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?”

Ji Yushi, “Yes.”

Lin Xinlan was curious about this bold speculation. He asked, “If this was the case, why didn’t we see those idiots in the super slow room earlier?”

That was indeed questionable.

“I’m not sure if all the rooms are recorded or only certain specific rooms are. Since the original room moves every time we leave it, we cannot go back to check.” Ji Yushi said, “But I have a guess.”

After saying this, he looked at Song Qinglan. He seemed to be asking if he could say it.

Song Qinglan nodded at him.

Ji Yushi continued, “These rooms have a time difference, and the time differences are also different. They could be regarded as very short worlds. It would record everything that happened after someone enters the room until they leave and would not be refreshed until someone enters the room again. When Zoe alone left at that time, she theoretically completed the process of ‘entering and leaving’ so I was able to see the repeated recording over and over again as I remained in the room.”

Lin Xinlan said, “I get it. You’re saying that the room may have originally recorded those idiots in that room, but it was refreshed when we entered.”

Ji Yushi, “The time flow in that room was very slow. If it was really recording, we probably would have been able to see the scene recorded if we watched the room from outside a little longer.”

Lin Xinlan didn’t ask any further.

He knew that Ji Yushi was still keeping something from them. It was probably the key point —- The time difference.

If these rooms really recorded everything like Ji Yushi had said, then it would be a important hint for working out the time difference and for the so called ‘joining’.

When Duan Wen got off the ladder, Song Qinglan said, “Let’s go.”

*

This time, they chose a room with a green ball.

After entering the room, they found Zhou Mingxuan in the room below. It was also a recording.

Zhou Mingxuan was like a wolf who had been captured. He had his arms restricted behind his back and a gun pointed to the back of his head.

With him were three or four Caucasians. They wore glossy cyan uniforms and would curse in some strange language at Zhou Mingxuan every few steps they took.

They saw Zhou Mingxuan stop. He seemed to be unwilling to give in but he was forced to continue on. They forced him to enter the room first —- They seemed to be using him to check and ensure that the room was safe.

In this repeated recording, every time Zhou Mingxuan passed the centre of the room, he would raise his head.

They who were in the room above met his eyes.

Duan Wen was so angry at the sight of this that he cursed. Song Qinglan also lowered his eyes. There seemed to be a storm brewing in him.

In this giant Rubik’s Cube, it was unknown how many rooms had the same thing happening. Traversers were like ants trapped in a sandbox. They couldn’t find a way out no matter what they did.

Top, bottom, left and front.

Whenever they entered a room with recording, those recorded scenes would disappear instantly, leaving no trace behind.

The colours of the surrounding rooms changed. They were clearly approaching the centre block but at the same time they seemed to be a step away from it.

“We seem to be going around in circles.” Duan Wen said, “Why aren’t we getting anywhere like this?”

“That only means that this place is bigger than we thought.” Song Qinglan replied, “If we’re really going around in circles, we should be seeing rooms with marks left by us.”

Song Qinglan’s words were not unreasonable. Duan Wen was speechless. How big was this place exactly?

Except for the impatient Duan Wen and Lin Xinlan who didn’t speak much the whole time, Ji Yushi seemed to be very patient.

As long as it was safe, this was like a maze game he had played when he was a child. He could go on like this forever.

“To the left, the yellow room.” Song Qinglan looked at his communicator. Ji Yushi had already sent him a copy of his drawing, “If I am not wrong, it should be a purple room above.”

There were people in this yellow room.

Two unfamiliar traversers were holding half a corpse. They sat on the ground blankly and seemed to have broken down mentally.

When everyone silently entered the room, they realised that it was just a recording —- The two unfamiliar traversers disappeared, leaving only half a corpse and a few miscellaneous items scattered across the ground.

Ji Yushi kept his gaze still. He tried his best not to look in the direction of the corpse.

They again left the room in silence and went to the purple room above.

After they left, the room with the yellow ball moved to the right and the room changed to a green room. Now they were surrounded with blue, purple, grey, red, green and blue. The centre block however still could not be seen.

“I wonder how it is for Chun’er and the others? Could we have gone in the opposite direction as them?” Duan Wen wondered, “Fuck, whenever I think, I feel the need for a smoke.”

The old smoker’s addiction had reared its head again.

Ji Yushi added, “Whenever I think, I feel the need for some medicine.”

He wanted to take his medicine.

Everyone, “……..”

Ji Yushi spoke expressionlessly, “Just kidding. I am feeling very energetic right now.”

Song Qinglan completely had no intention to comply to this request. He just continued the point raised by Duan Wen, “If we’re really going in opposite directions, they may have reached the edge of this cube. It’s better than circling around the centre block.”

After saying that, he suddenly paused for a moment, “If there is nothing in the centre block, we can also try going to the edge to take a look. It’s unknown what may be there. If the capsules are still there….”

Duan Wen became spirited, “That makes sense!”

Advancing ahead again and again, the location of the centre block became even more of an enigma.

Based on how the rooms moved, Ji Yushi marked their routes on his holographic projection, and then calculated their next route. The colour distribution and movement of the rooms was too complicated. It was more difficult to calculate than he had initially imagined.

While in thought, Ji Yushi subconsciously reached into his pocket only to find it empty. He belatedly remembered that his medicine box had been confiscated by Song Qinglan.

He was dependent on the medicine. He actually wasn’t joking earlier when he said he wanted to take his medicine, but he didn’t plan to ask Song Qinglan for it. He just bit his lip and continued to examine the colourful cube on his hologram.

As the others separated to check the surrounding rooms, Ji Yushi felt something poke his arm. He raised his head and Song Qinglan placed something in his hand.

Ji Yushi spread his hand open. It turned out to be a piece of chocolate wrapped in golden foil.

Where was this from?

Song Qinglan glanced at him from the side with an unreserved look. He raised his index finger and made a ‘hush’ gesture. His eyes seemed to say ‘A reward for you’.

Ji Yushi’s heart trembled slightly. He quietly peeled off the foil. He was a little hesitant about whether he should put this piece of chocolate of unknown origin into his mouth.

“Picked it up just now. Only have one. It’s very clean.” Song Qinglan said in a low voice, “Now you can think without a problem.”

After saying that, he walked away and ordered Duan Wen to climb up a different ladder to check another room.

Ji Yushi ate the chocolate.

The bitter taste lingered at the tip of his tongue. After it melted in his mouth, he was left with faint sweetness which completely interrupted his thoughts.

“Here.”

On the other end, Song Qinglan raised his chin having already decided on the next room.

*

The tacit understanding between the men made each of them take turns entering the rooms first. This time, Lin Xinlan was first followed closely by Ji Yushi.

After confirming that it shouldn’t be dangerous based on the rules they had confirmed, this kind of repetitive routine of entering room after room had made them become less vigilant.

As soon as Ji Yushi reached the ground, he heard Duan Wen shout from above, “Advisor Ji!!”

Before Duan Wen could finish speaking, there was a “beep—–” and the hole above had actually closed!

Both Lin Xinlan and Ji Yushi were shocked. The ladder had disappeared, indicating that the room above had now moved. Ji Yushi quickly grabbed the green ball, reopened the door and climbed up the ladder.

The original room was replaced. There was no one in the room.

“Where are they?!” Lin Xinlan looked up at Ji Yushi, “Are they still there?”

Ji Yushi climbed down the ladder, “The room moved. They went to another room.”

Ji Yushi’s tone didn’t sound anxious, and he looked rather calm. This was outside of Lin Xinlan’s expectation. He had thought that Ji Yushi would panic after separating from his teammates. After all, no one would want to go around this place alone.

The four-member team had suddenly become two and it was the two who were most unfamiliar with each other.

As the captain of the ninth squad, although he didn’t have much experience in a different time and space, Lin Xinlan was at any rate an elite Tianqiong Guardian. He thought about what happened, “This means that there was someone who just happened to be moving between rooms near us and their movement moved our original room, yes?”

“Yes.”

Ji Yushi answered.

Lin Xinlan was tall and slender, and he had an attractive face. The blood stains on his black combat uniform had already dried up. There was only a spot on his neck, which made him look even more alluring.

The two stood facing each other. The atmosphere was a little strange.

Ji Yushi didn’t talk much but he took the initiative to say, “It doesn’t matter. We already know how the rooms move so we should meet up again soon.”

Lin Xinlan also wasn’t in a hurry. He asked, “Should we find them or will they look for us?”

If the two sides acted together, the chances of not meeting up would be higher.

“They will come find us.” Ji Yushi said, “We can just wait here.”

That line was quite simple, but it wasn’t difficult for one to tell from it the tacit understanding and trust between the members of the seventh squad.

Or to be more specific, it was the tacit understanding and trust between Ji Yushi and Song Qinglan.

Seeing Lin Xinlan lower the corners of his lips slightly, Ji Yushi added, “Before we came down, they saw the colour of the new room. As long as we don’t wander around, the chances of them finding us is high.”

The two stood in place for several seconds before they each found a place to sit.

If they didn’t talk in a situation like this, it was really suffocating. Ji Yushi originally wanted to take out his game console and play Tetris but Lin Xinlan started the conversation.

“Advisor Ji, I heard that your memory is especially good.” Lin Xinlan said, “Is it because of this that you can speak so many languages?”

Ji Yushi replied, “Not at all. Some of it was learnt from university and foreigner friends.”

Lin Xinlan suddenly realised something, “Boyfriend?”

Before Ji Yushi could speak, he added, “Sorry, I don’t know if you mind talking about sexual orientation.”

“I don’t mind.” Ji Yushi said, “But not a boyfriend.”

Someone once said that the fastest way to learn a language is to fall in love.

This however wasn’t the case for Ji Yushi.

Lin Xinlan’s question didn’t make him feel uncomfortable, nor did it have any other meaning. It sounded just like idle chat. He took out a dice from his pocket and as he played with it, he asked, “Then you’re single? With such good qualities, how are you still single? If not for us being the same, I would have gone after you.”

Probably because he had many suitors before and was used to this question, Ji Yushi said straightforwardly, “I have someone I like.”

Lin Xinlan asked, “Why don’t you pursue him?”

There was still a faint taste of chocolate in his mouth.

Bitter and slightly sweet. Ji Yushi answered flatly, “He’s straight.”