With three superpowers at his fingertips, he could dominate the 1970s.

As the winter chill deepened, the wind in Kaoshantun, carrying snowflakes, stung her face like tiny knives. Jiang Zhiyu pulled out her dark blue cotton-padded coat from her spatial storage—a coat she had brought from Shanghai, filled with fresh cotton, much warmer than the thick cotton-padded coats sewn in the village.

After nightfall, she took the brown sugar and flour wrapped in oiled paper, along with the wild boar meat he had secretly stewed with spring water. She couldn't resist eating a large bowl of it, and then took two new cotton quilts and slipped away to the cowshed under the cover of darkness. The corner where her parents lived was drafty. Her father was twisting straw rope by the moonlight, while her mother was mending an old cotton-padded coat covered in patches.

"Dad, Mom," Jiang Zhiyu called out softly, putting the things on the pile of straw.

Her mother looked up abruptly, saw it was her, and her eyes immediately welled up with tears: "Why are you here so late? What if you catch a cold?"

"It's alright, I'm wearing a lot of clothes." Jiang Zhiyu helped spread out the quilt. "It's newly made, it'll keep you warm at night." She then took out some brown sugar. "Make some water with it and drink it to nourish your body." As she spoke, she quietly added a few more drops of spiritual spring water to her father's water vat.

Her father put down the straw rope and pressed her hand down: "Zhiyu, don't keep running around here. It's not good if someone sees you." He paused and lowered his voice, "Professor Qi and his wife next door are good people. Before you came, I had a fever, and it was Aunt Qi who secretly gave me a fever reducer."

Jiang Zhiyu nodded. She had observed them these past few days; Uncle Qi and his wife were taciturn, spending their days either working or reading, never getting involved in the gossip in the cowshed. "I understand," she said, taking a quilt and half a bag of biscuits from another cloth bag. "I'll go take them some things."

When they knocked on Uncle Qi's door, Aunt Qi was sewing shoe soles by the light of a kerosene lamp. Seeing what Jiang Zhiyu was holding, she quickly waved her hand, saying, "This won't do, little Jiang, we can't accept it..."

"Auntie, it's too cold, and your quilt is too thin." Jiang Zhiyu put the quilt on the kang (heated brick bed). "Consider it a loan. You can return it to me in the spring." Uncle Qi pushed up his glasses and said gently, "Girl, thank you. If you ever have any difficulties in the future, just tell us. I know a little about medicine, and your Aunt Qi can sew clothes. We can always help out."

Jiang Zhiyu smiled and turned to leave. Just as she reached her doorstep, the brigade leader, wearing a cotton-padded coat and panting, ran towards her: "Little Jiang, the educated youth! We've finally found you! The county got your phone number; they were really worried!"

Jiang Zhiyu understood immediately; it was probably Song Yanzhou. She followed him to the brigade headquarters. On the way, the brigade leader grumbled, "You're a female educated youth, why are you always dealing with the county? You went to town the other day, and now you're getting a call from the county..." He rubbed his frostbitten hands. "Do you have enough firewood for the winter? If not, have Jinbao's dad chop some more for you. I see your woodpile is a bit short."

"That's enough, thank you, Captain," Jiang Zhiyu replied.

Just as Jiang Zhiyu arrived at the brigade headquarters, the phone rang. She picked up the receiver and heard a familiar voice: "Is this Comrade Jiang? This is Song Yanzhou."

"Comrade Song?" Jiang Zhiyu glanced at the brigade leader warming himself by the fire beside him. "You've arrived in the county?"

"I just arrived at the Armed Forces Department," Song Yanzhou said, his voice a little hurried. "I've made some progress on the matter you asked me to investigate. Could you come to the county? It's more convenient to discuss it in person."

"I'll go tomorrow," Jiang Zhiyu agreed. After hanging up the phone, she saw the brigade leader holding up a letter of introduction: "I'll only give you this for three days. You must return to the village after that. Don't make things difficult for me."

Jiang Zhiyu took out a pack of filtered cigarettes from her spatial storage and, under the guise of handing over the letter of introduction, quickly stuffed it into the captain's pocket: "Don't worry, I won't make things difficult for you." The captain squeezed the cigarette pack, pursed his lips, and ultimately said nothing more.

The next morning, Jiang Zhiyu pushed her bicycle towards town. Approaching the town and seeing no one around, she stored the bicycle in her spatial storage and walked to the bus station. The buses to the county seat were particularly old, covered in rust, and even though it was getting cooler, they still smelled unpleasant.

She found a seat by the window and sat down. An old man holding a hen moved closer to her, the chicken's claws almost hitting her pants. "Young lady, move aside, this chicken is scared of people," the old man grinned, revealing two yellow teeth.

Jiang Zhiyu leaned closer to the window, and as soon as she settled in, two middle-aged women in the row in front of her started chatting: "Have you heard? A strange thing happened in the county town—three thugs were strangled to death by vines!"

"How did they strangle him? Can a person really be strangled by vines?" Another woman raised her voice eight octaves.

"That's right!" The aunt in the front row lowered her voice, "My niece's husband works at the police station. He said those people were bound like dumplings, covered in bloodstains, and the thorns on the vines were poisonous. The hospital has been testing them for three days but still can't figure out what kind of poison it is!"

A man wearing a hat in the back row chimed in: "Those three are no good! They follow the son of Director Wang of the Revolutionary Committee, loitering around the county town all day, stealing chickens and dogs, harassing respectable women, doing all sorts of evil deeds. They should have died long ago."

"Shh! Keep your voice down!" A middle-aged man in a Zhongshan suit quickly waved his hand. "Do you want to be criticized for saying that now? Director Wang's men are still loitering around the station!"

The man retorted, "Was I wrong? The other day they cornered Li the blacksmith's daughter in the alley. If Li the blacksmith hadn't rushed over with his axe, she would have been violated! In my opinion, this is retribution!"

"Retribution can't be caused by vines killing people, can it?" the old man holding the hen interjected. "I've lived for sixty years and have only ever seen people cut down vines, never seen vines kill people. Could it be some kind of mountain spirit manifesting itself?"

"Stop talking nonsense!" The middle-aged man in the Zhongshan suit glared at him. "We're all about science now, where would you find any spirits or monsters? I think someone did this on purpose to scare people!"

"What can we do? Do you think vines will obey us?" the old man protested. "I heard that vines don't even tie knots; they just strangle people to death, like they have eyes!"

The carriage gradually quieted down, but after less than two minutes, people started whispering again. A young man wearing glasses pushed up his glasses: "I guess it's a new type of weapon. There's a kind of gun abroad that can fire vines, specifically for catching fugitives."

"What gun can grow vines? Who are you trying to fool!" a middle-aged man carrying a hoe sneered. "I think it's the mountain god who's angry! Those three thugs went hunting in the mountains the other day and killed a doe with a calf. This must be the culprit!"

"Can a deer in the mountains have this ability?" Some people didn't believe it.

"Of course there are!" the uncle said, making it sound very convincing. "Back in my grandpa's day, someone raided a fox den, and the next day all the chickens in our house were killed by the foxes, their feathers piled up all over the yard!"

Jiang Zhiyu leaned against the car window, listening to the discussions, her fingertips unconsciously tapping the glass. She thought to herself that the thorns on the vines carried neurotoxins, which the technology of this era couldn't detect.

The bus swayed and rattled for two hours before slowly pulling into the county station. Jiang Zhiyu got off the bus with the flow of people.

The county town was more bustling than the town center, with itinerant vendors roaming the streets. The aroma of fried dough sticks wafted from the stalls, and she bought two, eating them as she walked. The armed forces department was at one end of the street, with two sentries standing ramrod straight at the entrance, carrying rifles on their backs.

"Comrade, I'm looking for Song Yanzhou." Jiang Zhiyu handed over the letter of introduction.

Not long after the sentry went inside to report, a figure in military uniform came running out quickly; it was Song Yanzhou. He was a bit darker than the last time they met, and his uniform was covered in dust. Upon seeing Jiang Zhiyu, he looked her up and down: "Nothing's happened lately, has anything?"

"It's fine." Jiang Zhiyu handed over two milk candies. "Here, have some."

Song Yanzhou took it and put it in his pocket, inviting her to walk into the courtyard: "This is not the place to talk, let's go to the training ground in the back to talk."