Ouroboros

Chapter 19 (Part 2)

……Song Qinglan.

This person was different from what he had imagined.

Ji Yushi had thought that things would become more complicated as a result and everyone would avoid their other selves, creating a chaotic scene where no one knew who was who and whether they were allies or enemies. He had even imagined the scene countless ‘him’s’ appearing at the same point in time and, in order to compete for the so-called main body, a bloody massacre and self-killing would take place. It was simply a nightmare in a nightmare.

What Ji Yushi didn’t expect was that, under Song Qinglan’s leadership, this squad worked like an arrow, never turning back after leaving the bow regardless of what they were faced with, only advancing forward.

Everyone in Tianqiong’s seventh squad were important core players who worked very well together.

They constantly changed Ji Yushi’s understanding of them.

From the first cycle until now, no matter who was sacrificed and who was left behind, their goal had never changed.

It was like it was reminding Ji Yushi that everything wasn’t a big deal. As long as their will was firm enough, they would not fall into confusion.

No matter what, no matter how many of them there were, there was only one goal.

—— Complete the mission and return to their original world.

This reminder made the heavy rock that had been weighing down on Ji Yushi chest lighten a little.

He was shocked. Could everything actually be that simple?

Song Qinglan’s appearance before he fell unconscious appeared in his mind. The other party’s brows were furrowed and there was an emotion called anger in his eyes.

Ji Yushi didn’t understand it very well as to why Song Qinglan was angry.

And so, where were Song Qinglan and the others?

He voiced this query of his.

Li Chun said, “After you fell unconscious, Old Zhou and Old Duan came —– That is, the team you call Team 4, the ones that we got separated from at Runjin Building. They came on a spacecar, so they arrived earlier than Team 2, but they still don’t know about the situation of several of themselves existing. Tang Qi and Tang Le are probably giving them some time to take it in. Cap Song went to find some bandages and so on for you so he should be back soon. Once we gather up again, we will go to our next destination.”

Ji Yushi’s lips were still pale. He was still quite weak.

“Advisor Ji, the bullet wound on you was from Diamond Bird, you shot yourself with your own gun. Fortunately, Diamond Bird uses energy bullets and doesn’t have a physical bullet, so we don’t need to look for a bullet inside you. The wound may look large on the outside, but it is small on the inside. Please try not to do something like this next time.”

Ji Yushi: “……..”

He was probably afraid that he would drag them down.

Li Chun, “Hey, in fact our Cap Song is a pretty good person. That time when Old Yu’s accident happened, Cap Song did everything he could to carry him out of the desert and walked tens of kilometres with him on his back. Although a scout is considered a civilian job, they are sometimes required to be out in the field. After that accident, Cap Song had been blaming himself. He didn’t want you to come so he deliberately said those things. We are at most just a little straight but it’s not to the extent of being homopho——”

“Whoosh—–”

With a soft sound, a grappling hook caught onto the balcony.

Two wandering zombies below turned and started to growl. A few seconds later, Song Qinglan appeared outside the wall and very agilely leapt over.

“You talk too much.” Song Qinglan’s dark eyes were deep. He glanced over at Ji Yushi and continued to say to Li Chun, “I could even hear you bullshit from across the street.”

Of course that wasn’t possible.

Li Chun hehe’d and immediately shut up.

Tang Le also climbed up the rope and joined them on the balcony, “Advisor Ji, you’re awake!”

Ji Yushi nodded at him.

“I’m glad you’re awake! But you should rest more, we still have time!” Tang Le’s reaction was similar to Li Chun’s. His next sentence turned out to be, “Wait a second, let me look. Has the other me appeared?”

Li Chun handed him the binoculars, “He has but he’s not going in our direction. Probably looking for food. Don’t worry, I left some of those Kemeng Beans that no one wants for them.”

Tang Le: “……Fuck, you would even do something like that to yourself. Are you human?”

Song Qinglan was too tall and almost had to lower his head to get under the parasol.

He threw a bag of things at Li Chun, “I found a bottle of painkillers but no bandages. Found some disinfectant alcohol, suture threads and waterproof plasters. Use those for now.”

Li Chun immediately came over to treat Ji Yushi’s wound.

As soon as he touched it, Ji Yushi let out a small hiss. His pale and flat abdomen rose and fell with each breathe and the bullet wound that was barely concealed with a band-aid was already soaked with blood.

Alcohol was placed around the wound. It was so painful that Ji Yushi couldn’t speak. He bit his lips firmly, not letting out a single sound.

“Tough guy!” Li Chun couldn’t help but exclaim when he was done with the stitches, “Advisor Ji, I underestimated you!”

“More than a tough guy.”

Song Qinglan didn’t look too happy. Ji Yushi noticed this.

But unexpectedly, Song Qinglan said, “Giving you an apology, tough guy.”

Ji Yushi: “?”

He doubted his ears.

He looked over. Song Qinglan however didn’t mention why he was apologising. He just stared at him and said lazily, “If you wanted it to repeat less, you have to live. Don’t endure without saying anything, I’m not going to eat you. You are one of us so should work together as a team and take care of each other. This is Tianqiong’s seventh squad’s custom.”

After saying that, Song Qinglan leaned down and took out a brand new T-shirt from his pocket, “Advisor Ji, your clothes were cut open. This was something I picked up along the way. Can you change yourself? If you can’t, make a sound.”

Tang Le and Li Chun both looked over at the same time. Their eyes both said: “???”

Although there was nothing wrong with the words ‘working together as a team’ and ‘taking care of each other’, but when did Cap Song become so considerate?

Could only smart people get that kind of special treatment?

Were they unworthy?

Song Qinglan gave the two a cold look. The two of them quickly turned around and pretended that nothing had happened.

Suddenly faced with Cap Song’s kindness and also suddenly becoming one of the seventh squad out of nowhere, Ji Yushi couldn’t help but be suspicious.

But he wasn’t delicate to that extent and was even a little shocked, “Thank you, I can do it myself.”

Song Qinglan, “Are you sure?”

Ji Yushi: “I am sure!”

Ji Yushi then held the hem of his black combat uniform and raised it up.

The stitching just now was too painful, and his body was completely soaked. There was still a thin layer of sweat on his pale skin.

As it turned out, he really did require help. The pain from that action earlier had almost made him fall unconscious again.

Song Qinglan didn’t just stand by and watch nor did he take the opportunity to laugh at him. He just wordlessly helped him pull out an arm to take off the blood-stained black combat uniform and then helped him put on the clean white T-shirt.

In an instant, Ji Yushi’s appearance softened considerably. He looked like a naïve young man who should be holding a book.

When Song Qinglan was done helping him, he said, “You’re welcome, Advisor Ji.”

Ji Yushi: “……….”

Song Qinglan turned to ask Li Chun, “What is the situation now?”

No one answered.

Li Chun and Tang Le took turns looking through the binoculars. Their expressions were a little strange, “Uh, that, it’s hard to say.”

Ji Yushi stored the Diamond Bird away and stood up and fixed himself up, “Let me take a look.”

Li Chun: “Oh.”

Ji Yushi received the binoculars from Li Chun.

In the bookstore, Song Qinglan of Team 2 was currently holding Ji Yushi’s arms behind his back and pressing him against the bookshelf. He appeared to be saying something stern while Ji Yushi had no ability to fight back —- That was the time when Song Qinglan questioned how many cycles he had gone through and suspected him.

Ji Yushi placed down the binoculars and said to Song Qinglan, “Cap Song, the current situation is, you are wall slamming me.” (KKnotes: wall slamming = kabedon)

Li Chun: “!!!”

Tang Le: “!!!”

Song Qinglan, “Me, wall slamming, you?”

Ji Yushi’s expression was natural.

Song Qinglan, “………..”

Since Song Qinglan showed kindness this time, Ji Yushi felt that he didn’t need to use the words ‘you tried to beat me up’.

He didn’t always hold grudges.

It was a matter of reciprocation.

*

When the spacecar reached the building, it became a temporary gathering point.

Ji Yushi was the first to slide down the rope. He was injured and was very quickly caught by Zhou Mingxuan and Duan Wen and was helped into the car.

The appearance in the familiar spacecar was no different from when they set off from the park management office. The pile of equipment there had pretty much all that they needed —- Ji Yushi immediately recalled the horrific scene from last time; a woman’s screams, loud curses, gunfire, the sight of a young girl lying in a pool of blood as well as the loud sound of the car hitting against a wall. It was all very clear.

The dark-skinned man held his Diamond Bird and shot wildly during this chaos.

There was no pain the moment the bullet penetrated him, but Ji Yushi could still clearly remember the process of it entering him so much so that the pain from his newly stitched wound grew even more intense.

But this car was still fine.

On another timeline, nothing had happened.

Song Qinglan was the last to enter, “Team 2 is nearby. In order not to be involved with them, has everyone turned off the location of your communicator?”

Everyone: “Turned off!”

Song Qinglan said, “Duan Wen, create an encrypted channel that only the people in this car can use.”

Duan Wen did as he was told.

Song Qinglan said, “There are still two or three hours before the black wall arrives here. Have you all understood the current situation? For those who haven’t, hurry up and ask any questions you have.”

Everyone immediately scrambled to ask.

Song Qinglan felt a headache coming and bluntly stopped them, “One by one!”

The Zhou Mingxuan from another timeline who had been busy driving the spacecar over and hadn’t had the time to process the information asked first, “Let me start first! Cap Song, according to the order of appearance, is this our current situation? So me, Duan Wen, Tang Qi, Tang Le and Li Chun, us five are from Team 4 whereas you and Advisor Ji are from Team 3. So that basically means that you from Team 3 and us from Team 4 have formed a team?”

Although it was a bit convoluted, it was indeed the case.

Zhou Mingxuan then asked, “Then, where did Cap Song and Advisor Ji as well as the rest of Team 3 go?”

Song Qinglan said, “After Advisor Ji and I were hijacked from the bookstore, Team 3 remained. Those people must be looking for us. At that time, I managed to get into contact with Tang Qi through the public channel and Tang Qi said he heard a loud noise so they shouldn’t have been far from us. The place the spacecar was damaged was also along the way to the bookstore and Advisor Ji and I from Team 4 would most definitely go to the bookstore after separating from you. I believe that Tang Qi who was originally coming to pick us up after contacting me encountered our other selves from Team 4 who was their way to the bookstore.”

Zhou Mingxuan: “Fuck, I understand now. So basically Team 3 and 4 are still the original team and only Cap Song and Advisor Ji were switched!”

Song Qinglan, “That’s basically it. For the sake of distinction, we can call them Team B.”

Tang Le: “What about us?!”

Tang Qi supported his head, “Of course we’re Team A, little brother.”

Tang Le heard tone in his voice, “Sorry.”

Li Chun was stunned again, “They why didn’t Team B go to the bookstore? The reason why we found the spacecar at the park management office was to go to the bookstore to let Advisor Ji check something he didn’t have the chance to check. It stands to reason that even if we have formed two teams, they would definitely go to the bookstore.”

Sitting on a box of equipment, Ji Yushi rested his head against the wall of the car.

He slowly spoke, “Because the me of Team B must’ve also discovered the overlap of time and space.”