Mist

Chapter 25

Ouroboros

Chapter 25

Half an hour later.

There was a total of 176 control panels.

It was exactly the same as the Golden Crow No.1 base.

Ji Yushi frowned. This was much more difficult than he thought.

Every two control panel corresponded to two energy transmitters. They continuously transmitted energy from both ends of PU-31, providing an energy source while at the same time preventing it from being sucked away by the crevice in the universe.

If too many energy transmitters were turned off at the same time at a certain place, PU-31 would then lose its balance and the world and everything would be overturned. Disasters like landslides and tsunamis would be trivial events in comparison to what would happen as a result.

And so, according to the coordinates of PU-31 on the real-time holographic projection, whether it was Golden Crow No.1 or Golden Crow No.2, Ji Yushi must turn off the panels in an accurate sequence to ensure that the balance is maintained.

He knew that after the mission was completed, PU-31 would no longer exist.

Therefore, before the task is completed, they must have someone stay behind to perform the final operation and also plan a route out to allow others to return to their initial starting point while avoiding all the ‘black walls’ so that they can enter their capsules to return to their own time.

Ji Yushi already knew why their future selves continued to choose to extend this point where Teams A and B coexisted.

It wasn’t just because they had more people and was the most promising in finding a breakthough point, it was also because the birth of the parallel timeline ensured that there would be people who can stay behind to complete the final operation whilst also ensuring that all the team members could return.

Choosing them must’ve been the conclusion their future selves reached after going through countless cycles.

Now then, there was a problem—-

The ‘me’ on the two parallel timelines are both the true ‘me’ and both are the ‘main body’, so who should stay behind to complete the task?

The control panel was just a few steps away. The battle was fierce.

The teammates fought a bloody battle. No one considered the option of retreating.

Team A and Team B.

They were fighting side by side.

“Bang!”

Ji Yushi raised his purple right arm and killed a zombie. Under his dark eyelashes, his emotions were unclear, “Have you discussed this issue?”

The other Ji Yushi said, “No.”

Ji Yushi was not surprised.

Because he himself also never thought of making his teammates make the choice.

For one to compete against themselves, it was too cruel.

“There are two possible outcomes.” He asked, “Aren’t you afraid of getting it wrong?”

“I am.” The other Ji Yushi said calmly, “And you?”

“Boom——-”

A loud explosion interrupted their conversation.

Song Qinglan’s last energy cannon exploded, the shockwave sending everyone to the ground.@@@@

The giant spiders body flew across the room, bursting open when it hit one of the ventilation pipes. Amidst the earth-shattering noise, the mutated species hiding in the pipe that had fallen to the ground finally revealed itself.

A mass of flesh consisting of a mixture of an unknown number of species and covered in mucous squirmed across the ground. Countless ‘tongue’-like tentacles searched around the ground like it was very much afraid of coming into contact with light.

The mass of flesh was very sticky and had no ability to walk independently so it could only hide in the pipes and slide around.

As it squirmed around, human limbs and faces appeared on its back. It was as if they were all alive and each still had their own movements —- It had absorbed the people in the base that had not yet mutated and merged with them into one body.

Li Chun saw this scene and, combining it with the thought of the residual mucous on his body, he started vomiting on the spot.

Although the other Li Chun was unaware of what happened, when he saw himself reacting like this, he naturally guessed a few things and similarly knelt onto the ground and started to vomit.

Everyone: “.......”

At the same time, they shot at the mass of flesh. It didn’t take long for it to turn into mincemeat.

Two or three severely wounded giant spiders descended from the sky. They dragged the pile of mincemeat away from the gunfire and ran.

The rest of the zombies weren’t much of a threat. Everyone was panting with exhaustion and would shoot at them from time to time to prevent them from approaching. They no longer wanted to move.

“Advisor Ji.” Two Song Qinglan’s stepped into the control room, “How are the calculations?”

They spoke in no particular order, but they were surprisingly in sync.

The Ji Yushi in black said, “I have already followed the order and closed a part of the energy transmitters at Golden Crow No.1. We just need to leave a safe return route to the starting point.”

The Ji Yushi in white looked a little paler. As the same person, he looked a lot weaker, “That’s right. I will turn off the energy transmitters in order until the very end.”

“You want to stay?” Song Qinglan on the left looked at him. The one on the right also frowned.

Two Song Qinglan’s. No one here could tell the difference.

Of course, it was the same for the others too.

The Li Chun covered with mucous and the Li Chun without mucous.

The sitting silent and small eyed Zhou Mingxuan and the standing Zhou Mingxuan.

Duan Wen who a little more blood on his face and Duan Wen with not so much blood onhis face.

Tang Qi with an arm injury and Tang Qi with a leg injury.

There was also Tang Le who was alone. As if he realised something, he stood aggrievedly between the two Tang Qi’s.

As the experienced captain, Song Qinglan’s theoretical knowledge of time and the universe wasn’t necessarily worse than Ji Yushi’s.

“That is the worst outcome, it won’t necessarily happen.” Song Qinglan acted like he was talking about something unimportant, “But it is very likely that the moment the mission is completed is the moment we disappear.”

Ji Yushi lowered his purple arm and stood there quietly, “Then why did you stay?”

Song Qinglan said, “Because I believe you have already prepared a backup plan.”

Ji Yushi’s heartbeat was slightly erratic.

Only the other Ji Yushi knew this. Since he was originally himself, it wasn’t surprising.

The feeling of having his thoughts guessed by another person was very strange. He almost never had such an experience before.

Song Qinglan said, “Regarding the black wall, I remember it first appeared when we arrived at the park management office, around 5:30am, but regardless of whether it was Golden Crow No.1 or Golden Crow No.2, it is impossible for us to turn off the energy transmitter during that time frame. I would like to make a bold guess. There may actually be more than one anchor point set by Tianqiong. After we were swallowed by the darkness, we entered a new cycle, reached a different anchor point and managed to turn off the first energy transmitter at 5:30am.”

“It’s like a bigger circle fitting into this smaller circle......but we don’t know and cannot be certain.” Song Qinglan then said, “So they are actually the only ones who escaped from this cycle. We must have someone stay behind to complete the new cycle and let the ‘us’ who just reached the park management office after returning to the starting point see the arrival of the black wall. Only then will it become a complete circle and only then will everything ‘we’ encounter afterwards actually happen.”

Ji Yushi: “......”

To return to a certain moment and complete a certain event so that everything in the future may happen.

Song Qinglan had guessed it.

Ouroboros mode.

They created darkness.

And they also became the chaser of darkness.

In a sense, this was the real way to clear through this.

This was also another way to answer the mission objective: They will become the actual chaser of darkness themselves.

“Two possible ways to think of it, two kinds of preparations to complete the task.” Song Qinglan said, “If you guessed wrong, this task is in fact not as complicated as you think and staying behind to do all this is actually unnecessary. After we die, our other selves can smoothly return to the starting point and return to our time.”

“If you were not wrong, then soon we will enter a new cycle after being swallowed by the darkness and go to turn off the first energy transmitter at 5:30am to complete the initial trigger event — Only then will the mission be considered as complete. We will then similarly return to the anchor point from the very beginning and it would be like we had never left the forest in the first place.”

Ji Yishi was stunned.

Song Qinglan raised the corners of his lips and said nonchalantly, “But you have forgotten. Even if you’re wrong, we were the ones who chose to stay. Sacrificing for ourself is not considered a sacrifice. You don’t need to carry the burden all by yourself.”

Ji Yushi was just an ordinary person.

Even if he had superhuman memory and superhuman observation ability, he couldn’t guarantee that everyone in the parallel timeline could return to their world safely and could only choose to do it like this.

But how could Song Qinglan guess all the things he couldn’t bring himself to say?

If that was the case, the other Song Qinglan must have also guessed it.

Recalling the words the other party said before he left, it all matched with Song Qinglan’s current attitude.

Song Qinglan threw something to him, “Did you really think that those people really didn’t know anything and only know to play games in class like you?”

The other teammates all looked in their direction and waved at Ji Yushi to tell him not to worry and that they are fine.

Ji Yushi caught the object and looked at it. It turned out to be his black-and-white handheld game console.

He was stunned, “This?”

“The other you gave it.” Song Qinglan said, “If there really is a new cycle, it will go on for a while. You sure you don’t want to use it to distract yourself a little?”

Ji Yushi rubbed the console.

He heard Song Qinglan ask, “Gift from a family member?”

Ji Yushi nodded.

Song Qinglan was silent for a couple of seconds. He then said, “Let’s make a bet.”

Ji Yushi, “Bet what?”

Song Qinglan, “Bet that the second method is the right way to complete the task and the outcome is even better than you imagined. If I win, you stay in the seventh squad.”

Song Qinglan looked very serious and the look in his eyes was deep.

It was probably the look a captain who highly regards talent would have.

Ji Yushi asked, “And if you lose?”

Song Qinglan had already found the last control panel.

At this moment, the other Song Qinglan’s voice sounded through the public channel. Everyone heard him clearly, “We have all entered the capsules. Everything is ready.”

“If I lose....”

Song Qinglan spoke in a low voice like he was talking to himself.

But in the end, he didn’t say anything and directly pulled the valve straight down.

The last two energy transmitters corresponding to the starting point and the Golden Crow No.2 base was shut down.

Amidst the bloody battlefield in front of the control panel, inside the large Golden Crow No.2 base, the entire team disappeared into the darkness along with PU-31.

Ji Yushi’s last impression of the world was the game console in his hand which still carried some warmth.

As well as Song Qinglan’s broad back in front of him....

KK has something to say:

And that’s the end of this arc! It’s pretty confusing isn’t it? I did my best with trying to keep everything clear but I found that there were times where even I got confused while doing the translation ><

I did a rough diagram based off one that is shared on Weibo to help you guys with understanding what happened in this first arc. The link is down below. (If anyone has a better diagram or something, feel free to share it too!)

CLICK HERE FOR DIAGRAM FOR MIST ARC 1