Chapter 69 Chapter 69 (1/2)

Rubik’s Cube

Chapter 69

Everyone was tired. Although they said that they were going to take a twenty-minute break, the break ended up lasting for almost two hours.

Even Song Qinglan sat on the floor leaning against the wall with his eyes closed.

They couldn’t say that they weren’t tired. Song Qinglan’s mental state had been tense for a long time and, now that he had the chance to relax, he casually rested an arm on his knee and rested like a big cat entering a pseudo-asleep state.

Duan Wen simply laid down and fell asleep. He even started to snore slightly.

Lin Xinlan on the side fiddling with his dice. He similarly had his eyes closed.

The room became quiet.

Ji Yushi played his game console for a while. He seemed to be infected by this relaxed and seemingly hypnotic atmosphere and started to feel a little sleepy. He put away his black and white game console and his eyelids began to feel heavy. It wasn’t long before he fell into a dark and sweet dream.

It had been a long time since Ji Yushi had such a dream.

He returned to his younger years; it was when he hadn’t yet entered elementary school.

It was still raining outside. He moved a stool and stood on it to look for books to read from his father’s bookshelf. There was a book just out of reach from his small body. It was a book titled “Time Traveller”, a science fiction novel that stood out from the rest of his father’s academic books.

He had read this book many times. Although there were a lot of words in it that he didn’t recognise, the pictures were very attractive: It was a picture of a traverser passing through a wormhole and subsequently seeing numerous different worlds.

Just as his hand was about to reach the book, his body suddenly felt lighter and he found himself carried over to the sofa.

His father bent down in front of him and took out a box with a bow on top. He asked gently, “Jian Jian, guess what this is?”

He asked, “What is it?”

Every time his father went on a business trip, he would return with an antique he had never seen before. At times it was a tin frog that jumped with a press of a button and other times it was a small train that ran on batteries. There was also once where he brought back a wind-up music box.

What could it be this time?

He opened the gift expectantly and found a colourful cube inside.

His father told him, “This is a 3x3x3 Rubik’s Cube. A commemorative souvenir from my research.”

He took it out curiously and saw that it was bigger than his small hand, “Commemorative? Commemorate what?”

His father said, “To commemorate….something meaningful.”

His father randomly messed up the Rubik’s Cube and then quickly restored it back to its original appearance in less than ten seconds in front of him. He exclaimed in surprise.

His father rubbed his head, “Give it a try.”

He took the Rubik’s Cube and tried messing it up and then restoring it like his father did.

It was however much more difficult than he had imagined.

He played with it for a long time but was unable to return it back to its original appearance, let alone solve it in less than ten seconds. It was unknown how long he had played with it for but when his father returned to check on him again, his tone was a little helpless, “Sheng Han.”

On the sofa, the Rubik’s Cube had been completely disassembled.

He was starting from the centre block, piecing it together block by block.

“Look, you can put it back together like this too.” He held up the half complete cube and appeared to be a little pleased.

“Take it apart if you can’t restore it?” His father couldn’t help but laugh, “Why are you just like me when I was young?”

“Daddy was also a fool when you were young?” He asked.

“No.” His father said, “When I was young, I was very smart, just like Jian Jian.”

*

“Advisor Ji.”

When Ji Yushi opened his eyes, his teammates had already packed up and seemed to be ready to set off again.

Song Qinglan was checking the surrounding rooms for changes. Lin Xinlan stood in place, exercising his arms and legs while Duan Wen was responsible for waking him up.

After resting for a while, everyone was full of energy.

His dream was still vivid in his mind. Ji Yushi pondered for a few seconds before finally getting up.

Seeing that he was awake, Song Qinglan asked, “How was your rest?”

Ji Yushi, “Not bad.”

Song Qinglan nodded. He stepped back and easily jumped off the ladder, “The grey room on this side earlier is gone. It’s now yellow. Someone may have passed by. Right now, we are surrounded by grey, yellow, red, blue and blue. If we want to go to the centre block, it should be nearby.

Duan Wen asked, “There weren’t many yellow rooms earlier. Should we try the yellow room?”

Lin Xinlan said, “There’s no green here. If green and blue are adjacent to red, I think we can try those two colours.”

Those three discussed their options. Their thoughts were clearer than before they took a break.

Ji Yushi pulled up the drawing on his communicator. He had already drawn the direction they had been moving in on the holographic projection. He said, “This room is currently purple. We already know that the colour opposite purple is green. We can try going down, that is, we can try the blue room.”

Everyone felt that it was a good suggestion. Lin Xinlan laughed, “Your thoughts aligned with mine.”

Before the break, Lin Xinlan was still skeptical about continuing but after the break, it seems that he had changed his mind.

It wasn’t difficult understanding this change in attitude. No one would want to move around these rooms alone.

It was time to set off.

After Song Qinglan retrieved the purple ball, he waited until everyone entered the blue room below before releasing the ball and allowing it to return to its original position.

They hadn’t been in this blue room before. As usual, Ji Yushi marked it.

“Cap Song!”

Lin Xinlan shouted. He was holding the blue ball while standing on the ladder on the right.

Song Qinglan, “What?”

Lin Xinlan had clearly found something in the room there and subconsciously called out to Song Qinglan.

Duan Wen shrugged.

“There’s someone here!” Lin Xinlan reported, “Come and take a look!”

Song Qinglan was a man. He naturally wouldn’t have any scruples towards someone who would only pursue him a year later. Hearing this, he walked over to take a look. Lin Xinlan had already come down to make way for him.

What happened?

Ji Yushi and Duan Wen looked over to the right.

Song Qinglan called out a few times towards the room on the right but there was no response from the other side. He turned around and said, “That person can’t seem to hear us.”

When Ji Yushi went to take a look, Song Qinglan showed no intention to come down. He instead helped pull him up.

The two of them stood on the one ladder. It was too narrow so Song Qinglan had no choice but to turn his body to the side.

When Ji Yushi saw the situation inside, his expression changed, “Morita!”

Morita Yu who had died in front of Ji Yushi more than twenty hours ago had appeared in the room.

From their end, Morita Yu was kneeling on the ground mumbling something. Just as Song Qinglan had said, Morita Yu couldn’t hear their voices and was unaware of their presence.

Ji Yushi stared fixatedly at the young man who had ‘resurrected’.

A few seconds later, Morita Yu suddenly raised his head and looked to the side. It was as if he had heard something.

The two followed Morita Yu’s line of sight. There was nothing there but a pure white wall.

Morita Yu stood up and shouted at the wall, “Who is it? Wait! Don’t go!!”

After shouting, Morita Yu immediately grabbed the red ball floating in the room, opened the door on that wall and hurriedly climbed up the ladder.

Song Qinglan asked, “Do you know him?”

“Yes.” Ji Yushi answered. He didn’t understand the current situation, “He was the traverser I told you about, Morita Yu.”

Looking at the alive and well Morita Yu, Song Qinglan frowned. How could someone come back to life after being decapitated?

Was the death elimination Tianqiong mentioned for this mission not what they thought it was?

“Beep——-”

Morita Yu disappeared through that hole, and it soon closed behind him.

“Beep——”

At the same time as the door closing, there was another sound.

Another door opened. Morita Yu who had just left earlier had entered from another direction!

This scene made everyone almost suspect their eyes. Ji Yushi however noticed the red ball once again floating in the centre of this room.

He immediately understood, “It’s a record!”

The two were still looking into the room.

Watching the strange scene of Morita Yu entering the room again, Song Qinglan asked, “What record?”

“This room is making a recording!” Ji Yushi said, “Do you remember what I told you before? After Zoe left, I stayed in the room alone and watched the repeated process of us entering and leaving the room?”

Song Qinglan, “Of course I remember.”

Ji Yushi continued, “Morita told me before that when he was alone in a red room, someone had opened a door but left without showing themself. He was a little disappointed when that happened.”

Morita Yu at the time had comforted Ji Yushi saying that it could possibly be his teammate.

The scene before them was a recurrence of what Morita Yu had described.

The Morita Yu before them went to the centre of the room again.

He squatted down and muttered to himself for a while before raising his head as if he had just seen something and getting up and shouting, “Who is it? Wait! Don’t go!!”

Morita Yu once again opened the door and left the room.

Immediately afterwards, a new Morita Yu entered the room.

Again and again, the scene before them replayed.

Ji Yushi climbed down the ladder first. Song Qinglan followed after him.

Both Duan Wen and Lin Xinlan could hear their exchange from below. Before asking anything, Duan Wen first climbed up the ladder to check the room.

Ji Yushi told them his thoughts, “The Morita in this room, just like how I saw ‘us’ entering the room repeatedly at that time, doesn’t really exist. It was a trace left behind by him.”

Song Qinglan, “So you’re saying that these rooms record down everything after we enter the room?”