Genius Playground

”It really is you!”

Jiang Ran stood up.

Long hair, rock and roll, the Film Club, the trio... All the features matched!

He’d searched far and wide, only to turn around and find him right under his nose the whole time!

It was true what they said: the most dangerous place is the safest place. And the most obvious places are often the easiest to overlook.

Now, he had both the person and the evidence.

Without a doubt, twenty years ago, a young Teacher Zhang Yang was the long-haired rock-and-roll guy from that old photograph!

’You sure hid yourself well...’ Jiang Ran muttered.

”Huh? What?”

Zhang Yang stared at his disciple, who was acting all jumpy, and was utterly baffled.

”What are you mumbling about?”

As Jiang Ran looked at Zhang Yang, the shock in his eyes gradually gave way to deep emotion, his gaze flickering.

’This is great.’

Now that he’d found the alumnus who built the Positron Cannon all those years ago, everything would fall into place. The fire of hope for saving Cheng Mengxue was starting to burn bright!

He looked at the mentor whose threads of fate were so deeply intertwined with his own—past, present, and future—and couldn’t help but sigh:

”What a twisted fate.”

”Speak properly!” Zhang Yang fumed.

”No wonder. I should have realized it the moment you said you crashed your motorcycle.”

Jiang Ran cupped his chin, squinting to examine the cast on Zhang Yang’s leg.

”I mean, what kind of respectable university teacher goes street racing on a motorcycle? The kind of person who’d do that must have been arrogant, unconventional, and completely ignored what anyone else thought or said when they were young...”

”You say that one more time!”

Zhang Yang’s only regret was that he didn’t have his crutches. Otherwise, he would have planted them on the floor, vaulted into the air, and used a newly perfected Bengbu spin to send this insolent disciple flying.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.

The nurse, holding a chart, knocked on the door.

”Patient Zhang Yang, please check out as soon as you’re packed. We’re short on beds, and there are other patients waiting.”

”Oh, right, sorry about that.”

Zhang Yang quickly apologized to the nurse, then turned back to Jiang Ran with a look of disdain.

”You insolent disciple! Get me my crutches!”

...

A few minutes later, the elevator reached the first-floor lobby. Zhang Yang shuffled out on his crutches, followed by Jiang Ran and his wife, who were carrying all his bags.

”I see.”

In the elevator, Zhang Yang had already understood Jiang Ran’s explanation.

”I can’t believe the Film Club is still around. That’s a miracle. When I was a student, it was already on the verge of shutting down. If my two friends hadn’t dragged me along to boost the numbers, we wouldn’t have even been able to apply for funding.”

”I really didn’t expect you to be in the Film Club, though. So, you’re actually interested in old relics like film cameras?”

Jiang Ran shook his head.

”I wasn’t that interested at first, but after looking into it a bit, I found it’s actually pretty fun.”

”Does the Film Club have many members now?”

”Well... how should I put it.”

Jiang Ran trailed off, hesitant.

”We’re barely holding on. It’s a revolving door of members. The club itself is the only constant.”

Zhang Yang was clearly sentimental about the Film Club. He kept pestering Jiang Ran with questions, asking for every detail about how he’d kept the club afloat, leaving Jiang Ran no room to ask any of the questions burning inside him.

Finally, as they reached the entrance of the inpatient building, Zhang Yang had the whole story straight.

”So your clubroom is on the first floor now? That room is tiny. Back in our day, the clubroom was on the third floor, and it was pretty spacious.”

”The Film Club didn’t have many people back then, either. Besides a few friends who signed up just to boost the numbers, it was only the three of us. That clubroom was like our secret base; we had so much fun in there every day.”

”Okay, okay, Teacher Zhang, that’s enough taking a trip down memory lane.”

Jiang Ran cut him off.

”Can I please ask a few questions now? I’ve been dying to!”

”Go ahead.” Zhang Yang leaned on his crutches and began swinging his body back and forth.

Jiang Ran’s gaze turned serious as he looked at him.

”Do you remember the ’Positron Cannon’?”

”Of course I do.”

Zhang Yang replied without hesitation.

”It’s the weapon from the anime EVA. The one Unit-01 and Unit-00 used during Operation Yashima. That episode also has the famous ’Ayanami Rei’s Smile’ scene.”

”No, not that one!”

Jiang Ran drew a square in the air with his hands, then a cylinder in front of it.

”I’m talking about a piece of equipment that used to be in the Film Club, the one made from a modified CRT monitor. It was about this big, with a barrel on the front. It looked kind of like an oversized camera. Does that ring a bell?”

Realization dawned on Zhang Yang.

”Ohh, you mean that thing! Of course I remember it. I can’t believe that gadget is still around... To think it’s still in the Film Club’s clubroom.”

”What’s up, Jiang Ran? Is something wrong? We’re the ones who made that Positron Cannon back in the day. I built it with one of the other guys in the club.”

!!!

Jiang Ran was stunned.

He had assumed that Zhang Yang’s generation of the Film Club had only been witnesses to the Positron Cannon. He never imagined that his own unassuming mentor had built it with his own hands!

’A genius...’

In his eyes, his image of Zhang Yang instantly grew to towering heights. It was as if the great Zhang Yang from the 2045 Future Prison—the one who had taught him everything he knew without reservation—had returned.

”Teacher Zhang, you’re a true genius!”

”Are you running a fever?”

Zhang Yang clamped an Iron Crutch under his arm, freeing a hand to feel Jiang Ran’s forehead.

”What’s gotten into you today? Are you feeling all right in the head?”

Jiang Ran grabbed Zhang Yang’s hand and held it tight, gripping the great hand that had once invented the Time Machine.

”Teacher Zhang, I’ve completely underestimated you! From this day forward, you are the teacher I respect and admire most!”

”You mean I wasn’t before!?”

Overcome with rage, Zhang Yang unleashed a full-power Bengbu spin kick, but Jiang Ran deftly dodged it with a flash-step.