Genius Playground

A night wind rose, rustling the willow branches.

In the dead of night, the air outside the Film Club window was thick with tension.

Jiang Ran’s hand was outstretched, his eyes fixed on Qin Feng’s phone.

Qin Feng clutched the phone in his right hand, staring at Jiang Ran in disbelief.

”You don’t trust me?” Qin Feng’s voice was quiet.

Jiang Ran said nothing.

He didn’t move a muscle.

”Can I see the phone?”

’He knew his expression must be awful right now, and that it must be hurting Qin Feng.’

But...

’He couldn’t shake his unease.’

The terrifying, unprecedented vision he’d just had pushed his panic to the absolute limit.

Qin Feng took a deep breath and handed over the phone.

”Here.”

Jiang Ran took the phone and looked at the screen.

It was the message composition screen. The recipient was indeed Qin Feng’s phone number, and the message itself wasn’t long:

[This is a Time SMS from 10 days in the future. Please go to Old Qi’s Home Appliance Repair Shop on Old Electronics Street as soon as possible. There’s a knob control board there that’s perfect for the Positron Cannon.]

That was it.

Jiang Ran read it twice.

There was no hidden information.

Besides, he knew that the shop selling circuit boards was, in fact, called Old Qi’s Home Appliance Repair Shop.

There was nothing wrong with the message...

He was the one being paranoid.

Qin Feng smiled as he looked at Jiang Ran.

”You thought I was going to pull some trick to try and save my father, didn’t you?”

As always.

He saw right through Jiang Ran, just as Jiang Ran always saw right through him.

After years of friendship and understanding, they had no secrets from each other. Everything was out in the open.

”Sorry,”

Jiang Ran said quietly.

A thousand unspoken words were condensed into that single one.

He didn’t know how to explain or defend his act of distrusting a friend.

”It’s fine.”

Qin Feng was as magnanimous as ever.

”It’s normal to have reservations. And it’s not like this is the first time you’ve been overly suspicious. I’m used to it.”

With that, he held out his hand.

”Now that you’ve checked the message, how about you give me back the phone so we can restart the countdown for the Positron Cannon?”

But unexpectedly, Jiang Ran didn’t move.

He thought for a few seconds, then lowered the phone and looked at Qin Feng.

”Can I be the one to send this message?”

?

”Jiang Ran, you...”

Cheng Mengxue, who was leaning out the window, had heard their whole conversation.

’Honestly, at this point, even she felt Jiang Ran was going too far.’

’If he really didn’t trust Qin Feng, then they should’ve just called the whole thing off.’

’But to be this suspicious of his friend now, after already refusing him once and then agreeing to this do-over...’

’How could he be like this?’

”It’s fine.”

Qin Feng shoved his hands in his pockets, took a few steps back, and leaned against the distribution box.

”Go ahead. You send it then.”

Cheng Mengxue’s jaw dropped slightly as she stared at the two of them.

Finally, biting her lip, she pulled back inside.

”Fine. Have it your way.”

She opened the window completely.

”It’s late and quiet, so there shouldn’t be any interference. I can just handle the countdown from in here.”

”The timing is the same. When the countdown hits zero, I’ll activate the Positron Cannon, and then Jiang Ran, you send the message.”

”And Qin Feng... well, you just stay out there, I guess.”

Shaking her head, Cheng Mengxue walked back to the lab bench.

...

The leaves rustled. The chirping of cicadas rose and fell in fits and starts.

Jiang Ran stared at the message on the phone, his thumb hovering over the screen.

The silence was awkward.

He was too ashamed to speak to Qin Feng, or even look at him.

”Jiang Ran.”

’Ah, speak of the devil.’ Qin Feng had called his name.

Jiang Ran tore his gaze from the phone screen and looked at Qin Feng, who was standing by the distribution box.

”You know, when I first suggested using a Time SMS to save my father, I was hesitant, too. Just as hesitant as you are,” Qin Feng said softly.

”Do you know what I was hesitant about?”

Jiang Ran paused for two seconds.

”You were worried you’d be separated from us, weren’t you?”

The temporal Butterfly Effect is uncontrollable. No one can predict how history will change.

The only reason Qin Feng had met Jiang Ran and Cheng Mengxue, the only reason they had become such an inseparable trio, was because he’d come to Hang City High School. He was bullied after his father’s death, and that’s what brought them together.

But if you think about it from another angle...

If Qin Feng’s father hadn’t died ten years ago...

Would Qin Feng still have gone to Hang City High School?

Maybe, maybe not.

Either was a real possibility.

If his father had moved for work or some other reason, Qin Feng would never have attended Hang City High School. He naturally would never have met Jiang Ran and Cheng Mengxue, and their friendship would have never existed.

And even if that didn’t happen...

Even if Qin Feng had still attended Hang City High School, since his father would have been alive, the bullies would’ve had no reason to target him. That would have also robbed them of the chance to meet.

It’s like the old saying: a single wrong step can lead to a lifetime of wrong turns.

And weren’t world line changes just the same?

Everyone’s life seems to be a series of coincidences, but it’s really an inevitability driven by those countless chance encounters...

A miss is as good as a mile.

”Heh.”

As expected, Qin Feng chuckled.

”You always see right through me. You can always guess exactly what I’m thinking.”

”You’re right. The thing I was most hesitant about, the thing I couldn’t bear to lose, was the two of you.”

He lifted his head to look at the moon and stars.

”I’m not like you. I don’t have a special constitution, so I won’t remember anything from before a world line change.”

”So if we send that Time SMS to my past self and save my father, the entire trajectory of the last ten years will change. Without even realizing it, I’ll be set on a completely different life path.”

”I probably wouldn’t go to Hang City High School. I wouldn’t have come to East Sea University with you guys. We might never have even become friends...”

”After the world line changes, in the new timeline, we’d just be strangers, completely oblivious.”

He paused for a moment.

Then he continued.

”Like I said before, I miss my father terribly, but I can’t bear to lose you two, either. For me, both sides of the scale are perfectly balanced.”

”That’s why when Xiaoxue suggested we vote on it, I abstained. I just didn’t want to face that outcome.”

”Jiang Ran, don’t you think that’s a cruel thought?”

He turned back, their eyes met, and Qin Feng’s voice was crystal clear.

”*After the world line changes, we, who are so close now, would instantly become strangers.*”

”*All the feelings and experiences would be gone. We’d each be living our own separate lives... No one would remember the inseparable trio we are right now.*”

”I’ll remember,”

Jiang Ran reminded him.

”I have that special constitution, Full Space-Time Memory. So no matter how the world line changes, I’ll remember everything we’ve been through. I’ll remember how close we are, and that we’re the best friends in the world.”

Qin Feng gave a faint smile.

”Yes, you’ll remember. But *only* you will remember.”

”But emotions and friendship are a two-way street... If you’re the only one who remembers, what’s the point?”

”The feelings people have for each other come from shared experiences. Without those experiences, words like ’friend’ are just empty labels.”

”You and Xiaoxue are childhood friends. No matter how the world line changes, your relationship won’t be affected.”

”But I only met you guys in high school. The slightest temporal Butterfly Effect could completely remove me from your lives.”

”So, there’s a question, Jiang Ran, that I’ve always wanted to ask you.”

His smile faded, and his voice grew heavy.

”If the world line changed and I was lost to you—if I became a stranger to you in the new timeline... what would you do?”

The night wind grew a little cooler. Qin Feng looked Jiang Ran in the eye.

”*In the new world line... would you bring me back?*”