Genius Playground

SPLASH!!!!!

Jiang Ran hit the water flat on his back, sending a huge wave surging up.

”Pfft!”

Cheng Mengxue wiped her face.

”If my dive was a bomb, yours was a full-on nuke! Do you even know how to dive?!”

”Does he look like he knows how?”

Qin Feng said, standing on the diving board.

”But I didn’t think you’d actually have the guts to jump.”

Jiang Ran surfaced, rubbing his back.

”Your turn!”

”I’m not jumping.”

?

”Playing dirty, huh?” Jiang Ran flipped him the bird.

”Shouldn’t have gone first.”

Qin Feng chuckled and walked off the diving board.

...

「Night fell.」

The top-tier suite had a private observation deck where they could dine.

After the staff served their meal, they departed.

The three of them sat around a small, round table, marveling at how the rich really knew how to live.

From their position, looking up revealed a boundless, brilliant starry sky, while looking down showed the crowds on the cruise ship deck dancing to the DJ’s music.

To the west lay the brightly lit expanse of East Sea City.

The coastline was a swathe of neon, with the Oriental Pearl standing head and shoulders above the other colorful lights, like an eternal beacon.

To the east was the pitch-black sea.

A blackness deeper than black, where truly nothing could be seen.

DING. DING. DING.

As their wine glasses clinked, message notifications chimed from all three of their phones at once.

It was their high school class group chat.

Right after they started university, the group had been lively every day, with classmates complaining about their new schools, military training, and dorms.

But gradually, it had fallen completely silent.

The three of them opened their phones and saw the message was from Wang Hao.

Wang Hao had been their high school class president, and they were all on good terms with him. Though not as close as the three of them were, their friendship was stronger than that of casual acquaintances.

The message was quite long:

”Wang Hao: Hey everyone! It’s been almost two years since we graduated high school, so it’s about time we had a get-together!

Let’s plan the reunion for this summer break. We’ll nail down the exact date later, but since it’s still a few months away, I wanted to give you all a heads-up.

Anyone who can make it, please come!”

...

”A high school reunion...”

Jiang Ran put down his phone.

”It really has been a long time since I’ve seen them. We all got along so well back then, saying we’d stay in touch after starting university. But in the end, we all scattered, and the messages just stopped.”

”That’s to be expected.”

Qin Feng set down his fork.

”Distance may create beauty, but it will never create affection.”

”Otherwise, why do you think I applied to the same university as you two? The admissions officers from Qinghua and Peking Universities were practically camping out at my house, but I still insisted on coming to East Sea University with you guys.”

”Of course, I have faith in our friendship, but distance is distance. An inch further is an inch further, and you can’t close that gap.”

”Honestly, there’s nothing in this world more important than true friends... especially friends from when you were young.”

Hehe.

Cheng Mengxue scratched her head, a little embarrassed.

”Sorry about that. We were the ones who held you back. With our grades, East Sea University was the best choice for us. Plus, Xu Yan is here, so we applied here.”

”Speaking of which... didn’t Wang Hao go to a vocational college? Doesn’t that mean he’ll be starting his internship next semester?”

This seemed to be a rather heavy topic.

Vocational college is a three-year program. Their good old friend Wang Hao was indeed about to join the rat race.

”No matter how dumb you are, you can’t get a 500 on the exam?”

Qin Feng was genuinely baffled.

”You just need to get a passing grade in each subject.”

”Oh, shut up,” Jiang Ran and Cheng Mengxue said in unison.

Especially Cheng Mengxue, who had failed two classes last semester.

”You don’t need to worry about Wang Hao. That mouth of his is more powerful than a Positron Cannon; he’ll have no trouble finding a job.”

Jiang Ran said as he peeled a lobster.

”These days, a lot of undergrads can’t find jobs. Besides not being able to take the postgraduate or civil service exams, there’s not much of a difference for vocational grads in the real world. In the end, it all comes down to personal ability.”

”Wang Hao was the class president in high school; everyone saw how capable he was. He’s getting a one-year head start in the working world. For all we know, he could end up doing better than any of us.”

Qin Feng wiped his mouth.

”That might have been possible, but... not anymore.”

He smiled faintly.

”Now that we have the Time SMS, we can change history and correct mistakes whenever we want.”

”Unless we deliberately keep a low profile, it’ll be hard for any of our classmates to do better than us.”

”Ah, you guys are rubbing off on me. What’s all this about ’doing better’? We’re all classmates; there’s no need to rank everyone.”

”Once we’ve made it and have some social standing, we can totally help our classmates out.”

”But the secret of the Time SMS must be kept between the three of us,” Jiang Ran stressed again.

He had lost count of how many times he had emphasized this.

”We might just want to use the Time SMS to make a little money or take a shortcut in life, but you can’t say the same for others.”

”If the Time SMS falls into the wrong hands... it could lead to societal retaliation, hegemonic wars, or even the destruction of the world.”

”So, we have to protect this secret. Protecting this secret means protecting the entire world.”

”Of course.” ”We’re not stupid.”

Cheng Mengxue tilted her head, a fork resting at the corner of her mouth.

”Since we’re on the topic, what are we ultimately going to use the Time SMS for?”

”Or rather... what do we want to accomplish with the Time SMS? What’s our ultimate goal?”

”To achieve our dreams, I guess.”

Jiang Ran replied.

”So, what are your dreams? What kind of lives do you want to lead in the future?”

”I want to be a Rhine Cat designer!”

Cheng Mengxue’s eyes sparkled.

”After I graduate, I’m definitely going to apply to the Rhine Company. I want so badly to design a Rhine Cat that I love!”

Jiang Ran smiled.

”That’s a pretty normal dream. What about you, Qin Feng?”

”I want to... do research in one of the world’s top laboratories.”

Qin Feng was also very serious.

”There are so many problems in this world that one person can’t solve alone. I want to work with the most brilliant geniuses on Earth to explore the deepest secrets of physics, the microcosm, and even the universe.”

”Wow, that’s so profound.”

Cheng Mengxue said with emotion, then turned her head.

”Jiang Ran, what about you? What’s your dream?”

”Me...?”

Jiang Ran fiddled with his napkin, unable to think of an answer right away.

”I guess I don’t have a goal as specific as you two. My idea is... well, you only live once, so you should do something meaningful, right?”

”On a small scale, that means living my own life well and protecting the family and friends around me. On a larger scale, it means contributing to society, the country, or even humanity, to make the world a slightly better place.”

Hmm~

Cheng Mengxue pondered this.

”So... a savior?”

”It’s not that dramatic!”

”Then... a genius who advances science, like Einstein?”

”Do I look like one?”

”Then...”

Cheng Mengxue smiled faintly, her pupils reflecting the shoreline’s neon lights until they blurred into a single streak of color.

”Then just keep being a hero, like you are now.”

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!!

It was time for the fireworks.

A massive volley of fireworks shot up from the cruise ship’s deck, exploding into a rainbow of flames. It was as if the universe had opened countless eyes... silently watching the conversation on the highest point of the ship.

”...”

Jiang Ran swirled the red wine in his glass.

”Am I... really a hero?”

”Of course you are. You saved Xu Yan, and you saved those two children who fell in the water.”

”That was cheating.”

He looked at Cheng Mengxue.

”I knew the answer ahead of time, the solution. Without that buoyancy life jacket, I wouldn’t have jumped at all.”

”You would have.”

Warmed by the wine, Cheng Mengxue was feeling a little bold today.

”We grew up together. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen you be so brave. Even without that life jacket, you would have jumped.”

The waves swayed the ship, and the wine in their glasses trembled.

The fireworks slowly descended, like tears streaming from the sky.

”Besides... so what if it was cheating? Whatever the reason, you still jumped in the end...”

Cheng Mengxue’s cheeks were flushed and her eyes were hazy, reflecting the last afterglow in the night sky.

”If cheating can make the world a better place... if it can make you a hero who saves lives...”

The world returned to darkness.

”Then why not just... cheat for the rest of your life?”