Chapter 245.2

Chapter 245.2: Gift Part 2

By the time Ji Jue had recovered enough to move around and returned to Cliff City, more than a week had passed. All sorts of things had happened in the meantime, and he had received enough praise and commendations to inflate even a pig’s ego until it floated into the sky.

There had been more grand promises than he could ever hope to cash in on. And if all those free compliments could be exchanged for money, he might even have gotten cocky enough to challenge the Tong family for the title of richest in Cliff City.

But after a long stretch of hectic activity, he finally returned to his ordinary life and got his feet back on solid ground. Still, whenever he happened to lower his gaze to the watch on his wrist, he could not help but worry.

Ever since Skyrail had last been activated, his beloved Mr. Watch had fallen completely silent, never responding again. Even the spirit matter reserve vault had been thoroughly sealed off, and President had vanished without a trace once more.

All of it kept making Ji Jue wonder. Had he gone a little too far last time? Had he blown through the bankrupt company’s last scraps of reserves and somehow run the whole business into the ground?

Oh, crap. He hadn’t somehow become the company’s legal representative without realizing it, had he?!

The whole thing was too complicated and sensitive to bring up casually. Even Professor Ye couldn’t be bothered to hear about it, and Ji Jue had even less idea what was going on. There was certainly no way he could go around grabbing people and asking, “Hey, do you know what happened to Skyrail? Yeah, the one that went bankrupt more than two hundred years ago.”

All he could do was wait.

Every night, he stared at the silent Mr. Watch and found himself shedding a few pathetic tears.

Once, there had been a wonderful part-time job right in front of him, but he hadn’t treasured it. If he were given another chance, he would... well, he’d probably still have to think about it.

But what about President? President hadn’t gotten into trouble, had it?

One day, Ji Jue suddenly jolted awake in bed and found a familiar face sprawled across his chest, grinning foolishly at him. Drool dripped from its mouth and landed right on his face.

“President?” Ji Jue’s eyes lit up with delight. He lifted the dog under the forelegs with both hands and examined it carefully. “You’re okay, right? Huh, why does it feel like you’ve lost so much fur? Where have you been all this time?”

President jumped off the bed and crouched on the floor, whining softly as it looked at him.

When it realized Ji Jue clearly had no idea what it was trying to say, it lowered its head, opened its mouth, and dragged a large sack out of thin air. It let go, and a whole pile of talking buttons spilled onto the floor. It raised a paw and hurriedly pressed several buttons amid the clutter.

“President. Must. Go. Before. Broke rules. Made mistake. President. Bad. Skyrail. Out of control. Not good. President. Work. Hard!”

Ji Jue’s smile froze on his face. He stared blankly at the dog. He could vaguely make out what President was trying to say, but more than half of it made no sense. Still, the moment he heard that the dog he had long since grown attached to was suddenly leaving home, he couldn’t even move.

The smile vanished from his face as he glared furiously. “You’re leaving? Why?! I worked myself half to death for this company, and now you’re laying me off? Are you even human? No, wait, you aren’t, but still, you—”

“Gift. For. Good. Employee. Employee. Happy. Not sad.” President came closer, opened its mouth, and placed a box in Ji Jue’s arms. It grinned again, its ears perked up. “President. Likes. You!”

Ji Jue stared blankly, clutching the box as he watched President lower its head, tug the sack over, gather up the buttons, and turn to leave.

He had spent so long looking forward to the day when he and Skyrail could finally go their separate ways. He had practically been terrified that it would suddenly dump more work on him, not to mention all the enormous trouble lurking behind it.

And yet, as he watched President walk away all alone with its tail drooping, Ji Jue could no longer stop himself from calling out. “Hey, President!”

President turned around and looked at him.

“Well, if you’re busy with work, then go be busy. I know you’ve got a lot of trouble to deal with, and there’s Skyrail and everything... I mean, I’m... actually pretty free.” Ji Jue hesitated for a long time before making up his mind. “Will you come see me again?”

He bent down and pulled a box he had prepared long ago from beneath the bed, showing President the gift he had never gotten the chance to give. “I even bought you a new bell. It’d be a shame to let it go to waste, right?”

President stared at him in a daze. Its eyes widened. It couldn’t speak, but its eyes seemed to sparkle, more expressive than any words could ever be.

Then, all at once, President leaped up and threw itself into Ji Jue’s arms. It enthusiastically licked him all over the face as it nuzzled and wriggled against him. Its wildly wagging tail swept ornaments, papers, and pens off the table, leaving the entire room in a mess. This was how much it liked Ji Jue!

***

In the end, President still left.

Proudly wearing its brand-new bell around its neck, it held its head high, wagged its tail, and vanished without a trace. It never said when it would come back, just like any boss who disappeared the moment they were done making grand promises.

Ji Jue was left staring helplessly at the room President had thoroughly wrecked in its excitement. With drool still smeared all over his face, he sighed and lowered his gaze to the small box in his hands. The bow had been tied crookedly, with one loop noticeably larger than the other.

It was a gift.

“Huh?” Ji Jue opened it and leaned closer, staring at the oddly shaped key inside before scratching his head. “What is this? A car key? What do I need a car for?!”

If Horsey found out about this, wouldn’t it go on hunger strike for a month or two just to sulk at him? It had already been hard enough to coax after he disappeared for so long last time!

Maybe he should pass. Ji Jue gave a wry smile and tossed the key lightly in his hand a couple of times. But then, without warning, the key dissolved into a streak of light and vanished into the silent watch on his wrist.

A clear chime rang out. Complex patterns and emblems appeared out of nowhere across the face of the watch, and the long-absent interface unfolded once more. This time, however, every error message and warning pop-up had vanished.

At the very front of the interface was a brand-new button, lacking any label. Whether out of instinct, curiosity, or simply an inability to keep his hands to himself, Ji Jue pressed it.

And then, quite literally, everything before his eyes went black. It was as though an invisible door had opened in front of him.

Guided by the spirit circuits within the watch, his consciousness surged upward and, in an instant, crossed some unimaginably vast distance. It broke through the barriers and confines of the world and arrived in an unexpected expanse of void.

Beyond the brilliant light of the world lay an endless darkness that looked like the depths of the universe. Countless rifts of every size revolved around the world, while strands of shimmering silver radiance spread across everything like an immense web.

The vision appeared for only a split second. Then, within Ji Jue’s perception, a familiar outline emerged from one tiny corner of that boundless darkness. From the eternal silence, the majestic song of whales rang out once more!

“Holy shit.”

In the next moment, everything before Ji Jue changed again. Dazed, he turned to stare at the pilot’s seat before him, the battered instrument panel, the vaguely familiar layout, the enormous interior and everything arranged within it, as well as the engines roaring to life as though enthusiastically welcoming him back.

This was unmistakably the Doomsday Express from before! How the hell had they just casually given this thing to him?!

As darkness washed over his vision again and again, Ji Jue’s knees went weak. He dropped onto the battered cushion and could not get back up.

Oh, crap!

At this point, even if he insisted he wasn’t the company’s legal representative, no one would believe him anymore.