Era of Mist

Chapter 170: Chapter 169: A Brand New World Line, A Brand New Me

He was muddled and disoriented, the world spinning around him in a hazy blur, completely lost.

His consciousness followed a mysterious summons across the world line. At first, he maintained brief moments of clarity, but he was soon plunged into a black fog once again. On the verge of forgetting who he was amidst the chaos and confusion.

In the haze, he heard a voice once more.

”Want to join the Third Front? It’s not that easy...”

”Bare your chest! Melt that pile of snow you made...”

”Hone your body, steel your will, elevate your character...”

He seemed to glimpse something in the flickering shadows, but the images were indistinct. No matter how hard Shi Tiexin tried, he couldn’t make out what was happening. Only the voices by his ear gradually grew clearer.

”From now on, you must brand this mission onto your heart like a steel seal!”

”Remember, never forget your original purpose...”

”Never forget your original purpose...”

’Never forget my original purpose?’ Shi Tiexin was bewildered. ’Which original purpose?’

”Boss...”

The voice grew clearer.

”Boss—”

It sounded like it was right next to his ear.

”Boss!”

Ah!

The haze before his eyes instantly dissipated. Shi Tiexin’s senses returned, and he snapped his eyes open. This time, what appeared before him wasn’t a spacious, bright classroom with orderly students, but a highway teeming with traffic.

’A highway?’

There was no mistake. It was an asphalt road, three lanes wide, with cars zipping back and forth. Although the number of vehicles wasn’t very high, every car was roaring past at high speed with no regard for the speed limit, making the scene seem exceptionally noisy and busy.

And Shi Tiexin was standing right on the shoulder of this road.

”I...” Shi Tiexin opened his mouth, trying to speak. However, the original consciousness of this body instantly condensed and solidified, once again forming a hard lump in his mindscape. It sat there stubbornly, pushing the words that had reached his lips back down.

’Alrighty then!’

’The cat’s got your tongue, huh? I get it, I get it!’

Fortunately, Shi Tiexin’s will-force cultivation was much stronger this time. A cool will-force emerged, seeping into his brain like a trickling stream and greatly alleviating the symptoms caused by the solidified consciousness. He moved his face; it wasn’t as stiff as last time. He opened his mouth; speaking was a little easier than before, too.

With the Qi-pulse attribute, his will-force refilled faster this time. And with the root-bone attribute, the feeling of his brain swelling was also much milder.

All in all, he definitely felt much better.

Shi Tiexin shook his head. As his thoughts churned, he had already gained a basic understanding of his situation.

It seemed he hadn’t returned to the Champion Scholar Stone world line this time; the world before him was clearly different. Looking into the distance, he saw a concrete jungle of skyscrapers rising from the ground. It looked far more modern, and its societal development level was much higher than that of the Champion Scholar Stone world.

Looking again at the cars roaring down the street, although they were still vehicles with disk-shaped tires, their styles and design language were clearly more advanced than those in the Champion Scholar Stone world line. The cars in the Champion Scholar Stone world line were just boxy iron containers with four wheels that could move. But the cars in this world line were more streamlined and stylish.

If the skyscrapers could be explained away as the difference between a poor area and a rich one, the overall design philosophy of the cars reflected that this world line was indeed more developed and advanced than the Champion Scholar Stone’s.

But... Shi Tiexin couldn’t help but frown. There were many billboards among the distant skyscrapers, but the writing on them wasn’t the familiar script of the Hua Race. Instead, it was something similar yet different.

Roundish squiggles, mixed with things resembling character components, and finally some Hua characters. The three were jumbled together, making it completely baffling.

’Where on earth am I?’

Shi Tiexin’s mind was filled with doubt. As he pondered, the solidified consciousness released a tiny bit of information.

—To...kyo...—

’Tokyo?’

’So I’m in a city called Tokyo? It seems to be the capital of a nation called Japan, which was once part of Central Star.’

’It seems that in this world line, I’m a traveler in a foreign land.’

’So, why did I come here?’

The lump of consciousness trembled slightly, releasing more information.

—Mis...sion...—

’Mission?’

’What mission?’

’What kind of mission brought ’me’ to the capital of this foreign country?’

”Boss...”

A voice suddenly sounded from his left. Shi Tiexin subconsciously glanced over and saw an epaulet on his shoulder with a black walkie-talkie clipped to it.

’An epaulet? Do I have some kind of special status?’

Shi Tiexin looked himself over and discovered he was wearing a dark blue uniform. It seemed he really did have some kind of special identity. He then looked beside him and saw a motorcycle parked there. The motorcycle was painted blue and white, with two storage boxes on the side behind the seat. On the boxes were the two words ”Police Headquarters.”

’Police Headquarters?’

’I know that one. It’s the term for Japan’s police force.’

’Judging by this uniform, is my identity in this world line... a traffic cop? But why would I be a traffic cop in Japan?’

’The things I heard in the haze just now must be memories from this body. And the language in those memories was one hundred percent Hua.’

”Boss!” a voice came from the walkie-talkie, also in Hua. ”Damn this piece-of-shit radio, does it even work? Hello, hello, do you copy? If you copy, answer me, Boss!”

The lump of consciousness slowly dissolved, and a familiar feeling washed over him. Shi Tiexin subconsciously raised his hand, accurately pressed the talk button on the walkie-talkie, and said instinctively, ”Ah Fei, copy that.”

’Ah Fei?’

’Is he my subordinate in this world line? From his accent, he sounds like he’s from the southern part of the Hua Race.’

”Thank God, it finally connected! We almost missed a big one, Boss!” the person on the other end of the radio shouted. ”There’s a speeding OMG heading your way. Intercept it, quick!”

’Speeding? OMG?’

Shi Tiexin whipped his head around and saw a car roaring toward him on the highway. A large, three-pointed star emblem adorned the front of the car, giving it a luxurious and imposing air; it didn’t look like something an ordinary person could afford. The car was obviously speeding. With the kind of speed that showed no regard for human life, you didn’t need a radar gun to know it was definitely going over 150 or 160.

”HAHAHAHAHA!” Along with the roar of the engine came an arrogant, piercing laugh. ”Eat my dust, you morons!”

The words, at least, were a familiar Hua dialect.

SCREECH!

Amidst the ear-piercing sound of tires grinding, the car actually slowed down not far from Shi Tiexin.

’Is he afraid of this uniform?’

He wasn’t.

A head poked out of the car window. A young man stuck his head out and, without rhyme or reason, gave Shi Tiexin a giant middle finger while howling, ”F*ck you! Go die, you son of a bitch! Come and get me if you’ve got the balls, you f*cking idiot!”