CH 110.2

Chapter 110.2 – The Rain Against the Current

Adjutant Bing looked hard again, and several hideous lightning bolts struck down, reflecting the earth in a miserable white. This was the only light in heaven and earth.

Lu Tinghan stood in front of the window and said affirmatively: “I saw the light. Adjutant Bing, move towards 2 o’clock at speed 3!”

Adjutant Bing was taken aback: “Yes!”

He wasn’t sure what was happening, but he absolutely trusted Lu Tinghan. He controlled the aircraft and traveled carefully in the direction of the south-east. Others came to the cockpit when they felt the movement, and they were surprised.

“What happened?” Chi Yongge asked, “Has the instrument recovered? Where are we going? How…”

He stopped talking suddenly – Adjutant Bing made a silent gesture to him. Chi Yongge’s gaze fell on Lu Tinghan, and he saw him staring at a certain point in the void.

So he stopped asking, and Douglas quickly stepped forward to assist Adjutant Bing.

Against the pouring rain, there was a distinct sense of stagnation as the aircraft traveled. The strange shadows were still wandering in the clouds, as if eyeing them.

A few seconds later, the pale lightning struck, and the light was almost blinding! It was too close, so close that it seemed to pass by the aircraft. “Boom!!” There was another deafening thunder, which made people’s eardrums hurt.

The wind was blowing endlessly, this was really a sinister place.

Unknowingly, Chi Yongge’s clothes were wet with sweat.

‘Can we really leave?’ he thought. The movements in his hands did not stop, but the anxiety for many days made him uneasy. He unconsciously wondered if they would also die on this barren battlefield like the soldiers of the old days.

His heart was pounding.

Until he saw a touch of light.

The light was warm yellow, dim and gentle, but pierced the thick clouds.

It floated in the air and flashed by lightly.

“Keep up,” Lu Tinghan said, “…follow it.”

The aircraft headed in the direction of the light.

When they got closer, everyone discovered the mystery of the light.

——Under the warm glow, Lu Tinghan saw the raindrops flowing against the sky.

Not only the rain, but the black clouds receded to both sides in a strange way, as if they were cut open by a sharp sword of the void; thunder and lightning also violated the laws of nature, first the thunder came, and then the lightning rushed upward, like a mad snake returning to the sky, hiding in the clouds.

This is a…world where time flows backwards.

Lu Tinghan’s eyes widened slightly.

The warm yellow light fell into his eyes, like a lighthouse on a gray-blue ocean.

As a result, hundreds of millions of drops of rising rain appeared in his eyes.

“What is this…” Adjutant Bing murmured, “Am I dreaming, or is the world crazy, that light seems to be showing us the way…?”

They saw that in front of the aircraft, the stratus clouds retreated, and there was obviously a “road” waiting for them, leading to an unknown distance.

And the appearance of the “road” was particularly familiar.

Lu Tinghan said, “It’s the path we took before.” He stared ahead, “Such traces are left when the aircraft is traveling.”

“What do you—what do you mean?” Chi Yongge’s head was in a mess, and he leaned in front of the glass window to look.

He quickly understood: only when the aircraft broke through the dark clouds would there be such a “crack” in the clouds, which was the “road” they were seeing now. Judging from the shape of the crack, it was obvious that it was heading in the opposite direction, that is, the direction of the Empire.

They returned the same way, and they did pass through this battlefield when they came.

Chi Yongge murmured: “This is the trace left by us when we came… why did it appear again? Right, is it because time has gone back? We are back in the past, it’s incredible…”

“No, you can’t say that,” Lu Tinghan whispered, “Look at the panel, the rain is still coming from above.”

Only then did everyone notice that the data panel showed that the force surface of the aircraft was still above, which meant that the direction of the rain flow had not changed.

Adjutant Bing frowned and said, “But the rain is clearly going to the sky! Is it my eyesight?!” He rubbed his eyes hard, how could he see the world in reverse, “We haven’t eaten poisonous mushrooms either. Is it that what we see is an illusion?”

Lu Tinghan’s voice was still very low: “The reality has not been changed, it’s just that what we see is different.” He spoke faster and faster, “It’s the light, it allows us to see the past…quickly! Follow it!”

The aircraft followed the yellow light, slowly moving forward.

This moment was truly mysterious.

It was clear that nothing had changed in reality, but the light revealed the way of the past, and the rain and lightning from all over the world were rushing towards the sky. Even if the equipment was in a mess, even though the thunder and lightning were ghostly, they still went in the right direction.

The road was unobstructed, and the people in the cockpit were amazed and surprised, calling it a miracle.

Lu Tinghan froze. He remembered what it was like: it was like the light he had followed, as Old Song had said!

Everything matched up. Old Song said that the xuejian flowers turned from blooms to buds and back to shoots, and Professor Guan told him for sure that the xuejian flowers hadn’t changed in any way.

What if both of them were right?

When he was a child, he just saw the past, just saw it, just witnessed it – and that was enough.

Enough for him to go home.

Now, it was enough for them to go home.

‘Is it Shi Yuan?’

‘Is this a miracle Shi Yuan did? If yes, can he do more?’

Lu Tinghan’s heartbeat had never been so fast before, he was quick-thinking, and many ideas and plans instantly surged in his mind! Ignoring the shouts of others, he rushed back to the room and opened the door with a “bang”.

He paused suddenly.

The light poured into the dark room from behind him, his shadow was elongated and fell on the soft bedding – the cold flower tea was beside his hand, and the upper half of Shi Yuan was lying on the floating window next to the bed, resting his chin on the marble slab, but his waist was slumped, and the lower half of his body was curled up in the bed with the quilt, his tail slightly curled.

To make this strange posture, a normal person had to have a very good spine, and they would definitely have backache every once in a while.

But Shi Yuan was able to sleep so comfortably.

He slept too heavily and soundly, and the sound of thunder and lightning could not wake him up.

Everything that was happening seemed to have nothing to do with him. Perhaps the light was too bright, he groaned twice, shook the tip of his tail, and said hoarsely: “…what’s the matter? Are you done being busy and coming to bed?”

He was half asleep and half awake, trying to fight against sleep, and only after a long time did he continue to speak: “Come here, it’s so warm under the quilt…”

The voice became lower and lower, and he fell asleep again.

His expression was calm and soft.

Lu Tinghan relaxed his body.

‘…it doesn’t matter,’ he thought.

Whether this miracle was done by Shi Yuan or not, it didn’t matter.

A little monster shouldn’t bear such heavy expectations. He just wanted to come to the city to find his human and be touched on the head.

Lu Tinghan slowly exhaled a breath, sat down by the bed, and whispered, “Shi Yuan…”

Shi Yuan’s tail woke up and shook happily for a while before he responded: “…hmm?”

“It’s nothing, I’ll tell you tomorrow. We will be able to go home soon.” Lu Tinghan gently held his hand and looked out the window. The warm yellow color smudged the sky, painting their faces with a soft light.

He said, “Look, that’s light.”

……

The aircraft left the ancient battlefield safely. As Lu Tinghan expected, Shi Yuan looked confused about the matter.

He said, “I don’t know what happened, I just remember that I dreamed that you were throwing garbage around.”

Adjutant Bing asked, “You really don’t remember a little bit?”

Shi Yuan thought hard, tangled until his tail curled up, and still said, “I don’t know…I really didn’t do anything, I just kept sleeping.”

Adjutant Bing wanted to ask, but was stopped by a gesture from Lu Tinghan.

Lu Tinghan said, “It’s okay, we will find out the answer.” He rubbed Shi Yuan’s head, “Even if we don’t, it doesn’t matter.”

Shi Yuan: “Purr, purr, purr!”

Twenty-four days later, the outline of the Alliance’s main city appeared on the horizon. It was still majestic.

What they saw along the way dissipated like clouds of smoke, exhaustion, surprise, sorrow, relief… A journey had a beginning and an end, wandering for several months, the tired bird should return.