Mist

Chapter 6: Ouroboros

“Fuck, what the hell is that?? What the hell is PU-31?!”
“Did the command centre do a last-minute mission change?”
“Think with your brain. Those at the top would definitely not do something like that.”
“Did we get mixed up with another squad’s mission? Or is this a prank by that group of people from the ninth squad?”
“And what’s this about the chaser of darkness?! We can’t go back if we don’t finish this mission??”

“Cap Song, have you encountered something like this before?”
Following the chaotic chatter, Ji Yushi’s question made everyone quieten down.
The black combat uniform made Ji Yushi appear even more slender but his tone was calmer compared to his teammates.

“First time.” Song Qinglan answered, “Have you encountered this in your Recorder missions?”
Seeing him remain silent, it was presumed that he had also not encountered this before. Song Qinglan raised a brow, “Why? Afraid?”

Ji Yushi shook his head, “No, it’s enough if I can just lie down and win.” (KKnotes: For those who have forgotten, lie down and win basically means do nothing and profit off them)

Everyone was shocked: “!!!”
They didn’t expect Advisor Ji to actually say something like that out loud! Was it really okay to do this in such a situation?!

Ji Yushi continued to look calm, as if he had no burden whatsoever.
He appeared to be determined to be a salted fish. (KKnotes: Basically to be useless/to do nothing)

Song Qinglan: “……..”
Forget it. Everyone has their own ambitions.

Not wanting to speak anymore, Song Qinglan looked around before picking up a broom and going outside.
The black wall was just ahead. He poked at it with the broom and saw that it could go through. It seems that it wasn’t a physical body. The broom in his hands however suddenly became very light. As he pulled it back out, the part of the broom that was inserted into the black wall was gone, as if it had been ‘eaten’ by the black wall.
This terrible scene made everyone sweat nervously.
They couldn’t help but imagine the horrific scene of themselves recklessly touching that black wall and becoming physically mutilated or possibly even split in half.

As they saw earlier, that black wall could move.
Although it was still now, no one knew when it would start moving again. Clearly, they should leave this park management office as soon as possible.

Song Qinglan threw aside the broken broom: “What did the mission rules say?”

“De-death elimination.” Someone answered.
“It’s good that we know.” Song Qinglan turned to everyone and said sternly, “Pick up your weapons and try not to die on me. Since we can’t go back anyway, let’s figure out what this PU-31 is.”

*

The squad ventured out of the park, reaching a not so spacious intersection.
In Star Era 1470, the building density was much higher than the time and space they came from ten years ago so having a space in the centre of the city to use as a park was already very luxurious and, as a result, the streets near the park were relatively narrow.

The city was barren and emptier than expected. There were no signs of life around.
Wrecked cars were messily scattered by the sides of the roads, various shops appeared to have been smashed and burns and there were also blood stains everywhere along with an occasional mutilated corpse or two. It really felt like it was the end of the world.
The deeper into the city, the more silent it was. The only sounds that could be heard was everyone’s heavy breathing transmitted through the communicator. No one spoke.

The team members bypassed the black wall and continued on while looking around vigilantly.
They didn’t know when that black wall would move again and at times they would look back to check, only to see that it was still sitting there in the distance, having wiped out half the world.