Chapter 43 Chapter 43 (1/2)

Who Am I

Chapter 43

Take care of his body?

Did Song Qinglan know that he couldn’t sleep well at night?

Or was it because he had showed too much weakness before, and Song Qinglan truly believed that he was very frail?

While Ji Yushi was pondering over the meaning of those words, Song Qinglan instead called directly.

Ji Yushi accepted the call. For some reason, after the call was connected, both of them were silent for a moment.

Ji Yushi didn’t know what to say but Song Qinglan seemed to be waiting for something.

After confirming that it was quiet on Ji Yushi’s end, Song Qinglan spoke first. His tone didn’t sound great, “Advisor Ji, how did your mission report go?”

Ji Yushi: “Mission report?”

Song Qinglan stiffly made a sound of agreement and asked, “Is it inconvenient for you to talk now? I can’t remember some details about our Ouroboros mission and want to ask you about it now.”

There was only Ji Yushi and his cat at home, so it wasn’t inconvenient.

Song Qinglan’s attitude however didn’t seem like an inquiry at all. If sounded like he would teach Ji Yushi a lesson if he dared to refuse. He right now seemed more like a stern captain than usual.

Ji Yushi, “Now?”

It was early morning.

Song Qinglan said, “Yes, now.”

Although he didn’t understand why Song Qinglan had to write the report in such a hurry, Ji Yushi couldn’t sleep anyway so he agreed, “Alright.”

Song Qinglan really began to ask.

Not to mention Song Qinglan, even for Ji Yushi, the mission report was difficult to write. The so-called ‘Tianqiong of all eras’ was difficult to explain but there were at least several experts in Tianqiong already analysing this. As for the appearance of the zombies and the energy sources, they weren’t within their professional scope so there would be experts who would analyse them based on their mission reports.

The first problem facing the seventh squad was how they should describe the concept of a ‘time anchor’ in the report.

As mentioned before, the time anchor was something that had been banned a long time ago by the research and development team.

A necessary condition was set at a certain anchored time coordinate and once that condition is triggered, one would return to that anchored point in time. This would consequently lead to serious time paradoxes such as letting someone live forever within a certain period of time or letting a certain historical event never happen. It creates a time bubble along the timeline which in turn affects the normal progression of the original timeline.

So how was this banned method developed? How long had it existed for? And what kind of chain reaction will it cause?

These problems required Ji Yushi’s memory to reproduce. They had to write every cycle they experienced in full detail.

That was the first problem. The second problem they faced was the countless colonies in the parallel universe.

They had limited understanding of PU-31 and they knew next to nothing about PU-18 except for their encounter with Big Beard. The most important thing the authorities wanted to know was the reason why Earth was destroyed.

Comparing these two problems, the last one about the time crevice was much easier to deal with.

Everyone knew very well that although the three-month vacation was said to be granted to give them time to recover, it was in fact to give everyone enough time to write that massive report.

Song Qinglan and Ji Yushi had to bust their brains to do it so Li Chun and the other study slags would probably end up in tears. If they knew that the two top students in their team had stayed up all night copying homework from each other, they would probably start to doubt life itself.

While conversing through the phone, the two opened holographic projections to make notes.

Even Ji Yushi noted down a few things to help himself sort out everything from beginning to the end. With that, even the most lengthy report in history shouldn’t be too difficult to complete.

Song Qinglan stopped midway and asked strangely, “With us talking for so long, we won’t affect the others?”

Ji Yushi said they wouldn’t.

The phone call lasted for several hours. When they were almost done, it was dawn.

Outside the window, the early morning rays of light had started to peek through.

Looking at the clouds in the distance gradually turning brighter, Ji Yushi finally felt a trace of sleepiness.

Little Orange had returned to the bed. It’s fleshy paw pad stepped over the bedsheet one after another, leaving little footprints, and then it rolled over to reveal its snow-white belly.

As Ji Yushi listened to Song Qinglan speak, he reached out and gently scratched its belly. He somehow remembered that Little Orange liked it when he did this.

Perhaps fatigue and sleepiness made it easier for him to talk.

Ji Yushi suddenly spoke up, “Cap Song, many things have changed around me.”

Once started, the rest was much easier to say. He continued, “Say, do you think we’re still in a time anchor and had never truly escaped from that world? Or are we in a new instance and had in fact never been successfully intercepted?”

After talking for so long, Song Qinglan’s voice was a little different and it carried some hoarseness that belonged to the early morning.

He asked, “Why do you think so?”

In fact, Ji Yushi regretted it as soon as he asked.

They already knew that no matter how self-aware Tianqiong was, it was impossible for it to construct a seamless world and he couldn’t even prove that the ‘original’ memory of his was real. If it was real, then everyone else’s memories had been overwritten by the new timeline and he was the only one who remembered. He didn’t know if he was lucky or unlucky.

Ji Yushi changed the topic and asked, “Cap Song, have you ever heard of ‘brain in a vat’?”

Ji Yushi had learnt too many things and read too many books, so his knowledge was vast.

Song Qinglan couldn’t keep up and, for a moment, he couldn’t answer.

But Ji Yushi didn’t seem to be needing him to answer. After asking the question, he didn’t stop to wait and just ended the topic, “I’m sleepy, aren’t you sleepy? We’re almost done with the discussion so why don’t we end it here. If you still have any questions or thoughts, you can call me any time.”

Before Song Qinglan could say anything, Ji Yushi said “goodbye” and hung up.

Ji Yushi laid back on the soft bed and stared up at the ceiling.