Mist

Chapter 46

Who Am I@@@@

Chapter 46

It was indeed Chief Wang.

The middle-aged woman in the photo was the one who was in power at the Jiang City branch for the past fifteen years.

Ji Yushi was certain of this because he possessed two memories at the same time.

As for Song Qinglan, just like what he said in the car earlier about the woman suddenly charging over being a key to his memory that allowed him to remember the previous cycle, something similar happened.

The moment he saw Chief Wang’s photo, Song Qinglan’s memories flooded back into his mind and his previously blurred impression of her became much clearer.

Like a slow-moving movie, these memories overlapped with Song Qinglan’s current memories frame by frame.

The surge of information gave Song Qinglan a headache. From the moment he joined Tianqiong, another new memory emerged and his experiences over nearly a thousand days surfaced to his mind. All the individuals and events had changed but the opposing, originally existing memories hadn’t disappeared.

“Cap Song!”

A distant voice was heard.

“Cap Song!”

The voice gradually got closer until it was right in front of Song Qinglan.

Song Qinglan returned to his senses and saw that his elbows were on the table with his fingers supporting his temples and there was also a thin layer of sweat across his forehead. His breathing was light and quick.

He raised his head and was met with Ji Yushi’s concerned look.

“How are you?” Ji Yushi asked anxiously, “Why did you suddenly stop talking?”

As it turned out, this was the kind of pain Ji Yushi would typically go through?

It was worse than the sequelae following his first traversing. This was what it was like when one truly experiences memory overload.

Song Qinglan’s head felt like there were needles stabbing into it, “Fuck, about Chief Wang......I fucking, remembered it all of a sudden.”

Ji Yushi was stunned, “You remembered?! Did you remember after seeing the photo?”

The pain made Song Qinglan a little irritable, “Yes! As soon as I saw the photo, I remembered everything.”

It was just like when Ji Yushi saw Chief Qi.

The kitchen was quiet for a while.

Having seen and experienced too many incredible things, the two at this time didn’t make a fuss about Song Qinglan’s suddenly acquired new memories and just needed some time to calm down.

If Ji Yushi didn’t remember Chief Wang, Song Qinglan wouldn’t have specially gone to find this information and they would have never noticed the problem with this world. Ji Yushi however just happened to remember it. Whether it was due to his hyperthymesia or something else, Ji Yushi was like a bug that revealed the discrepancies in this world.

Just imagine, what would’ve happened to them if there was no Ji Yushi around?

Where would they be?

What was going on?

After Song Qinglan remembered, he didn’t waste any time talking about nonsense.

He tried to express his thoughts through his pounding headache, “So, in another reality, Chief Wang has been Chief Wang for fifteen years and was also the same person who sent us out on the mission. This is without a doubt. I believe that we can forget about figuring out which reality we are currently in as that is not the main issue here.”

Ji Yushi understood what Song Qinglan meant, “Because no matter which reality we are in, we shouldn’t have double memories!”

If it is said that it was due to a butterfly effect, the previous memories should’ve also been rewritten so no matter which reality they were in, only one memory should be retained. They however retained two.

Understanding this point may allow them to answer the question of why they haven’t encountered their other self here if this really was a parallel world.

One self, two memories.

There must be a relationship between this.

Wang Xiaoqian’s information hadn’t been closed yet.

Song Qinglan scrolled through, “Advisor Ji, look at this.”

This document had more information about Wang Xiaoqian and it included her reason for resignation — Mild schizophrenia.

Ji Yushi was surprised. How could such a smart and wise Chief Wang get something like that?

He suddenly had a bad feeling.

Ji Yushi, “Cap Song, can you sleep on the sofa?”

That messy sofa.

Song Qinglan’s face darkened several folds.

Ji Yushi thought he was dissatisfied with the arrangement of sleeping on the sofa so he reluctantly took a step back and offered, “Otherwise, if you don’t mind, you can sleep in my room. I can sleep on the sofa.”

He was the one who had invited the other party. Making them sleep on the sofa would be too rude.

But with Song Qinglan’s so-called PTSD, would he really be willing to sleep on his bed? Ji Yushi expressed his doubts.

Room?

That’s not much better.

Song Qinglan really did mind it.

Since he was already here, it was too late for him to leave. Song Qinglan could only compromise, “Forget it, I’ll sleep on the sofa.”

Ji Yushi accepted it and said, “Then, goodnight.”

Song Qinglan, “Goodnight.”

The atmosphere was a little strange.

They had known each other for so long but it seemed like this was their first time being so polite.

Ji Yushi never thought that they would still see each other again after completing the mission and that it would be in a situation like this.

Song Qinglan said, “Can you sleep well tonight?”

Ji Yushi, “Huh?”

What did he mean?

Song Qinglan looked down at him and suddenly smiled, “I didn’t seem to be of any help. I forced you to analyse the situation this time and the analysis was all about things you already understood. At best, it could be regarded as helping you organise your thoughts, but it was probably pointless. The only thing that was useful was that I also remembered Chief Wang, which at least proves that you aren’t crazy,”

Ji Yushi was slightly startled. He didn’t know how to answer, “........”

Song Qinglan finally said, “Get a good rest tonight. Don’t think about anything. I will go back to my grandfathers place tomorrow morning and then we will set off to Jiang City.”

*

After more than an hour, there were no sounds in the room. Ji Yushi had fallen asleep.

Song Qinglan laid on the sofa, looking up at the ceiling above him.

He couldn’t sleep. This world was far more complicated than he thought. He even wondered if they are currently in another mission set by another Tianqiong system.

Just the thought of that was scary.

In the darkness, something lightly jumped onto the sofa.

Song Qinglan sat up. He saw that it was Ji Yushi’s cat.

It had at some unknown point in time escaped from the room Ji Yushi had confined it in.

The orange cat was hostile to Song Qinglan. It was hissing and baring its teeth and claws earlier but at this moment it just quietly stared at him.

It didn’t make a single sound and seemed to be watching Song Qinglan like it would charge over and tear him to pieces the next second.

Song Qinglan sat up and looked at it. He narrowed his eyes slightly and noticed that something didn’t seem right.

His tall height seemed to have a deterrent effect. Even the dog at home would tuck its tail in when it saw him, yet this cat continued to stare at him unblinkingly, its eyes glowing in the dark.

At this moment, the light from a tall building outside happened to sweep across the window, filtering into the room.

Song Qinglan noticed a dark shadow through the crack under the living room door.

His sense for danger had been developed over many years. Song Qinglan immediately got up barefoot and silently walked over.

He approached the door and looked through the peephole.

The emergency exit light in the corridor glowed green.

He saw the neighbourhood aunt they met in the elevator earlier standing outside. At this moment, just like the cat, she stared expressionlessly at Ji Yushi’s door.