Chaos

Chapter 31

The mission this time.

[Mission mode: Chaos.]

[Mission rule: None.]

[Mission objective: Repairer of Time.]

After being hijacked by Tianqiong’s ‘self-awareness’, they had completed the Super S-level [Ouroboros] mission. That task itself had left everyone in tatters so before they set off this time, Song Qinglan had chosen an A-level mission from the missions that needed to be unlocked. It was enough for them to just get some clues about when they could return.

They had thought that this mission would be very simple compared to [Ouroboros]. After all, an A-level and a Super S-level mission was not the same. This one was so much simpler; the system didn’t even specify a mission rule for them.

But no one expected that this damned system had once again thrown them a curveball.

Ji Yushi was pretty certain now that they weren’t sucked into this place by accident.

Whether it was that rainforest that was mirrored vertically or the city that was mirrored horizontally, the flow of time on both sides didn’t make sense.

These strange phenomena corresponded with their mission objection: Repairer of Time.

To him and Song Qinglan, it had only been three minutes since they left the space capsule, but to Li Chun, it was different.

According to Li Chun, he had arrived here six days ago.

Like them, his capsule had fallen into the mountain of garbage. In his muddled state, he saw Big Beard with his nose stuffed with tissues.

Big Beard examined the clothes he wore and, after confirming that he was still alive, he slowly took away the nutrient solution from the capsule, tied him with an iron chain, and brought him back to the space capsule along with the other materials he had picked up.

“I thought I was going to be cut up and cooked by him!” Li Chun said, “I couldn’t move at all at the time and even thought of what to write in my will. How are we so unlucky? Forget about the fact that we were hijacked by the system on our way out to our mission, we now even have to complete mission after mission and there’s not even a damned bonus! And even despite all this, when I joined Tianqiong, I swore to be a fearless Guardian but if I were to die in this god forsaken place, I won’t be able to rest in peace. The girl from last time is still waiting for me to ask for her number!”

Song Qinglan sent him a look, “After all that chatter, the last line was the key point.”

Li Chun froze for a moment, “That’s just an additional point. In fact, I’m not very afraid of death. I’ve after all already died many times in PU-31. I was just afraid that I would die here alone without seeing any of you one last time.”

With Li Chun the chatterbox here, the space capsule finally felt a lot livelier.

The empty and strange atmosphere from this strange world was gone and even Big Beard didn’t pick up a frying pan to fight against Song Qinglan like before.

Big Beard saw that they had returned and blabbered on for a while. He then pointed at Li Chun to express that he had saved him before gulping down the rest of the beer in his hand and falling asleep on the spot. One phrase surfaced to everyone’s minds: Large body, large heart.

During those three minutes Song Qinglan and Ji Yushi were away —- That is, the six days in the space capsule, Li Chun and Big Beard had already had a deep exchange with each other. The floors, the walls, they were all covered with remnants of their exchanges, and the originally interesting photo album had been drawn all over to the point where it could no longer be recognised.

Ji Yushi listened to Song Qinglan and Li Chun’s exchange and then looked around at the ‘communication artworks’. Some he could understand, others he couldn’t.

“Where are the others?” Song Qinglan asked.

“Don’t know.” With the captain back, Li Chun no longer dared to indulge and answered honestly, “The communicator doesn’t work here so I don’t know where Brother Wen and the others have gone. Maybe they are still on their way here.”

Like Ji Yushi, Li Chun also fell here the moment he entered his capsule in preparation to leave for the new mission. To him, he had only separated from his teammates not long ago.

It seems that there wasn’t just a problem with the flow of time in the mirrored rainforest and the mirrored city. The whole world here had a time difference with the outside world.

Ji Yushi faced a piece of paper on the wall and asked, “Is this a drawing of Big Beard?”

On the paper was a drawing of a space capsule and there were nine people drawn beside it, one of whom was very tall.The space capsule was drawn in a cartoon style similar to how Song Qinglan had drawn it previously whereas the people next to it were drawn very crudely. It was obvious that it was drawn by Big Beard himself.

“Big Beard?” Li Chun readily accepted this simple title and said, “Yes, this was what he drew of him himself. There should be nine of them when they came but now, he is the only one left. Looking at the uniform and the space capsule, could they be traversers like us?”

Song Qinglan answered, “It’s possible. They were probably also sucked in like us.”

Li Chun remembered something and walked over, “Advisor Ji, there are some words written here that I don’t understand. Can you read it?”

Li Chun pulled out another piece of paper. The Big Beard drawn on it was more detailed, and he was wearing a uniform with some symbols on it.

These symbols seem to be words in Big Beard’s language. No one could understand.

Li Chun however asked the right person.

When Ji Yushi saw those symbols, he immediately remembered the password keyboard in the small room. The symbol on the uniform in this drawing had the same symbols.

Ji Yushi said, “If the symbols on that password keyboard are numbers, then it would correspond to the numbers 1-9. Two of those symbols should be 18.”

Song Qinglan understood, “According to your analysis, if we use the process of elimination, the first two symbols are definitely not numbers.”

“It shouldn’t be.” Ji Yushi looked back at the drawing of the space capsule, “But since they appear on the uniform, even if they are not numbers, it must represent something like region or their mission. To figure out the meaning, we need to know where exactly Big Beard came from.”

Ji Yushi reached this point and paused, “Nine people…..He’s the only one left?”

There were almost no traces of other people living in the space capsule.

The control room was filled with miscellaneous items. It wasn’t something that could be achieved in a short period of time and instead it was accumulated over a long time. Big Beard’s messy hair and long beard was also an indicator that he had been here for a very, very long time.

So, how long had Big Beard been living here alone for?

The traces by the door of the small room left from repeatedly dragging iron chains also showed that Big Beard had dragged someone back on more than one occasion. In that case, where did those people go?

Why was there only Big Beard here in this place?

Song Qinglan mused, “Could it be like the twelfth squad and they also encountered something in the rainforest or the city or somewhere else?”

Li Chun asked curiously, “Twelfth squad? And what rainforest, what city?”

“I’ll talk to you about this later.” Song Qinglin wasn’t interrupted by him and continued, “Advisor Ji, if those people really entered those places and they end up getting lost because the flow of time in those places are different, then they’re probably unlikely to return?”

Ji Yushi’s mind was always clear.

Even during the extremely difficult mission like Ouroboros, he was able to quickly identify points that had been missed by the others.

The same was true this time as well.

“It’s very simple. We can calculate it.” Ji Yushi said, “We didn’t wear our communicators when we were in the rainforest. According to my guesses, it was probably about two days.”

“Wait a minute.” Song Qinglan objected, “Two days?”

He at most thought it had been a little over a day. Apart from being hungry and tired like Ji Yushi, he didn’t find it especially difficult and long.

“Yes.” Ji Yushi lowered his eyes slightly, “Due to various reasons, I rarely make a mistake with perceiving time, so the time we spent in the rainforest was about two days.”

Song Qinglan understood. It was his hyperthymesia again.

People with hyperthymesia didn’t gradually forget the previous second or previous minute like ordinary people did.

To them, every second spent was still clearly engraved into their minds, including all their senses and feelings at that time. As long as they recall it, it would be as if they were back at that time again and it was also because of this that their perception of time was rarely incorrect.

Ji Yushi didn’t dwell on this matter for long and continued, “But when we returned, we saw that less than two hours had passed. We can round that up to two hours for ease of calculations and here we can reach a conclusion. If we calculate the time flow rate by hours, the time in the rainforest is 24 times faster than the time in the space capsule.

Song Qinglan and Li Chun listened quietly.

“But the city we entered after going out through the outer hatch was completely the opposite.” Ji Yushi said, “It could be said that the time there was unimaginably slow. Let’s compare three minutes with six days and again calculated the time flow rate by hours. In this case, the time flow in that city is 2880 times slower than the time in the space capsule.”Ji Yushi’s mental arithmetic ability was just as good as his memory and he didn’t even need scratch paper or a calculator, “Let’s use a simple example. If we didn’t go to the rainforest first but directly opened the outer hatch and entered the city, we would definitely try to find a way out inside. Even if we only stay in that city for a day, it is equivalent to staying in the space capsule for eight years or so. Just imagine, after staying in the city for a few days and then returning back here, what would happen?”

Hearing this news, Li Chun’s mouth opened wide, “Shit. If that’s the case, wouldn’t I already be old and shrivelled by the time you come back?”

“Something like that.” Ji Yushi said, “For us, only a few days had passed but for you, years had passed. If the time flow rate in the space capsule is the constant, then the rainforest and the city are the variables.”

“Then I have a question.” Song Qinglan asked, “The previous group, whether it is Big Beard’s teammates or Tianqiong’s twelfth squad, would there still be people in that city now? After all, only a short amount of time had passed for them. It is possible that they are still alive.”

Everyone was silent.

That possibility was very high.

The terrible difference in the flow of time made a chill run down everyone’s spine at just the thought of it.

No wonder Big Beard reacted so strongly to their decision to leave through that hatch.

Cap Song and Advisor Ji had returned safely, but Li Chun was still afraid. He hurriedly asked, “Then we are sure that the mission we need to complete is here? Repairer of Time. How do we repair it? Is this really an A-level mission?”

“If you didn’t make Big Beard drunk, maybe we could continue to communicate and ask him how many people had been here before us.” Song Qinglan crossed his arms, “But this is strange. Why does he get along with you so well?”

Song Qinglan had been detained for five or six days and was left hungry for five or six days.

There was no answer to this question.

Ji Yushi said, “As for how to repair it…..I also don’t know.”

He looked at the drawings and symbols all across the walls and floors and said, “Let me figure out what you two have talked about during those days. When Big Beard wakes up, I may be able to learn his language.”

Song Qinglan, “You can learn his language?”

Ji Yushi said, “Yeah, there are seven languages that I am familiar with but not proficient in. My learning speed isn’t too slow. I can give it a try.”

The other two were suddenly silent.

Ji Yushi looked back questioningly, “What’s wrong?”

Li Chun asked sincerely, “Advisor Ji, do you know the difference between ordinary players and players with cheat?”

*

The three moved separately.

Song Qinglan went to the mountain of garbage again to look for useful clues amongst the wreckage and along the way check how far away darkness around the space capsule extended for.

Because those drawings were too difficult to decipher, Li Chun stayed to help clarify some of the meanings he already knew for Ji Yushi.

When Big Beard wakes up, they would try to get information out from him.

“This is a drawing of us?” Ji Yushi found a page with numerous scrawls.

Two people were drawn on the paper, one tall and one thin. Both held canned food in their hands and there was a ‘7’ written on their chests.

Li Chun hurriedly nodded, “Yes! He drew it after we gestured back and forth, and it was through this that I knew you were here.”

Ji Yushi found it funny. It seems that Big Beard held deep resentment towards them for eating his canned food.

However, he quickly frowned and pointed at the drawing again, “And what’s this?”

There was a heart drawn between him and Song Qinglan.

“My god!” Li Chun immediately balled the paper up and threw it away, “It was Big Beard’s mistake. He thought you two were a couple!”

Ji Yushi: “………”

Standing from Big Beard’s point of view, he and Song Qinglan indeed wouldn’t have seemed quite right.

It had to be said, they really did give off somewhat gay vibes.

“Fortunately Cap Song isn’t here. Advisor Ji, you should know that Cap Song has PTSD!” Li Chun this chatterbox once again started to show his skills, “If he saw this, I wouldn’t be allowed to live.”

Ji Yushi blinked a few times. He sat down and asked, “Oh, what kind of PTSD?”