Chapter 15: Chapter 15

Ouroboros

Chapter 15

Everyone inside the car was silent for a moment. Their eyes fell onto the screen displayed on the control panel.

Although there were many obstacles as the spacecar navigated through the city, its speed was at least 100km/hr. They had only cared about the thrill and no one expected that they would suddenly run into another car, let alone encounter living people. To run into another car and to crush the car completely, anyone with morality and conscience would feel very uncomfortable.

Li Chun was shocked silly. His expression revealed horror, “D-did we just hit someone?”

The faces of the other teammates were also not very good.

Hitting and killing a zombie was one thing but hitting and killing a living person was something entirely different.

Only Tang Qi who was always calm and unwavering answered, “Yes.”

Li Chun hesitated: “What should we do?! Should we go back and take a look?”

Zhou Mingxuan’s tone was heavy, “What point is there? With that speed and that weight, they’re definitely a goner. Have you seen how cars are scrapped in scrap car yards? It’s pretty much like that.”

“PU3K630.” Ji Yushi read out the licence plate number.

That line was very abrupt. All the teammates looked over.

They only saw Ji Yushi lower his eyes and turn to walk towards the back of the car.

There was a small square glass window at the back of the car. It was located quite high and just enough for Ji Yushi to see outside.

The run-down streets shone brightly from the lights coming from the rising sun and even the scattered corpses looked strangely good like this —— The spacecar moved very fast. The completely scrapped small car from earlier had long disappeared into the distance.

This wasn’t Ji Yushi’s first time seeing that car.

Following his memory, scenes quickly unfolded like a picture scroll.

The gunfire was fierce, and the zombies were clamouring about frantically.

He jumped out from the window of the warehouse. When the soles of his feet landed on the ground, he felt some pain from the strong impact. He didn’t have the time to think and quickly raised his gun to kill a zombie at his 10 o’clock position. That zombie was shot in the eye and thick fluid exploded out, splattering onto his hair. With his left hand, he dragged Tang Le who was on the verge of breakdown forward.

Behind him, Song Qinglan was still roaring at them to go ahead first. The sound from Shen Mian was very loud. When a bullet was fired, parts of the wall would chip off and scatter in the air.

There was a small silver-grey car not far away. Li Chun stuck his head out of the driver’s seat, his expression anxious. He shouted loudly, “Get in the car!!”

These memories were played in very slow motion, turning into a slow motion movie lasting dozens of seconds long.

——- A not very eye-catching licence plate appeared briefly in his line of sight.

As if he was experiencing it again while recalling that scene, Ji Yushi could clearly see the licence plate.

PU3K650.

Black text on white background

It was exactly the same as the car just now.

Something cold touched the back of his hand.

Ji Yushi looked down and saw a brand-new bottle of mineral water. He then raised his head and saw Song Qinglan.

The other party’s handsome eyebrows were furrowed together, “Do you need to take a break?”

The light from the small window was projected onto Song Qinglan’s face.

At this moment, having just come out from the mission loop, his face was still the same as how it was when he left the capsule, clean and refreshing.

Song Qinglan’s appearance was actually in line with most people’s aesthetics. With high brow bones, a tall nose, deep set eyes, extremely dark irises as well as lips that are not too thick and not too thin, he was an embodiment of a very handsome man. He however was born with innate roguishness and he also didn’t like to speak or do things the typical way, so he always gave others a feeling of rebelliousness.

“For you.”

That bottle of water again touched the back of Ji Yushi’s hand.

Probably because he wasn’t good at expressing concern, Song Qinglan’s tone could not be considered as one that was very patient, “You even went through the drawers.”

He was referring to the last time the mission was restarted, when Ji Yushi went to the park management office to find water. Song Qinglan had looked around for water for some time just now and finally found it in the drawer.

Ji Yushi received the water, “Thank you Cap Song.”

Song Qinglan looked out at the situation outside the window, “Do you have an impression of the car we just ran into?”

Because of the height of the window, the light only shone onto Ji Yushi’s eyes.

His irises turned amber as a result, making people can’t help but wonder how many things the owner of those eyes could remember in his mind.

“Yes.” Ji Yushi said, “It’s the same car we drove into Runjin Building with last time.”

Song Qinglan remembered that when they drove out of the back alley in the car last time and reached an intersection, a spacecar had suddenly appeared in front of them. The Ji Yushi at that time had shouted “Turn left” and they barely managed to avoid it by crashing into a building.

That location just now happened to be that intersection!

Wait. Song Qinglan suddenly remembered their conversation in the bathroom in Runjin Building.

He had asked Ji Yushi, “If I’m not crazy, I remember you should have escaped with the others in the car.” Ji Yushi’s answer to that was —- “Yes but we were unlucky. Not long after escaping, we were hit and killed by the spacecar we just saw.”

Song Qinglan now understood why Ji Yushi’s reaction was so strange.

Without Ji Yushi needing to speak, he spoke with certainty, “It was also the car you were in when the mission failed the first time too, isn’t it?”

A strange feeling surged in an instant.

Both their hearts sank. A chill slowly seized them from behind.

On the other side of the spacecar, the other teammates were completely unaware of the topic they were discussing. They were still busy arguing over checking on the small car and were about to start quarrelling.

Song Qinglan habitually crossed his arms in front of his chest, “The time and space is fixed once the time anchor point is set. I believe some things are set to happen regardless like plot points in a game and different results would come about according to the choices we make. The first two times we went to the convenience store, so we drove that car but this time we made a difference choice and chose a spacecar……”

“It is as you have said. Some things are set to happen regardless. Since we didn’t take that car, it is possible that other survivors may have taken it instead.” Ji Yushi moved away from the window and leaned against the car wall at an angle where Song Qinglan could no longer see his face clearly, “Didn’t we see the smoke last time from Runjin Building? And the last two times we also ran into that woman who ran out of a building crying for help. They are all living survivors.”

Song Qinglan thought about it for a few seconds. His frown slowly smoothed out, “You are right.”

In any case, nothing could be confirmed right now.

They couldn’t turn back to check on the situation with that small car. The most important thing right now was to find the clues and put an end to this damned mission as soon as possible so that they can return to their timeline.

“If we encounter other survivors, we have to gather information from them.”

When Song Qinglan finished saying that, he was about to walk away but he paused for a moment and stopped.

Ji Yushi’s hands suddenly became empty. Song Qinglan had taken the bottle of water away.

And then, he unscrewed the bottle cap for him.

“We have managed to gain some extra time. We should have much more time this time than last time.”

The bottle was stuffed back into Ji Yushi’s hands.

Ji Yushi: “………”

Was this special treatment? Or did he think that he really couldn’t unscrew a bottle cap?

“Besides, it is safe now. The second attempt will always be better than the first.”

The other party was still standing in a position where the light could reach with slightly raised eyebrows and a nonchalant expression, “Even if you can’t forget, you should throw the not so good ones out and not let it occupy your mind. Don’t think that you can claim something like this as a work-related injury.”

*

6:52am.

The metal spacecar rumbled along the entire way, reaching the bookstore without much resistance.

When everyone got out of the car, they all felt nauseous.

The originally clean and smooth outer shell of the car was now covered with a thick layer of rotten flesh and there were even intestines stuck to the front of the car. The car looked like it had been smothered with a truckload of pungent, rotten meat from a slaughterhouse and there were all sorts of colours.

Hearing the sound of the car, zombies wandering near the bookstore rushed out whilst growling. The smell of living humans was like a delicious breakfast for them and they were very excited.

For the first time since this mission restarted, the teammates saw those zombies up close. After a quick glance at them, they saw more zombies appear from the streets ahead.

Duan Wen kicked open the bookstore door, “Quick! Get in!”

Everyone filed in.

An elderly zombie behind the counter stumbled out, heading straight for the closest person there, Ji Yushi.

Ji Yushi had already expected this but before he could fire a shot, that zombie was shot dead by someone beside him.

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The round-faced twin teammate looked calm and composed.

Ji Yushi: “Thank you, Tang Le.”

Tang Le: “……..”

Ji Yushi had already put his gun away and was heading over to a bookshelf.

Tang Le turned his head around looking shocked, “Advisor Ji really can tell the difference!”

His brother Tang Qi rolled his eyes at him, “You think you can pretend to be me? Go and check the back!”

“Oh.” Tang Le hooked his arm around Li Chun’s neck, “Let’s go. Come with this older brother to take a look at the back!”

This chokehold made Li Chun start coughing, “I’m just a damn logistics! Brother Wen, deal with him!”

Duan Wen had just locked the door from the inside and was busy connecting his communicator to a mini drone with the intention to scout out the area, “Your Brother Wen is busy!”

Zhou Mingxuan raised the gun in his hand and said to Song Qinglan, “Cap Song, I’ll check upstairs.”

Song Qinglan curled up his lips, “Go.”

It seems that even if Zhou Mingxuan couldn’t remember the last cycle, he would still choose to go to a high place. Perhaps this was a habit of snipers.

There were seven people in the building.

This team had never been so complete before. Hearing the lively conversations amongst them, Ji Yushi’s originally tense mood relaxed a little.

He then saw the book he wasn’t able to find last time on a bookshelf by the door.

As the only one of the two who has a memory of the previous two cycles, Song Qinglan was very curious about this so-called clue: “<Golden Crow No. 1: Propagation>? What does this have to do with the chaser of darkness?”

Ji Yushi had already opened the book.

Reading at a speed of ten lines at a time and finally finding a certain keyword, he answered without raising his head, “Golden Crow means the sun and it also has the alias Red Crow.”

Seeing that he has quickly entered a focused state, Song Qinglan still had some questions but he temporarily suppressed them.

They had reached the bookstore ahead of schedule this time. Compared to the time the black wall reached the store last time, there was still about seven or eight hours. This was enough for them to work out where to go next and also enough for Ji Yushi to finish looking through what he needed to look through.

The bookstore was still just like how it was when they first came.

All the books were in their original positions and there were no traces of them being touched. The cans that Li Chun had thrown onto the ground were also naturally not there anymore.

From Song Qinglan’s observations, every time the mission is restarted, everything on PU-31 is reset, returning to how it used to be before their arrival. This just happened to be in line with their guess that a time anchor may have been used.

The teammates returned after scouting out the area.

Duan Wen had already flown the drone out. Watching the image sent back by the drone move further and further away, Song Qinglan reminded, “Pay attention to the wall. The drone disappeared after hitting that black wall last time.”

Duan Wen was slightly startled for a moment. His expression changed.

Song Qinglan was keenly aware of this, “Remembered something?”

Duan Wen: “…….”

This man in his thirties found it difficult to describe what he was feeling right now.

Song Qinglan squeezed the other party’s shoulder. There was no need for words of comfort between comrades. He went straight to talking about business, “Look at the map first. After about 2pm, the black wall will come from this direction at a very fast speed. Is it a circle or a cross-section? Because it is too large, we currently have no way of knowing but we know that it will come here so later we will need to move in the opposite direction and to a place with fewer zombies.”

He drew a line on the picture sent over from the drone.

“We now have a spacecar. In a situation where we don’t have any information on it, we must try our best to keep away from the black wall.” Song Qinglan said, “We might as well hang around here for now and use this opportunity to determine the direction it is moving in and find some locations that may have food or necessities. We will mark them one by one in preparation for the future.”

After saying this, he turned to everyone, “Right now, we have some time. Do you have any thoughts or questions you want to ask?”

Li Chun raised his hand.

Song Qinglan lifted his chin, “Speak.”

Li Chun glanced in the direction of Ji Yushi and whispered, “Cap Song, I just want to ask, what is your current relationship with Advisor Ji?”

Song Qinglan’s dark eyes were deep, “I’m the captain. What relationship do you think I have with him?”

“No, I just felt that after coming out of the capsule, the two of you are somehow a little different? Before setting off, the two of you didn’t talk but now it seems like there are a lot of things only you two know about and us old teammates can’t seem to join in.”

Li Chun bit the bullet and finished saying this. He even copied the girls he had flirted with and let out a few quiet sobs and had his ass kicked by Song Qinglan as a result.

After jumping a few times, he still wasn’t backing down, “I’m not the only one thinking that. Right, Brother Wen?”

Duan Wen remembered more than Li Chun. He hesitated for a moment while fiddling with the drone: “That uh, I saw you unscrewing the bottle cap in the spacecar.”

Zhou Mingxuan added, “And you two talked in secret for a long time.”

Tang Le wanted to join in but he held himself back.

But even Tang Qi who was usually quite indifferent nodded, “That is true, it was a little intimate. Made me a little jealous.”

The others: “+1.”

“+1 my ass.” Song Qinglan sneered, “If you guys don’t fucking die every time and can measure up to an outsider like him, I’ll be intimate with you.”

The teammates quietly scattered.

Only Duan Wen was left to look at the map. He didn’t dare speak.

Song Qinglan stood next to Duan Wen and looked at it for a while. He pointed to a spot, “What is this building?”

In the picture sent back from the drone, a large building with the shape of a round dome caught Song Qinglan’s attention. The metal covering on the surface reflected the sun’s rays.

Duan Wen, “Haven’t seen it before. Probably a factory of some sort……but also seems a bit too big for that.”

Song Qinglan said: “Note that down. It happens to be in that direction anyway. We can take a look along the way.”

Duan Wen: “Okay.”

Inadvertently, Song Qinglan found something on the bookshelf that looked somewhat familiar.

He walked over and his expression sank.

It was a small medicine box that was completely blank with no symbols or markings on it.

It was Ji Yushi’s.

After he picked it up from under the counter last time, he had originally planned to pass it back to Ji Yushi along with a bottle of water to let him take the medicine but Ji Yushi didn’t take it because someone had drunk from it.

At that time, he just happened to be interrupted by Tang Qi who had appeared outside the window and Song Qinglan at the time placed everything back onto this shelf.

That’s right, it was this bookshelf. On the seventh shelf from the bottom.

Song Qinglan didn’t have hyperthymesia but he had always been confident with his memory. For the first time, he started to doubt it.

Ji Yushi had his back facing the windows. A new wave of zombies had gathered outside, their nails scratching at the glass, making an unpleasant grinding sound.

This didn’t disturb Ji Yushi who was reading intently.

Sensing Song Qinglan approaching, Ji Yushi raised his head. Something flickered in his beautiful eyes, “I know now! PU-31 is actually——”

Being looked at by those eyes and in combination with the teasing from his teammates earlier, Song Qinglan felt a little strange inside ——- It was similar to the time he went to look for Ji Yushi in the training room.

He interrupted Ji Yushi, “Advisor Ji, did you take out your medicine box?”

That question cut off Ji Yushi’s words. He could only reply, “No.”

Song Qinglan handed him the box, “Is this yours?”

Ji Yushi looked at the box and then said, “Yes.”

Immediately afterwards, he took out an object from his pocket and placed it in his palm.

The two medicine boxes were exactly the same.

He opened the one Song Qinglan gave him. On the small square packet, two pills were missing.

As for the other one, it was still full.

The author has something to say:

Some time later.

Song Qinglan: I admit that we are a little intimate.

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