IBO – Chapter 27 A Younger Brother’s Longing

This novel contains sensitive and taboo content like R*pe, Mu**er etc. Read only if you are comfortable.

After soothing Xiao Zhong’er, Song Yiran began selecting a renovation company on his light-brain. He wanted to replace the nursery’s shabby, dilapidated front gate.

For the children’s safety, he needed a gate that was both childlike and extremely sturdy.

He also planned to renovate and reinforce the surrounding walls, and install several surveillance cameras while he was at it.

He found a renovation company with an excellent reputation, and he happened to like one of their ready-made renovation plans. After a quick review, he placed the order.

To avoid any delays, he paid extra for an expedited job, and also paid extra for silent construction services. The renovations were expected to be completed by tonight.

After finishing all this, Song Yiran asked Xiao Zhong’er, “Can you still see the locations of the other cubs?”

Xiao Zhong’er sounded a bit dejected. “Sorry, I can only sense the cubs when they’re within 800 meters of me.”

Then he perked up again. “But once I’ve sensed them even once, no matter how far away they are after that, I can always keep tracking their location.”

“Then let’s work harder in the future and try to find all the cubs as soon as possible,” Song Yiran said, brimming with motivation. He wanted to bring all the remaining cubs back as early as possible.

“Mm!” Xiao Zhong’er was full of energy as well. During their last long period together, he had also developed some feelings for the cubs.

Although the cubs couldn’t see him back then, he had watched them grow up, and deep down, he had already placed them on his own side.

Even so, in his heart, Song Yiran still held a slightly more important place than the cubs.

[The Nursery in That Collapsed Timeline]

After Song Fu left, Song Yang also wanted to follow and look for Song Yiran. Just as he was about to speak, Song Buli shoved a bowl of nutrient soup at him. After he finally swallowed it and was about to open his mouth again, another bowl of soup was shoved in.

After swallowing with great difficulty once more, when he opened his mouth again, Song Buli was already bringing over yet another bowl of soup.

Song Yang finally snapped. He blocked the bowl that was about to be forced into his mouth and said, “Second Brother, I want to go with Song Fu to find Big Brother.”

Song Buli put down that sinful bowl of soup and sighed. “I knew you’d say that. But you can’t go. Not only can’t you go—aside from Song Fu, none of us can go.”

Song Yang looked utterly confused. “Second Brother, why?”

Song Buli explained, “I awakened the ability of prophecy yesterday. I used it to foresee something related to Big Brother.”

“Second Brother, then your body—”

“It’s nothing serious, I just vomited a lot of blood.”

“What do you mean ‘just vomited a lot of blood’? Using prophecy too much shortens your lifespan!

“And you still dragged yourself in this condition to cook for us today!”

“Second Brother, you should rest properly now. I’ll buy you more nutritional supplements. Remember to take them on time. For this period, just stay at home and rest well.”

Song Yang pressed Song Buli down onto a chair, then rapidly placed orders for a large number of nutritional supplements on his light-brain.

The so-called prophecy ability was, in fact, a very chicken-rib ability—one that was rather useless.

How much it could do was tied to one’s mental power. The higher the mental power, the more—and more important—things one could foresee, such as whether the Interstellar Federation would experience turmoil or disasters within the next hundred years.

Those with low mental power could foresee very little, and only trivial matters, such as whether it would rain tomorrow, or when a favorite game would be released.

However, the more things one prophesied, and the more important those things were, the more the user’s lifespan would be shortened.

People with high mental power were ultimately a minority. For most people, after awakening this ability, what they could foresee was of little use, and using it too much would even reduce their lifespan.

Although the average lifespan of interstellar humans had already reached 400 years, it was still not worth it to use this ability too often.

Therefore, to interstellar people, this ability was extremely chicken-rib.

And Song Buli’s mental power and physique were both very high—dual SSS level.

“I saw a lot of things,” Song Buli sighed.

“When Song Xiuhu practiced drawing back then, he especially liked to draw Big Brother. Those drawings are still in our old room. You can take them out and have a look.”

Song Yang didn’t quite understand, but he still went to the room where they had lived as children and brought those drawings out.

“How… how could this be!” Song Yang couldn’t believe it. He examined the drawings one by one carefully. “Why… why is it like this?”

Among the hundreds of drawings, not a single one of Song Yiran had facial features.

Song Yang began to doubt his own memories. “I remember that when we were little, I saw these drawings, but…”

Song Buli completed what Song Yang hadn’t finished saying. “But in your memories, Big Brother had facial features in these drawings, right?”

“Could it be that too much time has passed, so the drawings faded?” Song Yang still found it hard to believe.

Song Buli picked out several more drawings in which everyone was together. In these drawings, everyone else had facial features—only Song Yiran’s face was blank.

Song Buli said, “I also found it hard to believe yesterday, so I kept gathering evidence. But I discovered that in this world, there are no longer any traces of Big Brother.”

He sighed. “Even the photos of Big Brother in my light-brain are like this—no facial features.”

“The ownership of the nursery has also changed to my name. On the star network, the registrant of the nursery’s official website has also become my name. The nursery promotional videos that Big Brother uploaded to the official website—the uploader’s name has also become mine.”

“I went to the places where Big Brother used to work part-time and asked around. None of them remember Big Brother ever having worked there. The photo of Big Brother as an outstanding employee on the wall has also been replaced by someone else.”

“I also went to Big Brother’s room. I found that everything in the room was gone—even the floor was gone.”

Song Buli’s tone was heavy. “Big Brother… has already disappeared from this world. Everything that could prove he ever existed has lost all traces of him.”

“Right now, aside from our memories, there’s nothing left that can prove Big Brother ever existed.”

“How could that be? Then what about Song Fu’s bell? Does that mean only that bell is still around?” Song Yang grasped the key point.

Song Buli explained, “That’s right. Only that bell remains. Everything else is gone—everything Big Brother ever gave me is gone too. It’s the same for the other brothers.”

“Wait,” Song Yang said, catching something off. “You said the other brothers are the same. Did you already tell them about this yesterday?”

Song Buli started to feel guilty. “Well… you were busy writing things yesterday, weren’t you? I didn’t want to disturb you. But I didn’t tell Song Fu either.”

Song Yang didn’t buy it at all and let out a cold laugh. “That’s because Song Fu only came back today, right?”

“Hold on—so what you just showed in front of Song Fu was an act, wasn’t it? You acted like you’d just learned Big Brother was in another parallel world for the first time.”

Song Buli tried to muddle through. “Good little brother, we’re family—don’t be so nitpicky.”

“And besides, I had to act back then. I couldn’t let him notice anything. If he found out about this, it would disrupt all the plans, and the future’s course would change.”

“Alright, I’ll continue. Do you still remember when Song Xiuhu left?”

“I remember it was… I think I can’t quite remember. But I remember he seemed to have gone traveling,” Song Yang replied.

“Song Xiuhu disappeared shortly after Big Brother vanished,” Song Buli revealed the truth.

“You’re probably wondering why we never noticed all these years.”

“It’s because a certain force has been interfering with us. That’s why you can’t even remember when he went missing. In our memories, Song Xiuhu just went traveling.”

Song Buli continued, “But after traveling for so long, he never contacted us even once, nor did he come back a single time.”

“Yet none of us felt anything was strange, because that force interfered with our thinking and forced us to rationalize all of this.”

“Big Brother has already reached another parallel world. The only ones who can go there are Song Xiuhu and Song Fu.” Song Buli lowered his eyes and spoke slowly.

Song Yang asked, “So the rest of us can’t go?”

“It’s not that we can’t,” Song Buli shook his head. “It’s that there’s no way.”

“We don’t belong to that spacetime. If we went there, we’d bring along the aura of this spacetime with us.”

“But Big Brother’s body can’t withstand the aura of this spacetime. Once he’s exposed to it for too long, his body will grow weaker and weaker, until in the end… nothing can be saved.”

Song Yang asked in confusion, “Then why can those two go?”

Song Buli explained, “Everything is fate. Fate chose the two of them. Only they can help Big Brother break the deadlock.”

Song Yang asked, “What kind of deadlock?”

“A life-and-death deadlock,” Song Buli said heavily. “If that deadlock can’t be broken, Big Brother will truly disappear—there won’t be another spacetime for him to be revived in. This is Big Brother’s last chance.”

“Then we… is there anything we can do…” Song Yang’s mood grew heavy as well.

Song Buli said slowly, “What we can do is wait. Restrain our longing for Big Brother, and wait here.”

“Does that mean… there’s really no way for us to see Big Brother again…” Song Yang’s voice gradually took on a sobbing tone. “Even though… even though I can wait here… but… but…”

Song Yang’s eyes were already red, tears streaming down continuously. Still, he restrained his voice, trying not to cry too loudly. “But… I really… still want to see Big Brother one more time…”

Song Buli let out a long sigh and, just like when they were children, gently patted Song Yang’s head. “Second Brother knows. He knows. You’re a very good child, and your bond with Big Brother is very deep. Ever since you were little, Big Brother was the one you liked the most.”

“There’s still a chance. We still have one chance to see Big Brother again,” Song Buli continued to comfort him.

“Really? But if we go over there… Big Brother’s body…” Song Yang still hadn’t fully recovered, but he grasped the key point.

Compared to seeing Big Brother, he cared even more about whether Big Brother’s body could withstand it.

“Once everything succeeds, we can go over and see Big Brother once.”

“Because once the deadlock is broken, the timeline of that spacetime will fall into disorder for a short while. We can take advantage of that chaos to go over.”

“At that time, the aura of this spacetime that we carry will be concealed by the chaotic timeline.”

Song Buli added, “But we can only see him once. Once the timeline returns to normal, we won’t be able to stay there.”

“It’s fine… once is enough. Just once is enough…” Song Yang wept silently. Something was better than nothing—so long as he could see Big Brother one more time, just once, as long as he could see with his own eyes whether Big Brother was doing well.

That was his closest Big Brother—the one who had painstakingly raised him to adulthood.