Our Reality

Chapter 89

After Song Qinglan ended the call, he left the secluded corridor and returned to the library.

This library was a very modern building with tapered transparent stairs modelled after the Penrose stairs and had mechanisms installed to allow readers to be able to access different floors with ease.

Going through the changing staircase, Song Qinglan saw the person he was looking for sitting at the table reading intently.

There was a tall stack of books around Ji Yushi. It seems like he probably wouldn’t be moving away from that spot any time soon. He didn’t need to take any notes when reading and he turned the pages faster than the average person, but his expression was also more focused than everyone else.

Some people say that people with hyperthymesia can remember clearly every detail in their life, from the big changes in life to the smallest of thoughts that surface in their minds. They are unable to forget, thirst for knowledge, and it makes them a genius in a certain sense.

But for the first time, Song Qinglan strongly wished that Ji Yushi’s memory and thoughts were ordinary.

He wished that he would carelessly misread the question, hurry out the house and forget to feed the cats, and would run into old classmates outside but be unable to recall their names.

Ji Yushi sat quietly by the large bookshelf that seemed to have no end in sight.

He appeared relaxed.

During these past few days of vacation, he had been happier than ever.

“What’s the matter?”

Sensing Song Qinglan’s return, Ji Yushi raised his head and asked with his dark eyes clear and clean.

Ji Yushi.

Formerly Sheng Han.

Suddenly, those eyes overlapped with the eyes from his childhood.

Song Qinglan felt like he had reached enlightenment. The kindergarten attached to Ning University, the little girl he could no longer remember the appearance of, the joke about his ‘first love’…..Ji Yushi had given a number of hints and reminders the entire time but, because of Ji Yushi’s tendency to hold grudges and likely because he had mistaken him for a little girl, Ji Yushi had teased him like this.

Song Qinglan pulled out the chair next to him and sat down.

There were very few people on this floor and there were only the two of them sitting at this long table.

Time flowed on like a river.

The ignorant child back then had grown up to into a mature man. Their two lives had briefly intersected and then after more than a decade, it had intersected again.

This wonderful and extraordinary fate filled Song Qinglan’s heart with excitement. He directly asked, “When did you realise it?”

Ji Yushi didn’t understand, “When did I realise what?”

Song Qinglan’s eyes contained a hint of a smile and there was also some helplessness, “When did you realise that I was the little fat boy who constantly stuck to you in kindergarten?”

Song Qinglan pulled Ji Yushi’s hand over and closed the book in front of him.

He wanted him to look at him.

“Han Han.”

Ji Yushi paused for a moment, “How did you….”

Song Qinglan however asked, “Why did you wear a dress as a child?”

Ji Yushi: “……….”

Song Qinglan continued, “Advisor Ji, at such a young age you cross-dressed, deceived my feelings and made me bent. Are you going to take responsibility?”

Ji Yushi’s breathing stopped. He reluctantly explained, “That was a performance, not crossdressing! You were the one who couldn’t distinguish between male and female and constantly followed me around. How would I have known that you thought that I was a girl?”

Song Qinglan pretended not to hear and added, “You even cried when I left.”

“I didn’t.”

“You did.”

“I didn’t.”

“You did.”

As if they had returned to kindergarten, the two continued this childish exchange several times before it ended with Song Qinglan sealing Ji Yushi’s lips with a kiss.

Sitting in the quiet library, they shared a kiss.

Tongues and lips entangled gently.

The glass reflected their kissing appearance.

When the kiss ended, Song Qinglan rested his forehead against his and asked again, “When did you recognise me?”

Ji Yushi finally answered this question, “The first time we met in Jiang City.”

That time, he and Chief Wang were visiting the base together when he heard someone enter.

The visitor had long legs and a handsome appearance, but he exuded an air of arrogance and oppressiveness.

“His name is Song Qinglan. The sunny ‘Qing’ and the mountain wind ‘Lan’…..”

One’s appearance would change with age but it would still contain some similarities. What’s more, with Ji Yushi’s memory, it was even easier for him to make a connection. He originally still had some suspicions and thought it was too coincidental, but everything was confirmed as soon as he heard Chief Wang’s introduction.

“Fuck.” Song Qinglan couldn’t help but let out a low curse, “Then why didn’t you tell me?”

Ji Yushi said, “Because I thought you were annoying at the time.”

Song Qinglan laughed out loud. Even his chest shook, “That’s true. I’m sure you noted down a lot of grudges back then. Why else would you have kept it from me for so long?”

Ji Yushi wasn’t the type to hide things. As long as Song Qinglan asked, he would definitely tell him.

But the key point was ‘as long as Song Qinglan asked’.

“You clearly told me all the other important things, but you didn’t tell me this.” Song Qinglan asked, “Why did you change your name.”

Ji Yushi, “A name is just a title. It actually doesn’t matter.”

Song Qinglan frowned.

This was something Ji Yushi had said before, but he didn’t think much of it at the time. Now, he felt that this line was more meaningful than he had initially thought.

Sure enough, Ji Yushi slowly stored away the smiling expression and asked, “Did Chief Wang call just now?”

Everything was within Ji Yushi’s expectations.

In the first place, he didn’t plan on hiding the fact that he was ‘Han Han’ from Song Qinglan for this long.

“Yes.” Song Qinglan said, “If it weren’t for your mission report, even now I wouldn’t have known that you…. met your father in Rubik’s Cube.”

Song Qinglan could almost imagine how Ji Yushi felt at the time.

Song Qinglan could also imagine that when Sheng Yun said “What a coincidence. My son also has a similar game console to the one this young brother has”, how difficult Ji Yushi’s “It really is” answer must’ve been. After all, the person who gave him the game console was right before him

But there was no real empathy in this world.

So Ji Yushi’s feelings at the time, Song Qinglan will never be able to fully understand. Just understanding a part of it was enough to fill his heart with a bitter taste.

The father and son had met in a time and space where the past and future were indistinguishable.

There was no sequence in time there so even the simplest of reminder or the smallest sentence could completely change one’s destiny.

And Ji Yushi just sat there watching his father leave before saying to his teammates, “Let’s go.”

“After returning, I have actually been thinking of a problem.” Ji Yushi slowly spoke up, “Do you think he recognised me?”

Song Qinglan’s heart felt like it was being fiercely crushed. The pain made it difficult to breathe.

This question was very cruel.

Should he reply with yes or no? He didn’t know. If he said that he did, then Sheng Yun would be too heartless, but if he said that he didn’t, Ji Yushi would be disappointed.

Song Qinglan knew that under Ji Yushi’s cold appearance, there was still a pure, childlike heart in him. After losing so much in his younger years, no matter how old he was, he still yearned for the affection from his father like any other child in the world.

“Who would have expected that Han Han would be so good looking after growing up?” Song Qinglan decided to respond this way, “Even I didn’t recognise you, so he most certainly didn’t. You changed too much.”

Ji Yushi blinked a few times, “Oh, you said before I looked very good as a child. Turns out you were lying.”

Song Qinglan laughed.

He didn’t expect Ji Yushi to be able to make a joke so quickly.

Ji Yushi returned to the topic just now, “As for changing my name….”

Song Qinglan said, “Was it related to your father’s ‘suicide’?”

Seeing Ji Yushi nod, Song Qinglan analysed, “You said you passed the murderer in the corridor and that this was an unsolved murder case. Tianqiong however deemed it as ‘suicide’?”

There must be some inextricable connections in this case.

Ji Yushi never thought that there would be a day where he would meet someone he could tell all his secrets to. He sorted out his feelings and thoughts and got ready to tell Song Qinglan all the clues and mysteries he had gathered over the years.

“In those few years, the understanding of time and space travel had advanced quite rapidly. If they really wanted to solve the case, it would’ve actually been an easy task. Furthermore, my father was originally an important personnel involved with the research and development of Tianqiong.” Ji Yushi said, “But on the contrary, this case was not only closed late, but there were also endless inquiries about me. My mother died in a car accident in my early years and with my father gone, I no longer have a legal guardian. Teacher wanted to protect me, so I went through the adoption procedures, changed my name and used legal means to completely disappear from public eyes.”

He had lost his father and even his name.

Professor Ji had told him that a name was just a title. It wasn’t important.

He was still Jian Jian inside; he was still Sheng Han.

But what Professor Ji didn’t expect was that Ji Yushi would suffer from hyperthymesia as a result of this stimulus. Even if he changed his identity, he never gave up his determination to pursue the truth. As the years passed, the core personnel responsible for Sheng Yun’s case had long since changed and there was no longer any resistance. When Sheng Han grew up and successfully joined Tianqiong, his outstanding abilities received recognition from the Recorder department and with the agreed condition, he began to earn points by completing missions.

Ji Yushi: “I think my father’s death has something to do with this so-called ‘Tianqiong of all eras’.”

Song Qinglan frowned, “He was a member of the R&D team.”

It was said that the members of the R&D team either died or went crazy. Looks like it wasn’t just a rumour.

The so-called Tianqiong of all eras however was finally completed and put into use.

“Not only that.” Ji Yushi looked at him, “Rubik’s Cube was also designed by him.”

Song Qinglan’s expression changed. He was deeply shocked.

Rubik’s Cube’s changes were unpredictable and in a certain sense, it could even be considered as the converging point of ‘all eras’. That was why they could see Lin Xinlan from a year ago, Zoe from decades later, and even Morita Yu from a different time and space.

“A souvenir he brought back for me from a meeting was a real Rubik’s Cube.” Ji Yushi told him about the dream he had in Rubik’s Cube and then said, “I wasn’t certain about this matter, and I also didn’t know how Rubik’s Cube was designed so I didn’t know how to clear it at the beginning. After figuring out the way to clear it, I still wasn’t certain but when I saw him with his colleague, I became certain that he really was involved with the design of Rubik’s Cube.”

Someone who wasn’t a Guardian had appeared at a place where Guardians were required to complete a mission.

Skipping over the other matters, Ji Yushi asked Song Qinglan, “Don’t you think that Rubik’s Cube’s mission itself was very strange?”

Song Qinglan, “Go on.”

Ji Yushi: “The previous Ouroboros and Chaos missions at least had a purpose. Whether it was destroying a collapsing world or closing a crevice in time and space, we know why we did it and there was logic in the mission. Rubik’s Cube’s mission however….”

“Was different.” Song Qinglan expressed his complaints, “It appeared complicated and grand but after completing it, we still didn’t know anything and only knew that the timeline was messy and needed to be rearranged.”

“That’s right.”

Ji Yushi nodded in agreement. He then voiced his thoughts, “It was originally an incomplete product.”

“Incomplete product?”

“Yes.”

Ji Yushi explained, “In other words, it had no purpose at all. It was just an idea, an experiment.”

“They were experimenting. If the timeline was completely broken, was it possible to use a method to bring Guardians with no connections from different times and spaces, regardless of whether they are from the past or the future, to gather at one point in time. This was a very big hypothesis —- All eras existing at the same time.”

Time was inherently linear and sequential.

The process by which things change sequentially was time itself.

But what if time was a puddle of water?

Without a beginning or end, without the concern of before or after, it remains stopped in place, only rippling as things change but always remaining in its original state.

In a sense, humans would be living in another dimension.

Song Qinglan shivered. He felt a little uncomfortable.

Ji Yushi also felt the same.

The universe was vast. Humans were like tiny ants in comparison.

No matter how advanced humanity was, they could never truly become a god. Just the thought of it was terrifying.

Ji Yushi said, “I don’t know if it was because it was discovered that this R&D project had violated the principles of nature so they…..”

Reaching this point, he seemed to be unable to continue. After pausing for a moment and recovering, he continued, “In the end, the project was stopped. In a place unknown to everyone, a ‘Tianqiong of all eras’ formed along with these difficult missions and it became the parent system in charge of implementing these missions.”

“This is the intelligent system you mentioned the other day.” Song Qinglan held the other person in his arms and kissed their forehead, “In other words, the parent system responsible for maintaining time and space stability.”

Everything seemed to be covered by a cloud of mist.

They were deeply involved. As long as they find a breakthrough point, they will be able to fully understand the truth.

That was why Ji Yushi must go back.

The two stayed in the library for a while. Ji Yushi asked, “Is our vacation over?”

Chief Wang’s phone call probably signalled the end of their vacation.

They had all expected this.

“Yes.” Song Qinglan said, “It’s too short.”

Ji Yushi sighed softly.

Song Qinglan laughed, “Why? Haven’t had enough fun?”

Ji Yushi made a sound of affirmation. He rested his head against Song Qinglan’s shoulder and seemed to be thinking about something.

Song Qinglan said, “However, our mission rewards have been passed. Through application, we can acquire our reward first before returning to work.”

Ji Yushi sat up.

He looked at Song Qinglan as if waiting for him to tell him the final outcome.

“The Jiang City branch sincerely wants you to join them. Chief Wang has made several phone calls to Chief Lin requesting for this.” Song Qinglan said, “That was why she readily agreed with your request at the time to give you time to sort out your personal affairs first.”

“Really?” Ji Yushi didn’t show any excitement. Seeing that Song Qinglan had said so much without getting to the point, Ji Yushi was able to guess a part of it, “Did my psychological assessment fail?”

Song Qinglan, “Yes.”

Ji Yushi: “……….”

“What are you disappointed for? Don’t you still have me?” Song Qinglan looked at him and spoke arrogantly, “I have accumulated two rewards. After applying, I’ll become your temporary guardian and the superiors allowed me to take you back to that day together.”

Ji Yushi was stunned, “You’re using both rewards? But what if you want something else?”

Song Qinglan casually stood up and carried a stack of his books to the robot nearby, “Let’s go, Advisor Ji. The restaurant reservation is at six. We should quickly make use of the remaining time to enjoy our date and return to Jiang City after we’re done eating.”

Ji Yushi also stood up. He seriously insisted, “I can wait for the next evaluation. You don’t need to use both rewards.”

Song Qinglan, “I only want one reward.”

Ji Yushi asked, “What is it?”

“I’ve said it many times already.” Song Qinglan walked over, “I want you to stay.”