Mist (Web Novel CN)

Early morning.

There was no one else in the corridor, and even the hustle and bustle of the city had become much quieter.

The neighbourhood aunt stood there motionlessly staring at the door. She neither spoke nor moved. She didn’t look like she was about to knock on the door because she needed something.

But it was so late. Who would stand in front of their neighbour’s house so silently at a time like this? Shouldn’t they be sleeping?

In the dim light, Song Qinglan stood behind the door and watched the other party for almost five minutes.

He wondered if the other party was sleepwalking.

An unarmed woman wasn’t much danger. After confirming that the other party wasn’t going to do anything else, Song Qinglan checked the lock on the door and then turned back to the sofa. The cat was still sitting on the arm of the sofa, looking at him with a tilted head.

Song Qinglan reached out to rub the cat’s head. It didn’t hide or make a sound.

The atmosphere was indeed quite unusual.

Song Qinglan retracted his hand and fell in thought for a while. He then walked over to Ji Yushi’s room.

He should check on Ji Yushi.

The handle to the bedroom turned and warm light flooded out.

Song Qinglan recalled that the rumours had not only said that Ji Yushi loved books, he was also very afraid of the dark so he never worked overnight shifts in the Ning City branch.

So did he usually sleep with the lights on?

Sure enough, there was a nightlight by the bed.

Ji Yushi entire body sank into the soft bed and half of his face was buried in the pillow. His expression under the warm light was relaxed and he appeared to be sleeping soundly.

The air-conditioning in the room was very low. Ji Yushi had a thin blanket covering him which rose and fell as he breathed.

The sleeping Ji Yushi appeared very fragile.

Just like how he was in the Chaos mission.

Ji Yushi at that time had been frozen cold and Song Qinglan had held him in his arms for several hours.

At this moment, something fluffy passed by his feet.

The orange cat was fat, but its actions were light and agile. Song Qinglan didn’t even notice it coming over and only noticed it presence after it lightly jumped onto Ji Yushi’s bed and curled up by Ji Yushi’s neck.

It looked like everything was back to normal.

Song Qinglan didn’t enter the room. He only stood at the door for several seconds before gently closing it and returning to the living room.

After this episode, the small amount of sleepiness Song Qinglan originally had was completely gone. He browsed through his phone for a while and saw that Li Chun had posted a new status.

Li Chun: [My girlfriend said I was wrong, so I must be wrong. There is absolutely no talking back [Dog head]]

Slag men really have a lot of tricks under their sleeves.

Just as Song Qinglan had this thought, he immediately backtracked — When did Li Chun have a girlfriend?

Before leaving for the mission last time, Li Chun had said that he hadn’t had the chance to ask for the girl’s number and he had expressed a lot of regret.

Song Qinglan sent a message to Li Chun whose mind was constantly filled with ridiculous thoughts asking him to contact him once he was up.

After thinking about it, Song Qinglan also sent a message to the rest of the squad with the content: [Contact me when you’re up.]

These group of bastards all like to sleep in whenever they had the chance. Song Qinglan guessed that they probably wouldn’t wake up very early, but he and Ji Yushi were also in a state where they didn’t possess many clues, so it was nothing more than asking about the other party’s situation.

*

Early the next morning, Ji Yushi woke up.

There were traces of Little Orange sleeping next to his pillow. It seemed that it had sneaked into his room last night, but he hadn’t noticed it at all.

It had been a long, long time since Ji Yushi slept so deeply.

He had clearly discussed a terrifying topic just before going to bed, but he didn’t even dream. Could it be because there was an extra person in the house?

But, this kind of situation seldom happened even when Ji Minyue stayed over.

What surprised Ji Yushi even more was, as soon as he walked out of the room, he was greeted with the aroma of breakfast and coffee.

In the kitchen, Song Qinglan was frying eggs.

He was too tall, so the spacious kitchen appeared a lot smaller in comparison.

Ji Yushi was surprised, “You——.”

“Not going to my grandfather’s place for now.” Song Qinglan saw that he was awake and immediately said, “I booked the soonest train ticket. We will go back to Jiang City directly after breakfast.”

Song Qinglan had already washed up. It could be seen that he hadn’t slept well but he was still filled with energy. It was as if he would never be out of energy.

Ji Yushi actually wasn’t asking why he hadn’t left and had wanted to ask why he was cooking.

Song Qinglan poured the egg onto a plate, his movements very skilful. The fried egg was golden brown on the outside. It was clear that it was cooked just right.

Song Qinglan picked up a second egg with one hand and swiftly knocked it against the edge of the pan. The egg fell into the pan and sizzled loudly. The action itself was rather elegant. Despite being a man with such strong, domineering presence, he didn’t look out of place while cooking.

“Oh.”

Ji Yushi didn’t have the heart to tell him that the eggs were probably expired.

Ji Yushi lived alone and didn’t normally cook. Those eggs were ones that he had left behind before he went to Jiang City. If you disregarded how long it had been there before he left, just his trip to Jiang City alone was an entire month.

The egg in the pan looked quite normal so as long as it was cooked, it should be okay?

Looking at the egg Song Qinglan had fried already, Ji Yushi found himself craving it a little.

The immunity and intestinal flora of the two full-grown adults should be enough to cope with these eggs. As long as they didn’t eat too much, it should be okay.

Ji Yushi convinced himself.

And then……..he saw Song Qinglan fry up another five eggs in one go.

Ji Yushi: “……..”

What a joke. Song Qinglan is 193 centimetres tall and weighs more than 90 kilograms. In fact, five eggs aren’t enough to even fill the gaps between his teeth. If Ji Yushi’s fridge wasn’t so empty, he definitely would’ve cooked some more.

“With the three-month vacation, I originally planned to tour around Ning City when I have time.” Song Qinglan chatted with him, “I didn’t think that I would go back so soon.”

Ji Yushi said, “In fact, there’s nothing much to see in Ning City. Cities are all the same.”

Song Qinglan, “It’s not the same. I went to kindergarten for a few years here. This place has my childhood memories.”

Ji Yushi, “Oh, the three-year drawing champion in kindergarten?”

It seemed that Ji Yushi really remembered everything, including his bragging.

Song Qinglan was noncommittal towards this teasing and joked, “Not only were there memories of being the drawing champion, but there was also my ‘first love’. I remember that there as a very pretty little girl in kindergarten at the time and we played really well together. When I left for Jiang City, she even cried……”

Reaching this point, he looked up at Ji Yushi, “What’s that expression of yours? I can’t be charming as a child?”

Ji Yushi’s beautiful eyes were wide open as if he didn’t believe him at all.

As soon as Song Qinglan said this, he remembered that it wasn’t that he hadn’t turned smaller in front of Ji Yushi. The thought of himself wearing adult clothes and stumbling behind his teammates was so beautiful, he felt embarrassed for a while. He could only cough lightly and say, “Oh and I still remember her name. It seemed to be……Han Han. I should look for her when I have the chance.”

Ji Yushi spoke mercilessly, “Then you probably won’t be able to find her.”

The eggs were now done.

Song Qinglan didn’t take that comment to heart. It was all just silly talk anyway.

He sat down and passed two eggs to Ji Yushi, “Advisor Ji, does your talkative neighbourhood aunt sleepwalk?”

“Neighbourhood aunt? Sleepwalk?” Ji Yushi placed the eggs back onto Song Qinglan’s plate, “What do you mean?”

Song Qinglan told him about what happened last night.

It sounded quite scary. Ji Yushi was also a little surprised. He had never noticed his neighbour sleepwalking. During those sleepless nights, he had never thought about looking through his peephole to see what was going on outside.

This matter would be put to the back of their mind for the time being.

Song Qinglan had already checked again in the morning. The neighbourhood aunt was gone.

Ji Yushi asked, “So you didn’t sleep much last night?”

“Yeah, not used sleeping in a new place.” Song Qinglan used his fork to gently tap the edge of his plate. He looked at him with a faint smile, “You don’t even like to eat eggs?”

Ji Yushi: “……”

Song Qinglan pointed out, “You don’t like spam meat and you also don’t like eggs. Advisor Ji, you’re really hard to raise. It looks like no one has told you that if you don’t like something, you should speak up.”

Ji Yushi didn’t speak. It made it seem like it really was the case.

Song Qinglan added, “I’m not picky. I can get rid of anything.”

If he knew earlier that Ji Yushi didn’t like it, he wouldn’t have forced him to eat so much spam meat back at Big Beard’s space capsule.

Ji Yushi however just didn’t have the habit of voicing his likes and dislikes. He didn’t like spam meat, but he liked eggs. He hesitated, “I like it…..I thought you were the one who didn’t like spam meat.”

Song Qinglan quickly replied, “I also like it.”

As soon as he finished saying that, the two fell silent for a moment.

It was just a discussion about food in the morning but why did it feel like it was an awkward beginning of the two slowly getting to know each other?

The strange thing was, they had clearly experienced countless life or death situations and have perfect tacit understanding of each other’s thoughts, but the moment they returned to normal life, they realised that they actually didn’t know anything about the other party. Except for the relationship between a squad captain and a temporary team member, they weren’t even at a stage that could be considered as friends. In fact, he and Song Qinglan weren’t familiar at all.

Ji Yushi didn’t have many friends and he also didn’t know how to take the initiative to maintain a relationship.

But he could feel that Song Qinglan was getting closer.

The suspected expired eggs were delicious and Song Qinglan’s coffee was also very fragrant.

As he quietly chewed, Ji Yushi suddenly realised something — So in the space capsule, Song Qinglan was giving up those cans of spam meat for him?

No wonder Big Beard misunderstood at the time.

Ji Yushi quietly lowered his eyes. His grip around his fork tightened unconsciously.

These straight men, were they always so direct and sincere in the name of friendship?

*

After finishing the homemade breakfast and while praying that they wouldn’t get an upset stomach, Ji Yushi left his place together with Song Qinglan.

The two went downstairs together but ran into Ji Minyue at the base of the stairs.

Ji Minyue wore glasses and was holding a lead for his corgi.

Just like before, he seemed to be taking his dog for a walk and was stopping by Ji Yushi’s place to check on him.

When the three met, Ji Minyue just stood there. He had his back against the sun, making it difficult to see his expression.

“Older brother?” Ji Yushi greeted and then told Song Qinglan, “My older brother.”

Ji Minyue didn’t move.

Ji Yushi walked over and was finally able to see Ji Minyue’s face clearly.

It turned out that Ji Minyue was looking at him. He didn’t appear to be curious about who the person beside him was and just said, “Old Ji wants you to go home.”

Thinking that they were worried about him, Ji Yushi told Ji Minyue, “Cap Song and I have to go to Jiang City.”

Ji Minyue only repeated, “Old Ji wants you to go home.”

Ji Yushi for some reason felt a little uncomfortable, “Ji Minyue, what’s wrong with you?”

Ji Minyue, “Old Ji wants you to go home.”

From their meeting until now, he had repeated it three times. Ji Minyue’s voice was very stiff and also somewhat mechanical.

When he spoke, his eyes stared at Ji Yushi and he didn’t even blink. He was completely different from his usual demeanour.

Ji Yushi was pulled back by someone. He heard Song Qinglan speak to him, “Look at the dog.”

The Corgi stood beside Ji Minyue. As a dog, it didn’t have its tongue hanging out to let it cool down and it was doing the same thing as its owner, staring at them unblinkingly and without any other movement.

“It’s not sleepwalking.” Song Qinglan said, “Something isn’t right about your neighbour and the same goes for your older brother. Advisor Ji, have you noticed that your cat hasn’t made a sound at all this morning?”

As the two ate, the cat had jumped onto the breakfast table.

Ji Yushi thought it was interested in the fried eggs but, recalling it now, the cat only sat there and watched them.

Even when he added cat food to the automatic feeder before he left, the cat only sat far away, not making a single sound.

“We should go!”

Song Qinglan said this and the two quickly walked towards where the car was parked.

Ji Minyue led his dog and silently followed behind them. Even when Song Qinglan started the car, he continued to silently stare at them.

The off-road vehicle backed out smoothly. After a short pause, Ji Minyue pounced onto the glass.

With his familiar face close at hand, Ji Minyue mechanically said, “Old Ji wants you to go home.”

Ji Yushi had an urge to open the car door and follow Ji Minyue away.

Song Qinglan returned him to his senses, “Ji Yushi!”

Only now did Ji Yushi realise that he had placed his hand on the door handle. He was startled by this and quickly withdrew his hand. Song Qinglan continued to focus on driving.

As they got closer and closer to the exit of the community, Ji Yushi saw a very shocking scene through the rearview mirror.

Ji Minyue, the corgi, the neighbourhood aunt and her kids, as well as the community administrator, were all standing behind them.

They all stood there expressionlessly, quietly watching the car drive away.

*

The car drove out of the complex and merged with the early morning traffic.

The city was full of traffic and the sun was bright. Everything seemed to be normal. It was as if that strangeness earlier was just their imagination.

But Ji Yushi knew that it wasn’t.

What was going on?

Ji Minyue was his family, the neighbourhood aunt and her children could be considered as close acquaintances, and that community administrator had also once helped him find his cat…..These were all people who have a relationship with him.

“I called my grandfather’s place this morning but couldn’t get through.” Song Qinglan said, “I tried home too, and no one answered. I thought it was just a coincidence but now it seems that something isn’t right. I think these abnormalities are not only affecting the people around you, it’s also the same on my end.”

As if guessing what Ji Yushi was thinking, Song Qinglan who was driving provided information from his end.

Why was this happening?

Both of them were a little at loss.

“Do you still want to find Chief Wang?” Song Qinglan asked, “What do you think?”

Ji Yushi didn’t hesitate, “Let’s go.”

Song Qinglan already anticipated this answer. He continued to drive the car quickly and steadily.

On the way, Song Qinglan received a call from Duan Wen because of the message he had sent last night.

“Cap Song.” Duan Wen’s voice was very low. His tone sounded a little different from usual, “Is it not convenient for you to talk now?”

Song Qinglan said, “I am with Advisor Ji.”

Through the communicator in the car, Duan Wen seemed to be shocked. Why were these two together again?

But knowing that Ji Yushi was also there, Duan Wen opened up and quickly and nervously spoke, “Fucking hell, I think I’m going crazy.”

“Cap Song, do you remember the tree in my backyard? The one I planted on my twenty-fifth birthday?” Because he was too excited, Duan Wen forgot to leave out the profanities, “I made a wish that day that I would get married when I turn thirty-five and by that time, I would be able to put up a swing on the tree for the child. Yesterday, while I was putting up a swing, I suddenly fucking remembered….What child?”

Duan Wen’s voice was trembling, “But I really did have one. It’s a daughter, and very cute. My wife is from the Jiang City branch research team and we’ve known each other for five years but I clearly remember pursing her only to be rejected and was even later invited to her wedding…..What’s going on? In my current memory, that wedding was for me and her. I’m wondering if I’m going crazy. Did the time and space hijacking leave me with such a serious sequela?”

The expressions of the two in the car changed.

Although it didn’t make sense, it was something they expected.

Song Qinglan comforted calmly, “Don’t panic. We also have similar symptoms.”

Duan Wen was stunned, “This damned thing. It’s not a blessing to share so how can I not panic?”

“Brother Wen.” Ji Yushi spoke up, “Cap Song and I are guessing that this situation is likely caused by the overlapping of two memories.”

Ji Yushi’s voice was cold and clear. Every time he analysed something, the listener was able to quickly settle down and pay attention. Although he and Song Qinglan currently also didn’t have any clues, Ji Yushi was able to use a simple explanation to let Duan Wen understand the current situation.

Duan Wen asked, “Then what do I do now?”

“I have some documents here that I will send to you later. See if you remember anything when you look at it.” Song Qinglan was referring to Chief Wang’s information. He then continued, “You should contact the others and learn about their situation. Advisor Ji and I are on our way back to Jiang City.”

The call ended.

Ji Yushi sent the documents over to Duan Wen.

There was a traffic jam on the road. When they arrived at Ning City North Station, they didn’t have much time.

Fortunately, both of them were tall and had long legs. They headed straight for the station without stopping after parking the car.

There were many people coming and going at the station. Passengers from all over the place gathered there. It was always in a busy state.

Crossing through the parking lot and the lobby, Song Qinglan noticed that there would occasionally be some unfamiliar faces stopping and staring at them.

Ji Yushi quickly retrieved these faces from his memories.

It seemed that these people who had stopped to look at them were people he had at one point interacted with.

There is a term called six degrees of separation.

The meaning for it was that, between two strangers, at most every sixth person would be someone they know. It meant that no matter who it was in this world, they would be no more than six social connections away.

Passing by each other in the same city or catching a glimpse of each other at a certain place, the world was both big and small. Even if it was not as exaggerated as the so-called six degrees of separation, these people here still had some form of connection.

Ji Yushi followed Song Qinglan and crossed through the crowd.

Suddenly, someone grabbed his clothes.

Ji Yushi looked back. It was the cleaning staff.

Having passed through this lobby several times in the past, he had once helped the cleaner pick up rubbish from the ground.

At this moment the cleaner had grabbed him, but he didn’t speak. There were no emotions in his dim eyes, as if his task was just to stop him from moving forward.

Ji Yushi only stopped for a moment when five or six people appeared from behind the cleaner.

They stepped out of the crowd and stared at Ji Yushi without blinking, just like how it was with Ji Minyue and the neighbourhood aunt. They approached him silently and seemed to be wanting to encircle and trap Ji Yushi.

The other people passing by seemed to not notice anything.

Facing such a group of people with expressionless faces, it made one feel like they were in a nightmare.

“Ji Yushi!”

Song Qinglan very quickly discovered that Ji Yushi wasn’t behind him. He returned and grabbed his hand.

In just those short seconds, cold sweat had formed on Ji Yushi’s palms. He suddenly returned to his senses, “Cap Song!”

There were more and more people. From the initial five or six, there were now a dozen or so people.

These people formed a human wall, blocking their way to Jiang City.

Song Qinglan’s expression was solemn, “Let’s go!”

Ji Yushi followed Song Qinglan out of the encirclement. The two walked very quickly.

Song Qinglan unceremoniously pushed away the people circling them. He was strong and was able to knock them away with ease to create a path, but they still continued to follow them at the same pace.

Their IDs were verified at the ticket gate and the two finally entered the platform.

They had moved swiftly enough. Those people couldn’t take the suspended train without a ticket so they could only stand behind the glass windows outside the platform.

Being watched from behind by such a group of people, it felt like even the speed of the train had slowed down.

On the platform, the passengers waiting for the train chatted cheerily, forming a sharp contrast with the strangeness behind them.

Whilst stuck in this reality that didn’t seem like a reality, the train finally arrived.

They boarded the train. Because of the angle, those people could no longer see them.

Along with the sound of the wind whistling, the suspended train began to move. Ji Yushi saw from the distance that the people by the window seemed to have suddenly come back to life. Each of them regained normal, vivid expressions and slowly scattered away.