Genius Playground

”Finally, there is us, the [Priests]. We are undoubtedly the most powerful now. Anyone who dares to stand against us is courting death. And while our methods may infuriate the Magician the most... what can he do? It’s nothing but impotent rage.”

”Beset by enemies on all sides, attacked from the front and rear—I can’t think of crueler terms to describe the Magician’s predicament.”

”In this situation, the Magician’s only recourse is to continue scurrying around like a rat, not jumping around recklessly like he has a death wish.”

’So what? Is a measly little Magician really going to conjure up a miracle, turn the tables on us, and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat? You think he can win a 1v4?’

Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, the sky grew overcast.

The sun was hidden by dark clouds, and muffled thunder rumbled—all signs of impending rain.

A storm, it seemed, was about to break over East Sea City.

Listening to the middle-aged man’s analysis and provocations, the old man in the Tang suit said nothing.

He just gazed at the sky outside the window and sighed softly.

He felt a twinge of regret.

Regret that the Magician—the only person he’d ever found somewhat interesting—had to stand against him and become his enemy.

”To be blunt, the Magician is still a child. He’s too immature, too reckless.”

”It was just one little girl who died in a car crash. Saving her, not saving her... life or death... what difference does it really make?”

The old man in the Tang suit said in a low voice,

”I imagine that today, when the Magician thinks back on his impulsive act from two years ago...”

”He must be full of regret.”

...

「At the same time, in the Film Club activity room at East Sea University.」

THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.

Jiang Ran, Fang Ze, and Cheng Mengxue each carried in a large box and set it on the floor.

The supplies Jiang Ran sponsored for the Film Club had arrived. Just as he’d promised, he had bought lots of film, developing chemicals, and other consumables, as well as a few pieces of equipment to replace worn-out ones.

Chi Xiaoguo’s eyes were practically glowing.

”The imperial disaster relief has arrived!”

With that, she made an exaggerated show of bowing down to worship Jiang Ran.

”Thank you, our great patron, for this bounty!”

”Alright, that’s enough—”

Jiang Ran quickly pulled her up.

’Jeez, the way she was going, it looked like she was actually about to perform a full formal bow.’

”I know you’re excited, but you don’t need to lay on the flattery this thick.”

Jiang Ran reminded her,

”Xiaoxue and Fang Ze are right here, you know! You have to maintain your image a little! To quote Teacher Zhang Yang, we can’t be so embarrassing we become an international incident!”

”Understood.”

Chi Xiaoguo nodded knowingly.

”So when they’re not around...”

”Not even when they’re not around!”

Jiang Ran hurriedly cut her off.

However, it was too late.

”Ewww—”

”My god...”

Fang Ze and Cheng Mengxue both recoiled again, staring at the pair and their outrageous banter.

”When we’re not around! What in the world are you two up to!” Cheng Mengxue glared at Jiang Ran as if he were a piece of garbage.

Fang Ze raised his eyebrows, shooting Jiang Ran an ”I knew it, I knew it all along” look.

”...”

Jiang Ran couldn’t be bothered to deal with them.

’I’m suddenly realizing that Chi Xiaoguo really does have some issues with reading comprehension.’

’Okay, to put it more bluntly, her brain just seems to be wired differently from a normal person’s.’

’Sometimes, she comes up with things from an angle so bizarre, I couldn’t have come up with it myself even if I were deliberately trying to be difficult.’

”Xiaoguo.”

He asked sincerely,

”You wouldn’t happen to have really unbalanced grades, would you? Was your Language Arts score a bit low?”

”Huh? Senior! How did you know!”

Chi Xiaoguo was astonished by his accurate deduction.

”Yeah, my scores on other subjects for the college entrance exam were pretty good, but Language Arts dragged my average down. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have just barely scraped by the admission cutoff for East Sea University.”

”It was mostly those big reading comprehension sections—I could never do well on them. My scores were always low.”

”Sigh...”

Jiang Ran sighed.

’Of course. So it really is a reading comprehension problem.’

He suddenly thought of his roommate from Shandong on World Line 0.

That roommate said he had never been able to do the ”find the grammatically incorrect sentence” questions since he was a kid. He always got a zero on them.

”Those ’find the incorrect sentence’ questions are the problem themselves, you know? There’s nothing wrong with those sentences at all, I think.”

”The very sentence you just said is grammatically incorrect,” Jiang Ran had pointed out.

”Are you kidding me? Did you guys ever even study grammar? All our teachers talk like that. Come to Shandong next time and have a listen if you don’t believe me.”

...

’That kind of inverted sentence structure, which sounds grammatically wrong, is probably a Shandong regionalism.’

Wang Hao also often complained to Jiang Ran that when he read web novels by authors from Shandong, the word order always felt awkward, like it had been machine-translated.

But Jiang Ran was convinced.

Being unable to express herself clearly and having terrible reading comprehension was definitely not a Guangxi regionalism. This was absolutely a Chi Xiaoguo-specific problem.

”Just take your time and learn,” Jiang Ran said, patting her Nezha-style buns.

Over on his side, Fang Ze had already used a box cutter to open a package and was taking out the film rolls inside.

”So, since we have film now, does that mean we can officially start using the cameras to take pictures?”

”Seriously, after studying with President Xiaoguo for so long, my hands are really getting itchy.”

”That’s true.”

Chi Xiaoguo put her hands on her hips.

”The best way to learn is, without a doubt, by trying it firsthand. Now that we have film, we should definitely have a big, hands-on practice shoot!”

”Starting with portraits is a little difficult. After all, it’s not just about finding the right angle; you also need your model to cooperate. So, for beginners... let’s try shooting landscapes first!”

With that, she took out her phone, glanced at the weather forecast, and grinned.

”Then it’s happily decided! Tomorrow is Saturday, and we don’t have classes, so let’s have the Film Club’s first outdoor photography event—”

”We’re going on an autumn field trip!”