Our Reality

Chapter 79

Time was really a strange thing.

It relied on changes in things to prove its own existence and it is used as a constant parameter to describe a process, but the passage of time could change depending on one’s mood.

To Ji Yushi, after just one night’s sleep, there were only thirteen hours left. He still hadn’t figured out what he should do.

To Song Qinglan, every second felt like a day.

After he said those things to Ji Yushi, he didn’t actually sleep much: at best only four or five hours. Song Qinglan didn’t need to think too much, and he also faintly knew what feelings Ji Yushi had towards him and knew that Ji Yushi had no way of escaping.

But for the first time Song Qinglan realised that he was quite impatient.

He still had a lot of things he wanted to say but he had to wait until Ji Yushi gave him his answer.

Song Qinglan didn’t know how to flirt, and he had also never pursued anyone, so he just did what he wanted to do and said what he wanted to say. After he said that phrase ‘time is so slow’, he saw Ji Yushi’s hand holding the fork freeze and understood that he shouldn’t push the other person too much.

Just a reminder was enough. Song Qinglan didn’t say anything else to Ji Yushi through the private channel. In any case, there would be plenty of time later.

“Nine o’clock tonight, everyone will need to complete an individual video report.” Song Qinglan checked his watch and spoke to everyone at the table, “As for things that needed to be said, I have already explained it to the Inspectors earlier. This video report just requires you to tell them everything that you’ve experienced and as for whether a detailed written report would be required, the people above said it would depend on the situation.”

Zhou Mingxuan found it strange, “Just that? We don’t need to write a written report?”

“Really? We just have to dictate?”

“So good?”

Everyone was relieved.

In the bubble world, they had to work their asses off to write reports that were more than a dozen pages long.

“On one hand, it is of course because I fought for it.”

Song Qinglan calmly explained. In order to achieve this, he had actually worked quite hard. It was fortunate that he had a plausible reason to use to convince the superiors —- Tianqiong had never made anyone perform so many high-level missions in succession. With strong focus on their mental and physical state, the people above relented and allowed them to just submit a video report for now.

“On the one hand, it’s because the situation here is different from the bubble world.”

He told everyone what he had learned, “The ‘Tianqiong of all eras’ has officially connected to our Tianqiong system and has integrated with it such that it is now the parent system and our system is the subsystem.”

Everyone at the table looked at each other.

A strange feelings rose inside them. It wasn’t fear, but it made them uncomfortable.

Everyone knew that this ‘Tianqiong of all eras’ was a Tianqiong system with self-awareness. Humans regard themselves as creators but when they create things far beyond what they had imagined and end up being controlled by them instead, they would be afraid.

“After it connected to our system, all the missions we have completed were automatically settled in our accounts. Our mission experience, time and space coordinates reached and mission objectives that were completed were all recorded in detail so there is no need to explain each of them one by one.” Song Qinglan finished, “I believe you saw the notice with your evaluations when you returned.”

Everyone nodded.

Indeed, they saw it.

“Then it can now directly control our system?”

“It’s a little scary. In the end will we be in charge of the system, or will the system be in charge of us?”

“Has no one else discovered its existence before?”

Song Qinglan leaned back against the chair. There seemed to be no room for his long legs. His expression sank, “I still don’t know the specifics. The people above are also suffering from this incident, so they don’t have time to make things difficult for us. They just need us to retell our experiences in the missions through our own perspectives and it doesn’t matter how you do it. But based on the current situation, it doesn’t seem to have the intention to go beyond its existing authority….”

“Intelligent system.”

Ji Yushi suddenly spoke.

Everyone looked up.

The Ji Yushi who had tried to minimise his presence earlier: “…….”

He tried his best to ignore the strange way the others were now treating him and said while finishing his fruits, “That Tianqiong has self-awareness. I feel that it not only wanted to hijack us to complete its planned missions, but it also wanted to intervene with our current missions and decide whether the missions should be carried out based on data analysis from various times and spaces.”

Zhou Mingxuan asked, “So that is to say, it wants to help maintain time and space stability?”

“That is just my guess.” Ji Yushi continued, “We don’t know when it appeared. Perhaps it had witnessed the various outcomes of our actions far into the future.”

In the bubble world and also in this world, there were quite a few people who opposed traveling through time and space.

Large-scale protests and demonstrations would not only occur at the beginning. Perhaps it was just as Ji Yushi had said and mankind really ended up with devastating results in the future as a result of tampering with time and space. Those things such as PU-31, Chaos and the bubble world, they were things that shouldn’t happen.

However, it was also very obvious how much contribution Tianqiong had brought to mankind. It helped with avoiding wars, predicting natural disasters and it also stopped numerous terrorist and violent attacks before they could actually happen. It had allowed this originally precarious time and space to continue indefinitely.

As such, it was impossible for humanity to abandon Tianqiong. They believed that someone would definitely find a good way to keep time and space transitions in check.

Duan Wen remembered something, “I remember when I first joined Tianqiong, I seemed to have heard people talk about this. It was said that there were people who had proposed something similar when the Tianqiong system first started but they were the science obsessed madmen and those whose thinking was too extreme. Their final outcome wasn’t very good.”

“Old Duan, what other old gossip do you know?” Zhou Mingxuan was quite interested.

Duan Wen had been with Tianqiong the longest so, regardless of whether it was true or false, he knew some things: “Then let’s talk about it amongst our squad only. If others hear about it, we might need to write a reflection report.” He lowered his voice, “It is said that……those researchers mainly researched the stability and continuity of time and space, and they even proposed the possibility of an intelligent system rather early on. Of those people, those that went mad went mad and those that fell sick fell sick. There was even one who committed suicide.”

Everyone revealed a look of surprise. Song Qinglan thought of something, “I seem to have heard Xie Sian mention it.”

Back in the space capsule, Xie Sian had once mentioned a professor surnamed Sheng who was said to have made great contributions to Tianqiong but he unfortunately committed suicide at a young age.

As he recalled, Song Qinglan then remembered that of the two people passing by in the Rubik’s Cube, one seemed to also have the surname Sheng—-

“So.” Ji Yushi interrupted his thoughts and pulled the topic back onto its tracks, “This so-called parent system may be something that came about at some point in the future in order to keep everything in balance.”

Humans never stopped thinking about time and space.

And as Guardians, it was even more so.

Song Qinglan had been thinking about this problem ever since they were hijacked. Seeing that everyone’s expressions weren’t too good, he knocked on the table, “Whether or not you want to maintain stability in time and space or control Tianqiong, the World Time Management Alliance will find a suitable solution. This isn’t something we can control. What we need to do right now is to finish the video report, go home, rest and toss all these things to the back of our minds.”

Tang Le was the first to return to his senses, “Then this time will we be getting a three-month long vacation?!”

Li Chun was excited, “That’s right! We were given a three-month vacation in the bubble world last time. Would Chief Wang cares less about us compared to Chief Qi?”

Duan Wen, “Not necessarily. We saved Chief Qi’s life. It’s different.”

Tang Qi poured cold water on them, “Wake up. The psychological evaluation determines how long our vacation is.”

The topic quickly changed.

From the vacation, everyone moved on to talking about the reward from the system as well as the reward for their new mission ratings.

Ji Yushi’s eating speed slowed down.

Perhaps because he was very hungry, he finished more than half of the food Song Qinglan got for him.

Song Qinglan glanced at the plate and the corners of his lips seem to raise slightly.

He understood. The remaining food were things Ji Yushi didn’t like to eat.

“Let’s go.”

When Ji Yushi was done, Song Qinglan finally said this.

Everyone stood up.

The chairs were pushed into a mess, and they were then rearranged neatly before they left.

Bringing along Ji Yushi who was rumoured to be at odds with them, the group returned to the lounge talking and laughing.

*

At nine in the evening, everyone gave their video reports in their private training rooms. Their recordings would then be transmitted to the Inspectors, their superiors as well as the Global Time Management Alliance centres.

Thanks to his experience completing the 89 B-level missions previously, Ji Yushi was already used to recounting everything he experienced in his missions clearly and accurately. In just one hour, he was done with his report.

When he left his private training room, the doors to the other rooms were still tightly shut.

The empty training ground was like a large mirror. It reflected Ji Yushi who stood alone in this large space.

At ten, Ji Yushi left the training grounds. He got ready to go to the balcony outside to get some fresh air.

Song Qinglan’s voice no longer sounded through the private channel.

There were ten hours left.

Ji Yushi rested his elbows on the railing. The night wind blew through his black hair, messing it up slightly. His pale complexion seemed to glow in the night.

“Advisor Ji.” Someone called out from behind him.

Ji Yushi turned around and leaned against the railing.

The lighting here wasn’t great and there usually wouldn’t be people around, so he squinted his eyes slightly to confirm the identity of the other party.

A group of Guardians passed by the corridor. There were about seven or eight of them and they all wore black combat uniforms. From the looks of it, they must have just returned from a mission. Lin Xinlan stopped, said some words to his teammates and then walked over to the balcony.

Running into Lin Xinlan in the Tianqiong Jiang City branch wasn’t something strange. Moreover, the training grounds for the ninth and seventh squads were also on the same floor. Although both squads would usually be out completing missions, they would still run into each other quite often.

Ji Yushi just didn’t expect to see him again so soon.

Lin Xinlan approached, “As soon as I finished my mission, I heard you guys returned. I thought it was you from afar and turns out I was right.”

Ji Yushi only nodded at him.

He internally thought that this Jiang City branch really didn’t suit him. Even if he wanted to be alone, he was never given the chance to.

The wind on the balcony was pretty strong. It may rain soon.

Lin Xinlan’s hair was also ruffled into a mess by the wind. It looked different from ‘Rubik’s Cube’. A year later, he had changed his hairstyle and now gave off a different feeling.

“It feels very strange.” Lin Xinlan’s peach blossom eyes curved as he smiled, “To you, you only saw me yesterday but to me, one year had passed.”

Ji Yushi however said directly, “Cap Lin, you lost the bet.”

Back in ‘Rubik’s Cube’, Lin Xinlan had made a bet with Song Qinglan over who would complete the mission first. If he lost, he promised that he would tell Song Qinglan a secret. A year ago, he didn’t think that he would lose but a year later, he already knew of the outcome. He probably also figured out why everyone on the seventh squad, including Song Qinglan, had such an attitude towards him a year ago.

Keeping a secret was very hard. He was unable to tell the seventh squad what would happen a year later and also unable to do anything to change this ‘past that will inevitably happen’. Except for the higher-ups, no one knew that Lin Xinlan had once completed a Rubik’s Cube mission with a certain seventh squad.

Lin Xinlan’s clothes were stained with blood. It was probably from his mission.

He laughed wholeheartedly. He didn’t expect that Ji Yushi’s first words to him would be this, “Thank you for the reminder but I have already fulfilled the bet. The result however wasn’t very good.”

“Fulfilled the bet?” Ji Yushi thought for a moment and then understood what he was referring to, “I thought you said you never touch straight men?”

“It’s okay to give yourself a chance. At least I gave it a try.” Lin Xinlan shrugged, “Moreover, Cap Song….isn’t as straight as one would imagine.”

Ji Yushi: “……How did you know?”

Lin Xinlan thought he didn’t believe him. He leaned back against the railing and said slowly, “Just a feeling, I guess.”

Seeing Ji Yushi fall silent, Lin Xinlan continued, “You know, those rooms have a recording function. After separating from you, I went through a few rooms alone and saw some traces left behind by you and Cap Song.”

He fell into his memories from a year ago and commented slowly, “You two were arguing, the tone seemed a little agitated. He was nervous and angry, but it wasn’t because of the argument.”

Lin Xinlan was probably referring to the last stage of ‘joining’.

Ji Yushi had witnessed Zoe’s death and Song Qinglan wanted to change routes with him, but he didn’t oblige and instead resolutely climbed down the ladder, throwing Song Qinglan away. At that time, Ji Yushi had nothing else on his mind. He just wanted to get out of this mission and quickly return to that year as soon as possible.

Lin Xinlan said, “I don’t know if it was the heavens joking with me, I later saw more traces of Song Qinglan. He was constantly looking for you.”

Every time Song Qinglan encountered a teammate, he would instruct them, “When you see Ji Yushi, stay with him as much as possible and follow the same route. It doesn’t matter if the speed of completion is slower.”

Zhou Mingxuan asked, “What’s wrong?”

Song Qinglan answered, “His condition isn’t good.”

“Song Qinglan was distressed.” Lin Xinlan seemed to sigh, “I have known him for a while now and it was my first time seeing him put his mission aside just because his teammate wasn’t in a good condition. You don’t know how harsh he can be with his teammates. I have never seen Song Qinglan look at another person like that, but I know what it’s like when someone looks at someone they have feelings for.”

Ji Yushi didn’t know about these things.

Perhaps he actually did know, but because he hadn’t been in a relationship before and he also had no plans on bending a straight man, he just regarded Song Qinglan’s reaction as one a captain would have.

Lin Xinlan didn’t ask him how he felt towards Song Qinglan nor did he ask if the straight man he mentioned last time was referring to Song Qinglan.

“Since Song Qinglan had that possibility and I also had a year to try, it didn’t hurt to give it a chance. How could there be fairness in matters like love?” Reaching this point, Lin Xinlan took out a dice from his pocket, “This was something he gave me when we were playing a game back when we were completing our training at training camp. After an argument, I wanted to give this back to him by putting it back on his desk but I accidentally knocked over his glass of water and this resulted in unpleasant rumours. I originally wanted to explain but from that encounter in Rubik’s Cube, it seems that he has already forgotten what this was.”

Ji Yushi looked at the dice.

He finally understood why Lin Xinlan refused to use it to test out the rooms in ‘Rubik’s Cube’.

Lin Xinlan put away the dice, “However, I am also quite pleased to see his feelings unrequited.”

Ji Yushi: “?”

Lin Xinlan returned to his original tone, “He offended you quite badly before you even came. I can see that you don’t like him very much. You probably don’t even want to be near him?”

Ji Yushi: “…..Mhn.”

“I knew it.” Lin Xinlan cast him a glance and suddenly winked his peach blossom eye, “Speaking seriously Advisor Ji, these stinky straight men can’t be bent for long. Why don’t you consider me? I am willing to change for you.”

A layer of goosebumps immediately formed on Ji Yushi’s arms. He didn’t accept this offer and just asked expressionlessly, “You’re not throwing away the dice?”

Lin Xinlan, “Why throw it? Save it as a memento.”

Ji Yushi suggested, “If it bothers you when you see it, it’s better to throw it away.”

Lin Xinlan thought about it and felt that his words made sense. He proceeded to take the dice out of his pocket again and threw it from the balcony into the distant woods.

The dice drew an arc in the air before disappearing completely.

Lin Xinlan was relaxed after throwing the dice. After chatting a little longer with Ji Yushi, he finally left to change his clothes and write his report.

*

Ji Yushi stayed outside a little longer before returning to the training grounds.

Almost everyone was done with their video reports by now. When they asked him where he went, Ji Yushi just said that he went for a walk outside.

The psychological evaluation should be the next day. Their current state was like they were suffering from jet lag; they had rested enough and as a result weren’t sleepy. Li Chun proposed playing a game to pass the time.

Song Qinglan was wearing a grey T-shirt and was the last to come out from his private training room, “What game?”

Everyone quickly suggested a few.

Like the others, Song Qinglan sat cross-legged next to Ji Yushi and listened with interest with his hand supporting his chin.

He heard Ji Yushi ask, “Are there any dice games?”

Song Qinglan turned his head. His dark eyes were especially bright under the bright lights in the training ground. He gently asked, “You want to play that?”

Ji Yushi made a sound of affirmation.

Tang Le immediately jumped up, “We can! With so many people, we can play Aeroplane Chess. We played it during our training camp before. We have all the things needed for it too!”

When it came to games, Tang Le and Li Chun were more excited than anyone else. They quickly dug out the necessary items from inside their lockers and spread them out onto the floor.

Song Qinglan supported himself with one hand and fiddled with the dice with his other hand, “Let’s talk about punishment and rewards. What do the winner and losers get?”

When everyone heard this, they all excitedly thought of a number of evil ideas.

Song Qinglan felt a warm touch on the back of his hand.

He looked down and saw Ji Yushi’s finger touching the back of his hand. It was thin and slender, and the nail was clean and neatly trimmed.

Seeing him look over, Ji Yushi retracted his finger and said, “If I win, give me the dice.”

There was a customary rule for this game amongst the trainees when they played it during training camp. If someone wins first, they could request for the right to cast the dice and determine the fates of the remaining players.

Everyone thought he was talking about this.

Song Qinglan agreed without hesitation, “Sure.”