3:25.”

Zhai Jia eagerly leaned over, craning his neck to stare at the communicator screen in Zhai Yu’s hand.

“So what time is it now?” Zhai Jia asked urgently.

Zhai Yu didn’t answer right away.

His gaze lingered on the time displayed at the top of the screen for another second. Then he looked up, first at Zhai Jia, then at Wan Ze.

“3:29.”

Zhai Yu paused, his gaze dropping back to the screen to check the seconds. “And now that I’ve finished speaking, it’s exactly 3:30.”

He held up the communicator, turning the screen toward Wan Ze and Zhai Jia so they could see for themselves.

On the screen, the time display jumped from 03:29 to 03:30.

Zhai Jia’s mouth fell open as realization dawned, an irrepressible gasp escaping him.

“Holy shit!”

He jerked back, then quickly leaned forward again, peering at the communicator in Zhai Yu’s hand and staring at the time for two full seconds.

After confirming that he hadn’t misread it, his expression became one of horrified disbelief, as if his entire perception of reality had been upended. “So you’re saying four or five minutes passed, but we didn’t notice at all? I was staring at Ah Ze the whole time, didn’t miss a second, and I swear it was two or three seconds at most. And you’re telling me it was actually four or five minutes?”

He gestured wildly in the air with his hands before throwing them open. “Is this fucking… scientific?!”

Wan Ze took a deep breath and said calmly, “Both worlds are operating simultaneously. It’s not a case of one world stopping when I go to the other. I was in Huangliang for over an hour, and you waited for me here in the real world for four or five minutes. But to you, it felt like only two or three seconds… We already know that a Qi Refiner’s Magic Techniques can’t be used in this world, so there’s no possibility that the Breathing Technique I cultivate affected you. I didn’t cast any spells on you, and you weren’t under the influence of any Magic Technique, but your Perception of time was clearly distorted.”