Life-Saving Days by the Husky’s Side

Life-Saving Days by the Husky’s Side
The thing he was missing

——Take me home?

Zhou Li laid on the single bed, trying to digest what he heard.

According to Zhonglian’s setting, all worlds will experience a jump at that moment of crossing. He replaced Qian Liye, Qian Liye might replace some dead version of ‘him’, and that dead ‘him’ would enter his original world and step into the reincarnation cycle in his place. 

If the flow of time in this world was directly synchronised with his original world, when he travels back, the ‘him’ in that world would have only just been born. He will have a new family and a new life, and…he will have the opportunity to meet his former family and friends.

Familiar people, a familiar society, and a familiar world.

Before, he would’ve preferred to throw a disco on his grave, let his soul return to where it belonged. To tell the truth, it was very tempting.

However, this means he will have to snatch someone else’s body again, and there will be another pair of unfamiliar parents.

It also means that in this world, he will cause another group of relatives and friends who love him to be saddened, especially A-Yan. He can’t imagine what A-Yan would feel if he watched him die right in front of him.

So no matter how much he wanted to see the people from his past, he was unwilling to steal someone else’s body, and even more unwilling to leave A-Yan.

Ji Tianyang had asked if he felt up to it.

He wasn’t feeling up to it at all.

Ji Tianyang finished talking to him. Seeing how he was still lying unmoving on the bed, he felt a little bored and he took out the cloth strip from his mouth, saying with a smile, “Before he arrives, do you have any last words?”

Zhou Li took in a breath of fresh air and asked, “What you said last time, which parts were true?” 

The mention of last time made Ji Tianyang rather unhappy. He hummed, “Whatever I said near the end were all basically the truth. I don’t want to live forever. I just want to unlock the seal on Zhonglian and gain that power.”

Zhou Li ‘looked’ at him.

His sight was hindered by the cloth strips and he could only see a pitiful haze of light, but he still appropriately turned his head. “What if the power of the so-called seal is fake?”

Ji Tianyang: “Impossible.”

He sneered, “If you want to use this to shake me, I advise you to save your breath.”

Zhou Li didn’t know what kinds of legends he had read nor what kind of hallucinogens he has been taking, so he appeased, “I was just randomly asking.”

His thoughts spun quickly. “I have another question.”

Ji Tianyang kindly gave him permission. “Speak.”

Zhou Li said, “Generally speaking, Zhonglian will send the person to a ‘human’ world after their death, but for us, we are specifically directed to return to a previous world. How can you be sure that we will both have human bodies in that world?”

Ji Tianyang: “One for one; after I have answered yours, you will also answer one of my questions.”

Zhou Li: “Sure.”

Ji Tianyang: “I’m not sure.”

Zhou Li’s eyelids twitched fiercely.

This lunatic! He’s unsure if we’ll even be humans, but still dares to say without shame that he will take the two of them back together!

Ji Tianyang breathed deeply, then said, “But because it is linked to the core jade, I am certain that we will definitely be humans in the next life and our memories won’t be washed away by our reincarnation. Just wait things out, don’t worry about it.”

He looked at Zhou Li. “My turn to ask. How did you know Ji Shaoyan is the son of destiny?”

Zhou Li: “The jade told me.”

Ji Tianyang also guessed this was the case, saying with emotion, “Sure enough, it’s worthy of being called the core jade. It gives you tips even when you’re not binded.” 

Zhou Li only said “en”.

This old monster relied on his high transmigration experiences. With far more information in his hands, he dared to fool them unscrupulously. Now that he fooled the other party once in return, he felt slightly more at ease, and said, “I still have a question.”

Ji Tianyang: “Why do you keep asking rubbish?”

[T/N: 你哪那么多废话: kind of like ‘cut your bullsh*t, I’ve had enough’]

Zhou Li: “I just want to die knowing everything.”

Ji Tianyang glanced at the time, showing a rare case of benevolence. “Ask away ba.“

Zhou Li: “I don’t understand it all that much. Based on your abilities, knowing that I came through the core jade, couldn’t you have made a move sometime in the future? Why were you so anxious?”

In order to get Xiao Zhao’s piece of jade, Ji Tianyang was willing to lower himself and make friends to set a trap. According to his character, he should’ve been more patient.

Ji Tianyang was not stupid. The safer way, of course, was to slowly dispel their doubts, find out where the real jade was hidden, then think of a way to have them take the jade out so he can eliminate his obstacles, in order to avoid a hostage exchanging scenario like this, something that had such an uncertain outcome.

Ji Tianyang: “If I didn’t rush, was I supposed to wait for you guys to attack me first?”

…oh.

Zhou Li said with no conscience, “How can that be? You are A-Yan’s didi after all. He has to maintain his ‘gege’ personality and needs you around to deal with your mother, so he won’t make a move against you.”

The truth was, they both thought this was a ticking time bomb and they really were thinking of a once-and-for-all method to deal with him. It looks like their suspicions weren’t without benefits; who could have thought that he would suddenly kidnap a person straight from the streets.

Ji Tianyang said, “Say whatever you want to say ba, I’ve already done everything anyway. I can get the jade early and I can assemble Zhonglian early, so there’s no need for me to look at your faces all day.”

As he was monologuing, he glanced at the time again, then picked up the strip of cloth and said, “Starting my offense now isn’t too bad ah. You guys said you’ll let me touch the jade tomorrow, meaning the jade must’ve been fished back from the goddamn sea, right?”

Zhou Li earnestly answered with a single “en”, not mentioning how the jade can only be taken out with his and Ji Shaoyan’s fingerprints.

He stood in Ji Tianyang’s shoes and thought from his standpoint. Ji Shaoyan would have been caught off guard when he received the news that Zhou Li was tied up. Seeing that he was going to be roughed up and also being set a time limit, there really wasn’t any time to plan.

He couldn’t help being a little worried.

Ji Tianyang looked at him. “Where is the jade in your world? Tell me, I will let you die quickly.”

Zhou Li: “Really?”

Ji Tianyang considered this for two seconds, then stuffed the cloth strip into his mouth again, and sneered, “Forget it ba, you’ll just trick me with a fake location.”

Zhou Li: “……”

Ji Tianyang checked the monitoring at the door and stood up to stretch his limbs, sending Ji Shaoyan another voice message, provoking his opponent with a smile, then happily sat by Zhou Li’s side while humming a song.

There were a few corpses strewn across the warehouse. He was covered in blood and acting as if nothing was out of the ordinary. He was in a wonderful mood, not at all like he was about to die, but like he was going on vacation after winning a grand prize.

Zhou Li was convinced*.

[T/N: accepted what kind of situation he was in]

He wriggled his wrist slightly, trying to see if he could loosen the rope.

Ji Tianyang’s eyes passed over his movements and tapped him on the shoulder with his knife. “Behave yourself. Back when I was an instructor for mercenaries, a little brat like you hardly had any lasting impression*.”

[T/N: literally, (not big enough) to be stuck between the teeth]

Zhou Li remembered his skillset and proceeded to behave himself.

Ji Tianyang said with slight regret, “With my expertise, I was originally going to capture you guys when I touched the jade, but I suspected that you two crafty little bastards wouldn’t both show up for the appointment.”

Zhou Li kept silent.

After some discussion with A-Yan, they really wouldn’t have both gone to the agreed meeting place. In order to prevent the actor from making other moves, they naturally had to keep one hand free.

Ji Tianyang said, “Actually, I’m not too pissed at Ji Shaoyan. I just want to torture you a little.”

He saw the dried blood on the back of his hands, and the more he thought about things, the more he felt like he suffered a defeat. He stood up holding the fighting knife. “I take it back. I have to torture you thoroughly, don’t want to let my feelings go to waste.”

Zhou Li’s heart suddenly lifted.

The next second, there was a sudden sharp pain in his left shoulder and his body shuddered from the ache.

“Relax, it’s just a stroke. You won’t lose too much blood.” Ji Tianyang hummed a little song and dragged the blade downwards from his shoulder. It was at this time that he heard a rumbling coming from far away, getting nearer with each second. In the blink of an eye, the sound closed in.

He immediately looked at the surveillance monitor and saw a car rushing straight towards the warehouse without stopping at all. In an instant, the car crashed through the warehouse door with a loud ’bang’, then the driver slammed on the brakes and the car skidded to a stop in front of them.

Ji Shaoyan got out of the car with a cold face. Under the dim yellow light, there was no one else in the car. His intentions were very clear.

Ji Tianyang checked the time and commented with a smile, “Dage, you’re very punctual ah.”

Ji Shaoyan looked at Zhou Li. His eyes fell on the bleeding shoulder and the glare grew colder.

Ji Tianyang admired his expression, asking,  “The jade?”

Ji Shaoyan said, “Didn’t bring it.”

Ji Tianyang’s expression stiffened and the knife drew blood on Zhou Li’s neck. “I didn’t hear you clearly, say that again.”

Ji Shaoyan turned on his phone and requested a video call in front of him.

Ji Tianyang made a video call to him earlier, so this was very coincidental, but the truth was, in his plan, he wanted to give back Ji Tianyang his video call. He threw the phone over.

Ji Tianyang continued to press into Zhou Li’s neck with one hand and caught the phone with the other.

The screen showed a pitch black darkness, with only a glaring beam of light. with only the reflective glare shining back. Liang Jingxiu waved his hand at the camera under this lone light. His background seemed to be a ship, and then he made the camera follow the light in a circle. There was water all around.

“Hey, this is the eastern suburb reservoir.” As Liang Jingxiu spoke, moving the beam of light back to shining on a brick-sized ice block floating on the water, with three jade pendants placed on top.

Ji Tianyang: “……”

Liang Jingxiu said, “A-Yan, the jades have been placed. Now that the weather is getting hot, this ice block won’t last long.”

Ji Shaoyan said, “I know. Send Xiao-Yang the location, let him watch you return to shore.”

Liang Jingxiu watched the blood-covered Ji Tianyang, his own smile carrying a cold edge. “Sure, I’ll send it now. Xiao-Yang, remember to make the most of this.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Ji Tianyang’s phone rang with a notification. He received a text. 

And in front of his eyes, Liang Jingxiu took control of the boat and left, hanging up the call.

Ji Tianyang abruptly turned to Ji Shaoyan with a savage expression. “What’s the meaning of this?”

Ji Shaoyan said, “I don’t believe you, and you don’t believe me. We’ve been deadlocked at this one-hand-person, one-hand-jade switch for too long, such a waste of time. Why don’t we have everyone hurry up; leave the person, and you go fishing for the jade yourself. I was afraid you would suspect that I’m tricking you with the fake jade, so I also put the two imitations on it. I even had them leave the boat for you.”

Ji Tianyang spat, “Don’t lie to me, he couldn’t have gotten to the eastern suburb reservoir so quickly!”

“It’s possible if he violates the Civil Aviation Law and takes a helicopter there. If you don’t believe me, look at the location he shared.” Ji Shaoyan also looked at the time, saying regrettingly, “But it will take some effort for you to go from here to there, probably about an hour. For every minute that you’re late, the jades would sink for a minute longer.”

Ji Tianyang sarcastically smiled. “It doesn’t matter, you can go and personally fish them up. I will only accept it if you hand me the jade yourself, any other way won’t cut it.”

He held the knife and applied more pressure again, leaving another bloody cut on Zhou Li, and shouted, “Move back, or I will kill him!”

Ji Shaoyan’s eyelids twitched and his expression remained unchanged. He calmly said, “Go ahead and kill him ba. I will die with him.”

Without waiting for Ji Tianyang to start speaking, he took out a dagger from behind, then plunged the blade into his stomach with great force. He staggered back and leaned against the car, taking a few breaths, then laughed, “If I die, this world will collapse, is that right? This way, don’t even think about transmigrating again.”

Ji Tianyang: “……”

Ji Shaoyan looked at him with an exceptionally brilliant smile. “Do it, I will die with him. If you take him with you, I will immediately pull the knife out and kill myself. If you successfully fish up the jade, you better commit suicide on the spot; I don’t want to ever see you again. You go your own way, we will live ours, and that’ll be the end of it.”

Ji Tianyang was in disbelief.

He has lived for several lifetimes, yet he has never met such a ruthless person.

Normal people will try to save people, but Ji Shaoyan was straight-up sending him away!

He expected Ji Shaoyan wouldn’t hand over the jade that easily and even thought of three contingency plans, yet he couldn’t put even one of them to use now. Ji Shaoyan had instantly pushed the situation to two extremes; either they die together with the world, or he could quickly let Zhou Li loose and go to fish up the jade himself. There was only one possible outcome.

Ji Shaoyan couldn’t support his own body and slowly slid to sit on the ground, falling onto his side.

The string in Ji Tianyang’s mind was about to snap. He hastily took photos of Ji Shaoyan and sent them to Liang Jingxiu on WeChat, demanding him to bring up the jades or he would kill Ji Shaoyan on the spot.

Listening to him recording the voice message, Ji Shaoyan laughed in a low voice and said weakly, “It’s useless, I told him…”

Told him what? The rest of the sentence couldn’t be heard clearly.

Ji Tianyang rushed over to look at his injury. He saw that the knife was really stabbed into the flesh and almost fell apart. The string in his head had completely snapped.

He swore in violent rage and let go of the rope around Zhou Li’s hands with the intention of having this little brat help rescue this person, lest the entire world collapses while he is on the road.

Then he abandoned them and ran out the warehouse, planning to drive to where the jade was. As for Ji Shaoyan’s car, he didn’t dare to drive it. Who knows if he’d tinkered with it.

Zhou Li instinctively felt something was wrong when he first heard Ji Shaoyan’s voice. Now that he was finally let go, he tore away the cloth covering his eyes and stuffing his mouth. Seeing Ji Shaoyan lying in a pool of blood, the sudden fright almost stopped his breathing. “A-Yan!”

The following instant, he heard a loud curse and immediately turned his head to the sound source. He saw Ji Tianyang, who had just ran out of the warehouse, being shot by an unfurling net before falling to the ground. Afterwards, two people dressed in camouflage ran out from behind the big doors.

No matter how skilled Ji Tianyang was, being caught by the net is also the fate of a coward*. He was quickly subdued by the men.

[T/N: 当狗熊的命 not sure what this means]

Ji Shaoyan got up from the ground with a dagger stabbed in his stomach, then walked slowly in front of Ji Tianyang and ordered them to tie him up more firmly.

Zhou Li: “……”

Ji Tianyang: “……”

Ji Tianyang’s face instantly distorted. “Impossible, I saw your wound!”

Ji Shaoyan ignored him completely. After making sure he would not break free, he hurriedly made his way to Zhou Li’s side, helped untie the rope, and wrapped his person in a fierce embrace, feeling the air stuck in his throat finally loosen.

Zhou Li checked his stomach. “Are you okay?”

Ji Shaoyan weakly said, “Do you have time to ask me?”

He looked over Zhou Li’s bloody shoulder and breathed unevenly.

Zhou Li also took a look at his own situation and said, “The bleeding has already stopped.”

He inspected Ji Shaoyan’s stomach again. After seeing the other draw out the dagger without any precautionary care, the wound started bleeding out freely. It was quite the horrifying sight.

Ji Shaoyan gave a simple explanation, “Stuck on some fake leather and there’s a small blood bag underneath. This dagger can be retracted.”

He handed the knife to Zhou Li, made sure he didn’t have any serious injuries, then walked over to stand in front of Ji Tianyang.

He didn’t know what back-ups Ji Tianyang had nor if he was concealing anything, but he knew that Ji Tianyang’s obsession with transmigrating ran too deep. He’s already transmigrated five times, and it was impossible for Ji Tianyang to accept his death like this, so he would definitely choose to fight. Originally, there were Lin Ye and the others, so he never thought of using this trick so early, but his luck was pretty good and he showed up with Ji Tianyang having already dealt with them, something which initially surprised him.

Ji Tianyang also heard his explanation, furiously shouted, “Laozi has seen and suffered countless injuries, it is impossible for me to miss this!”

Ji Shaoyan ordered one of the men to the side. “I have researched this for more than ten years. These are all my men, each with their own strengths. I’ve always been nurturing them at Jingxiu’s place, to leave them to you and your mother in the future. I didn’t expect for them to be put to use so early.”

He spoke with much pleasure, “Your eyes aren’t that good, you didn’t even look at the three jades in the video. One of them was just to make up the numbers; the real jade is still in my hand.”

The lighting was so dark, like hell I could see it clearly!

Ji Tianyang naturally knew that they might just be duping him again, but he had confidence in his skills and believed he could escape. Besides, Ji Shaoyan had immediately harmed himself, and also said to end everything at this point. He simply had no time for hesitation.

Today, things only failed because Ji Shaoyan threatened him with his own death*!

[T/N: 以死相逼: threatening to die in order to had the opposing party agree to your conditions]

His expression grew even more distorted and he struggled frantically. “I don’t believe it, how did you have enough time to arrange all this!”

Ji Shaoyan ordered his men to subdue him properly, and said, “I already knew Zhou Li was caught when you sent the first text. You thought you were holding me back, but the truth is, it was me who held you back.” 

He looked down at him condescendingly and bluntly assessed, “Idiot. No matter how many lives lived, an idiot is still an idiot.”

Ji Tianyang glared at him ferociously, eating his heart out.

But he was promptly shaken out of this mood, because the rumbling of another car soon closed in on them. A man came out of the vehicle carrying a bag, followed by a man in camouflage uniform. The uniformed man carried a cage in his hands, and inside that cage was a little dog*.

[T/N: 土狗: native/countryside dog in China. I’m guessing it’s like those mixed breeds that are stray but friendly]

His face suddenly drained of all colour. “What are you doing?”

Ji Shaoyan: “What you did to me, I will also do to you too.”

Ji Tianyang roared, “I wasn’t the one who did it!”

Ji Shaoyan said, “It’s all you, so it doesn’t matter.”

He squatted down and looked into his eyes, softly saying in a voice that could only be heard by the two of them, “The jade can help people withstand a disaster. Yours hasn’t been used yet ba? Ge will help you use it. With the jade as a guarantor, you will certainly enter smoothly without becoming a moron.”

Ji Tianyang suddenly broke out into curses, yelling with all sorts of ugly swears. Only when the instrument was installed on his head did he change his words, crying, “Dage, dage, I was wrong, I will never go against you all in the future, give me another chance, you…you look around, it was me who killed Lin Ye and the others ah, I protected my sister-in-law, please forgive me ba, I’m begging you!”

Zhou Li watched this spectacle in amazement, making his way over to Ji Shaoyan’s side.

Ji Shaoyan held his hand. Seeing the man looking at him with a silent question, he said, “Proceed.”

The man was the one from that research laboratory. He didn’t hesitate anymore and pressed the switch.

Ji Tianyang convulsed from head to toe, then passed out. The little dog also fell unconscious and was thrown back into the cage.

The next second, the little dog jumped up and began to run rampantly. “Ao ao ao ao ao!“

The man observed for a while and said, “We’ve done experiments on animals, they either become brain-dead or simply mad. This one may have gone mad.”

Ji Shaoyan smiled and said, “That’s fine. I will still raise it if it’s mad.”

Little dog: “Ao ao ao ao ao——!“

Zhou Li thought to himself that this must be its way of cursing people out and smiled. Just when he was about to speak, his body suddenly staggered.

From somewhere, he seemed to hear a ‘bang’, and then the scene in front of him flipped upside down. His eyes fixed on the warehouse ceiling. He was at a loss for a bit and saw the people in camouflage uniforms sprint off to the side. His eyes followed in their direction, where he saw Lin Ye with a gun in his hand.

Lin Ye has been an arrow at the end of its flight* for a long time now. Straining to support himself with one hand against the ground, he saw that Zhou Li was shot and burst into a booming laugh. “Ji Shaoyan, are you happy*?”

[T/N: 强弩之末: an arrow shot by a strong crossbow had reached the end of its flight, meaning the effect from a powerful force has weakened, rendering it useless]
[T/N: do you feel good?]

As soon as these words came out, his wrist was instantly kicked and broken by Ji Shaoyan’s men.

When the men subdued him, they patted him down, and found that the gun was an old model, with only that one bullet.

But right now, Ji Shaoyan had no time to be concerned about him.

He hugged Zhou Li and desperately looked at him. Seeing him slowly closing his eyes, he hurriedly released the boy and tore Ji Tianyang’s clothes to pull the jade off, quickly wrapping the rope around Zhou Li’s ankle several times. This jade bound to Ji Tianyang was useless to him, but should be effective for others.

Several of his subordinates were petrified by his ferocious appearance and were a little stupefied for a while.

Yan Yunhui was standing guard outside but rushed in at the sudden noise from before. As soon as he saw Zhou Li’s appearance, he shouted, “What are you standing around in a daze for, hurry and send him to the hospital!”

As if waking from a dream, the men quickly lifted Zhou Li and rushed outside.

Ji Shaoyan also followed and sped all the way to the hospital. Seeing that the doctor was about to take over, he seized a tight grip on the other’s wrist.

“Do not take that jade off.” He stared into the doctor’s eyes, almost squeezing the words through gritted teeth, “Under…under no circumstances, can you take it off.”

The doctor thought he was superstitious and inwardly didn’t agree with him, but when he saw that the jade was around the foot, he reluctantly nodded, “Okay, I understand.”

Ji Shaoyan loosened his grip and watched Zhou Li enter the emergency ward.

The safe in the bank required both of their fingerprints to open. If Zhou Li dies, he can open it through a special channel and get the jade.

He will find Zhou Li again.

No matter how many times they transmigrate, no matter how long it takes.

Zhou Li’s consciousness floated across space, hearing a cluttered mess through his ears.

Screaming, crying, and car screeches mixed together, giving him a headache. He reached the end of his patience and opened his eyes, seeing a person lying on the ground. Their head was turned away so he couldn’t see their appearance, but there was a strange sense of familiarity.

He paused in shock. Before he could move forward, he saw a woman run over and crouch down in front of him, wrapping him in a hug while bawling her eyes out. His own body seemed to be crying too, howling with many twists and turns.

What’s more bizarre was that even though he was obviously being held in her arms, he could still see the situation outside through her body.

The woman didn’t cry for long, quickly letting go of him before calling the emergency services.

Only then did Zhou Li realise that she was not hugging him, but a little boy.

He looked at the familiar little boy, at the person on the ground, and then he finally reacted.

These were his memories.

Right after he was hit, and before he was sent for cremation and buried in the earth; these were the memories he was missing.