Ouroboros

Chapter 22

“Don’t look….at what?”

Under the strong smell of blood, Ji Yushi’s eyes were covered and he couldn’t see anything, but his brain automatically began to replay the scene he saw just now.

It was just a glance.

But his brain had involuntarily noted down all the details.

It was still the same marble-like floor like outside, white and smooth, but blood covered most of his field of vision. Mixed together with that blood was something white and sticky and to the far left of the pool of blood, there was something thin and flesh coloured. It was someone’s right ear…..If he moved his eyes a little, he could see white skin and muscles. That was someone’s thigh…..Following that was a mass of red that looked like intestines as well as scattered teeth and if he looked a little further, there was a calf wearing a black boot.

Ji Yushi only felt a strong bout of nausea.

He couldn’t be mistaken.

That was his own calf.

As for ear and other pieces of flesh in the pool of blood, they belonged to the teammates who were still standing next to him.

In other words, he had almost witnessed the complete annihilation of Team 5.

“Grrrrr!!”

Ji Yushi heard it. It was the sound of a zombie rushing over from the end of the corridor. Before it could reach them, it was killed with a ‘bang!’.

The gunfire came from next to him. Song Qinglan who was covering his eyes from behind had fired a shot with one hand.

The people around seemed to find it unsettling. They all quickly scattered away.

“What is that?!”

“Insect legs?”

“Slimy and sticky, it’s liked a damned spider web!”

Ji Yushi followed Song Qinglan along for a few steps before he finally removed the hand in front of his eyes.

Everyone in the team was pale, their expressions also very ugly.

Even if they knew that their future selves would continue to pave the way for their present selves, seeing firsthand how that path was formed was something they couldn’t imagine.

“Warned you a little too late.” Song Qinglan suddenly spoke, “Next time, I’ll try to be faster.”

Ji Yushi was stunned. It took him a while to realise that Song Qinglan was talking to him.

The other party’s cold and stern face showed sincere concern under the bright lights. It was concern from a captain towards their teammate, but there was also a trace of emotion that Ji Yushi couldn’t decipher — The same kind of emotion he had seen in his teacher’s eyes when he was young. Because of this, he was a little surprised.

“Thank you.” He said.

Song Qinglan, “Team 5 split up. Half of them are at the Golden Crow No. 1 base. Don’t think too much, there is no ‘you’ there.”

This time Ji Yushi was really surprised.

But Song Qinglan’s expression was still natural: “So treat it as if you hadn’t seen it.”

Duan Wen was still standing at the entrance to that large room. His psychological endurance seemed to be pretty good. He suddenly shouted, “Cap Song! This Old Zhou seems to still be alive!”

Song Qinglan, “Having lasted until now, he must have something to say. I’ll go over.”

As he said that, he strode over to that room without any hesitation.

One of the teammates couldn’t handle the sight and had ran away to throw up. This time it wasn’t Li Chun, but Zhou Mingxuan.

Anyone who saw themselves dying so tragically wouldn’t be able to stay completely calm.Ji Yushi wondered: What exactly happened here?

Why was Song Qinglan able to control his emotions so well despite having clearly seen that scene? Was it to comfort him, fearing that he would not be able to complete the next task?

A minute or two later, Song Qinglan quickly left the room filled with blood, leaving a trail of bloody footprints on the floor.

His tone was sharp and cold, “Hurry and move on! Close the corridor gates now!”

No sooner said than done, as soon as Song Qinglan said that, everyone heard noises coming from the direction they had come from. It didn’t sound like it belonged to a zombie, let alone the sound of human footsteps!

At the end of the corridor, a black shadow the size of a car had appeared.

It was injured. Covered with brown and black markings and hair as well as possessing eight legs that span almost two metres in length, it faced the crowd and bared its fangs.

“Fuck! A spider!”

Everyone’s scalp went numb. Someone yelled this out amidst the confusion and they all quickly turned around and ran in the direction pointed out by Song Qinglan.

The corridor gates were about ten metres away from them. It was just a short distance but at this moment it felt like it stretched endlessly into the distance.

Although that spider was injured, it still relied on the instincts it had been blessed with. It completely ignored the walls and ground and rushed towards them with an unimaginable speed.

“Bang, bang, bang!”

The team opened fire, but the giant spider’s abdomen and back were covered with hard armour, making it difficult for the bullets to penetrate.

The giant spider landed to the ground. The ground was covered in blood, making it difficult for it to maintain its balance using its five legs. It suddenly slipped, giving Tang Qi who had already reached the gates the opportunity to push down the hydraulic lever.

“Hurry!”

“Cap Song!”

The moment the last of them rolled past the gate, the giant spider had also reached the gate.

The gate blocked air and sound completely but everyone still seemed to hear a loud ‘bang!’ when the spider rammed itself against the thick glass barrier. Its mouth was wide open and white sticky fluid slid down the glass.

Li Chun cursed, “What the hell is this?! Was this also something they have been researching?!”

“White-tailed spider.” Ji Yushi spoke up, “A commonly indoor spider. Carnivorous. Generally speaking, it hides in dark spaces or in crevices and comes out at night to catch cockroaches, mosquitoes, flies and other insects.”

“How can something so big hide in a crevice?” Tang Le cried out, “I was almost bitten to death by that!”

Ji Yushi was almost all-knowing. His teammates were no longer surprised by his explanations that would appear from time to time.

To put it very simply, this spider had mutated due to some other reason.

Hearing Tang Le mention being almost bitten to death, everyone recalled their future selves —– The tragic scene of Team 5. They all thought of a possibility. Could it be that Team 5 was annihilated by these spiders?!

“Clang! Clang!”

The giant spider got up from the ground and proceeded to climb the gate using its five legs. With the abdomen pressed against the glass, a row of densely packed white spheres surrounded by spider thread appeared before them. They couldn’t help but shudder. They very quickly realised that those were unhatched eggs.

“Not just this one.” Song Qinglan said solemnly, “Continue on ahead.”

“Cap Song!” Ji Yushi’s eyes were still looking outside.

He only yelled this out and didn’t continue.

Song Qinglan who looked back at him was also startled.

Everyone saw an incredible scene.

Outside the corridor gate, everything had changed right before their eyes.

Those bloody footprints on the ground no longer existed and the zombie corpses and rotten flesh piled up in the corridor had similarly disappeared. At a rate visible to the naked eye, everything had been restored to its original state. More than a dozen zombies wearing white chemical protection clothing wandered aimlessly around the corridor. There was no trace of that giant spider on the opposite side of the glass.

Time seemed to have gone backwards.

All the traces left by Team 5 had disappeared.

Just like Ji Yushi’s analysis from earlier, once a paradox occurs, the points that have appeared or have yet to appear on the circle would be covered by this ‘extended’ timeline of theirs, and the timeline for Team 5 would cease to exist.Having managed to escape past the gate, they had all successfully survived.

This is was their numerous future self’s ultimate objective.

But Song Qinglan had said that there was more than one giant spider.

It must’ve been a clue Zhou Mingxuan of Team 5 had left for him.

Everyone was still in shock. Before they could mourn for their future selves, they saw three similar sized giant spiders appear on the ceiling in the distance. They ignored the zombies and wandered around, their eight intact legs moving extremely fast. They very quickly concealed themselves in the dark again.

Ji Yushi knew that these spiders are quietly hiding away, using the hairs on their legs to detect vibrations in the air. If anything living came their way, they would suddenly appear and tear up the food that had sent themselves to them.

After a moment of silence, Song Qinglan said, “Let’s go.”

They had already passed through the corridor, reaching another open space.

This dome was more than a hundred metres high. It was too large for them to immediately find the control centre.

At this moment, a green light flashed on Song Qinglan’s communicator.

Duan Wen had at some point in time turned off the silence mode on the communicator.

Immediately afterwards, everyone heard Ji Yushi’s voice coming through the communicator. This included Ji Yushi himself.

“Cap Song.”

A clear and cold voice sounded through the public channel for the first time.

It was Ji Yushi from Team B.

Probably because it felt strange calling out his own name, the Team B Ji Yushi chose to speak to Song Qinglan, “After going past the corridor gate, enter the first gate on the left, go down two floors, and after you follow the path for half a circle, you will see the control centre.”

From what everyone saw from the real-time holographic projection just now, Team B had already found the control centre and turned off the first set of energy transmitters.

The two bases were mirror images of each other. Team B’s Ji Yushi was naturally as meticulous as Team A’s, so he immediately thought of passing on the information to them.

Everyone was surprised.

This kind of experience was too strange. They were clearly standing in front of Ji Yushi who wasn’t speaking but they heard his familiar voice travel through from the public channel. Even the tone of his voice was exactly the same.

Song Qinglan also found this experience very novel.

He looked at Ji Yushi who was looking quietly back at him, as if waiting for him to finish talking to ‘someone else’.

“How is your situation there?” Song Qinglan asked.

“Everything went well.”

Another familiar voice also appeared.

Song Qinglan was startled as soon as he heard it. He almost thought he was listening to his own voice recording.

It was the other Song Qinglan.

The tone was casual and careless, but it also gave those hearing it an urge to beat him up, “Except for a little too many zombies and half of the people from Team 5 disappearing, there were no problems. We’re right now waiting for Advisor Ji to work out the order of turning off the energy transmitters. If we’re not careful and end up putting an end to our lives, how would we be able to go over and help you?”

Everyone: “…….”

Hearing the silence, the other Song Qinglan continued, “It’s too much for you to handle on your end, isn’t it? It is said that the second base is filled with mutations of SSS-level difficulty.”

Everyone: “…………”

Sure enough, no matter which Cap Song it was, they all have a knack for making the atmosphere be filled with the smell of gunpowder.

Gunshots sounded and it was followed by the sound of zombies falling. Li Chun of Team B’s cursing became part of the background sound.

Ji Yushi of Team B reminded, “Cap Song, fourth row, the sixth from the left.”

Song Qinglan of Team B, “Righto, I’m on it.”

The call was cut off.

For some reason, Song Qinglan felt that the way the others looked at him was a little strange.

Ji Yushi also retracted his gaze. He seemed to be a little unaccustomed to the way he and Song Qinglan in Team B interacted.

Song Qinglan bent down the corners of his lips, “Let’s go. Our side is SSS difficulty.”