The spacecraft plummeted rapidly, the weightlessness leaving Lin Xi immobilized. When she awoke, Michael was shaking her, and an eerie silence filled the cabin.

The temperature inside was rising rapidly, as if ready to burn everything. She looked at Michael’s lips moving, but no sound reached her ears.

The communicator had malfunctioned. She signaled with her hand.

Michael hesitated for a moment, but Lin Xi immediately forced herself to remain calm. She knew that only calmness could lead them to survival.

Suddenly, the lights inside her helmet went out, and the darkness was overwhelming. She quickly adjusted her breathing.

A faint yellow glow appeared as Michael pulled out the plasma emergency light, its dim light barely illuminating their surroundings.

Lin Xi knew the light wouldn’t last long; they had to leave immediately. She opened the cabin door, and together, she and Michael continued forward.

Communication was still down, and the lights in their helmets flickered on and off. The blue glow in the tunnel ahead seemed to grow stronger, as if guiding them toward an unknown trap.

Suddenly, the equipment began functioning again. The communicator crackled with static, and their helmet lights flickered back on.

The walls of the tunnel were lined with cracks, with blue crystals emitting a faint glow, as if issuing a warning...

Each step felt heavier, her instincts telling her to stop, but the pull toward the light grew stronger.

The blue light in the tunnel flickered gently, making Lin Xi’s anxiety rise. Her unease came not from fear but from the unknown.

"The air pressure... something seems off," Ethan whispered, his gaze fixed on the scanner, brows furrowed.

Their gear was equipped with the latest "Self-Sustaining Environment System," designed to generate breathable air in oxygen-free environments, but the data it showed now made him uneasy.

The crystals pulsed with light as they approached, as if responding to their presence.

Ethan knelt in front of one of the crystals, his hands trembling slightly. "These lights... they shouldn’t exist," he stammered.

It was as if something deep in her consciousness was stirring. Suddenly, the blue light flared up, blinding Lin Xi’s vision.

The light twisted, and the walls trembled as if the tunnel was about to collapse. "What's happening?" one of the team members shouted, their voice filled with barely-contained fear.

Lin Xi felt the scene before her blur, the blue light warping in her vision, as if the air itself was distorting in some indescribable way.

The world around her began to feel unreal, as if she had been transported back to her childhood, standing on a vast grassland, the wind gently brushing her face, the grass swaying like waves. In the distance, she saw a figure—her father? No, that couldn’t be... "This isn’t right!" Lin Xi jolted awake, realizing the scene was impossible.

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She shook her head, fighting off the illusion.

The vision ebbed like a tide, and Lin Xi gasped, her eyes regaining focus. Her chest heaved, but as the team leader, she couldn’t allow herself to collapse.

Lin Xi took a deep breath, her vision clearing. “Stay calm!” she ordered through the communicator.

Ethan was leaning against the wall, his breath rapid, his face pale as a sheet. "This... this isn’t real, is it?" he muttered, trying to find support from the wall. Aria was crouched on the ground, her hands clutching her head as if trying to ward off the visions in her mind.

“What was that?” Michael’s voice trembled, still shaken, his hand almost losing grip on his device.

“Time... is warping,” Ethan finally managed to say, his eyes filled with alarm. “Time has been distorted. We’re trapped in a time that doesn’t belong to us.”

Lin Xi took a deep breath, forcing herself to remain calm. She gritted her teeth and whispered firmly, “One more step forward, and we fall into the unknown. We must retreat.” She could feel it—they were stepping into a crisis beyond their control.

Just as they prepared to retreat, a loud roar echoed from deep within the tunnel. The crystals on the walls flickered violently, and a wave of energy surged outward, sweeping through the tunnel like an unstoppable force.

Michael frantically tried to operate his device, his hands trembling, but his actions seemed to trigger some kind of restriction. The ground shook violently, and the walls groaned under the strain, as if they would collapse at any moment.

Suddenly, the sensation of weightlessness struck, the tunnel seemed to twist, as if crumbling around them.

"Run!" Lin Xi shouted, her voice echoing through the empty tunnel.

But it was too late. The energy wave crashed toward them like a tidal wave, the massive force throwing everyone in different directions. Lin Xi felt the jarring impact of weightlessness hit her, and in the next moment, she was hurled into a completely unfamiliar branch of the tunnel. She was alone, surrounded only by the silent darkness watching her.

“Can anyone hear me?!” she grabbed her communicator, her heart pounding in her throat, her voice edged with barely-contained anxiety.

The communicator remained silent, and the brief stillness only amplified her unease. Finally, Ethan’s voice crackled through the static: “I’m... in another branch. All my gear is malfunctioning... it’s bad.”

“Same here,” Michael’s voice was low, his tension barely concealed.

Lin Xi quickly made a decision, forcing herself to stay calm. "We have to stay calm. Only calmness will get us out." Her voice was resolute, but deep inside, a growing unease gnawed at her.

After difficult communication and planning, they finally regrouped deep within the tunnel. But as they looked up, the sight before them stole the breath from everyone’s lungs.

A massive quantum energy field hovered in the center of the tunnel, a blue orb of light rotating slowly in the air, rippling with energy waves. It looked like a doorway to another world, mysterious and dangerous.

“What is that?” Michael asked in disbelief, his voice shaking as he stared at the glowing energy field.

Ethan’s eyes were fixed on the giant orb, his voice low and complicated. “It could be a quantum tunnel... a passage to another dimension.”

A chill ran down Lin Xi’s spine as she analyzed calmly, “If these crystals and this energy field are connected, then we might not just be trapped underground on the moon. We could be standing at the edge of another dimension.”

She glanced at her team, their faces filled with unease and confusion. Clenching her fists, Lin Xi realized that the danger they faced was far beyond what they had expected.

Michael checked the timer on his wrist, his face turning pale. “A few hours... three days... Time here is betraying us.”

Lin Xi’s nerves instantly tightened, realizing the flow of time had become severely distorted. This place no longer followed logic—it was a twisted maze of time and space.

“We have to leave now!” Ethan urged, “If we get stuck here, we may never return to the real timeline.”

There was no time to hesitate. The blue light pulsed faster. “Retreat immediately, we’ll deal with the data later.” Lin Xi gave the cold order, her eyes unwavering.

They quickly turned and began to retreat. The tunnel shook violently, the blue energy waves growing stronger, as if the entire space was about to collapse.

Lin Xi turned to leave, but every step felt like a battle against an internal pull.

She couldn’t help but look back, the blue light flickering in the air, silently drawing her closer. “Don’t go. That’s the abyss of the unknown,” she muttered to herself, fighting the mysterious lure.

It flickered in the twisted air, as if silently calling her. The blue light’s silent summons was nearly irresistible. Lin Xi stopped in her tracks, forcing down the impulse in her heart.