Chapter 92 Chapter 92 (1/2)
Our Reality
Chapter 92
“How is the situation inside?”
Song Qinglan’s voice sounded in his mind.
Through the subcutaneous communicator, Song Qinglan tried his best to remain calm and composed, but there was still a hint of some anxiousness.
Ji Yushi still had one more step left. His movements were mechanical. When he heard this question, he stopped.
“Ji Yushi.” Song Qinglan ordered sternly, “Say something!”
The corridor had returned to silence.
The sound of the other person’s footsteps disappeared.
Ji Yushi looked back. He saw through the window the small figure carrying a schoolbag leave. The yellow raincoat was made of waterproof material. Light raindrops fell onto the surface, gathering together to form large drops. He passed through the shadows of the camphor trees and disappeared in the distance.
“It’s me.” Ji Yushi replied to Song Qinglan through his mind. His tone was much calmer than he thought, “The so-called ‘murderer’ I met in the corridor back then…..the one wearing a purple hoodie whose face I couldn’t see, it was me.”
The two weren’t able to see the murderer appear despite waiting for so long. It was only until Song Qinglan helped him put on the hood and he was soaked by the rain that he realised this.
Song Qinglan’s breathing stopped for a few seconds. It was soon followed by a low curse.
He also understood what Ji Yushi meant by meeting the conditions and what he meant by completing a set event at a set time. They had already experienced something like this in the Ouroboros mission!
Not to mention Ji Yushi who was the involved party, even the palms of himself as an outsider was covered in cold sweat.
Without a murderer, could Sheng Yun’s case really have been a suicide? Or was there another murderer?
Song Qinglan almost wanted to rush into the community because he knew better than ever Ji Yushi’s current situation and mood.
But he couldn’t comfort Ji Yushi at this moment, nor could he intervene with the rest of the matter. In his shock, he could only suppress his frustration and quickly ask, “What are you going to do?”
“I plan to…..continue.”
He took another step and continued moving
Those past seventeen years had been dark days for him.
He had constantly been searching for a face he couldn’t remember and even thought he didn’t see it. He had never thought that it would turn out to be himself.
Everything had a cause and effect.
Everything he was doing now was something that was done in the past. Did anything change? He didn’t know. He could only follow his intuition. Perhaps this was the only way he could finish drawing the circle —- The only way he could reach the truth.
Hearing his answer, Song Qinglan’s voice through the private channel was scarily low.
“Okay.” He said, “I’m here with you.”
Ji Yushi didn’t know if he had responded to him. Perhaps he responded with a ‘mhn’ or perhaps he didn’t.
He stepped onto the new floor.
He didn’t notice that his breathing was very quick, and he also didn’t notice how quickly his heart was beating.
In front of him was a familiar old, black door.
A minute ago, the eight-year-old Sheng Han closed it and went to school.
Seventeen years ago, Ji Yushi bid farewell to his father here.
He raised his hand and rang the doorbell.
No one answered.
He rang the doorbell again because he knew his father was still at home.
This time the door opened.
The young professor wearing glasses appeared behind the door. He looked at him and asked, “You are?”
Hearing Sheng Yun’s voice, Song Qinglan’s breathing stopped.
Ji Yush’s eyelashes trembled slightly. He didn’t know if it was thanks to the artificial face or if it was because his mental state had collapsed to the point that he had become numb, he appeared very calm, “Hello Teacher Sheng, my name is Ji Yushi.”
Not Sheng Han.
Ji Yushi.
A name was just a title, but it was enough to change the goal he would pursue his entire life.
“Ji Yushi?”
“Yes. Professor Ji asked me to come. Can I come in?”
Hearing that a friend had asked him to come and the other party also happened to have the surname Ji, Sheng Yun only hesitated for a moment before nodding, “Come in.”
Ji Yushi stepped inside.
No one knew how important this one step of his was to him.
The place where the father and son lived didn’t have any womanly air, and it was even a little messy.
He turned and looked at the dried Boston fern. In those countless dreams he had, he had constantly thought that he should water it a little.
“Please sit.” Sheng Yun moved away the clothes piled up on the sofa to make some room, “Sorry, the place is a little messy.”
Ji Yushi, “Thank you.”
The Sheng Yun before him had changed his clothes. He wasn’t wearing the outfit he wore two or three minutes ago when he had breakfast with Sheng Han.
In Ji Yushi’s memory, he remembered clearly that his father was wearing a light grey dress shirt and black trousers. His eyes moved to the dining table not far away. The plates there had not yet been cleaned up and there was still half a sandwich left on the plate belonging to Sheng Yun—-His father was usually quite casual. Even if some crumbs or sauce fell onto his trousers during his meal, he wouldn’t change out of it if it wasn’t too visible. Something like this had happened during the breakfast he had just now and his father had just subconsciously patted it off and continued to eat while writing notes.
At this moment, Sheng Yun had changed into a pair of beige trousers and even changed his shirt.
The visitor was a guest. Sheng Yun went and poured some water for Ji Yushi, “Why didn’t Old Ji call if he needed something? He even made you come all this way? I would have already gone to work at this time.”
Ji Yushi, “I met your son just now, so I knew you were at home.”
Sheng Yun asked, “You know my son?”
Ji Yushi said, “I saw him once at Professor Ji’s place.”
Sheng Yun’s voice travelled to the kitchen, “I see. When the doorbell rang just now, I thought he forgot something.”
Ji Yushi’s eyes fell onto the bookshelf again. There was a stack of documents compiled by his father. It could be said that all those years of hard work were all there.
They were supposed to be in the study but at this moment they were in the living room.
He had recalled this moment countless times before and he also saw that stack of documents many times but why didn’t he notice this until now?
There was the sound of water from the kitchen.
It was Sheng Yun washing the cup.
Ji Yushi stood up and walked towards the documents.
He saw on the very top information his father had written that morning when he was having breakfast and beside it was the transparent panel his father used for work.
he asked, “With so much paperwork packed, are you going on a business trip?”
The sound of water stopped.
Sheng Yun didn’t answer.
Ji Yushi subconsciously took another two steps and arrived at the entrance of the study.
The door was tightly closed here and flowingout through the crack under the door was bright red blood. It quietly sank into the dark carpet, so it was almost undetectable.
In an instant, Ji Yushi’s ears were roaring.
Seventeen years ago, Sheng Han who had returned home from school found his father’s body in a pool of blood in the study.
“Clunk.” A soft sound.
Ji Yushi looked back. The Sheng Yun behind him hand placed down the cup half filled with water, leaving fingerprints on the wall of the cup.
They looked at each other.
For a moment, even the sound of a needle falling could be heard.
“Why aren’t you speaking?” Song Qinglan asked through the private channel, “What’s wrong?!”
Ji Yushi looked at the Sheng Yun in front of him. He heard himself ask, “Who are you?”
Sheng Yun didn’t speak.
“Or more specifically, which year are you from?” Ji Yushi paused at this point and quickly followed it up with the answer to his own question, “I think you should be from a year ago, that is, April 6, 1438. The morning you went to work, you discovered that all your clothes had not been washed and there wasn’t anything to wear so you could only randomly put together this set on you. Those beige trousers were originally paired with a white shirt but unfortunately in the evening of October 14, 1437, Sheng Han used the washing machine for the first time and accidentally ruined that shirt.”
He had managed to casually mention all the fine details of his daily life with his son from a year ago. Sheng Yun was alert, “Who are you?!”
Ji Yushi was also silent.
The blood in the study was still spreading. The colour of the carpet was getting darker.
When Sheng Han later returns from school, he would find the carpet completely soaked and the air filled with the smell of blood. Following that, he would hesitantly open the door to the study and be met with a sight that would change his life from then on.
Ji Yushi took out the small black and white game console. It was a little mottled at the back and looked very worn out. It was unknown how many years it had been used for.
And right now, on the cabinet beside the cup of water, sat a completely intact game console. It was a gift Sheng Yun had given his son a year ago.
Ji Yushi placed the one in his hand next to it.
The two game consoles, one old and one new. They were identical.
Sheng Yun was struck by lightning. He understood everything in an instant. He was stunned in place: “You—–”
Just like that, tears fell from Ji Yushi’s eyes.
It was like Sheng Yun had suddenly returned to his senses. He strode over but he bypassed Ji Yushi who stood there and instead went straight to the stack of documents as well as the transparent panel beside him