Mist (Web Novel CN)

When they parted, they didn’t expect that it in fact wasn’t the real end let alone that they would team up again so soon.

The five people from the seventh squad had gathered together. Only Duan Wen and Zhou Mingxuan were missing.

Duan Wen was one step ahead of them and had already reached the nursing home. Song Qinglan asked, “Where’s Old Zhou?”

The five hurried to the nursing home.

Whether it was six degrees of separation or interference as a result of their ‘observation’, as soon as they put on their artificial face, they seemed to have instantly disconnected from this worlds consciousness.

Everyone else on the street was rushing around so they didn’t attract anyone’s attention despite their hasty footsteps.

With Song Qinglan’s question, the other three fell silent.

Ji Yushi sensed that something didn’t seem right.

“What is it?” Song Qinglan’s tone turned a little more serious.

No one in the squad knew Zhou Mingxuan better than Song Qinglan. They had enlisted together, became special forces together and they also became Guardians together. Zhou Mingxuan usually just liked to play around but it could be said that besides Duan Wen, he was someone who could see the whole picture the best.

Striding down the steps, they passed by several phantoms of people.

The group went through a side street. Protesters continued to march onwards and there were police cars patrolling around. Screams could be heard in all directions.

Tang Qi said, “He may not go back.”

Song Qinglan’s footsteps stopped.

Unlike Ji Yushi, they were all ordinary people. Once they have two overlapping memories, it was easy to overlook one of them. Song Qinglan recalled his memory from the bubble world — Zhou Mingxuan’s life here had also changed a lot compared to his original reality and it was also an important change for him: In this world, Zhou Mingxuan’s only relative, his grandmother, was still alive.

Song Qinglan still remembered that in the original reality, due to a Guardian’s training schedule, Zhou Mingxuan would return home at irregular times. After a three-day long training session, he returned to find that his grandmother had already passed away. This was something that had weighed heavily on his mind all this time, but he had been reluctant to talk about it. This world however had given him a new possibility.

In the bubble world, it wasn’t the changes that were scary, and it wasn’t the fact that they had attained things that they originally didn’t have that was scary. For example, Li Chun and his girlfriend, Tang Qi and Tang Le and their younger sister, and Duan Wen with his wife and child.

What was really scary was when a person’s most precious thing was taken away by fate and the bubble world allowed you to experience the feeling of regaining something that had been lost.

The situation Zhou Mingxuan was facing now was like that of Ji Yushi’s.

Even the extraordinarily calm Ji Yushi who had been involved with countless Recorder missions found it difficult to resist the temptation. It would’ve been a very strong temptation for the hot blooded and impulsive Zhou Mingxuan.

“We went to Old Zhou’s place to get him.” Tang Le continued his brother’s words, “His grandmother’s legs aren’t well and needs someone to take care of her.”

“But it’s all fake!” Li Chun was anxious, “Why can’t Old Zhou understand?! Dammit!”

“It’s not that he doesn’t understand.” Song Qinglan suddenly spoke up, “It’s just too difficult to let go. He needs someone to give him a hand.”

Ji Yushi turned his head. He unconsciously clenched his hand.

Song Qinglan wasn’t looking at him but he could still feel the sensation of a strong and powerful hand holding his hand.

He had truly been ‘given a hand’.

Song Qinglan said, “Let’s leave it for now. We can talk about it later after meeting with Old Duan.”

Everyone soon arrived at the nursing home. The situation there was shocking. Patients were running wild around the nursing home, carers were chasing after the patients and family members were also hurrying around picking up their family member. It was a complete mess.

There were phantoms from the other world appearing here as well but compared to the ones outside, the phantoms here were clearer — Those phantoms were still, allowing people to clearly see their facial features and expressions. Some patients had even found their other self and were shouting at them while in a mentally unstable state.

What convinced everyone in the seventh squad even more that everything was related to Chief Wang was that not only were there phantoms in the nursing home, but the small details could also all be clearly distinguished. Rather than a phantom image, it was more like a real existence.

This place was the central starting point of the overlap of the two realities and from here it had spread across the entire world.

Song Qinglan checked his watch and urged, “Let’s go!”

Everyone increased their speed.

Ji Yushi knew why Song Qinglan urged them.

The Tianqiong in this reality must have already discovered that the source of the overlap was this place. Song Qinglan had checked his watch and calculated how long it would take for Tianqiong to reach this place starting from the moment he received the urgent order from Tianqiong.

“Cap Song!” Ji Yushi asked, “How long do we have?”

With no time to wait for the elevator, everyone strode up the stairs taking two or three steps at a time.

Song Qinglan said, “At most ten minutes!”

*

“Bang—-”

The door to the ward was slammed open. Duan Wen who was waiting in the room immediately raised his head, “Cap Song! Advisor Ji!”

Everyone entered the room.

Ji Yushi immediately spotted Chief Wang sitting on the edge of the bed.

The female leader who had always been kind and wise was no longer dressed or made up exquisitely.

Her hair was left unbrushed and she wore a hospital gown as she looked blankly at the phantom in the room. The phantom was of a grey-haired old man drinking tea as he sat on a single person sofa. Because time was at a standstill, the teacup was pressed against his lips and he didn’t move at all.

“Chief Wang!”

Song Qinglan strode over and squatted down in front of Chief Wang. He tried to make her return to her senses.

Chief Wang didn’t respond.

Duan Wen told them, “It’s useless. I have been here for a long time and she has always been like this. Fuck, the so-called treatment for schizophrenia here probably made it worse.”

Song Qinglan pressed his finger behind his ear. The artificial face began to disintegrate, revealing his original handsome appearance, “Can you recognise me?”

Chief Wang finally looked down at him, but her expression remained unchanged.

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Having finally reached this point and having arrived before what they thought was the key to everything, apart from confirming that the overlap of the realities was related to her, they didn’t manage to get any other clues.

“Fuck!” Li Chun couldn’t help but curse, “What did the people here do to Chief Wang? She was even a university professor before she came here. What is this?!”

This line reminded Ji Yushi of something.

On the document Song Qinglan had with Chief Wang’s information, it had mentioned that she was a professor of quantum physics in this reality and her research project even involved bubble worlds.

Ji Yushi looked around the room.

As a prestigious university professor, there were many of Chief Wang’s personal belongings as well as some paper books. Ji Yushi’s gaze fell onto a thin transparent panel. It was Chief Wang’s computer. He picked it up, unlocked it with Chief Wang’s face, and then skipped through the private contents to find useful information.

“Cap Song!” Ji Yushi spoke up, “Look at this!”

A holographic projection was activated.

Song Qinglan frowned, “This is?”

Everyone in the squad looked. They didn’t understand what they were looking at.

There were many formulas and figures scribbled on the projection. Page after page, it was filled to the brim.

For a moment, it was like they were back in Chaos when Ji Yushi was writing formulas. Everyone had a look of confusion.

Sure enough, the only one who could understand was Ji Yushi. As his mind worked very quickly, he explained to the others as simply as possible, “Chief Wang seems to be calculating the difference between the electromagnetic waves of the two worlds……”

“Electromagnetic waves?” Song Qinglan soon thought of the communication devices, “She was studying this?”

Ji Yushi went through the holographic projection. Two wavy lines appeared in air.

The two wavy lines appeared to be almost exactly the same with the same thickness at first glance but if you looked carefully, you could see that they were slightly different. There was too much data recorded and it took him a while to reach the end. According to the time markers, Chief Wang had been recording them for more than fifteen years.

In other words, it was very possible that Chief Wang had accidentally monitored the electromagnetic wave frequencies from another world during her research and thus started her other research on bubble worlds.

“No….not only that…..” Ji Yushi’s expression was serious. His dark eyes reflected the projection light, and his tone held some tension as well as some excitement, “We were right. To a certain extent, Chief Wang may really have two memories.”

Duan Wen: “But wasn’t the reason why we have two memories because we are unique in the two realities? Because there’s only one of us? Is that the same for Chief Wang?”

“No, only the seven of us are like that.” Ji Yushi said, “We created the bubble world after we rescued the Twelfth squad and even if Captain Qi didn’t become the chief, too many elements in this reality had changed. Even a small error would prevent Chief Wang from becoming the Chief. She is special because she is a common variable for the seven of us. When we get close to her, this reality becomes unstable.”

They had saved the twelfth squad and, in the process, inadvertently created a fifteen-year duration time anchor from which a bubble world formed.

Because of them, a bubble world had formed.

It was very fragile and attached to the real world. As long as they leave it and return to the anchored point in time, it would collapse and another bubble world would form, unable to truly continue existing.

Ji Yushi continued, “Chief Wang’s two memories are not like ours. Rather than calling it a memory, it is more like her learning about herself in another reality. The research subject Chief Wang chose to do it on was herself. She not only monitored her other self, but she also recorded the differences in frequencies between the two of them in detail. Perhaps this was the reason for her mental instability.”

In those messy formulas, Ji Yushi found one that seemed to be recorded regularly.

Chief Wang had noted in detail the similarities and differences she had detected each time and tried to put them together to establish a consistency or pattern.

“The other me.”

Suddenly, a female voice sounded.

Everyone turned their heads. It may be because those words had touched on something but the Chief Wang who was originally nonresponsive had suddenly turned to them and said, “That’s not the real me. I can prove it.”

A quiet room. Motionless phantoms. A mentally unstable woman.

This moment sent a chill through everyone present.

It turns out that not only them, but the people in every world would think that they are the true existence.

Time was running out. Song Qinglan turned on his artificial face before turning around and asking, “How can you prove it?”

Chief Wang turned and looked back at the phantom figure sitting on the sofa, “Find the key point.”

Everyone, “………”

This answer was equivalent to not giving them an answer!

The silence didn’t last very long. Ji Yushi immediately said, “I know.”

Except for Song Qinglan, the other people in the room were shocked.

“You know again?!”

Li Chun was about to go crazy.

“Cap Song and I were briefly pulled back to our original reality by a phone call not long ago.” Seeing Song Qinglan nod, Ji Yushi continued to explain. He swiped through the holographic projection so that the two previous wavy lines were showing again, “If you use an electromagnetic wave simulation program to simulate an electromagnetic wave that synchronises with the ones from our original reality from a month ago, and then….”

He paused and seemed to be a little hesitant.

“And then call someone who would answer the phone from that day.” Song Qinglan seemed to be able to read Ji Yushi’s mind and helped him finish his words, “The person called must also be a unique person in the two worlds.”

Tang Qi, “But Advisor Ji just said that only the seven of us are like that. How can we make this call?”

Tang Le also nodded. He was eager to know the answer.

“The so-called ‘unique’ doesn’t necessarily have to have the same meaning as our ‘unique’. As long as the lives of the two people in the two realities are completely different and they wouldn’t use the same number, it would be fine.” Song Qinglan said, “We have to make sure that we are not interfered with while we make the call, right Advisor Ji?”

Ji Yushi nodded.

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Duan Wen quickly thought of something, “Then we should call Chief Wang.”

Li Chun, “Brother Wen, do you remember Chief Wang’s phone number?”

Everyone looked at each other. Let alone the Chief’s number, they didn’t even know the numbers of their closest friends and relatives.

Ji Yushi said, “I remember.”

Everyone, “!!!”

How could they have forgotten that there was Ji Yushi in their squad who would never forget anything he saw. There wasn’t even a need for a phone book!

As soon as he finished speaking, sounds of cars and human voices could be heard downstairs.

Song Qinglan quickly approached the window and looked out the blinds, “Tiangqiong’s here.”

“Then let’s go!!” Tang Le said, “Let’s go and find Old Zhou and then use a simulator to call!!”

Song Qinglan released the blinds, allowing them to bounce back in place. A few seconds later, he said, “No need for that.”

“Bang——”

The door to the room was kicked open.

Zhou Mingxuan appeared at the door pointing his laser gun at them.

Everyone was stunned. What was the meaning of this?

Facing the gun, Song Qinglan didn’t move let alone show any fear. He just continued looking at his most trusted teammate with that pair of dark eyes of his.

They heard Zhou Mingxuan speak with a small voice, “Cap Song, I’m sorry. I don’t plan to go back.”

He moved his gun to the side and motioned, “While they’re not here yet, I’ll cover for you. Hurry and go.”