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Genius Playground

Chapter 111 - 84: Magic Trick · Oct 30, 2026

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Chapter List (352)

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101 Chapter 101 - 77: Upgrading to a Bachelor’s Degree 2026-10-30
102 Chapter 102 - 78: The Target 2026-10-30
103 Chapter 103 - 79: The Old Photograph 2026-10-30
104 Chapter 104 - 80: A Way Out 2026-10-30
105 Chapter 105 - 81: You and Me 2026-10-30
106 Chapter 106 - 82: The Breakthrough 2026-10-30
107 Chapter 107 - 82: Breaking the Stalemate 2026-10-30
108 Chapter 108 - 82: Breaking the Deadlock 2026-10-30
109 Chapter 109 - 83: Loop 2026-10-30
110 Chapter 110 - 84: Magic Trick 2026-10-30
111 Chapter 111 - 84: Magic Trick 2026-10-30
112 Chapter 112 - 85: Distance 2026-10-30
113 Chapter 113 - 85: Distance 2026-10-30
114 Chapter 114 - 86: The Promise 2026-10-30
115 Chapter 115 - 87: Ascension 2026-10-30
116 Chapter 116 - 87: Ascension 2026-10-30
117 Chapter 117 - 87: Ascension 2026-10-30
118 Chapter 118 - 88: Interesting 2026-10-30
119 Chapter 119 - 89: Chief Disciple 2026-10-30
120 Chapter 120 - 90: Break Up 2026-10-30
121 Chapter 121 - 90: Breakup 2026-10-30
122 Chapter 122 - 91: The East Sea Pact 2026-10-30
123 Chapter 123 - 92: The Other Shore Flower Blooms 2026-10-30
124 Chapter 124 - 93: A General Without an Army 2026-10-30
125 Chapter 125 - 93: Commander Without an Army (Part 2) 2026-10-30
126 Chapter 126 - 94: Research Topic 2026-10-30
127 Chapter 127 - 94: Research Topic_2 2026-10-30
128 Chapter 128 - 94: Topic 3 2026-10-30
129 Chapter 129 - 95: The Bet 2026-10-30
130 Chapter 130 - 95: A Bet 2026-10-30
131 Chapter 131 - 96: Boyfriend and Movie 2026-10-30
132 Chapter 132 - 96: Boyfriend and Movie 2026-10-30
133 Chapter 133 - 97: Little Genius 2026-10-30
134 Chapter 134 - 97: Little Genius 2026-10-30
135 Chapter 135 - 97: Little Genius 2026-10-30
136 Chapter 136 - 98: Prison 2026-10-30
137 Chapter 137 - 99: Common Point 2026-10-30
138 Chapter 138 - 100: Xiaoxue’s Past 2026-10-30
139 Chapter 139 - 100: Xiaoxue’s Past 2026-10-30
140 Chapter 140 - 101: Gold Coins 2026-10-30
141 Chapter 141 - 101: Gold Coins 2026-10-30
142 Chapter 142 - 101: Gold Coin 2026-10-30
143 Chapter 143 - 102: Relic 2026-10-30
144 Chapter 144 - 102: Relic 2 2026-10-30
145 Chapter 145 - 103: Change 2026-10-30
146 Chapter 146 - 103: Change (Part 2) 2026-10-30
147 Chapter 147 - 104: Class Reunion 2026-10-30
148 Chapter 148 - 104: Class Reunion 2026-10-30
149 Chapter 149 - 105: Lilith 2026-10-30
150 Chapter 150 - 105: Lilith 2026-10-30

Finally.

Thanks to the ceaseless squirming of the big guy behind him, Jiang Ran managed to hitch a ride, getting squeezed to a spot only tens of meters from the execution platform.

Standing on his tiptoes, he could already see the execution platform over the crowd—

A prisoner in a prison uniform, tightly bound, knelt in the middle of the high platform.

His head was covered with a burlap hood, making it impossible to see his face.

Behind him, a burly executioner stood proudly at the ready, the huge Ghost Head Saber in his hand, the muscles of his upper arms looking like they were about to explode.

In front of the prisoner stood a person in a formal suit, holding a microphone and announcing something.

But the shouts from the crowd below were so loud and intense that it was impossible to hear what was being said.

Soon, the speech was over.

The person in the suit put away their script, turned, and yanked the hood off the prisoner’s face!

”AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!”

”KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL!!”

”Magician! Magician! Magician!”

With the Magician’s face revealed, the execution ground erupted in an unprecedented commotion. People raised their hands and screamed, the scene spiraling completely out of control!

Who was it?

Who in the world was it?

The crowd was too frenzied, the distance too great, and all Jiang Ran could see was a sea of waving hands, completely obscuring his view of the criminal on the platform.

He tried to shove his way forward, but the human tide pushed him farther and farther away.

The Magician... just who was he?

’Is it really Qin Feng?’

’Is it really... the Qin Feng I know?’

Jiang Ran desperately wanted to know the answer.

But facing the tide of people, he was swept up like a fallen leaf, completely powerless.

The shouting grew louder, countless people wailing and howling!

From Jiang Ran’s perspective, all he could see was the executioner raising the Ghost Head Saber high!

He raised it high!

Higher and higher!

Sunlight glinted off the tip of the Ghost Head Saber, its dazzling glare seeming to eclipse the world itself!

Then!

He swung it down—

BUZZ!

’Huh? The reaction to the temporal shift... why is it happening now?’

Without any warning.

Dizziness, vertigo. The world spun around him.

As his five senses faded, Jiang Ran fell into darkness...

Two seconds later.

He took a deep breath and opened his eyes.

The Film Club window, the transformer box, the phone in his hand with a call connected, and Chi Xiaoguo poking her head out curiously:

”How did the experiment go this time? Any progress?”

...

Jiang Ran hung up the phone, circled back, and returned to the Film Club.

After a brief chat with Chi Xiaoguo, he sent her off to the cafeteria for lunch before her class.

It was Monday.

Unlike him and his self-destructive tendencies, Chi Xiaoguo had fought tooth and nail to get into East Sea University, even if she had finished last on the admissions list. She had to study hard.

As for Jiang Ran, calling it ’self-destructive’ wasn’t quite accurate. It was more like he was burning his boats.

He had completely stopped going to his classes at the School of International Trade and Economics.

He didn’t attend classes, do homework, or take quizzes. He didn’t even answer calls from the school.

He was betting everything on Goldbach’s Conjecture and the recommendation letter that would get him into East Sea University.

If he couldn’t get into East Sea University, he would lose practically every opportunity. It would be a total failure.

In comparison,

that diploma from the East Sea College of International Trade and Economics was completely irrelevant and meaningless.

So, whatever.

He had too many important things on his plate right now to spare any thought for his vocational college.

After Chi Xiaoguo left,

Jiang Ran pulled over the small blackboard, sat down, and collected his thoughts.

The biggest takeaway from today’s trip to the future—to the year 2045—was the list of essential math books Teacher Zhang Yang had given him.

Relying on his memory, Jiang Ran wrote down each of the book titles on the small blackboard and then took a picture with his phone.

Whether he bought them online or borrowed them from the library, his first priority was to get his hands on these books and study them as thoroughly as possible.

Zhang Yang had said that, in addition to advanced mathematics, the theories in these books were the foundation for understanding the proof of Goldbach’s Conjecture.

The edifice of mathematics isn’t built on thin air. To understand complex proofs, you must first lay a solid foundation.

Secondly.

Besides this main takeaway, there was also an unexpected one—

His return to 2025 this time had been rather strange.

He hadn’t died, hadn’t been shot, hadn’t suffered any physical harm... Yet, he’d been hit by a sudden, dizzy spell and opened his eyes to find himself back in the present.

Every previous return to 2025 had been triggered by his death in some form, something Jiang Ran could at least comprehend.

But this time, why?

Why was he forcibly sent back when he hadn’t died?

”No, that’s not right.”

He frowned slightly.

It was a strange coincidence that the moment he felt that buzzing dizziness was the exact moment the Magician was beheaded.

That’s right.

Although he hadn’t seen the details of the Magician’s execution with his own eyes, it was at the precise instant the executioner’s Ghost Head Saber fell that he’d felt the world-spinning temporal shift.

”This...”

Jiang Ran scratched his head.

”Could it be...”

”’It’s not just my own death that forcibly flings me back to the 2025 timeline; the death of the Magician, Qin Feng, also causes me to be sent back?’”

It was hard to understand.

Jiang Ran couldn’t figure it out.

The situation made no logical sense.

The one beheaded was the Magician, the one who died was the Magician. What did that have to do with him?!

”Huh?”

He blinked.

Slowly, he sat up from his chair.

He suddenly remembered what the Assassin had once said to him:

”It just so happens that today, two hours before the Magician is to be publicly executed, someone who can do tricks and appear out of nowhere—just like the Magician—shows up.”

”It just so happens that today, you appear in the very prison where the Magician is to be executed, and you even expertly lead us in a jailbreak.”

”So, if I’m not mistaken... Jiang Ran, you traveled to this exact point in time to save the Magician, didn’t you?”

”Or perhaps, there’s another possibility...”

Back then,

the Assassin’s long, fair index finger had pointed at the space between Jiang Ran’s brows like a sword of judgment as she uttered the theory Jiang Ran had found utterly impossible:

”You... are the Magician!”

...

Mulling over her words, Jiang Ran felt a thrill of horror.

He suddenly realized.

All the descriptions of the Magician were actually vague, and there was no direct evidence to prove that the Magician was Qin Feng himself.

’If ’Magician’ is a false codename...’

’Then is it possible...?’

’...that ’Qin Feng’ is also a false codename?’

’If...’

’If someone claimed to be Qin Feng, or disguised themselves as Qin Feng, and then also called themselves the Magician... wouldn’t that create a closed loop, deceiving everyone?’

’And the person most likely to do that...’

Jiang Ran closed his eyes.

His chaotic thoughts gradually untangled as countless fragmented clues began to piece themselves together—

Magic tricks, Magician, making people appear out of thin air.

Qin Feng, a fire, a disappearance from the face of the earth.

The Ferris wheel, big eyes, traveling through time.

Sudden appearances, a loop, a nineteen-year-old face.

Death, beheading, dizziness.

...

Gradually, Jiang Ran arrived at a possibility so terrifying it made his blood run cold.

He slowly opened his eyes.

He looked at the round plastic mirror hanging on the side of the bookcase, at the young man inside who slowly turned his head to stare directly at him:

”Could it be... that the Magician... is me?”

At the same time.

The young man in the mirror’s lips moved, his gaze fixed on Jiang Ran from across the non-existent space:

”I... am the Magician!”

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