Genius Playground

BANG BANG BANG!

Gunshots.

”Haven’t you found it yet?!”

Jiang Ran frantically searched the bookshelves, his face pale.

”Not yet! This library is too big!”

In the distance, the sound of toppling bookshelves mixed with the ever-approaching gunshots.

”Found it!”

Jiang Ran yelled, pulling a diary from a pile of old books. Its cover was mottled and its pages were yellowed with age.

Just as he was about to open it—

THUD!

His companion’s body fell backward, and a flower of blood bloomed on his chest.

”Qin Feng!”

Jiang Ran lunged forward, only to be driven back by a hail of bullets.

”Go... hurry...”

Qin Feng’s face was contorted in pain as he clutched at the blood gushing from his chest.

”[As long as you go back to the past and change all this... everything can start over... Now go!]”

Jiang Ran gritted his teeth.

He couldn’t afford to hesitate. He turned and bolted for the stairs behind him, running all the way to the roof.

Panting heavily, he ran to the edge of the rooftop.

He placed the diary on the ledge and began flipping through it rapidly.

’Not this entry... not this one... This is it!’

Jiang Ran’s gaze was sharp as he quickly read the handwritten script:

”March 27, 2009. Weather: Sunny. I thought today’s experiment would be another failure, but in the mid-afternoon, a strange young man arrived—”

CLICK.

Something cold pressed against him.

The hot muzzle of a gun was pressed to the back of his head.

”Don’t move.”

Jiang Ran’s heart skipped a beat.

It wasn’t the gun that scared him, but the incredibly familiar voice.

His eyes filled with shock and disbelief.

”Qin... Feng?”

Behind him, Qin Feng grunted, pulling a prop blood pack from inside his shirt.

”It’s fake.”

He squeezed it hard, and fake blood splattered onto both of them.

Jiang Ran didn’t turn around. He slowly stood up.

Only then did he realize that the chaotic gunfire had stopped at some point. The distant chirping of cicadas was deafening. The setting sun stretched their shadows out in parallel lines, never to intersect again.

”So, this was a trap you set.”

”Yes.”

”We’ve known each other since high school...”

”Yes.”

Qin Feng’s voice was calm.

”But you never considered me a friend, either. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have only just caught on to your secret today.”

He looked down at the open diary.

”I considered many possibilities, but I never imagined you could actually perform Time Travel through a diary.”

”Judging by how panicked you were just now... what would happen if I let you finish reading this entry?”

”Would you disappear with a ’whoosh’ and travel back to 2009? Or... would only your consciousness travel back, leaving your body here?”

”You could try it and see,” Jiang Ran said faintly.

”I’d rather not.”

Keeping the gun steady, Qin Feng took out his phone with his left hand and held it to his ear.

”[Lilith.]”

He paused for a moment.

”I’ve caught him. This game... I win.”

With that, he hung up.

”Is Lilith your boss?” Jiang Ran asked, gazing at the sunset.

”Lilith is the god of this world,” Qin Feng replied.

Jiang Ran laughed.

”A national exam top scorer saying something like that? Hasn’t your physics teacher died of anger yet?”

”Lilith is omnipotent.”

”Omnipotence doesn’t make one a god.”

...

After a brief silence, a sparrow took flight from a telephone wire.

”Fine.”

Qin Feng picked up his phone again.

”Consider this a firework to celebrate the end of the game. I’ll let you see for yourself.”

”Lilith.”

He said softly,

”[Let the sky... grow dark.]”

In an instant, the red sun vanished, and dark clouds began to churn.

Rumbling thunder echoed in the distance. The entire world darkened, as if a black veil had been draped over a camera lens.

The transition from a sun-drenched evening to a downpour took only a few seconds.

Qin Feng lowered his phone.

”How was that?”

”Breathtaking.”

Jiang Ran tilted his head back, letting the raindrops fall on his face.

”So... this is your secret. But I have to say, you set off your fireworks a little too early.”

Qin Feng jabbed the gun forward, forcing Jiang Ran to step onto the ledge.

One more half-step forward, and he would fall to his death.

”You’ve already shown your hand, so stop bluffing. Are you going to do this with some dignity, or do I have to send you on your way?”

Heh heh heh heh.

Jiang Ran laughed, spreading his arms wide.

”You’re wrong. The one who’s shown their hand... is you.”

”Oh?”

Qin Feng was unconvinced.

”Turn the tables, then. Show me.”

”I just told you, omnipotence doesn’t make one a god. Only someone who can control and manipulate history can be called a god.”

Jiang Ran shifted his feet, turning around to face the gun muzzle with his forehead.

”Keeping a diary is such a good habit, Qin Feng. Not many people can stick with writing in one every day like you do.”

Qin Feng’s pupils contracted.

”What do you mean?”

Jiang Ran watched his eyes with great interest.

”[Is it possible... that we’re inside your diary right now?]”

BOOM!!!!!!

Lightning struck. The fleeting flash of light made Qin Feng’s face look deathly pale.

”No matter how I die, I’ll just get out of the diary. When that happens, take a guess who this gun will be pointing at.”

Qin Feng’s knuckles tightened on the trigger, the veins on his hand trembling!

Jiang Ran closed his eyes, his arms still spread wide, and leaned his whole body backward.

”You can never defeat me within history. Because in this game played across the river of time...”

He leaped, and the sky and the earth switched places.

”[I am history!]”

...

...

...

...

...

...

THUMP.

The sound of an impact on an air cushion.

”CUT!!!!!!!!”

The director leaped up excitedly from behind the camera and ripped the black veil from the lens. The world was bright once more.

”That was brilliant! Perfect! Such a difficult long take, and you nailed it in one go! You two are natural-born movie stars!”

Thunderous applause erupted from all around.

The guy making rain with a watering can, the underclassman creating lightning with a camera flash, and the underclassman who had veiled the camera all dropped their props and clapped until their hands were red.

”That scene with you two seniors was incredible!”

”We’re definitely going to win an award at the student film festival this time!”

”To stay so composed and in control under the pressure of a single take...”

”And Senior Qin Feng is a national exam top scorer in real life, so he was a natural for the role! A genius is a genius, no matter where they are!”

Amid the cheers and celebrations, Qin Feng grabbed the ledge and vaulted down.

There was another rooftop one floor below, where an air cushion placed in advance had safely caught Jiang Ran.

Qin Feng extended a hand to pull Jiang Ran up, then gave him a friendly punch on the shoulder.

”Nice acting.”

Jiang Ran laughed and punched him back lightly.

”You weren’t bad yourself.”

The underclassmen gathered around, chattering away, their eyes filled with adoration for the two of them.

”Jiang Ran, there’s one more thing I need to ask you.”

The director, who was also the president of the film club, walked over.

She handed a script binder to Jiang Ran.

”Our short film doesn’t have a title yet. Since you wrote the script, you should be the one to name it.”

Jiang Ran took the script.

”It’s actually kind of embarrassing. This story is just some random concept I came up with in middle school when I was bored in class.”

”A phone that can grant any wish, a diary that lets you travel through time... It’s all just cringey fantasies from when I was a kid. I was blushing just saying the lines earlier.”

”Looked like you were having the time of your life,” Qin Feng retorted.

The director handed Jiang Ran a pen.

”In any case, it’s your work. You should be the one to name it.”

”Alright.”

Jiang Ran didn’t refuse. He took the pen, thought for a moment, and started to write.

”The concept I wrote back then was about eleven geniuses participating in a game that would decide the fate of the world.”

”It’s been so long that I can’t remember a lot of the details, but I do remember the title.”

”If you don’t mind it being a little over-the-top... how about we just use the original name?”

He smiled slightly, turned the script around, and showed everyone the name he had just written on the cover—

”Genius Playground!”

[Genius Playground]