Our Reality

Chapter 78

How could one day be enough?

It definitely wasn’t enough.

Ji Yushi calmly returned to his private training room and, after closing the door behind him, the robotic arm proceeded to scan his body.

It then glowed red and very soon brought over a bottle of water as well as a towel.

This was because it had detected increased heartrate as well as perspiration on his body and had assumed by default that the human had just trained and undergone strenuous exercise. It would have never guessed that this reaction was because the human had just received a confession.

Ji Yushi received the bottle of water and downed half of it in one go but Song Qinglan’s words still lingered in his mind.

He clearly didn’t see Song Qinglan’s expression earlier when he said those words but at this moment his mind was able to automatically generate the scene and he could vividly imagine the other’s appearance.

“I don’t want to be your friend, let alone your captain. I want to be able to care about you without anything holding me back, tell you not to be too rash, not to carry everything alone. I want to be with you, hold you, have—-”

Have what?

Ji Yushi’s grip around the bottle tightened and his face once again became hot.

Even if he had ‘bent’, those words were just too straight!

Ji Yushi wanted to calm down. He raised his head and emptied the remaining half of the water in one go before allowing the robotic arm to take the bottle away.

Calming down attempt failed.

That straight man was too reckless.

Ji Yushi took off his black combat uniform and entered the shower.

As he showered, water vapour filled the air.

Whilst he was coated by clean and warm water, the scene from when they jumped off the tracks in the bubble world and fell into the water below surfaced to his mind.

The water muffled his hearing and countless bubbles rose through the water before his eyes.

He was turned around by Song Qinglan and then a pair of strong arms wrapped around his waist, and he was held tightly in an embrace. The handcuffs pulled at their hands. Although the metal was cold like the water, his chest was warm.

He had clung tightly onto Song Qinglan and was carried out of the water.

With every step, he could distinctly feel the explosive power in the other person’s muscles.

Ji Yushi shook off the water from his hair and pressed both arms up against the wall to support himself. He allowed the water from the shower to run down his forehead, eyelashes and chin.

Even after standing under the water for such a long time, his thoughts were unable to settle down.

He turned off the shower, wrapped himself in a large bath towel and then left the bathroom barefoot.

Another scene appeared.

It was outside the bathroom in the space capsule.

His body still exuding cold air, Song Qinglan leaned lazily against the wall. There was a blade of grass from the rainforest stuck behind his ear and in his hands was a black and white game console. Hearing the sound of him coming out, his pair of deep dark eyes looked over, “The high scores on the leaderboard are all yours?”

As Ji Yushi dried his hair, he returned back to his training room.

It didn’t take long for his hair to dry. He pressed a switch and said, “Resting mode.”

The robotic arm moved aside.

The wall was lit up and a small bed that looked quite comfortable was slowly lowered down.

Ji Yushi climbed onto the bed and laid on his side in a not so relaxed position.

“Zii.”

There was a faint sound.

The air-conditioning in the room was adequate. The robotic arm checked his body temperature and then proceeded to pull over a blanket and gently cover him up.

“It’s me.” That person wrapped him up in a very dirty blanket and held him tightly in his arms. He spoke warmly, “Don’t be afraid.”

Ji Yushi opened his eyes. He gently blinked a few times.

His heart rate was still very disordered and his thoughts were messy. He closed his eyes again.

After going through Rubik’s Cube, after returning to that year and after being questioned by the Inspectors, Ji Yushi’s body was exhausted. He originally thought that he wouldn’t be able to sleep but he had actually managed to fall asleep in a situation where his cerebral cortex worked actively.

He was running in the dream.

There were countless monsters chasing him.

He was stuck inside a crushed car. The scent of blood filled his nose, He saw a large, well-defined hand reach towards him.

They were running together.

Suddenly, the ground below was gone. His entire person seemed to be falling.

Together with the sudden feeling of weightlessness, Ji Yushi woke up with a start. He then found that he was so hungry, his stomach had started to cramp. He felt like his chest was about to stick to his back.

He had slept for almost ten hours.

Ji Yushi sat there for a while, slowly sobering up.

In the overturned train, Song Qinglan had used one hand to grab a shelf in the bathroom and, with his face flushed red from effort, he held firmly onto Ji Yushi with his other hand.

Ji Yushi’s fingers slowly sank into his hair.

He let out a sigh.

It wasn’t much better after sleeping.

*

“Advisor Ji, have you thought it through?!”

As soon as he left his private training room, Zhou Mingxuan squinted his small eyes and asked with a grin.

Ji Yushi: “…….”

“Don’t think about it for too long. Our Cap Song is very popular!” Zhou Mingxuan said this and then took off his wristband and said, “Come, let’s go eat.”

Ji Yushi looked around. His expression was the same as usual, “And the others?”

Zhou Mingxuan explained, “Everyone already went. Thinking that it was about time for you to get up, I stayed behind to wait for you.”

The Tianqiong Jiang City branch could be regarded as the country’s Guardian headquarters. In addition to more than 100 official guardians, there were also hundreds of staffs and hundreds of trainees and students so there would be more than a thousand people in total. To operate such a large system, not only was the command centre split into multiple ones, but there were also even four dining areas.

Guardians would typically dine in the dining area specifically for Guardians but when Ji Yushi first came to Jiang City to study and when he was first transferred here, he had gone to dine at another place with the trainees and students, so he hadn’t been to this one before.

As the two left the training ground, Ji Yushi noticed that there were many people looking at him.

“We had an A-level mission but came back after a whole month, so we have become a little famous.” Zhou Mingxuan explained, “You were also the last to return, so they are even more curious about you.”

Don’t look at how high tech this Tianqiong research institute may be. Even if this place didn’t excel at anything, it excelled in its ability to generate gossip. Why else would gossip about Ji Yushi be able to travel from Ning City to Jiang City? Everyone probably still thought that he and Song Qinglan got along like fire and water.

Ji Yushi’s late return this time had resulted in many guesses and speculations and, in turn, he received a lot of attention.

As they made their way over, they passed several Tianqiong departments.

Zhou Mingxuan introduced them to him along the way, “When you came here before, this should’ve already been done but…..haa, it was all a misunderstanding!”

Ji Yushi, “I also didn’t want to get close with you guys at the time.”

Zhou Mingxuan rubbed the back of his head, “Haa, thinking back now, we were really silly back then!”

Ji Yushi didn’t give him any face and even nodded to express his agreement, “Yeah.”

“Fuck!” Zhou Mingxuan laughed and proceeded to push open the door, “This way!”

Only at this moment did Ji Yushi truly feel like he had returned to his original time and space.

The huge dining area was surrounded by glass walls, resembling a neatly cut diamond.

In the evening when the sky was burned red, a magnificent orange-red glow would be able to be seen close at hand through this dome. From the glass walls, one could also see the tall buildings in the city as well as the traffic shuttling through the city main roads.

In an instant, the scene changed. The tall buildings were gone and replacing them were numerous low-rise buildings, wide roads and a clear blue sky — This was Jiang City from about a hundred years ago.

The so-called glass wall was nothing but a holographic projection that simulated the backwards flow of time.

Unlike all the Guardians who turned a blind eye to this, Ji Yushi stared at it in daze for several seconds. He was somewhat surprised by the difference in treatment between Guardians and Recorders. The two were on completely different levels. He didn’t know if this was also the case in other countries.

Dining hours had already passed so there were very few people here.

The seventh squad had selected a large table that extended about three metres and they each occupied one side. They were all tall with big builds and they sat there leisurely chatting with each other like they were on vacation.

“Advisor Ji!” Noticing them first, Li Chun immediately shot up and used his hand to clean the chair, “Sit, sit, sit!”

Zhou Mingxuan pushed Li Chun’s head aside, “Suck-up!”

Li Chun glared back, “What do you know!”

“Advisor Ji!” Duan Wen who sat on the other side tossed something over, “Catch!”

Ji Yushi easily caught it. When he looked down, he saw that it was a bottle of sweet and sour nutrient solution.

They needed to replenish themselves with these kinds of things for a few days after traversing.

Duan Wen said, “Pad your stomach with that first!”

Ji Yushi accepted it, “Thank you.”

There were only five people present. Song Qinglan wasn’t around. After Ji Yushi sat down, he heard Tang Le asked, “Advisor Ji, have you thought about it?”

The table became silent in an instant.

Everyone was looking at Ji Yushi.

“It should be about time!”

“Hahahaha!! I knew it!”

“This isn’t something we should ask about. We should wait for Cap Song to ask this!”

Ji Yushi: “…….”

Maybe he shouldn’t have gone out to eat today.

Tang Le didn’t seem to care much about the answer to his question. He just giggled and continued talking about other nonsense with the others.

This was the case for the others too.

Despite their captain becoming gay and passionately confessing in public, none of these teammates showed any difficulty accepting the possibility of a couple forming in their squad. Apart from a few joking words, these people were just like adolescent high school students.

After finishing the nutrient solution and curbing his hunger, Ji Yushi felt a lot better.

Everyone was already about to be done with their meals. Just as he considered getting up to get something to eat, his eyes met with Song Qinglan’s who had just sat down.

He had shaved and cut his hair.

Song Qinglan’s clean and handsome face was revealed again. Despite his fierce and overbearing temperament, his tone was lazy, “Take a look. Don’t need to eat anything you don’t like.”

“Hey! How could there be anything he wouldn’t like?!”

“Like, like, like! Anything Cap Song picks, Advisor Ji likes!”

Everyone immediately regressed into primary school students and started to tease the two of them.

Turns out, there was a reason why the seat next to Ji Yushi was left empty.

A tray was pushed over in front of him. It contained all sorts of snacks, congee, macaroni, vegetables and meat, all served in small delicate bowls. It was clear that a lot of thought had been put into it.

Ji Yushi: “…….”

He really shouldn’t have come out to eat!

Under everyone’s watchful eyes, Ji Yushi picked up his utensil and said calmly, “Thank you. I can do it myself next time.”

Song Qinglan said okay.

He didn’t do anything after that and just joined everyone else’s conversation allowing Ji Yushi to fill his stomach without feeling uncomfortable.

Just as he thought he could go back after eating, he seemed to hear Song Qinglan say, “Thirteen hours left.”

Ji Yushi: “?”

Song Qinglan didn’t look at him and he also didn’t do anything. His expression remained the same.

“There are still thirteen more hours left for you to think about it.”

A pleasant male voice travelled through the subcutaneous communicator, entering Ji Yushi’s mind.

Ji Yushi immediately understood. Their communication channel had not been closed. This was Song Qinglan’s first time speaking to him through this private channel.

He used a way that could only be heard by the two of them.

He saw Song Qinglan pick up a bottle of water on the table, unscrew it and take a drink.

The low male voice sounded in his mind again.

“Advisor Ji, time is so slow.”