Chapter 25 Chapter 25 (2/2)
The people remaining seemed to be the ‘weaker’ self.
From the moment Teams A and B met up, it was already evident that they would need to part ways very soon.
Was this the end?
They wondered.
They clearly couldn’t continue any longer. Having finally reached the moment of liberation, they suddenly felt that everything seemed unreal.
Was this……..really the end?
Facing the piles of severed limbs and zombie corpses, no one dared to relax their vigilance.
They had advanced all this way from the first cycle until now.
Was this really over now?
The originally bustling base had suddenly turned very quiet. There would be occasionally giant spiders crawling past, but because it was too quiet, they couldn’t feel any vibrations and crawled away along the walls.
Li Chun and Duan Wen froze in place, not knowing what to do. Tang Qi was helping Zhou Mingxuan and supporting him over to the side to sit down.
A zombie covered in blood crawled over and was very quickly killed by Zhou Mingxuan with a dagger.
In front of the control panel, Ji Yushi started to turn off the energy transmitters according to the sequence he had calculated beforehand.
176 control panels, 88 pairs of energy transmitters. Every time one was turned off, a disordered energy field would appear outside, turning that part of the world into nothingness. That was the so-called “black wall”.
PU-31 was gradually disappearing. Only one route was left for them to escape along. They knew that at this very moment, there was a spacecar outside, racing through the world where zombies were gathered and black walls continued to appear.
Ji Yushi heard someone behind him say in a low voice, “Advisor Ji, you lied again.”
Ji Yushi’s actions paused for a moment. He turned back, “Why do you say that?”
Song Qinglan’s face was stained with zombie blood but his pair of eyes were very bright.
He revealed a rare smile at Ji Yushi. For a moment, Ji Yushi couldn’t tell which Song Qinglan had stayed behind.
But soon, he knew.
Because the other party said, “The way you brainwashed everyone just now was exactly the same as that time when you said that I was your boyfriend when you were being kidnapped.”
Ji Yushi: “……”
This was the Song Qinglan of Team A who had been with him throughout this entire timeline.
Song Qinglan held Shen Mian with one hand and his entire body relaxed completely, revealing a bit of laziness that wasn’t there earlier during the battle. It made people remember that he was also just an ordinary person, and he can also feel tired.
He said, “You’re actually not completely certain about whether all our selves from the parallel timelines will merge into one, are you? Just like that lump of flesh formed by various human bodies just now —- It wasn’t just a mutation but also the consequence of more than one of the same entities, which had appeared in the same world due to parallel timelines, all combining together into one.”
That’s right.
If their selves at the anchor point and their selves who had returned to the starting point after completing the mission failed to merge into one, it was very likely that something similar to that plump of flesh would happen to them; they would become a deformity or die.
As the experienced captain, Song Qinglan’s theoretical knowledge of time and the universe wasn’t necessarily worse than Ji Yushi’s.
“That is the worst outcome, it won’t necessarily happen.” Song Qinglan acted like he was talking about something unimportant, “But it is very likely that the moment the mission is completed is the moment we disappear.”
Ji Yushi lowered his purple arm and stood there quietly, “Then why did you stay?”
Song Qinglan said, “Because I believe you have already prepared a backup plan.”
Ji Yushi’s heartbeat was slightly erratic.
Only the other Ji Yushi knew this. Since he was originally himself, it wasn’t surprising.
The feeling of having his thoughts guessed by another person was very strange. He almost never had such an experience before.
Song Qinglan said, “Regarding the black wall, I remember it first appeared when we arrived at the park management office, around 5:30am, but regardless of whether it was Golden Crow No.1 or Golden Crow No.2, it is impossible for us to turn off the energy transmitter during that time frame. I would like to make a bold guess. There may actually be more than one anchor point set by Tianqiong. After we were swallowed by the darkness, we entered a new cycle, reached a different anchor point and managed to turn off the first energy transmitter at 5:30am.”
“It’s like a bigger circle fitting into this smaller circle……but we don’t know and cannot be certain.” Song Qinglan then said, “So they are actually the only ones who escaped from this cycle. We must have someone stay behind to complete the new cycle and let the ‘us’ who just reached the park management office after returning to the starting point see the arrival of the black wall. Only then will it become a complete circle and only then will everything ‘we’ encounter afterwards actually happen.”
Ji Yushi: “……”
To return to a certain moment and complete a certain event so that everything in the future may happen.
Song Qinglan had guessed it.
Ouroboros mode.
They created darkness.
And they also became the chaser of darkness.
In a sense, this was the real way to clear through this.
This was also another way to answer the mission objective: They will become the actual chaser of darkness themselves.
“Two possible ways to think of it, two kinds of preparations to complete the task.” Song Qinglan said, “If you guessed wrong, this task is in fact not as complicated as you think and staying behind to do all this is actually unnecessary. After we die, our other selves can smoothly return to the starting point and return to our time.”
“If you were not wrong, then soon we will enter a new cycle after being swallowed by the darkness and go to turn off the first energy transmitter at 5:30am to complete the initial trigger event — Only then will the mission be considered as complete. We will then similarly return to the anchor point from the very beginning and it would be like we had never left the forest in the first place.”
Ji Yishi was stunned.
Song Qinglan raised the corners of his lips and said nonchalantly, “But you have forgotten. Even if you’re wrong, we were the ones who chose to stay. Sacrificing for ourself is not considered a sacrifice. You don’t need to carry the burden all by yourself.”
Ji Yushi was just an ordinary person.
Even if he had superhuman memory and superhuman observation ability, he couldn’t guarantee that everyone in the parallel timeline could return to their world safely and could only choose to do it like this.
But how could Song Qinglan guess all the things he couldn’t bring himself to say?
If that was the case, the other Song Qinglan must have also guessed it.
Recalling the words the other party said before he left, it all matched with Song Qinglan’s current attitude.
Song Qinglan threw something to him, “Did you really think that those people really didn’t know anything and only know to play games in class like you?”
The other teammates all looked in their direction and waved at Ji Yushi to tell him not to worry and that they are fine.
Ji Yushi caught the object and looked at it. It turned out to be his black-and-white handheld game console.
He was stunned, “This?”
“The other you gave it.” Song Qinglan said, “If there really is a new cycle, it will go on for a while. You sure you don’t want to use it to distract yourself a little?”
Ji Yushi rubbed the console.
He heard Song Qinglan ask, “Gift from a family member?”
Ji Yushi nodded.
Song Qinglan was silent for a couple of seconds. He then said, “Let’s make a bet.”
Ji Yushi, “Bet what?”
Song Qinglan, “Bet that the second method is the right way to complete the task and the outcome is even better than you imagined. If I win, you stay in the seventh squad.”
Song Qinglan looked very serious and the look in his eyes was deep.
It was probably the look a captain who highly regards talent would have.
Ji Yushi asked, “And if you lose?”
Song Qinglan had already found the last control panel.
At this moment, the other Song Qinglan’s voice sounded through the public channel. Everyone heard him clearly, “We have all entered the capsules. Everything is ready.”
“If I lose….”
Song Qinglan spoke in a low voice like he was talking to himself.
But in the end, he didn’t say anything and directly pulled the valve straight down.
The last two energy transmitters corresponding to the starting point and the Golden Crow No.2 base was shut down.
Amidst the bloody battlefield in front of the control panel, inside the large Golden Crow No.2 base, the entire team disappeared into the darkness along with PU-31.
Ji Yushi’s last impression of the world was the game console in his hand which still carried some warmth.
As well as Song Qinglan’s broad back in front of him….
KK has something to say:
And that’s the end of this arc! It’s pretty confusing isn’t it? I did my best with trying to keep everything clear but I found that there were times where even I got confused while doing the translation ><
I did a rough diagram based off one that is shared on Weibo to help you guys with understanding what happened in this first arc. The link is down below. (If anyone has a better diagram or something, feel free to share it too!)
CLICK HERE FOR DIAGRAM FOR MIST ARC 1