Transfer Station
Chapter 26
“Welcome Ji Yushi. Welcome back to Tianqiong.”
Tianqiong’s familiar welcome speech sounded.
A robotic arm delivered over a bag of nutrient solution to let them recover from the sequelae caused by time travel such as dizziness and nausea.
This……was the cycle starting again?
Ji Yushi received the nutrient solution and drained it in one breath. From the corners of his eyes, he saw his black sleeves. It was the black combat uniform Guardians wore. He was no longer wearing the bloodstained white T-shirt.
No, they didn’t restart again.
Ji Yushi’s memories gradually recovered. He now knew that the second method they had chosen had succeeded.
After the energy transmitters were turned off at the second base, the task was still not truly complete. They had triggered a new anchor point, entered another big cycle, and then created the first black wall that appeared at the park management office at 5:30am and the second black wall that appeared at Runjin Building…..They watched the black walls that had been made by themselves continue to chase after their other selves in the smaller cycle. Rebirth after rebirth, they eventually achieved their goal.
Ouroboros had finally drawn a complete circle with the combined efforts of countless versions of them.
At this point, they truly completed the task.
After completing the task, they fell into the darkness.
When they woke up again, they found that they had returned to the moment when Tianqiong was being hijacked and emitting warning alarms. They had also successfully merged together with their other selves who had returned to the starting point.
As Song Qinglan had said, the outcome was better than expected.
Their selves in the two parallel timelines didn’t end up turning into a monster because they had appeared at the same point in time.
Everything in PU-31 was like a nightmare. Zombies, mutants, apocalypse…. Except for having terrible memories of it, they were still their original selves from before any of this happened, as if they had never left the capsule and never visited PU-31.
It was a perfect case of time and space hijacking.
But, what was going on now?
Shouldn’t they be on their way to complete their A-level mission?
Ji Yushi opened the door to his capsule. He was met with blinding white light.
After he got used to the strong light, he realised that this place was similar to the command centre.
“Brother Wen! We’ve completed the task!” Li Chun was almost about to burst into tears of joy. He had his arms around Duan Wen’s neck as he exclaimed excitedly, “We won’t go back there again!”
“Yes! Never again!” Duan Wen turned and looked over, “Advisor Ji!”
Everyone was a little excited.
Seeing Ji Yushi come out from the capsule, everyone in the squad couldn’t wait throw him in the air to celebrate.
But it was too inappropriate.
Even if they have fought side by side and went through life-threatening situations together, the feeling Ji Yushi gave them was still different.
In the other world, the contributions Ji Yushi made was obvious to all of them. He not only far exceeded the work a scout needed to do, but he also demonstrated that he was a Guardian with outstanding fighting capabilities. His calmness and tenacity were in sharp contrast with his own appearance, but it also very strangely suited him. Every action and gesture he made gave off a distant feeling…..how to put it, the feeling of an elite?
In any case, it couldn’t be compared to this group of rough men.
For example, even having reached a safe place, Ji Yushi still did not completely relax.
He looked around the place. The things that entered his eyes were bright lights, a huge control panel, holographic projection, and no one else……wait a minute.
“Cap Song.” Ji Yushi suddenly spoke up, “This place isn’t our command centre.”
Song Qinglan also noticed this because Tianqiong’s welcoming speech had given it away.
Hearing Ji Yushi’s words, Song Qinglan looked at the communicator habitually and said, “You’re right. The time format is incorrectly displayed here. The current coordinates of this place cannot be determined.”
Hearing those words, everyone became nervous. Their experiences in PU-31 had left a psychological shadow in everyone. Perhaps this was another place similar to PU-31.
Ji Yushi also raised his arm and looked at his communicator: [xxxx.xx.xx].
No coordinates.
For time and space travellers, time was the only way for them to confirm their current coordinates.
The lack of coordinates was a very serious matter and the traverser may even get lost in time and space, never able to return.
“Fuck.” Duan Wen opened a door and glanced out. He said the word everyone had in their minds on behalf of the squad.
He reported, “Cap Song, we fucking don’t seem to be on the ground.”
Li Chun and Tang Le also opened a few doors and looked down.
“Pitch black outside. It looks empty below!”
“There’s nothing around us too!
Song Qinglan walked over with a frown to check.
“Where is this?”
“Didn’t we break the cycle?”
“No way, after all that hard work, we’re starting again?”
Tang Qi: “Cap Song! Look!”
Everyone returned to the control panel and saw a line of words appear on the holographic screen:
[Congratulations! Guardians from Star Era 1456, you have completed the first Super S-level mission and are about to unlock the next one.]
Everyone’s heart turned cold. What did this mean?
“Who are you?” Song Qinglan faced the projection and asked.
As early as their time, the Tianqiong System had already activated the AI voice system. Sure enough, it was activated as soon as a question was heard.
“I am Tianqiong.”
The system’s voice was very gentle. It was a female voice.
Song Qinglan almost laughed out in anger, “The Tianqiong from which era?”
System: “In a broad sense, I am the Tianqiong of all eras.”
Tianqiong of all eras?
Everyone was confused.
Song Qinglan paused for a second or two, but he seemed to remember something and asked again, “In other words, the Ouroboros mission was one that you had released and us being here also has something to do with you?”
System: “Yes.”
Song Qinglan’s tone was very cold, “Where is this?”
System: “This is my time and space transfer station. You can rest, train and eat here. I have a plenty of supplies here. I suggest that you make use of it before proceeding onto the next mission.”
There’s another mission?!
Zhou Mingxuan who heard this immediately asked, “How do we go back?”
System: “One mission has been detected to be unlocked. Please unlock more to access more detailed information.”
“Fuck!”
“Isn’t this too much?!”
“What the hell is this?!”
“I can’t believe this!!”
The group exploded with anger.
Tang Le said to his brother, “I’m never going to set flags again. Before setting off, I even said to Advisor Ji that we would be back the next day.”
Tang Qi was speechless: “…….”
Ji Yushi who had been silent until now spoke, “Why did you choose us?”
Everyone calmed down. Ji Yushi had asked a very important question.
With his extraordinary memory and observation skills, they had unknowingly at some unknown point in time regarded him as another core to the team.
The system flashed a few times before speaking again, “Following more than 170 million calculations, your squad’s chance of success is higher than the average across all guardian squads.”
Everyone, “……..”
This kind of good news didn’t made them happy at all!
Song Qinglan: “What’s the next mission?”
The system said, “It is recommended that you rest first and then unlock the next mission.”
After that, the holographic projection turned dark and disappeared.
This was a downright case of time and space hijacking.
Everyone had thought that as long as they completed the [Ouroboros] mission, they would return to the moment their capsules were intercepted and successfully arrive at Xijing City in 1460.
Then, they would get in touch with their own Tianqiong command centre, complete the original A-level mission and then return to their own era.
With that, everything was back on track.
But it in fact wasn’t the case.
If they wanted to know when they could return, they would have to unlock more missions. Otherwise, they would all be trapped in this transfer station.
Everyone was exhausted physically and mentally, and the current situation had poured a bucket of cold water onto them. They were completely dumbfounded.
Ji Yushi’s face was illuminated by the fluorescent lights. He thought for a moment and walked away.
Tang Le asked, “Advisor Ji! Where are you going?”
Ji Yushi stopped and looked at them strangely, “I’m looking for something to eat. You’re not hungry?”
Everyone: “……….”
So are all highly intelligent people monsters?!
Isn’t Advisor Ji being too calm?!
When they were in the big cycle, Ji Yushi was still the same state as how he was in Golden Crow No.1; he was still shot in the abdomen, his arm was bruised, and he also had a fever. Now that everything had gone back to zero, the wounds on his body were gone and he had returned to how he was when he first set off.
But mentally, he hadn’t had a rest for a very long time. Ji Yushi at this moment looked extremely tired and he didn’t mind showing it.
“I’m too tired.” He said in a small voice, “I just want to eat something and then get a good night’s sleep.”
*
There was everything in this transfer station, even frozen steaks and fresh vegetables. It was unknown where this gangster system managed to get them from.
Ji Yushi was right. Since they couldn’t go anywhere, it was better to recuperate first.
Everyone filled their stomachs, calmed themselves down, and each found a room to rest in.
Ji Yushi who had just finished showering got ready to lie down when he heard a knock on his door.
The one who came this time was Song Qinglan.
He stood at the door and had no intentions to go in, “Advisor Ji, have you ever heard of Tianqiong’s self-awareness?”
Song Qinglan had also taken a shower and had changed into a clean grey T-shirt from the training room.
He was very tall, reaching a little more than 1.9 metres and his muscles were smooth and well-proportioned.
It was Ji Yushi’s first time seeing Song Qinglan in regular clothes, but he felt that the oppressive gangster feeling he gave off was no less than before.
Ji Yushi said, “I’ve heard about it.”
Strangely enough, the moment Song Qinglan appeared at the door of his room, a memory from his other self in PU-31 suddenly appeared.
As the teammates had said, Team B——that is, himself in Team 4, after separating from the rest of the teammates at Runjin Building with Song Qinglan, their relationship in that parallel timeline had become quite close.
Ji Yushi remembered that when they were on their way to the bookstore, they were left with no other options with the onslaught of zombies and were forced to hide in a small and cramped room. How cramped was it? It was the kind where the two only had enough space to stand firmly if they stood facing each other at close proximity. It was just like their predicament in the other timeline in the small kiosk.
It was also about the same distance as where they stood now.
As long as the two took a step closer, they could immediately reproduce that scene from that time.
Ji Yushi remembered that Song Qinglan’s lips almost touched his ears in the dark, and the tone of his words was very calm, “Advisor Ji, you’re stepping on me.”
The zombies outside scratched at the door. For one to be standing so close such that they were stepping on the other’s foot, it wasn’t very polite. Ji Yushi felt that he should move away.
But before he could move his foot, he heard Song Qinglan’s deep voice sound right next to his ear, “Don’t! I’ll give you this opportunity to step on me so that next time you can remember something nice. Don’t always hold grudges.”
Ji Yushi decided not to move, “Oh.”
“Having said that,” Song Qinglan gritted his teeth, “you’re stepping really hard.”
The Song Qinglan before him didn’t seem to notice that he was lost in thoughts and continued, “It can be proven now that it is true. The so-called Tianqiong of all eras is an indication that it has self-awareness. I just tried contacting our command centre and was intercepted by it. It’s probably saying that if we don’t’ unlock the missions it gives, we won’t be able to return to our time.”
Ji Yushi: “……I need to go back. I cannot stay in another era. I still have a lot to do.”
Everyone thought the same.
Song Qinglan also thought this, “In that case, we will have to do the next mission.”
Ji Yushi nodded.
Song Qinglan lowered his eyes and looked down at him but he suddenly raised another topic, “By the way, I won the bet at Golden Crow No.2, right?”
Bet?
Was he talking about him officially joining the seventh squad if the mission was completed the second way?
Ji Yushi wanted to refuse.
They weren’t even able to return even after completing the first mission. This squad probably had bad feng shui and bad luck.
“Give me an answer when we get back.” Song Qinglan said, “Don’t keep on recalling those horror scenes and have a good rest.”
After saying that, he took out a bottle of red wine and a glass from behind him, “If you can’t sleep, drink this. Don’t let Zhou Mingxuan see it, he will fight you for it.”
“Goodnight, Advisor Ji.”
*
“Broom—–”
The not so bright car shook violently. Amid the intense gunfire, he was using a knife to cut through the nylon rope around his wrist.
There was an impact in his abdomen. The feeling of an energy bullet entering his flesh was slow and distinct. Two seconds later, that pain began to spread, and it was very intense….
He bent down in pain. The spacecar slammed into the buildings on the side of the street.
The little girl picked up her doll and stood up inside the spacecar.
She turned her head. Her grey and turbid eyes were wide open.
Ji Yushi jolted awake from his sleep dripping with cold sweat.
He subconsciously reached into his clothes and touched the smooth skin of his abdomen….no wound.
This place is the quiet command centre. He is in a clean and comfortable room.
He is safe.
Ji Yushi sat up from the single bed. The mattress under him sank down due to his weight. After being abruptly awakened from his nightmare which was made up of a mixture of his memory and fantasy, all his sleepiness was gone in an instant. His body was very tired, and his head throbbed with pain. He needed to rest.
He dug out his medicine box and swallowed a pill with the help of some water he found in the room. He then tossed and turned on the bed for several hours before his eyes fell onto the items on his bedside table.
A bottle of red wine.
A translucent wine glass.
Ji Yushi didn’t drink much.
Would these two things given by Song Qinglan really be useful?
He opened the red wine and poured himself half a glass.
In a short while, drunkenness overwhelmed him and sleepiness returned.
Ji Yushi laid back down on the soft bed and gently closed his eyes. This time…..he no longer dreamed.
Everything in that terrifying world was already over.
KK has something to say:
The next arc starts soon!
