Chapter Ch166.1 - Around And Back Again

translator: xiin

editors: apricot & juurensha

The summer wind and stars collapsed, and the earth spun.

Wu Jin’s consciousness returned, and he disappeared from Wei Shi’s arms.

Wei Shi opened his eyes again.

The wind whistled fiercely past his ears.

In front of him was the snow covered R-Code Base.

On the other side of the consciousness communication channel, Researcher Song asked about the situation, then suddenly realized, “It’s like this, there are layers in the consciousness world. Little Witch first fell into the real memories from R-Code Base, then fell into the simulated ‘21st century memories’.”

“Brother Wei, you followed Little Witch and fell down layer by layer, so you need to come up one layer at a time. However, Little Witch is going to wake up soon. Let me recommend a shortcut to you! Just cut the connection directly and come out of the treatment cabin––”

Wei Shi ignored him and stepped over the soft snow.

The wind and snow had blown away the black smog over R-Code Base and replaced it with a thick and choking haze. The snowflakes couldn’t be seen clearly, and the buildings in the surroundings were scattered. It could be seen that there was a considerable gap between the current R-Code Base and how it’d been in its heyday.

An electronic light on the notice board showed the date.

January 31, 3004.

Wu Jin’s memories of the R-Code Base at the age of 4.

Probably because the master of this consciousness world had returned to this layer of memory, the snowy skies of the base were much fiercer. The genetically modified people, instructors, researchers, and base personnel were all scurrying about in a hurry in the snow.

Wei Shi walked against the crowd, but nobody really noticed him.

At this time, he was like a ghost lingering in Wu Jin’s memory.

Wei Shi arrived at the door to the genetic reproduction room. The gloomy diamond pattern was like countless eyes that were closely interlinked together.

He pushed open the door and looked straight at the young Wu Jin.

He looked exactly the same as the little figure in the surveillance video taken from the R-Code Base.

The small, short arms and cheeks were soft and gave off a faint milky fragrance. He sat there obediently on the bench, holding a piece of cotton and pressing it against the beads of blood that oozed out from the medicine injection needle hole.

“Was the door blown open by the wind?” A researcher wearing a mask asked, “Who forgot to lock the door because of the strong wind outside?”

Nobody could see Wei Shi.

The slightly opened door let in a weak stream of light, and the cold wind blew over the ground, the medical equipment, the hospital bed, and the wall that Wu Jin was sitting against.

The little baby opened his eyes and looked at the bright beam of light. Then, his expression leapt up. The cotton was no longer pressed to stop the bleeding as he reached for the spot of light on the wall.

“What’s he doing?” A researcher immediately came to reprimand Wu Jin, saying, “Didn’t you say that he’s the most obedient one from this batch&#k2026;”

Wei Shi strode forward, planning to leave the laboratory with Wu Jin in his arms. His translucent palm went straight through the little baby’s arm.

Wei Shi looked at his own hand.

He was just a ghost in Wu Jin’s memory.

In the consciousness connection, Researcher Song was still observing the fluctuations in Wu Jin’s treatment cabin. “Brother Wei, why don’t you come out and watch the movie from here? At this time, you and Little Witch can’t interact…”

The consciousness world turned over again.

Wei Shi was still standing in the genetic reproduction room. The virtual screen showed that it was September 3007. The hospital bed that had been there was now replaced by the ‘immersion scenario simulation’ equipment.

Wu Jin wasn’t inside.

The desk was littered with paper information about the life of the 21st century idol ‘Wu Jín’ and the memory chips that contained video recordings.

Two researchers were gossiping together.

“He’s practicing dance? Is he really immersing himself in it? It’s just an experiment, yet he thinks of himself as the 21st century superstar?”

“Professor Alfaso already said, don’t always regard people as lab animals. The child looks very pitiful. Let him learn whatever he likes, since it won’t delay the experiments.”

“Fine. By the way, the first screening will be conducted tomorrow, and all the scabbards will be shown the scene where they were abandoned by their parents. Their characters and compliance levels will be tested…”

Wei Shi’s expression was cold.

In his ear, he could hear Researcher Song’s words, “Hey, Brother Wei, what’s the matter with you? Why is your own mood fluctuating––”

The scene changed again.

The heat of September faded, and the timeline had moved forward again. It was already deep in the winter of 3012, one year before R-Code Base had been disbanded.

Wu Jin finally appeared in the genetic reproduction room.

The screen on the equipment showed that at this time, Wu Jin had been injected with 15 times more MHCC mind calming agent than normal people could tolerate. Wu Jin, at 12 years old, was quiet and silent, sitting in front of the hospital bed and looking out the window.

In the silence, the boy suddenly stood up, his face unhealthily pale as he flew over to the window and pounded on the glass of the genetic reproduction room.

Wei Shi covered Wu Jin’s thin shoulders from behind, and his eyes followed Wu Jin’s line of sight.

The man’s figure shook fiercely.

Outside, there was the 19 year old version of himself. The young Wei Shi had just finished fighting, and his aura was full of anger as he walked quickly towards the dormitory. Wu Jin was beating on the window frame of the genetic reproduction room with the greatest strength he could muster, but the walls were thick and soundproof. The young Wei Shi paused for a moment, then finally wrote it off as an auditory hallucination, and his head disappeared from their field of vision.

However, the loud noise startled the researchers next door.

“What’s going on, what’s going on?”

“Hold him down. The professor said that he can be considered a success for the preliminary transformation. His feelings have been amplified to the strongest at this moment. I guess he saw a genetically modified person he can match with.”

“This… should we report it to the supervisors?”

“Report what! Young Master Shao isn’t at the base today. He’s the scabbard that Young Master Shao ordered, got it?”

The two researchers were just about to pull Wu Jin back from the window when one of them suddenly said, “Why did the picture frame fall off––”

Wei Shi held a corner of the picture frame and smashed it down, protecting Wu Jin behind him like a ghost.

Light and shadow swirled again before his eyes.

February 3013.

Only two months had passed.

Wu Jin came out of the ‘immersion scenario simulation’ cabin and vomited in the bathroom.

Outside the door, it was snowing heavily.

The genetic reproduction room was located in a remote corner that was rarely visited. Wu Jin didn’t hold any hopes as he looked out the window, but then his dim eyes suddenly lit up. This time, he didn’t make any noise.

The R-Code Base was only seven months away from being disbanded.

There was a lot of noise about it in the base. Mao Dongqing pulled over Wei Shi, who had just turned 20, to a remote corner and handed him a cigarette.

Cigarettes were expensive commodities in the base that could only be redeemed with 200 points. Mao Dongqing had gotten the emotional lock and then gone out to take a few missions, and had only saved up 1000 to 2000 points. He was really paying out a lot to offer up a cigarette.

After the base was disbanded, the contribution points would be useless.

The two of them sucked hard on their cigarettes.

Mao Dongqing: “Your next mission goes beyond the national boundaries.”

Wei Shi grunted in acknowledgement.

Mao Dongqing: “I inquired about what will happen after the base is disbanded. Each person will be given two tubes of MHCC, and then they’ll be left to fend for themselves. In this mission, take my brother out with you. My two tubes of MHCC will be yours.”

Wei Shi raised his eyelids.

The two of them finished smoking in silence.

Half an hour later, a Mao Qiukui who looked extremely dissatisfied was forcibly handed over to Wei Shi.

Outside the genetic reproduction room, Mao Dongqing left without looking back. Mao Qiukui crouched on the ground with red eyes filled with tears.

Wei Shi had no patience for this, “Kid, get up.”

Mao Qiukui burst out crying with a wail, “Damnit… **$&%$! I’m not going with you! I’m going to find my big brother, why…”

Wei Shi didn’t say a word.

Mao Qiukui was only in his early teens. He cried until only a thin thread of sound was left, then sniffed his nose and spoke to himself, “In the future, I’m going to fly over a plane and blow this place up!”

“I’m going to go out and make money and buy mind calming agents for my brother…”

“I don’t want to go! I want my big brother, this morning, my brother promised, promised that he’d make me a snowman…”

Wei Shi had no patience to listen to this. Finally, he couldn’t bear it anymore and stood up.

It felt like Mao Qiukui had cried for half a day.

“Look up.”

A crooked snowman was piled there next to Mao Qiukui.

Mao Qiukui looked blankly at the snowman.

Wei Shi suddenly kicked the snowman over.

The head, the tree branches that acted as hands, and the nose, were scattered all over the ground.

Wei Shi finally managed to refrain from not beating Mao Qiukui up.

“See that?”

“You’ve been protected by your brother for ten years. You should f*cking grow up.”

The two of them left, one following after the other.

The genetic reproduction room.

Wu Jin looked at the scattered snowman that nobody wanted, and his eyes flashed.

He wiped the moisture off the window and continued to watch over and guard the snowman scattered by the door. It wasn’t until the snowman was completely covered by the snow that he reluctantly left the laboratory.

In the Floating City laboratory, the alarms suddenly went off.

Researcher Song was surprised, “Brother Wei, you should come out. Your fluctuations are higher than Little Witch’s. Also, it’s about to reach 6 hours again. You’re still a patient too, and you can’t stay in the consciousness world for too long––Brother Wei, whatever you see now are things that have already happened. The past doesn’t represent the present…”

The consciousness world grew dark again.

xiin: *cuddles a pillow* T_T