Mist (Web Novel CN)

“Do you remember what we saw on the holographic projection in Golden Crow No.2? That black crevice next to PU-31?”

Ji Yushi asked.

In the space capsule, the three people sat in a circle.

Big Beard didn’t understand what they were saying so he sorted out his newly picked up supplies by himself. He was very used to this kind of life.

Li Chun recalled and nodded.

In fact, he never really understood why that crevice had energy powerful enough to sustain PU-31 endlessly but anything regarding the time and energy of the universe was probably something even the top scientists in the world would not be able to answer.

If you don’t understand, you don’t have to worry about trying to understand it.

Song Qinglan followed up after Ji Yushi’s question, “That is, the crevice between parallel universes?”

“Yes.” Ji Yushi said, “About this crevice, we all know that PU-31 is next to it and all the energy it has comes from the crevice. We also know that after turning off all the energy transmitters on PU-31, PU-31 would lose this energy hence affecting its balance and resulting it to be swallowed up by the out-of-control energy in the transmitters — Which was what we called the black wall.”

Ji Yushi still held the can of Kemeng Beans in his hands. The disgusting taste as well as the plant’s unpleasant appearance had left them with a deep impression. It was the appearance of these beans that opened a way in Ji Yushi’s thoughts and once one path was opened up, many more paths similarly opened.

Ji Yushi said, “Before PU-31 was completely swallowed up, some things were sucked into that crevice, including this can of Kemeng Beans.”

Li Chun was surprised, “Advisor Ji, are you saying that we are currently in that crevice?”

Ji Yushi said, “Correct.”

Li Chun, “The fuck? How can it be?!”

Song Qinglan’s mind also worked very quickly. He thought about what he wanted to say and then voiced it out, “No wonder this mission is called Chaos.”

Chaos.

The first god born in Greek mythology. The literal meaning of it was abyss, a dark endless void.

It was later used to describe ‘mess and disorder’.

Everything they had seen and experienced since they had arrived at this place was consistent with the interpretation of the word ‘Chaos’. The dim sky that hung low as if it wrapped around the world, the darkness around the space capsule, the rainforest and city whose time flowed at different rates and the magnetic field here, they all showed that order and law didn’t exist in this place.

“This may be a breakthrough point.” Song Qinglan’s instincts worked as he narrowed his eyes, “But there is something I don’t understand. Why was it that we would coincidentally end up with a mission that is connected despite choosing an ordinary task at random?”

Before departing the transfer station, there were many missions waiting to be selected.

What the system said was: Complete more tasks to unlock more information about ‘when they could go home’.

The one who made the decision was Song Qinglan. Taking into account everyone’s state, he only chose an ordinary task that was of A-level.

Ji Yushi also thought of this question. He paused for a moment as he seemingly fell into thought before asking, “Do you remember how the capsule fell after setting off from the transfer station?”

Song Qinglan’s expression changed slightly.

Li Chun was a little confused, “I don’t seem to remember……I only remember entering the capsule and when I opened my eyes, I was here.”

Ji Yushi asked again, “Then when we arrived at the transfer station, except for the day when we first arrived, can you still remember what you did in the next few days?”

“Eat, sleep……” Li Chun blurted this out very quickly and then his expression turned into a look of surprise, “No, except for eating and sleeping, I can’t remember anything else I’ve done!”

“I can’t remember either.” Ji Yushi spoke slowly, “If you can’t remember it, it may be because it was a repetitive and boring activity in life and your brain automatically treated it as unimportant information, but that wouldn’t be the case for me. After seeing those Kemeng Beans, I became suspicious of our current situation and unconsciously began to recall everything that happened during this time only to find that I not only didn’t remember how I fell here after entering the capsule, I also didn’t remember what I did while staying at the transfer station. My memory tells me that I had a rest at the transfer station; I ate and then slept, but as for what I ate and what I did before sleeping, I found that I had no impression of it.”

Ji Yushi had said that he didn’t have the ability to forget.

This meant that even for a simple meal, he would remember clearly how long he took to eat it, how many times he chewed and what the dishes were.

Li Chun, “Yes, yes, yes, me too!”

“I am the same.” Song Qinglan replied and he then looked at Ji Yushi, “Advisor Ji, I think what you are going to say next is going to subvert our understanding of this place.”

That was what he said, but Song Qinglan didn’t show any signs of nervousness or feelings of helplessness. He seemed to be prepared and interested in what Ji Yushi had to say next.

For some reason, Ji Yushi felt a sense of trust from him.

At the same time, his originally slightly overwhelmed mindset settled back down. It was as if no matter how strange and out of the world their situation was, the result would be no more one line: The matter depends on the individual.

“Have you ever wondered why that transfer station looked very similar to the third command centre in our memories?” Ji Yushi asked. “According to the system’s words, it is in a broad sense Tianqiong of all eras but why did it choose to model the transfer station after the ones from our time? And those reserves, since the transfer station is somewhere in time and space, how did it manage to have everything we wanted?”

Song Qinglan thought of the bottle of red wine.

He remembered that he had a similar thought in mind and when he opened the cupboard, he found a bottle of red wine.

It was indeed too coincidental.

Listening to these analyses, Li Chun unconsciously got goosebumps on his arms.

Ji Yushi’s next words made all his hairs stand up in an instant.

“I believe that there was no such thing as the transfer station in the first place.” Ji Yushi concluded calmly, “The so-called transfer station was just a memory stuffed into our minds when we were in an extremely exhausted and fatigued state. Following the endless cycles one after each other, we had always been in an alerted state and our body reached its limit. This Tianqiong self-awareness needed us to continue completing its missions so it simply created the so-called transfer station for us to rest. As a system, it is impossible for it to fabricate many days of memories in great detail so apart from lowering our guard and entering a resting state on the first day, we don’t remember anything else.”

Song Qinglan said, “So it’s not that the mission I selected is connected to the previous mission, but that we are already in a mission and no matter what choice I make, whether it is simple or difficult, the result would still be the same.”

Ji Yushi, “Correct.”

What ‘correct’?

Li Chun’s eyes swirled.

Every time Ji Yushi analysed the situation and Song Qinglan was able to keep up, Li Chun felt that he himself was very ignorant. He had doubted his intelligence numerous times now.

But Li Chun was very used to being a salted fish who would do his best to ask questions and understand the situation. He raised his hand and asked, “Um, Advisor Ji, I have a question.”

Ji Yushi’s beautiful eyes didn’t show any frustration. He just said gently, “Go on.”

Li Chun was moved to see that the other party was very understanding of him and quickly asked, “If it is as you had said and there was no transfer station in the first place, how did we end up here?”

Having asked this, Li Chun couldn’t help but shudder. The memories from PU-31 were too terrifying for him. Being bitten by zombies, eaten by mutated beasts, it was basically a collection of a hundred ways for him to die. He asked nervously, “Co-could we still be in some other cycle?”

“No, we have already completed the Ouroboros mission.” Ji Yushi said, “A reasonable explanation for how we arrived here is: After completing the mission and fusing into one with our other selves, we returned to the moment when we were transitioning over to the initial A-level mission and, while the black wall completely swallowed up PU-31, we were sent into the crevice.”

Li Chun seemed to somewhat understand.

If it was him, he wouldn’t have been able to figure any of this out even if you gave him an entire lifetime to think about it.

“In order to destroy the out-of-control PU-31, Tianqiong created a time anchor. After we completed that mission, it sent us back to the moment the capsule was reporting an error and then we were sent here. All those things happened at the same time and similarly ended at the same time. This hijacking incident seems to be far more complex than we initially thought.” Song Qinglan held Shen Mian in his hands and he unconsciously rubbed it with his thumb. His eyes gradually cooled down, “So when would this be over? Or is it not going to end at all?”

Li Chun asked anxiously, “Then Brother Wen, Old Zhou, Tang Qi and Tang Le are still in the capsules?”

Song Qinglan said, “Yes, if this is arranged in accordance with the order of us entering our capsules, the next one should be Zhou Mingxuan.”

Big Beard on the side had already finished sorting out his things and was sitting on the sofa with a can of beer in his hand, gulping down its contents.

Song Qinglan glanced at him and thought of something, “Since this is a crevice between parallel universes, Big Beard may not have come from our world.”

In this way, Big Beard’s incomprehensible language made sense.

Ji Yushi found a picture of Big Beard and pointed at the symbols on the uniform, “I also have a thought about this. I think the place Big Beard came from was called PU-18. They may have been sucked in during a mission.”

In this universe, after the decline of Earth, many colonies similar to PU-31 were spawned. As seen from the number, there should be at least 31 places like PU-31.

Song Qinglan put away Shen Mian.

It is not a difficult puzzle that should be feared, but rather ones that you have no clues about.

After discussing and finally obtaining some clues, Song Qinglan’s entire being seemed more relaxed, as if nothing would crush his mentality.

“Chaos…..crevice between parallel universes…” Song Qinglan mused with his brows knitted, “If this crevice isn’t closed, more people from different times and different parallel universes may be pulled in.”

At the same time, both Song Qinglan and Ji Yushi thought of the three corpses found in the rainforest.

Because of this crevice, their seniors in the twelfth squad were sucked in during their mission and were eventually left with only their bones here.

If the crevice was likened to a loophole in time, then their mission as the ‘Repairer of Time’ was obvious.

The two looked at each other and similarly thought the same thing.

The tacit understanding between them was very mysterious. It was as if as long as the two acted together, any problem could be solved at twice the speed and with half the effort.

Song Qinglan looked at Ji Yushi’s clear yet quiet eyes and felt a strange feeling surge inside him.

Warm heat filled his heart. It was just like the time at Golden Crow No.2 when he helped feed Ji Yushi his medicine.

Inexplicable and ambiguous.

There was clearly three of them sitting there but Li Chun suddenly felt lonely: “……”

He felt like he was not needed.