Genius Playground

It was already past eleven when Jiang Ran returned to the graduate student dormitory, and the main gate was tightly shut.

Luckily, the dorm mother was still awake. After giving him a few words of admonition, she opened a small side door for him.

”Try to be back earlier next time. The school’s gotten strict with the curfew, especially after that major incident on campus a few days ago. Don’t cause trouble for me... If something really happens, it’ll be hard for me to explain.”

”Understood. Thank you, ma’am.”

After thanking her, Jiang Ran entered the dormitory building.

Lately, because of Old Tian’s shooting case, the dorm management at East Sea University had become even stricter.

Not only had room inspections become more frequent, but a responsibility system had also been implemented. Every rule was being strictly enforced, much to the misery of the entire student body.

The graduate dorms were a little better, with some room for leniency.

But if any undergraduates dared to not return to their dorms on time, they could expect an immediate call to their counselor and a lecture, after which they’d have to explain themselves.

It was a very strange phenomenon...

Despite being only a year or two apart, or even the same age, in the eyes of the teachers and the school, graduate students were ”adults,” while undergraduates, even fourth-years, were still ”kids.”

’Indeed, the promotions in life’s status often happen in an instant.’

Like graduation,

the birth of a child,

the passing of your parents,

or... the day you look back and realize there’s no one behind you anymore, and the world forces you to stand on your own two feet.

...

CREAK.

He pushed open the door to his dorm room. The lights were already off. Fang Ze wasn’t sitting by the window reading *Narrow Gate*; he was already curled up in his bed, fast asleep.

”Huh?”

Seeing Jiang Ran push the door open and enter, Fang Ze rubbed his eyes and sat up.

”You’re back. I thought you weren’t coming back to sleep tonight.”

”Heh.”

Jiang Ran gave a helpless laugh.

”If I don’t come back here to sleep, where else would I go?”

Fang Ze sat up straight, looking at Jiang Ran with great interest.

”You and that President Xiaoguo... are you sure there’s no secret romance going on?”

”Of course not!”

Jiang Ran quickly explained.

”That whole ’sugar daddy’ and ’daddy’ thing was a complete misunderstanding. I think I told you before, Chi Xiaoguo loves to use those kinds of stupid internet memes. You can’t take anything she says seriously... That’s just how the internet culture is in the Dragon Country.”

”Oh, I see.”

Fang Ze, looking utterly bored and showing the listlessness of someone who’d been deprived of juicy gossip, slid back down and burrowed into his blankets again.

”From all the Dragon Country books and movies I’ve seen, places like school clubs are the most likely to spark youthful, passionate, naive, yet profound love stories...”

”You should really watch some more serious stuff.”

Jiang Ran retorted.

”You just said Chi Xiaoguo has no practical experience and is just a master of theory. I think you’re just the pot calling the kettle black.”

”Besides, there’s nothing going on between Chi Xiaoguo and me. Why would you get that impression? Between us... how should I put it? Is the vibe really that obvious?”

Fang Ze blinked, noncommittal.

”Well, you two are always so [secretive].”

He said bluntly.

”It’s that vibe of hiding things, of sharing little secrets.”

Jiang Ran licked his lips and said nothing.

’Fair enough.’

’He couldn’t argue with that.’

There were indeed some secrets between him and Chi Xiaoguo that couldn’t be mentioned to outsiders. There was no denying that.

”Whatever, whatever. I’m going to sleep.”

Fang Ze yawned.

”How boring. I thought I’d finally figured out why you were always waking up early and coming back late, constantly holed up in the Film Club’s activity room.”

”I thought you were secretly dating President Xiaoguo, but it turns out you were really just doing club activities... To be honest, you two are pretty pure. Your true love is film cameras.”

”Sleeping, sleeping, I’m going to sleep. Remember to turn off the lights after you’re done washing up. So boring.”

Watching Fang Ze, who had been deprived of his gossip, flop back onto his bed and go to sleep, Jiang Ran didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

”I never realized you were such a gossip. Do students in the United States... also spend all day chatting about relationship drama and rumors like this?”

”Haha, what gossip is there between students in the United States...”

Fang Ze was amused. He rolled over and pulled the blanket up.

”There are never any rumors or scandals in American schools... It’s basically all confirmed facts.”

...

Jiang Ran took his towel to the bathroom and started washing up.

The rare quiet of the night gave him time to think.

His trip to the Future World of 2045 today had actually been quite fruitful. He needed to sort through and summarize his findings.

First, regarding the [Regrets Mutual Aid Association].

That Priest didn’t deceive his followers through brainwashing or by making empty promises. On the contrary, he was unexpectedly trustworthy. If he promised to fix a regret, he would fix it. If he promised to grant a wish, he would grant it.

In a way, it was precisely this sincerity and integrity that made his followers so devoted to him.

Even someone as sharp as the Assassin, Fang Yang, had never questioned or doubted the Priest. This proved the Priest was genuinely skilled and had never let his followers down.

But...

’How on earth does he do it?’

Jiang Ran had been pondering this question for days but couldn’t make heads or tails of it.

If it were a problem that money, power, or connections could solve, Jiang Ran wouldn’t have been surprised. He had long believed that the Priest must be someone of high status and immense wealth.

But many of the wishes he granted and regrets he fixed for his followers were not things that could be resolved with power and influence.

Take the recent incident, for example: waking up Old Tian’s daughter, Tian Xiaoli, who had been in a vegetative state...

She had been in a coma for ten years, yet she woke up right on schedule. Her atrophied brain tissue was miraculously and gradually recovering.

This was definitely not a miracle that money and power could buy.

But something so far beyond common sense... seemed as simple as eating or drinking to the Priest. If he said it would happen, it would happen.

Jiang Ran simply couldn’t understand it.

They lived in an orderly universe, a scientific world, a space-time continuum that abided by the laws of physics and the conservation of energy...

[Given these premises, how exactly did the Priest perform those ”miracles”?]

Jiang Ran had once asked the Assassin who the Priest really was.

But the Assassin said he didn’t know the Priest’s identity, his name, or his background...

Because in their eyes, the Priest was just the Priest, and that was enough.

”Besides, after I killed Zhou Xiong, I hid abroad. I never returned to the country, and I never attended another regular meeting of the Regrets Mutual Aid Association.”

The Assassin had said.

”Later, it wasn’t until I was arrested in Los Angeles and deported back to the country that I set foot on Dragon Country soil again. But... it was only prison soil. And I’ve been here for over a decade since.”

”Back then, the Priest was quite old, around eighty-something, but he was in great spirits. But it’s 2045 now... he must have passed away long ago.”

Hearing this, Jiang Ran had a chilling intuition that the old man, the one called the Priest, might still be alive in 2045.

’If he possessed such Divine Power, couldn’t he overcome the problems of aging and death?’

But this brought him back to the initial puzzle...

The Priest’s power seemed to fluctuate. Sometimes he was omnipotent, and other times he had to rely on his followers to do his dirty work. The contrast was truly jarring.

’There’s too little information about the Priest right now. It’s hard to make any further, more accurate deductions.’

Jiang Ran brushed his teeth, staring at the foam around his mouth in the mirror. He felt his investigation into the Regrets Mutual Aid Association wasn’t deep enough, yet he had no way to dig deeper.

The only way was to go to the Future Prison in 2045 every day to talk more and ask more questions of the Assassin, Fang Yang.

However...

Cheng Mengxue’s actions tonight forced Jiang Ran to be on guard, raising his sense of danger.

Although he didn’t know Cheng Mengxue’s motive for raiding the Film Club, she had definitely become interested in the Positron Cannon and the secret between him and Chi Xiaoguo.

For now, he couldn’t tell if this interest was simple curiosity or if she had ulterior motives. So, to be safe, Jiang Ran decided to suspend the Positron Cannon experiments for a while.

’Safety first. You can never be too careful.’

This was his usual caution.

At the very least, he had to wait until he had a clear understanding of Cheng Mengxue’s identity, purpose, motive, and stance... before deciding whether to take the risk of reactivating the Positron Cannon.

But...

That would have to wait for a reply from Xu Yan’s boyfriend’s investigation.

GURGLE GURGLE.

He spat out the mouthwash, picked up his towel to wipe the corner of his mouth, and began to summarize the second finding from his chat with the Assassin today.

That is, regarding the [Identity Coins].

Previously, he only knew that Zhou Xiong had a Princess Coin. Now, the Assassin had told him that the Priest also had a King Coin.

These coins representing various identities were very interesting. It made him wonder: since codenames like King and Princess had coins, could it be that similar codenames, like Priest and Magician, also had corresponding Identity Coins?

’I feel like... these codenames have something in common.’

Jiang Ran began to think.

’And how many people with these codename identities are there in total?’

’Huh?’

Suddenly, he noticed a blind spot.

’If…’

’If you look at these codenames together:’

’Priest,’

’King,’

’Princess,’

’Magician,’

’These codenames, while elegant and dignified, also seemed somewhat ”childish.” While rooted in history and reality, they also had a ”fairy-tale” quality.’

’Indeed.’

’Whether it was Priest, Magician, King, or Princess, they all seemed to be regulars in those childish fairy tales.’

’No, it’s more than that.’

Jiang Ran’s thoughts became clear. He felt he was getting closer and closer to the truth!

It wasn’t just that these characters often appeared in fairy tales...

They also frequently appeared in theme parks, amusement parks, and stage plays.

He recalled his past visits to Disneyland: the [Princesses] dancing beside the parade floats, the [King] high up in his castle.

He thought of the mysterious and cool [Magicians] and the well-meaning, sermonizing [Priests] in amusement parks.

’Could there be others later, like [Clown] or [Vampire]?’

At this thought, it was as if a light bulb went off in Jiang Ran’s head.

This!

These characters! Aren’t they all the most common characters you’d find in a theme park!

”A amusement park...”

Images flashed before Jiang Ran’s eyes: the lost Setting Collection, the back of a hooded Qin Feng stealing it, the absurdity of Lilith granting any wish, the premise of 11 geniuses playing a game around a round table, the script bought out by a film company for an astronomical price!

”Genius Playground...”

He whispered softly. In his mind’s eye, at the round table of the geniuses’ game, shadowy figures seated around it lit up one by one—

Princess, King, Priest, Magician, Clown, Vampire, Pinocchio, Pirate, Witch, Elf, Werewolf, Demon, Angel, Death, Pumpkin Head, Knight...

Countless amusement park characters of all kinds, each holding a gold coin engraved with their own likeness, surrounded the round table. With a CLINK, they flipped their coins high into the air, and innumerable glints of golden light spun in the air—

BOOM!

He stood up straight, struck by a sudden, earth-shattering realization.

’Could a game where 11 geniuses compete truly exist in this world?’

’Could it be that somewhere in the world...’

”[There really is a Genius Playground?]”