Genius Playground

”You know, the ideas you came up with in middle school are actually pretty interesting.”

Qin Feng flipped through the script.

”Genius Playground... what’s that supposed to mean?”

After the shoot, the film club members rushed back to edit, while Jiang Ran and Qin Feng headed to the cafeteria.

”I can’t remember anymore.”

Jiang Ran kicked a pebble out of his way.

”It was all just baseless fantasy from my teenage years. How could I possibly remember after all this time?”

”I only vaguely remembered a few fragments, so I used them to write the script for the film club.”

”That’s a real shame.”

Qin Feng closed the script binder.

”I was actually quite interested in this story.”

Jiang Ran let out a light chuckle.

”Well, once summer break starts, I’ll go look in my basement at home. If I’m lucky, I might find the old draft notebook where I wrote down all the ideas.”

Qin Feng was Jiang Ran’s best friend.

The two had met in high school and were as close as brothers.

”Jiang Ran! This is bad!”

Before them, a short-haired girl ran over anxiously, her forehead beaded with sweat and a panicked look on her face.

She grabbed Jiang Ran’s arm.

”I’m screwed, I’m screwed! I lost my phone! I just spent forever looking for it and couldn’t find it!”

Jiang Ran blinked.

This girl was his childhood friend, Cheng Mengxue. They had grown up together.

Add Qin Feng to the mix, and the three of them had been high school classmates and the tightest of friend groups. That friendship had lasted to this day.

Even though they were in different majors in university, they always hung out together after class.

”Where did you lose it?” Jiang Ran asked.

”I don’t know!”

Cheng Mengxue was frantic.

”While you guys were filming your movie, I went to wander around the graduate market by myself. By the time I realized... my phone was gone.”

”Actually, losing the phone is one thing, but I’m more worried about the Rhine Cat Pendant! It’s the limited edition astronaut Rhine Cat! It’s a collab with *The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy*, they only released 4,200 of them. It’s really valuable!”

The Rhine Cat was the most popular doll at the moment, a global bestseller.

Originally, the character was created as a mascot for a cosmetics brand. But who would have thought it would become so cute and popular that it was now an independent IP on the level of Doraemon or Hello Kitty.

And Cheng Mengxue was a die-hard Rhine Cat fanatic.

”People don’t usually steal phones on campus. I’ll try calling it for you.”

Jiang Ran took out his phone and dialed Cheng Mengxue’s number. A recorded message played:

The number you have dialed has been powered off, sorry...

”It must be out of battery.”

Jiang Ran thought for a moment.

”Okay, how about this: I’ll send a text to your phone.”

”You don’t have privacy mode set up, so when the person who finds your phone charges it, they’ll be able to see the message content on the lock screen and contact me, even without the passcode.”

”That’s a good idea,” Qin Feng nodded.

Jiang Ran began to type out a text—

[Hello, if you have found this phone, please contact XXXXXXX. Thank you very much!]

”Oh...”

Cheng Mengxue sighed.

”I hope they return the Rhine Cat to me...”

Jiang Ran smiled.

”Who’s going to recognize a limited edition? If you hadn’t said anything, I wouldn’t have known that pendant was so expensive. Otherwise, I would’ve told you to sell it on a second-hand app ages ago.”

”You dare!”

”Just kidding.”

Jiang Ran double-checked that he hadn’t typed the contact number wrong.

”Don’t worry, it’ll be found soon.”

With that, he pressed send—

BUZZ!

BUZZ!

BUZZ!

The instant the message was sent, the world started spinning and his vision blurred!

A powerful ringing in his ears made Jiang Ran lose his balance, and he nearly fell.

He closed his eyes, clenched his jaw, and pressed his temples...

Two seconds later, the discomfort vanished.

”What’s wrong?”

Qin Feng looked at him.

”You don’t feel well?”

”I don’t know. I just suddenly felt a little dizzy.”

Jiang Ran let out a long breath, opened his eyes, and stood up straight.

Huh?

He looked left, then right.

”Where’s Xiaoxue?”

”What Xiaoxue?” Qin Feng asked, confused.

”Cheng Mengxue, what other Xiaoxue is there?”

Jiang Ran spun around, but he still couldn’t see Cheng Mengxue anywhere.

Strange.

’She was standing right here a moment ago. How did she disappear in the blink of an eye?’

”Hey.”

Qin Feng clapped him on the shoulder.

”What are you looking for? Xiaoxue hasn’t been with us all afternoon. While we were filming, she went off to do her own thing.”

”That’s not...”

Jiang Ran was completely bewildered. He gesticulated with his hands.

”Xiaoxue was standing right here just now! She was here just a few seconds ago!”

”Heh, how is that possible?”

Qin Feng gave a speechless laugh.

”Are you crazy? Are you messing with me?”

In that instant, a chill ran down Jiang Ran’s spine.

’What on earth is going on?’

’Why did Cheng Mengxue disappear after I got dizzy?’

’And why is Qin Feng acting like he hasn’t seen Xiaoxue at all, when the three of us were just talking seconds ago!’

”Who’s messing with who?! I just sent her a text—”

Opening his phone’s messaging app, Jiang Ran was struck speechless.

Nothing.

It was nowhere to be found.

He was certain that the text had sent successfully, the instant before he felt dizzy.

But now, there was no trace of the message anywhere, not in the sent folder or the trash!

’Where did it go?’

’Why did that text message disappear along with Xiaoxue?’

He quickly dialed Cheng Mengxue’s number.

”Hello? Jiang Ran, are you guys done with filming?”

It was noisy on Cheng Mengxue’s end.

”Where are you?” Jiang Ran asked directly.

”I’m at the graduate market... What’s wrong with you? You sound weird. Did something happen?”

Jiang Ran’s brow furrowed. He didn’t know how to explain.

This feeling...

It was like he was sleepwalking in broad daylight.

Cheng Mengxue hadn’t lost her phone.

She hadn’t run over to him in a panic.

He hadn’t sent a text.

’Could it be that everything that just happened was just an illusion?’

”Jiang Ran?” Her voice came through the phone, questioning.

Qin Feng also leaned in, concerned, and looked at him.

”What’s wrong? If something’s the matter, just say it. Don’t go mute on me.”

Jiang Ran calmed himself down.

”I don’t know how to explain it, but in my memory, just now, Xiaoxue lost her phone. Then she came to find us, and I even sent a text to her phone that said—”

”Pfft! Hahaha, so that’s what this is about.”

While Jiang Ran was a nervous wreck, the other two were all smiles, not taking it seriously at all.

”So you finally admit it,” Qin Feng snorted.

”Admit what?” Jiang Ran looked at him.

”That three days ago, you sent Xiaoxue a weird text message.”

Qin Feng let out a dry laugh.

”You said that whoever found the phone should contact your number. It was so random.”

”Xiaoxue took a screenshot and asked you about it back then, but you played dumb and said you didn’t send it. I saw it too; the sender was you, but you insisted it wasn’t and refused to admit it no matter what.”

”You refused to admit it, so what could we do? We just dropped it.”

...

Jiang Ran’s arms fell to his sides.

He drew himself up straight.

The setting sun stretched his shadow long, like the hand of a clock turning backward.

’Three days ago?’

’He had clearly sent that text just now, just a minute ago. How could it have been sent to three days in the past?’

He opened WeChat, tapped on his chat history with Cheng Mengxue, and scrolled up.

Sure enough, three days ago, on March 14th, Cheng Mengxue had sent him a screenshot of a text message, asking him what was going on.

He zoomed in for a closer look.

The sender was, indeed, him.

The content of the text was identical, word for word. The evidence was irrefutable.

”See?”

Qin Feng pointed to today’s date in the top-left corner of the phone, March 17th.

”You clearly sent that text to Xiaoxue three days ago. It’s not a big deal, so do you really have to be so stubborn about it?”

”No, I’m not being stubborn.”

Jiang Ran shook his head.

”The me from three days ago wasn’t lying.”

The red sun sank completely below the horizon, and on the opposite side of the sky, a crescent moon rose.

He was starting to understand.

The him of three days ago, on March 14th, really hadn’t sent Xiaoxue a text.

Because...

The one who sent that text was the him of March 17th—the him of right now.

But what was completely incomprehensible was...

Why was a text sent today received three days ago? And why did neither Qin Feng nor Cheng Mengxue have any memory of what just happened?

”Could this be... a text message that traveled through time?” he muttered to himself.

Although he didn’t know the principle behind it or how it was possible.

But looking at the result,

That text message from a moment ago had well and truly traveled through time, back to the past—

And was sent to three days ago!