Mist (Web Novel CN)
Chapter 56: Chapter 56

Blue sky, the sea and the beach.

All of this turned into threads and slowly scattered away.

Everything before Ji Yushi was reorganising. Wall lights, artificial landscapes, a small brook and a bamboo forest….He had arrived at a Chinese-style courtyard filled with heavy cultural atmosphere.

Ji Yushi stood on an exquisite stone bridge. Except for the sound of water, the courtyard was very quiet.

Ji Yushi guessed that, based on the beach he was at just now, this cunning Tianqiong system had probably created exclusive transfer stations for each of them based on information it had obtained from their subconsciousness. The command centre they had stayed at last time was too simple and crude because Tianqiong at the time only wanted to unify everyone’s senses and didn’t want them to realise that it was all just an illusion when they had in fact never left their capsules.

It was different this time. They had seen through the secret behind the transfer station so it had decided to choose a place from their subconsciousness where they could feel most comfortable to rest.

It could be said that this tailored fantasy world was the most relaxing place in the hearts of the people in the seventh squad.

There was no one in the courtyard.

Ji Yushi crossed the bridge and randomly chose a path paved with stones. Very soon, he reached an area with green lawn.

The facilities here were incompatible with the surroundings. There was a sandpit, castle shaped slide, colourful jumping castle and also a swing. At first glance, it looked like a small playground.

Was this……the transfer station Tianqiong had tailored for Song Qinglan?

Ji Yushi walked over but he still didn’t see anyone.

Not sure about whether he should continue walking, Ji Yushi pulled the swing over and sat down.

The weather was fine, and the temperature was just right.

The refreshing smell of the grass filled his nose, calming Ji Yushi’s slightly anxious mood down. It seems that even if Tianqiong had no plans to sent them back, it would try to let them get their rest.

Sitting on the swing, Ji Yushi started to have nonsensical thoughts out of boredom.

He thought, since this was the place that makes Song Qinglan feel comfortable, then it must exist in reality, just like his beach which was from his high school days. As a result, he was also wearing clothes from that time. With this children’s playground…..could Song Qinglan have become a child again?

An immature face that still had baby fat appeared in Ji Yushi’s mind.

The child was younger than the one in Chaos and his chubby arms were like lotus roots. Just a single poke was enough to poke a dent. He clearly looked well-behaved, but his personality was very overbearing, insisting on playing with whoever he wanted to play with and constantly running over to cling onto him whilst calling out his name.

A certain someone’s younger self relied on their weight to win and was practically a demon king in kindergarten.

“Whoosh——-”

Something flew through the air.

A short red arrow appeared on the swing’s wooden support. The suction cup at the tip of the arrow couldn’t hold on so it very soon fell to the ground.

“What are you thinking about?”

A mature male voice sounded from not far away.

Ji Yushi’s heart skipped a beat. He looked over.

Song Qinglan was wearing a simple T-shirt and sneakers. He held a pitiful looking children’s bow as he strode over.

The short red arrow was shot by Song Qinglan. An adult doing this kind of childish behaviour should’ve looked funny but, because of his long legs and strong temperament, Song Qinglan’s aggressiveness couldn’t be concealed.

“Cap Song.” Ji Yushi asked, “This is your place?”

“It’s my grandfather’s place in Ning City.”

Song Qinglan said this as he reached the swing. He bent down and picked up the arrow before looking down at Ji Yushi who sat on the swing, “Advisor Ji, I was just about to go look for you when Tianqiong notified me that you came to find me.”

Please read this from kk translates

Song Qinglan’s features were deep. When he lowered his head to look down, his gaze also deepened.

The illusionary worlds created by Tianqiong was different for everyone. After receiving the explanation from Tianqiong, everyone quickly thought of looking for their teammates but Song Qinglan made it out to seem like the two had strong tacit understanding.

Ji Yushi looked away. His tone was the same as usual, “This was the place where you stayed when you were a child?”

Song Qinglan had already told Ji Yushi that he had lived in Ning City when he was a child, so he answered, “Yes. these were all things my grandfather got someone to make. After my parents separated, my father got custody of me but even after I left Ning City for several years, these were still kept around. They were only removed when I was in middle school when it could no longer be used.”

Song Qinglan was also originally from a single-parent family?

Ji Yushi didn’t know this.

“I didn’t expect to be able to experience my childhood again like this.”

Song Qinglan sounded a little nostalgic, but that was soon gone.

He started to talk about business, “I thought we would be able to return to the real world after the call was made — But after some careful consideration, it made sense. The so-called point ‘B’ happened to be the third second after we set off, that is, it should be the moment we were hijacked.”

The third second after setting off.

After the three missions【Ouroboros】, 【Chaos】and the side mission 【Who Am I】, they would always return to this moment in time, as if they were constantly trapped in this cycle.

Ji Yushi nodded.

Song Qinglan said, “I was just surprised that the bubble world was classified as a mission.”

At least they now understood one thing and it was that only until the so-called ‘Tianqiong of all eras’ is satisfied with the missions they have completed will this case of time and space hijacking would come to an end.

Anger, disappointment, exhaustion; nothing can change this fact.

The only thing they could do was accept and move on.

Ji Yushi was calmer than Song Qinglan at this very moment, “But overall, it is better than being trapped in a bubble world.”

The tension from the second before the call was answered by Chief Wang was still lingering in Ji Yushi’s heart. No one knew how sweaty his hands were when he pressed the call button on the phone inside his pocket.

If that call didn’t connect, the seven of them would’ve definitely been taken away. Leaving aside what they would face next after being taken away, the bubble world would most definitely not give them another chance.

Everyone felt that Ji Yushi was sensible, knowledgeable and logical. Only he himself knew that he was actually making a dangerous bet.

If they lost the bet, everyone including Song Qinglan would be completely lost in the bubble world.

And the person who almost made it happen was——–

“Cap Song!”

“Advisor Ji!”

“Damn, this place is amazing!”

The peaceful world with only the two of them was interrupted. The other five from the seventh squad have also appeared in Song Qinglan’s transfer station. They were all wearing regular clothes. Li Chun was even wearing slippers and only shorts without a top, revealing his strong chest muscle in the process.

They were all men, so no one minded. Duan Wen even had his arm hooked across his shoulder. They were true rough men.

“I knew that either you would be with Advisor Ji or Advisor Ji would be with you.” Li Chun said, “Anyway, I knew you two would be together!”

Ji Yushi: “……..”

“Put a shirt on.” Song Qinglan glanced at Li Chun, “What are you doing dressed like that?”

Li Chun felt very wronged, “Boss, I was just sleeping at home. The bed is the most comfortable place in the world for me. Since it’s already tailored for me, can’t I get comfortable?”

Please read this from kk translates

Although he said that, when Li Chun’s eyes met with Ji Yushi’s, he suddenly felt that it was inappropriate.

Ji Yushi’s sexual orientation was different. He as a straight man shouldn’t walk around like this in front of him. What’s more, Advisor Ji was very proper and very likely slept neatly dressed. Him like this was practically on par to an uncivilised barbarian.

More importantly, he felt that his current state seemed to make his captain unhappy.

Song Qinglan’s dark eyes at this moment were unfathomable. Li Chun trembled and pictured something in his mind. Very quickly, a flowery shirt appeared on him.

He lowered his head and thought of something else. This time a can of beer appeared in his hand. He was excited, “Fuck, this is so convenient!”

Everyone curiously also followed suit.

Tang Qi circled the lawn with sunglasses on, “Where is this? Why is there a children’s playground?”

Zhou Mingxuan who stood at the back spoke up, “It’s Cap Song’s grandfather’s place. I went with Cap Song once when we discharged from the army. The old man was a man of literature and his garden was famously beautiful. It’s normally not open to the public. If I’m not mistaken, these were probably from Cap Song’s childhood.”

Li Chun, “So childlike. Makes me want to play as well!”

Having not returned to reality after leaving the bubble world, Zhou Mingxuan’s mood was still low. He said, “It’s perfect. It just so happens that it’s most suitable for children like you.”

Li Chun exploded and sent over a kick, “Fuck! Old Zhou you’re no fun. We finally managed to escape and we still don’t know when we can return. Can’t you be nicer?!”

Zhou Mingxuan, “We almost couldn’t come back. What be nicer.”

Tang Le sat cross-legged on the lawn and slapped his thigh, “Speaking of which, how did Lin Xinlan recognise Cap Song? So perverted. He could still recognise him even with an artificial face!”

Song Qinglan also couldn’t figure it out.

At that time, they were all wearing artificial faces. When they were still, they looked no different from the other phantoms in the room. Even if he was a little taller, the other party shouldn’t have been able to pick him out so accurately.

Song Qinglan recalled the scene with some lingering fear, “Fortunately he didn’t have time to take off my artificial face or I would have had to take him as hostage.”

“Lin Xinlan?” Ji Yushi knew this name. It was also within his expectations.

In a situation like that, if Ji Yushi didn’t get the phone in time, the next best course of action was to hold a person hostage to ensure their safety. He turned and asked Song Qinglan, “You didn’t want to do that?”

Before Song Qinglan could speak, his teammates answered for him.

“Too disgusting!”

“Who would want to touch him?!”

“Might get infected with mad dog disease!”

“After Cap Song fought against him in the fighting tournament last time, he almost washed off a layer of skin.”

Ji Yushi let out an ‘oh’.

He understood. It was Song Qinglan’s PTSD towards homosexuality.

Everyone chattered on about nonsense again. Ji Yushi had to be called a few times before he returned to his senses. He saw that everyone was walking into the house with the plan to use this place to have a good rest.

Tang Le asked, “Advisor Ji, what were you thinking about? I called you for a long time.”

Tang Qi and Song Qinglan were still waiting for them a few steps away.

Ji Yushi stood up from the swing. Knowing that Song Qinglan was looking at him, he said lightly, “Suddenly miss my boyfriend.” (KKnotes: Chinese doesn’t have a system like English where ‘s’ is added at the end to suggest plurals so the ‘boyfriend’ here could refer to one or multiple.)