Chaos

Chapter 36

Don’t just remember grudges. Then it’s also remembering the good.

In short, whether it was good or bad, Ji Yushi remembered it all.

“Then thanks for that.” Song Qinglan joked and placed his little hand back into Ji Yushi’s palm, “Let’s go.”

Ji Yushi’s fingers were long and slender, and the temperature of it was slightly cool.

It was just like the feeling he gave others; a little cold and seemingly difficult to warm up.

But once you got to know him, Ji Yushi was like the clear spring water one would find in mountains; clean and easy to see through and in fact very easy to get along with.

The two continued on following the tracks left by the cart from when they went to gather the plants.

This time, Ji Yushi’s pace had slowed down even more and, with the abnormal magnetic field and gravity, each step felt heavier and heavier.

Very soon, Ji Yushi could feel the child’s hand in his hand becoming sweaty.

He could also tell that Song Qinglan was having difficulty walking — A child’s physical strength was very limited compared to an adult and he had overlooked this point.

He lowered his head and asked, “Cap Song, should I hold you?”

Song Qinglan took another step with difficulty. The big boots dangled from his feet and his small face was flushed from the effort he had to exert, “Is it necessary? I can walk on my own.”

Ji Yushi asked with a strange look, “Then when you returned so quickly just now, did Li Chun carry you?”

Song Qinglan had nothing to say in response to that: “…….”

Ji Yushi bent down to hold him, but Song Qinglan quickly moved away.

He saw Song Qinglan point ahead and for once, he spoke without the usual calm tone of an adult, “If I said I don’t need it, I don’t need it! We’re almost there anyway! Advisor Ji, it’s fine if you just continue supporting me!”

Song Qinglan was right. Very soon, they arrived at the place where they were collecting the plants.

The cart was still there. It was filled with vines with glowing flowers growing from it, waiting to be transported to the rainforest.

There were also some glowing flowers on the ground which hadn’t had the chance to be loaded onto the cart. It was probably because Li Chun was in too much of a hurry earlier.

Apart from that, there was nothing else here.

Ji Yushi asked, “Cap Song, did you slip on this small slope?”

“Yes.” Seeing Ji Yushi walk over, Song Qinglan grabbed his sleeve with a frown, “Don’t go over.”

Knowing that the other party was worried that he might also end up in the same situation, Ji Yushi pointed ahead, “Is there a mirrored world similar to the rainforest and the city there?”

There was a small slope in front of the cart, and further in front of that was a patch of darkness that got darker and darker. The distance it extended was about the same as the distance they had travelled when entering the rainforest.

Song Qinglan wasn’t here for the first time but when he checked the situation around the space capsule last time, he didn’t find anything here. He didn’t know why something like this had happened.

He was in a small body, but his tone was very calm, “No. I didn’t see anything after sliding down but I was like this when I got back up.”

What was the reason for time to have an effect on Song Qinglan’s body?

Even the intelligent Ji Yushi felt that the puzzle was becoming bigger and bigger. In this place where the mission mode is ‘Chaos’, inside this crevice, everything couldn’t be understood using normal means.

“Can I change back?”

Ji Yushi looked back and was met with a young face that showed no fear. There was only some irritation.

Even whilst feeling anxious, Song Qinglan’s way of dealing with his emotions was very mature.

Anyone who was in a difficult situation would feel anxious. Recalling the last mission, Song Qinglan had played a very important role. Even if he wasn’t as strong as Ji Yushi in the logical thinking aspect nor did he have the ability to remember everything with one glance, his ability to comprehend and his leadership and decisiveness had helped Ji Yushi considerably. They had worked perfectly together to solve the problem at hand.

“Maybe I really will need to live in the rainforest for more than ten years.” Song Qinglan said, “I will have to trouble you to wait for me. If you’re really bored, you can stay a few hours in the city. We can meet again when it’s time.”

Time that crawls by in the city.

The normal space capsule.

The rainforest where each day feels like a year.

Ji Yushi’s mind quickly grasped the key point. He spoke up, “Cap Song, we seem to be in the wrong direction.”

Song Qinglan pulled at the collar of the cotton-padded jacket that continuously slid down, “What direction?”

“No, it should be that I was thinking in the wrong direction.” Ji Yushi said, “As for why the time flow rate was normal only near the space capsule and whether our mission had nothing to do with the time flow rate, you had given me a good hint before. I was the one thinking in the wrong direction. It’s like the Raven Paradox.”

Raven Paradox.

Take the line ‘all ravens are black’ as an example. If a thousand ravens were observed and it was noted that they were all black, then the confidence in the statement that ‘all ravens are black’ would increase. As such, the phrase ‘all ravens are black’ would logically be equivalent to ‘birds that are not black are not ravens’ and whenever one that is not black is observed, the original statement of ‘all ravens are black’ would become even more convincing.

There was a big difference between logical thinking and intuitive thinking.The flowers on the vines in the cart were piled on top of each other. The light from it lit up their faces.

Ji Yushi said, “We thought that since the flow of time was abnormal and there was also a mirrored world after crossing through the darkness around the space capsule, it was all because there was no special light source in the dark. This was where we went astray. In fact, it is very simple. The real problem here are the light sources.”

Song Qinglan asked, “These flowers?”

“Yes.” Ji Yushi said, “Rather than a crevice between parallel universes, the place we are in now is probably better referred to as a crevice in time. At the same time, it is also a loophole in time.”

“Time originally runs smoothly and flawlessly. It is just a concept that cannot be touched or manipulated, but one day, humans discovered the laws behind it and after that came traversers. They would travel from point A to point B, leaving behind a trace in this usually flawless operation. The traces left behind took root and bloomed into these small flowers.”

Ji Yushi picked up a glowing flower and carefully examined its transparent petals.

Song Qinglan had a strong hunch that their mission was soon about to be completed.

Ji Yushi said, “Of course, the flowers may just be a form of those traces. As these traces grow more and more, slowly, a crevice in time opened, eventually becoming a loophole that subsequently disrupted its order. These traces in the crevice reacted with the void in time itself, resulting in the appearance of different worlds, or forming chaotic mirrored worlds.”

“So our purpose isn’t to plant these flowers, but to eradicate them.” Song Qinglan understood. His handsome and refined small face showed some contempt, “This system, the missions it releases really only can be taken literally.”

Repairer of Time.

Once the traces are removed and the crevice is closed, the loophole would no longer exist.

Ji Yushi threw away the flower, “When you fell and slid down that small slope just now, the light from the flowers hit you at the right angle with refraction, causing time to flow backwards. This was why only you were affected while Li Chun wasn’t despite the short distance between you two. However, if I am not wrong, once we fix this loophole and this crevice is gone, time would return to normal, and everything should return to its original state. By then, you should also change back, and we would also return to where we came from, as if we had never appeared here before.”

For example, they would return to their capsules and back to the moment when they were in the middle of transitioning.

This mission was truly very simple.

Song Qinglan raised a brow, “Then could me being like this be considered a blessing in disguise?”

Ji Yushi said, “It is for us, but I don’t know about them.”

Them?

Song Qinglan asked, “Do you mean Big Beard and that Xie Sian?”

Ji Yushi shook his head. His tone was cold, “It should be everyone who has been here.”

*

Relying on his tall height and long legs, Ji Yushi picked the child up without a word and placed him in the cart which had been cleaned up earlier. As he did this, one of the short boots fell. Ji Yushi picked it up and returned it to Song Qinglan, “Little one, wear your shoe properly.”

Song Qinglan, “……..”

The smaller person was very angry.

Ji Yushi suddenly thought of the Song Qinglan from Team 6.

At Golden Crow No.2’s base, that Song Qinglan had appeared with Shen Mian in his hands like a god who had descended from heaven. He stood on the spacecar looking very valiant and with his red magazine glowing, three shots were fired without hesitation at the zombies and giant spiders. Despite knowing the eventual outcome of him taking such actions, he still led his teammates forward without fear.

Now, he was sitting helplessly in the cart holding his shoe.

Ji Yushi pushed the cart back, “How does it feel to be smaller?”

There was evident stubbornness written on Song Qinglan’s back, “Compared to turning smaller, I feel that I am more willing to fight against zombies. Even those giant spiders are acceptable.”

Ji Yushi, “For children like Cap Song, the teachers must’ve had a lot of trouble.”

“That’s true, I really wasn’t very obedient as a child.” Song Qinglan admitted very quickly. He then looked back at Ji Yushi and wondered, “Is it that obvious?”

How did Advisor Ji know?

As they spoke, there was a loud noise which sounded like it came from right next to them.

Something had been sucked over to the mountain of garbage again.

The two immediately turned around to go to the mountain of garbage. This time they picked up their two long overdue teammates, Tang Qi and Tang Le.

While they were contemplating over how they should bring them back, Li Chun arrived with Zhou Mingxuan in tow, “Cap Song! Advisor Ji!”

Zhou Mingxuan who had just woken up was in pretty good spirits. Seeing Song Qinglan in the cart, his small eyes widened, “R-really turned smaller?!”

Before Song Qinglan could speak, Zhou Mingxuan pinched his face, “Fuck! Actually a little cute!”

Song Qinglan, “………”

Would it be too late to jump down and give Zhou Mingxuan a kick?

Zhou Mingxuan immediately revealed his mischievous side. Whilst carrying Tang Le in one arm, he took photos with his communicator with the other hand, “Saved! In the case of Cap Song being unable to change back, we will need to start recording Cap Song’s growth!”

Ji Yushi couldn’t bear to remind him that saving it was useless. In any case, it would all be gone.

Tang Le’s head was hanging down. His stomach was pressed onto Zhou Mingxuan’s shoulder, making him want to vomit. When he opened his eyes, he was almost shocked silly, “?”.

Only Tang Qi was unconscious. One could only imagine what his reaction would be if he saw his captain’s current appearance.

This was simply a large-scale execution scene for Song Qinglan. Looking at his expression, it was very likely that he had cursed a hundred times inside.

The six members of the seventh squad had gathered, there was only Duan Wen left.

Seeing there were now so many people gathered in the space capsule, Big Beard immediately gathered the cans up in his arms, leaving none to be touched. This was especially so for Xie Sian, he shouldn’t even dream about getting a single can from Big Beard.Everyone had their own thoughts after listening to Ji Yushi’s analysis.

Xie Sian asked, “Advisor Ji, according to your analysis, if this crevice is repaired and everyone returns to the moment before we were sucked in, would my teammates also come back?”

This was a question Song Qinglan and Ji Yushi had discussed before. He nodded and said, “In theory, that should be the case.”

Xie Sian was a scout in the twelfth squad.

He was also very keen in this aspect, “Then wouldn’t that produce many paradoxes?”

Li Chun would now get a headache whenever the word paradox was mentioned. He only wanted to hear the result and didn’t want to participate in the discussion process.

Fortunately, Zhou Mingxuan asked for him, “What paradox?

Xie Sian said, “For example, after ‘A’ was sucked in, the era he was in continued to move forward and everything that happened afterwards had nothing to do with him. With the crevice in time repaired, everything would be restored to its original condition and ‘A’ would return to his original time so everything that happens afterwards would be rewritten. If that were the case, where would everything that has already happened go? This is the paradox.”

Tang Qi and Tang Le had both woken up.

Tang Le leaned against his older brother’s shoulder. Since the twins looked exactly the same, Big Beard continued to look at them in attempt to tell who was who.

Tang Le said, “I know the answer to this. Infinite covering.”

Just like how the seventh quad had extended one point of the circle infinitely to cover the other points in their previous mission.

They were already very familiar with something like this.

Xie Sian came from fifteen years ago. At that time, the knowledge gained from the Tianqiong system and the Time Administration Team was still very limited. It was still a time where all this knowledge was rather new, so he was a little puzzled when he heard Tang Le’s statement.

“Everything related to ‘A’ would be covered over with his return and everything that has happened until now in his era would be rewritten.”

A child’s voice sounded.

Everyone turned around and saw Song Qinglan eating from a can of canned fruit.

Big Beard, “???”

But he had hidden them all?

“Here’s a simple example. For example, after ‘A’ disappeared and was regarded as missing, his family received some monetary compensation which in turn helped them with treating a serious illness, but because of his return, his family loses such an opportunity and their fate was rewritten, resulting in the seriously ill family member to pass away.” Song Qinglan may be small but he was strong. As he said this, he opened another can of spam and handed it to Ji Yushi.

Ji Yushi: “………”

Song Qinglan sat on the sofa with one leg bent and the other leg hanging in the air because it couldn’t reach the floor. He continued, “There is also another possibility. Because of their return, a new timeline is created while the old one continues as per usual. These two timelines would run parallel to each other.

Parallel worlds.

Xie Sian immediately understood.

In that case, would it really be considered as returning to their own world?

He was lost in thought.

Ji Yushi lowered his head and looked down at the can. He gave it back to Song Qinglan, “Cap Song, I heard that children will grow taller if they eat more meat.”

Song Qinglan, “I’ve almost eaten my fill now.”

Big Beard watched the two push the can back and forth, “Suowulalawu.”

Everyone thought Big Beard was cursing again and was unhappy that they were eating his canned food but unexpectedly, Big Beard instead took out another can and gave it to Ji Yushi while saying a few more things. He turned out to be getting them to have one each.

Song Qinglan was curious. He supported his chin and asked leisurely, “Advisor Ji, what is he saying?”

“Actually, I also didn’t understand. It’s probably an endangered language.”

Ji Yushi placed down the can of spam meat and showed no intentions to eat. He changed the topic again and said, “We didn’t have much time and his language is also very complicated so there are still a lot of words I am not familiar with. I’m just wondering how I should explain to Big Beard what he will face next.”

Ji Yushi was already very amazing.

Li Chun and Big Beard had been together for the longest time, but he only understood one line: Anfalahagenhe.

It was equivalent to short insulting words like bastard, motherfucker and dogshit.

Ji Yushi said, “Their PU-18 was destroyed before PU-31. Ten years ago, their team had launched the space capsule in attempt to go to a new colony. If everything were to be restored, they would return to that time and it is still unknown whether their original destination still exists.”

Ji Yushi sat on the carpet in front of the sofa. He was clearly talking about another person’s matter, but the tips of his ears hidden under his black hair were red.

The little Song Qinglan sitting behind him was at a low angle so he just happened to spot it. He subconsciously reached out and touched it with his finger.

Hot.

Ji Yushi turned back, “?”

Perhaps it was because he was currently in a child’s body, Ji Yushi at this moment couldn’t decipher Song Qinglan’s expression.

At this moment, he heard Xie Sian say, “Maybe it doesn’t matter where you are going. What matters most is that there is a chance to see your teammates again.”

Seeing that everyone was looking at him, Xie Sian spoke with more confidence, “Whether it is good or bad, at least they were given a chance to live.”

Time was the only proof that everything existed.

If one could have that time again, they could again exist in this world.

“Boom—–”

There was a loud noise.

White light flashed outside the small window and the space capsule shook slightly.

When the shaking eased off, Song Qinglan raised the corners of his lips. His tender voice also carried the tone he would usually have when he was an adult, “Hearing that commotion, it sounds very much like Old Duan. Everyone should eat and rest well. The mission has now officially changed from planting flowers to weeding. Soon, we will start working on this special mission assigned by Tianqiong.”