Genius Playground

Jiang Ran pointed at the waitress, who was frozen in place like a doll.

She was still wearing a cute maid outfit, a fresh smile on her face as she stood there welcoming guests, looking just like an exquisitely dressed toy.

Jiang Ran didn’t hold back. He grabbed the large jug of juice in front of the girl, along with an extra-large paper cup, and began to pour the orange juice.

“Hey, hey, hey!”

Cheng Mengxue said, a little guilt-ridden:

“That cup is huge! Are you sure this is a free sample? Who gives out free sample cups this big?!”

“This is nothing.”

Jiang Ran said as he slowly poured the orange juice:

“If you could wake her up, she’d happily tell you refills are welcome.”

“Uhh…”

Cheng Mengxue scratched her head. She really couldn’t accept this “five-finger discount.” She felt from the bottom of her heart that even if these things were free, they should at least get the staff’s permission, right?

She looked at the time-frozen waitress, her lips pressed into a thin line.

“I just really wish… that everyone would wake up.”

Instantly!

The familiar, sweet scent of cake wafted into their noses!

The streams of traffic flew through the sky, crisscrossing like schools of fish!

The unhurried conversations of pedestrians started up in an instant!

The cute waitress turned around and looked at Jiang Ran with a smile.

“Si— Hey, hey, hey!!!”

The color drained from her face in alarm.

“Si-! Sir! You can’t do that! For hygiene reasons, customers aren’t allowed to touch the juice jug. I can pour as much as you’d like, but please don’t help yourself!”

“Holy shit.”

The sudden turn of events caught Jiang Ran completely off guard, and he died of social embarrassment on the spot.

‘Time was frozen for so long. How did it suddenly start flowing again without any warning?’

“Sorry, sorry.”

Jiang Ran hurriedly apologized.

“I’m really sorry, uh… I was just so thirsty, and when I saw this delicious-looking juice, I couldn’t help myself.”

Hearing this belated compliment, the waitress was shocked at first, but then she giggled.

“Hee hee, this is our shop’s new juice. I mixed it myself! Wait a moment, I’ll go wash the jug and pour you some fresh juice… We have very strict hygiene standards here!”

With that, the girl took the juice jug and ran inside.

Meanwhile, Jiang Ran and Cheng Mengxue just stared at each other, wide-eyed.

“Jiang Ran…”

Cheng Mengxue’s face was filled with disbelief.

“I think— I, I don’t know what happened. Just now, I just thought it for a second, and they actually started moving!”

Jiang Ran found it novel as well.

He looked around.

That was right. The moment Cheng Mengxue spoke those words, time began to flow again, and everything returned to normal.

He lifted his wrist to look at his digital watch. Sure enough, the numbers had started ticking again.

Was this a coincidence?

No.

Jiang Ran narrowed his eyes and began to recall the details he hadn’t paid much attention to before…

First, the drones and cannon shells had frozen in an instant, and the time of the entire world had stopped, all after Cheng Mengxue shouted, “Stop!!!”

At the time, Jiang Ran hadn’t given it much thought, nor had he discussed it with Cheng Mengxue.

After all…

Out of consideration for Cheng Mengxue’s emotional state, he hadn’t told her that the construction of this Virtual World was intricately linked to her, or that she might even be the cornerstone of this entire world.

From that perspective, it would make sense that Cheng Mengxue might have the authority to pause the world.

But now, it seemed…

Her authority wasn’t limited to just that!

Jiang Ran recalled a few more details—

1. The floors of the underground memorial were physically real. But when Cheng Mengxue glanced at the amusement park sky and then looked up at the ceiling… the floor slab of the 41st story above them instantly vanished, revealing the blue sky outside! And that sky had connected seamlessly with the sky of the amusement park.

Was this because… ‘Subconsciously, Cheng Mengxue thought she was outdoors? So the skies should naturally be connected.’

2. While time was stopped, both mechanical and digital watches had stopped working, so Jiang Ran hadn’t actually been sure if the flying motorcycle would work or not.

But right then, Cheng Mengxue had said, “I think it’ll be fine,” and as a result, it really was fine. The flying motorcycle worked perfectly.

3. And then there was just now. All along the way, Cheng Mengxue had wanted time to start flowing normally on multiple occasions, but she hadn’t been able to make it happen. But when he was “stealing” a drink of juice, Cheng Mengxue felt guilty and “sincerely wished that everyone would wake up.”

The very next second, that wish came true, and time resumed its flow.

“Words Become Law…”

Jiang Ran said softly.

“Xiaoxue, do you get the feeling that in this Virtual World, you really do have the Words Become Law ability, just like the Jade Emperor in *Journey to the West*!”

“No matter what you think, your thoughts directly manipulate this world’s underlying code and make it reality.”

“Look, you wanted the missiles and lasers to stop, and they stopped. You thought the flying motorcycle would work fine, and it did. And just now, you sincerely wished for the waitstaff to come back to life, and they started moving.”

“You’re like the queen of this world… with supreme authority!”

Cheng Mengxue was dumbfounded.

“R-…really? I actually have this kind of Superpower!”

At first, she had just thought it was a dream, so it was normal for extraordinary things to happen. But now that Jiang Ran put it that way… ‘Could my thoughts really control the world?’

“You can try it.”

Jiang Ran couldn’t wait to witness a miracle.

“Shout ‘stop’ again and see if time will pause. Come on, quick!”

That Priest Wu Yuanzheng was always going on about miracles… but his little tricks were nothing compared to Cheng Mengxue! She was the one who made the rules for this entire world!