Chapter 30 Chapter 30 (2/2)

Big Beard’s pronunciation was difficult to understand and difficult to learn.

Ji Yushi swallowed a piece of exceedingly sweet yellow peach and repeated after him.

Big Beard was so excited he almost slapped his legs. He nodded fiercely and then made a series of gestures. Ji Yushi once again revealed a look of confusion.

Song Qinglan found it funny, “Let me try.”

It was rare for Ji Yushi to have times where he was confused. Song Qinglan picked up the pen and roughly drew the mountain of garbage in a blank space on the album. He then sketched a cartoon version of the space capsule next to that mountain with a few quick strokes.

Ji Yushi: “You draw pretty well.”

Song Qinglan said, “Of course. This one was once the drawing champion for three consecutive years in kindergarten.”

Ji Yushi, “I can see it.”

Song Qinglan drew another space capsule over the mountain of garbage with dotted lines and another arrow was drawn to indicate that the space capsule was moved from the mountain to the location it was in now. He then let Big Beard look at it.

Big Beard nodded fiercely. He forced himself to give Song Qinglan a good attitude and pointed to himself and said a few things.

Ji Yushi asked, “Is he saying that he and this space capsule were also sucked in?”

“Something like that.” As he ate, Song Qinglan drew a black ball behind the mountain of garbage and then a rainforest behind that.

Big Beard seemed to understand. He nodded.

So Big Beard must have also been to that rainforest.

Ji Yushi had already finished his can of fruit.

He took the pen from Song Qinglan, drew a clock on the space capsule and several others above the rainforest. He was asking about the synchrony of time.

Big Beard drew a cross over the rainforest drawing, “Gulaka.”

“He’s telling us not to go.” Song Qinglan explained concisely, “Says it’s a dead end.”

After speaking, Song Qinglan randomly picked up another can, roughly opened it, and handed it to Ji Yushi, “Advisor Ji, eat a little more.”

Big Beard had quite a large stock. He probably picked up a few the last few times.

The one Song Qinglan ate was a can of fish, but when he grabbed a can this time, he had picked up a can of spam identical to the one they had last time and handed it over.

Ji Yushi: “………”

So how picky was Song Qinglan? Was he trying to get rid of the things he didn’t like first?

Song Qinglan, “Since the situation is currently unclear, if this really is related to the mission, we should try and maintain our strength as much as possible.”

Ji Yushi only felt that he never wanted to eat canned food again for the rest of his life.

Because it was difficult to swallow, he ate very slowly. He used the pen to add an outer hatch to the space capsule.

That was the one he noticed when he went to the bathroom just now. He originally wanted to ask what was in that direction but, unexpectedly, as soon as he finished drawing, Big Beard who had been staring angrily at the cans in their hands immediately changed his expression and he excitedly said a lot of things.

“Gulaka! Gulaka!”

Big Beard looked very serious. The two understood immediately. He was saying that they shouldn’t go there.

“Going?” Ji Yushi asked.

“If we don’t go and see, we won’t know what’s there.” Song Qinglan thought for a while, “But I can go alone this time.”

“We should go together.” Ji Yushi said.

“Alright.” Song Qinglan agreed, “It would be best to find more clues.”

They rested for a while. Big Beard sulked on the side.

The two could see that Big Beard didn’t really want to dissuade them. After all, these two ate too much. The cans Big Beard had hoarded was already missing a small corner.

Among the piles of things picked up by Big Beard, they found their other belongings including their communicators, knives and medicine box. In case anything were to happen, they also found some clean clothes picked up by Big Beard as well as flashlights and some food.

*

Big Beard very reluctantly entered the password for them. After entering it, he muttered a few times. He was probably cursing.

The outer hatch which hadn’t been opened in a long time was now opened.

Unlike their journey to the mountain of garbage, there was no need for adapting here. As soon as the outer hatch was opened, they were met with darkness.

Big Beard may seem foolish, but his behaviour was rather shrewd. Fearing that they wouldn’t be able to return if he closed the door, Song Qinglan pointed at the door and then at his gun.

After confirming that Big Beard understood, the two turned on their flashlights and walked out of the hatch.

As soon as they stepped out, the darkness disappeared.

What greeted them was a dazzling light.

The sky was clear blue and cloudless.

They stood before a zebra crossing in a bustling city.

The traffic lights were flashing. For a moment, they felt like they had returned to the real world.

The painted surface on the quiet and clean asphalt road appeared to be quite new. There was no one at the intersection, let alone any moving vehicles.

Like the rainforest, it was also extremely quiet here. There weren’t any noises or human voices that belonged to a city.

This was an empty city.

The two turned off their flashlights. Ji Yushi said, “Cap Song, look there. The sign on the road next to it is reversed.”

Song Qinglan also noticed that.

They stood at an intersection and could see an English ‘STOP’ sign on the lanes on both sides but the one on the left was reversed.

Not only that, all the scenery on both sides of the road were extremely symmetrical with identical cars parked by the road and exactly the same shops. If one looked up, even the buildings were symmetrical, like mirror images.

This was very similar to the situation in the rainforest. No wonder Big Beard reacted that way.

They understood what the result would be if they continued walking.

That is, no matter how long they walked, no matter what they tried to do to get out of this city, they would only return to the original point in the end.

“Won’t go for the time being. This kind of mirroring makes it easy to get lost.” Song Qinglan said, “Let’s go back first and see if other directions are feasible.”

“Alright.” Ji Yushi also had that intention.

In order to compare the time flow, Song Qinglan had set a timer on the communicator before departing.

He raised his wrist and checked, “It has been less than three minutes since we arrived here. This time we gave up rather quickly. What is this called, cutting short one’s losses?”

Song Qinglan’s tone was helplessly self-deprecating. Ever since they came here, they hadn’t taken another step.

The two didn’t have to walk much when suddenly, the light before them dimmed and the city and sunlight disappeared. They had returned back to the space capsule.

As soon as they entered the space capsule, there was deafening music.

They walked through the corridor, enduring the painful vibration in their ears the entire way, and quickly returned to the control room.

There were two people in the control room, each holding a can of beer, shaking their heads and dancing to the music.

One was the red-faced Big Beard and the other wore a familiar black combat uniform.

Ji Yushi: “…….”

From the looks of it, not just three minutes had passed.

Song Qinglan walked over and slapped the speaker off. The veins on his temples bulged.

The two stopped with the music and turned their heads and looked over.

Li Chun was frozen for a few seconds before he cried and threw himself over, “Cap Song!! Advisor Ji!!”

“Wait a minute.” Song Qinglan poked his forehead with his index finger. His dark eyes were filled with distaste, “How long have you been here?”

Li Chun cried aggrievedly, “It’s been six days! What the hell is going on with this mission this time?!”

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