Genius Playground

In Dragon Country, offering a cigarette is the most effective way to communicate.

If someone accepts your cigarette, it means they’re willing to talk.

The old man took a drag from his cigarette and gave a couple of dry coughs.

”It must’ve been about ten years ago... That was the year Yongxiao—Qin Feng’s dad—died in an accident.”

”We don’t know the specifics—how he died, where he died... *Sigh*, he was so young. Left the boy and his mother to fend for themselves.”

”After the funeral, the two of them left, and we don’t know where they went. At the time, everyone thought they’d gone to her family’s home. But who knew they’d never come back? It was like they’d vanished off the face of the earth.”

...

The old man’s story matched what the teacher at the school had said.

After Qin Feng’s father died, Qin Feng and his mother left their hometown and hadn’t been heard from in ten years.

”What about this house?”

Jiang Ran gestured behind him.

”Sir, what happened to the Qin Feng family’s house?”

”It looks like it was destroyed in a fire. Was it an accident? Or... was it arson?”

The old man took another deep drag of his cigarette.

He exhaled slowly.

”It was definitely deliberate, but to this day, no one knows who set the fire.”

”Not long after Qin Yongxiao’s funeral, after the boy and his mom had left... the old house suddenly went up in flames one night.”

”The fire spread fast. By the time the villagers noticed, the support beams had already collapsed. Luckily, no one was living there.”

”I really don’t know who their family could have offended... They say your debts die with you, but to go so far as to burn down their house afterward? That’s just cruel.”

The old man shook his head.

”Everyone in the village figured that Qin Feng and his mom left and never came back because they were afraid someone would come after them for revenge.”

”That kid Qin Feng was always a smart one. The whole village was hoping he’d get into a good university. I just don’t know what kind of trouble his dad got into out there. A perfectly good family... torn apart just like that.”

He took one last, legendary drag.

The old man tossed the cigarette butt, stamped it out with his foot, and walked away, leaning on his cane.

...

As the old man’s stooped figure vanished deep into the alley, Jiang Ran and Wang Hao exchanged a look. Their eyes were filled with the shadow of conspiracy.

It seemed there was more to the story of Qin Feng and his father than met the eye.

’There must be a secret. Something that brought trouble down on them, forcing Qin Feng to leave his home and completely altering the course of his life.’

He had thought the Time SMS would change his childhood, allowing him to live a happy, blissful life with his family.

But he hadn’t expected the claws of the Butterfly Effect to let him go... Not only had he failed to save his father as he’d hoped, but his life had become even more tragic.

Wang Hao clicked his tongue.

”Sounds like there’s a lot more to this story. Things are getting interesting.”

He turned and walked back toward the burned-out ruins of Qin Feng’s home.

”Let’s see if we can find any clues here.”

Wang Hao hadn’t been particularly interested in Qin Feng’s case; he had just come along to keep Jiang Ran company.

But now, his curiosity was piqued. He felt the thrill of a detective cracking a case.

Jiang Ran trudged through the mud to follow him, returning to the crumbling ruins.

It must have rained here yesterday. The ground was slick, and the rain had washed the dust away, leaving the scratches on the stone courtyard wall clearly visible.

This was where Qin Feng had once lived.

Jiang Ran took a deep breath. The air that filled his lungs was both damp and fresh.

The place had clearly been abandoned for a long time. Anything flammable in the house had been incinerated, and anything that couldn’t burn had been left to corrode in the wind and rain...

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Nothing looked as it once had.

After circling the ruins twice without finding any clues, Jiang Ran turned his attention to the courtyard wall, which was still more or less intact.

Moss clung to the corners, and small blades of grass sprouted from the mud between the bricks. Though devoid of human life, the place was teeming with vitality.

”Huh?”

Reaching the eastern side of the courtyard wall, Jiang Ran stopped.

He crouched down and saw, on the rain-washed stone wall... a simple doodle had been carved.

A simple drawing like this, with its childish strokes, must have been the handiwork of a young Qin Feng.

Incredible.

The mark of time had somehow leaped across the years to appear before Jiang Ran’s eyes.

He was reminded of a line from the famous sci-fi novel, *Three-Body*:

”The most enduring way for humanity to preserve information is to carve words into stone.”

The truth of that statement was on full display at this very moment.

Everything in Qin Feng’s home had been incinerated by the fire and corroded by years of wind and rain. No other information survived...

...except for this doodle, casually carved into the stone wall by a young Qin Feng, which had triumphed over time to be discovered by a later visitor.

Jiang Ran moved closer, carefully observing the pattern carved on the stone wall.

Is this...

A Ferris wheel?

He blinked.

Yes, it really did seem to be a simple drawing of a Ferris wheel.

Outside a large ring were eight small, circular passenger cabins, with a triangular support at the bottom... There was no mistaking it; this was a simple drawing of a Ferris wheel.

What was intriguing was that in the center of the Ferris wheel’s large circle, a large, open eye had been carved.

Jiang Ran thought he was seeing things.

A normal Ferris wheel should have lots of support spokes in the middle to be realistic.

But in this drawing, the center of the wheel was empty, save for a single large eye with a piercing pupil.

Young Qin Feng was probably just doodling for fun.

But...

’Why does this feel so familiar?’

Staring at the large eye inside the Ferris wheel, Jiang Ran couldn’t look away. His thoughts seemed to be locked by the strange pupil, slowly being devoured.

”What’re you staring at?”

Wang Hao came up from behind.

He leaned in, following Jiang Ran’s gaze.

”Huh? Did you carve that?”

Jiang Ran was speechless.

”Why would I carve something like this for no reason?”

”Hmm...”

Wang Hao squinted, carefully examining the carving on the wall. He even picked at it with a finger, dislodging a few crumbs of stone.

”Feels like it’s been here a while. Is that a Ferris wheel? I gotta say, it’s pretty well done. You think Qin Feng carved it when he was a kid?”

”It’s possible.”

Jiang Ran nodded.

”But it’s also possible that some other village kids carved it sometime in the last ten years.”

”An unsupervised ruin like this would make a great secret hideout for kids. They probably come here to play all the time.”

”So, it wouldn’t be strange no matter who carved this Ferris wheel. It could have been Qin Feng, or it could have been someone else.”

Wang Hao chuckled.

”You’re just stating the obvious. So why are you standing here agonizing over it with that long face?”

Jiang Ran shifted his feet, moving even closer.

That’s right.

The more he looked at it, the more familiar the Ferris wheel and eye pattern became, yet he couldn’t quite place where he’d seen it before.

”I’m not agonizing over who carved it.”

He traced the groove with his index finger.

’I’m just... I’m sure I’ve seen this pattern somewhere before, but for the life of me, I can’t remember where.’

His fingertip traced a circle around the Ferris wheel carving.

”Where on earth... have I seen it before?”