After they left the room, did Song Qinglan really go back?

What did Song Qinglan hear?

Will he ask questions, or will it lead to more misunderstandings like the one with the three boyfriends?

His eyelids were still twitching, and his heart began to lose its rhythm.

Ji Yushi’s fingers, hanging by his side, quietly curled up. His expression remained as cold as ever, and he said indifferently, “Oh.”

“Thanks to this recording function, I know you decided to head toward the central block; otherwise, we would still be wasting time,” Song Qinglan quickly added, “Did you get separated from Lin Xinlan?”

Ji Yushi: “…”

He and Lin Xinlan had waited in that room for Song Qinglan for at least twenty minutes before deciding to leave, only after seeing more and more travelers moving around the surrounding rooms.

It turns out that what Song Qinglan saw in the room was the situation just before he and Lin Xinlan left, not when they had just entered the room.

The curled fingers relaxed.

Ji Yushi felt a bit relieved, but also a vague sense of loss.

Fortunately, he was always someone who knew what to do and what not to do, so he answered as usual, “Yeah, we got separated due to a time difference.”

Song Qinglan made no comment on this; whether Lin Xinlan was separated or not didn’t affect the continuation of their mission.

“These records can help us determine the chronological order. Plus, with the movement patterns you analyzed earlier, we can safely enter each room with a different time difference and leave traces. It shouldn’t take too long to piece everything together,” Song Qinglan said. “We should be able to complete this mission soon.”

Ji Yushi: “Yes.”

Song Qinglan smiled freely, “So, it’s no wonder that the Scumbag said our team has the highest chance of winning.”

After saying that, he glanced at Ji Yushi again, his eyes deep, and said, “Because we have Consultant Ji.”

Ji Yushi turned his face away and followed the two gossiping ahead.

He would rather listen to gossip than chat with a straight-talking guy.

Time shone brilliantly in the darkness, and the cubic fragments of time and space were pieced together and reorganized as countless travelers moved, constantly changing.

They arrived in front of a large purple cube, and Duan Wen reached out a hand.

The wall felt like it wasn’t solid, and Duan Wen only touched emptiness.

Then, Duan Wen lifted his leg and stepped into the wall, just like when they exited the capsule, stepping into the wall with one foot.

The others followed one by one, emerging from the wall as if the game was loading.

The surroundings became bright again, and everything was pure white, with only a purple sphere floating in the center of the room. They took the purple sphere and opened the round hole in the wall through which they had come.

What they saw through the round hole was no longer the illusory darkness, but had returned to the quiet central block, where the black sphere was floating.

This mission was too abstract. Even those who had experienced several fantastic journeys couldn’t help but marvel at the wonder in their hearts.

“This room has been visited before,” Ji Yushi saw various strange markings on the floor, “It’s already an integrated room.”

Duan Wen crouched down and counted, “There are nine marks. Does that mean at least nine rooms have already been pieced together?”

Ji Yushi: “More or less.”

“Hah, the people who passed through these rooms before were wasting their efforts. They never would have guessed that this is how things fit together,” Zhou Mingxuan sighed, “We must have pieced together quite a few rooms ourselves earlier.”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

“If they had realized that, it wouldn’t be us completing the mission, but them,” Song Qinglan’s thought process was different from the others, “As more colors are pieced together, there will be fewer rooms left, and the overlapping symbols will become more frequent. They’ll definitely figure it out eventually, and the competition will become fierce in the end.”

As the team leader, someone who had been through countless competitions, Song Qinglan had a strong competitive spirit.

He almost instinctively pointed out the current difficulty. The mission had now turned into a standoff among the travelers, with the mission objective becoming less relevant.

Duan Wen slapped his thigh, “Captain Song is right!”

Zhou Mingxuan: “So, do we piece it together or not?! If we piece together too many, the rooms will decrease, giving them a chance to realize it. If we piece together too few, we’ll waste time!”

Even Ji Yushi realized belatedly and frowned.

Song Qinglan said, “Piece it together. Since the competition has already started, why hesitate to take the first step?”

Song Qinglan stood on one side of the room, but he was naturally the focal point.

He narrowed his eyes slightly, a fierce and domineering aura of defiance emanating from him, the unyielding desire to win that belonged to a strong person was released without restraint.

He didn’t retreat, didn’t hesitate, and faced the challenges that might come head-on.

“Starting from this purple room, we’re going to win.”

“Beep——”

The first round opening in front of everyone activated.

“Yellow!”

“Red!”

“Gray! Blue!”

“Green!”

The four members of the team split up and cooperated.

In each new room, Duan Wen, Zhou Mingxuan, and Song Qinglan were responsible for checking the colors of the surrounding rooms, while Ji Yushi was responsible for calculations.

“There’s another gray room here!”

Zhou Mingxuan jumped down from the ladder.

“Yellow, red, gray, blue, green, gray…” Ji Yushi simulated their current movement direction on the holographic projection, “The right side of the last room was purple, and we were moving forward. Forward-down, now it’s on our right side and downward. To loop back, we have to go right. Right-forward, the right side is green and passable. Then backward-upward, continuing downward, and we can safely enter the new purple room.”

Everyone had spiral eyes.

Duan Wen: “What?”

Zhou Mingxuan: “Old Duan, don’t worry about it, just do what he says.”

This was the fourth purple room they had entered. After comparison, two of these purple rooms had time differences. The last purple room was in the correct sequence with the first one, and since they were adjacent, they could piece them together without anyone else moving.

Even if someone else moved, it didn’t matter; they could randomly choose another color and start over—these colors would eventually need to be pieced together to form a continuous timeline.

Unlike before, this time they navigated through the rooms of different colors with a clear purpose, becoming the first among countless travelers to wake up to the realization.

Purple, yellow, and then blue.

The goals shifted multiple times along the way, but Ji Yushi could clearly and accurately point out the right path based on the movement patterns.

In this intricate maze of time fragments, Ji Yushi was like a dazzling beacon.

Song Qinglan was the helmsman of the ship, leading the team straight ahead according to his directions.

Rooms that slowed down time were pieced together with rooms that sped it up, rooms that rewound two seconds were pieced together with rooms that fast-forwarded two seconds.

Two hours long, two seconds later, frozen in time… every instance required precise and careful analysis and testing to successfully discern the time differences within.

To test the chronological order, the four of them were separated multiple times.

In rooms with different time differences, they sometimes only went in and out once, and when they reunited and successfully pieced things together, they had been separated for as long as two days.

For a moment, it was as if they had returned to the endless loop of Ouroboros, where they couldn’t see the truth and had to find the only path to victory from the chain of interconnected events. “Rubik’s Cube” was indeed a fitting name for the super S-level mission in the Sky System.

They continued to move forward and leave marks.

As the numbers increased, they encountered several groups of unfamiliar travelers, now numbering over a hundred. They also encountered themselves several times. These rooms recorded their passage, allowing them to clearly see the time differences between rooms of the same color.

The rooms were decreasing in number.

Ji Yushi’s mental pressure was increasing.

“Beep——”

A new room was reached.

As soon as Ji Yushi stepped down from the ladder, Song Qinglan grabbed his wrist, stopping him from opening the holographic projection. “Ji Yushi.”

“Captain Song.”

Ji Yushi’s face was slightly pale, with a thin layer of sweat on his forehead. Although he looked energetic, it was clear that he was just holding on.

Their actions drew the attention of the other team members.

Duan Wen and Zhou Mingxuan stopped in their tracks and looked over at them.

“Let’s rest in this room for a while,” Song Qinglan said firmly, leaving no room for argument. “We’ll continue after we’ve rested properly.”

“We’ve successfully connected 37 blue rooms, 23 purple, 16 green, 5 red, 2 gray, and 15 yellow,” Ji Yushi objected. “The success rate is only half, and we don’t know how many more we have left to complete.”

Song Qinglan replied, “That’s just what we’ve completed. There are many other travelers completing theirs too. We’ve gone through so many rooms; there’s no rush right now.”

Ji Yushi looked him in the eye, his gaze calm. “I just want to get home as quickly as possible.”

Get home as quickly as possible.

Hearing those words, Song Qinglan seemed to remember something, and he released Ji Yushi’s wrist.

“We all want to get home quickly,” Song Qinglan stepped back a little. “But you can’t. You need to rest and relax your mind before we move on.”

“No need,” Ji Yushi said. “You don’t need to worry about me.”

Song Qinglan chuckled, “I don’t know if anyone worries about you at home, but here, I’m the captain. If I don’t look after you, who will?”

Realizing there was no room for negotiation, Ji Yushi lowered his eyelashes.

The two weren’t exactly arguing, nor were they confronting each other, but for some reason, the atmosphere felt tense.

“After going through over two hundred rooms, I’m feeling a bit tired myself,” Zhou Mingxuan chimed in at the right time. “It’s probably time to take a break.”

“I’ll check out the surroundings first,” Duan Wen said.

Ji Yushi found a place to sit down.

Then he pulled out his black-and-white handheld gaming console.

This was how he always rested. He didn’t sleep, nor did he need to sleep. Playing Tetris was his best way to relax.

Duan Wen and Zhou Mingxuan went to check the colors of the surrounding rooms, while Song Qinglan stood in his original position, watching Ji Yushi. The other’s handsome profile and calm demeanor were no different from usual, but Song Qinglan could sense his impatience.

Once they completed the mission in the Sky System, they could go home and receive a reward.

And it could be any reward.

Song Qinglan knew very well what Ji Yushi wanted.

For the first time, Song Qinglan felt he couldn’t control himself.

He paced around twice, finally gritted his teeth, and walked over. But before he could speak, Ji Yushi paused his actions. “Why are you so concerned about me?”

Song Qinglan was startled.

Ji Yushi’s voice wasn’t loud, and with the others talking, they might not have heard what he said.

“From the moment we set out, you’ve been increasingly concerned about me.” Ji Yushi’s gaze was clear. “It could easily be misunderstood.”

Ji Yushi was always direct in such matters, always catching Song Qinglan off guard.

He was different from the other members of the team. Even before joining the team, he had made it clear that his sexual orientation was different. He was also different from everyone else; he was open, straightforward, and never shied away from saying that he liked men. He was that unique Ji Yushi.

And also that Ji Yushi who wasn’t single.

This time, Song Qinglan couldn’t even say, “I’m the captain.”

Receiving Ji Yushi’s unreserved reminder, it was as if Song Qinglan’s throat was gripped, and he couldn’t respond.

After speaking, Ji Yushi lowered his head and resumed his game. “I could misunderstand too.”

“Beep——”

The round door opened.

Everyone simultaneously looked up.

Someone on the ladder glanced down and shouted, “Blue! There are people inside!”

Another voice followed, “Then let’s go down!”

The familiar sound of Chinese made the team almost think they had encountered other teammates or perhaps members of Team Nine.

A middle-aged man slowly climbed down the ladder. He was chubby and looked like a homebody. Following him was a slightly younger man wearing silver-rimmed glasses and a white shirt, exuding a scholarly aura without even speaking.

They didn’t seem like travelers.

No one noticed that Ji Yushi had suddenly stiffened, standing frozen in place.