Genius Playground

Silence fell over the activity room.

TICK TOCK. The crisp sound of the clock’s hands was like beads of sweat dripping from an executioner’s brow, spattering onto the execution block.

Cheng Mengxue lowered her head.

Of course she knew why the cheerful atmosphere had evaporated in an instant.

Because...

That was *ten years ago*.

All the Time SMS messages they had sent so far had only ever changed things that happened a few days ago, or within the past few days.

They hadn’t dared to try sending a message even a few months back, let alone ten years.

The reason was simple.

*The Butterfly Effect is uncontrollable, and the longer the time span, the more uncontrollable it becomes.*

This was a fact that had been clear from the very beginning.

Ten years ago.

What kind of catastrophic Butterfly Effect would be triggered by saving someone who died at such a distant point in time?

Nobody knew.

No one could predict it.

And no one dared to imagine it.

The fates of countless people would inevitably change. Many lives would be knocked off course. Even worse, completely unforeseen things could happen.

Of course, this could all just be baseless worrying.

Maybe Qin Feng’s father coming back to life would have a miniscule impact on the world.

But...

Who would dare to take that gamble?

She snuck a glance at Jiang Ran out of the corner of her eye.

He was just like her.

Head down, lost in silence.

...

Jiang Ran’s eyes were shut tight, his mind in turmoil.

’All this time.’

’Ever since I received that mysterious message, those mysterious numbers.’

’Why have I been so anxious?’

’Why have I been so indecisive?’

’Because.’

’I had a feeling this would happen. I knew Qin Feng would bring this up.’

’Every time the thought surfaced, I would quickly push it away, refusing to dwell on it.’

’It was impossible to think about.’

’Of course, I knew Qin Feng’s father had died in an accident ten years ago.’

’Qin Feng had told us back when we first met in high school.’

’And I and Cheng Mengxue also knew that because he lost his father, Qin Feng had a very difficult childhood.’

’His mother worked multiple jobs and struggled to raise him, and on top of that, he was constantly bullied at school by the other kids for not having a father.’

’From elementary school through high school, those bullies always called him ”the fatherless kid.” I and Cheng Mengxue saw it with our own eyes.’

’After the three of us became good friends, Qin Feng was never bullied again. Cheng Mengxue and I were his staunchest defenders; we wouldn’t let it happen.’

’But what about all those years before?’

’To avoid causing trouble for his exhausted mother, Qin Feng had gritted his teeth, swallowed his pride, and silently endured the abuse.’

’And all of it...’

’...was because he lost his father at a young age. He lost his family’s pillar, his greatest protector, the broadest shoulders, the strongest back to look up to.’

’So.’

’Coming back to the wish itself...’

’Qin Feng is my best friend in the world, and his wish is to save his own father...’

’Once Qin Feng voiced that wish, what reason could I possibly have to refuse?’

But all of Jiang Ran’s intuition and reason screamed a warning—

’No.’

’Absolutely not.’

He didn’t dare take the risk of changing whether an adult lived or died ten years ago, of rewriting a decade of history.

Jiang Ran slowly raised his head.

He looked at the newly modified Positron Cannon.

The dials on its control panel could easily set the destination for a Time SMS: year, month, day, hour... with perfect precision.

’Year.’

’Was it really necessary to have a setting for such a long unit of time?’

In an instant.

Fragments of doubt began to connect, and countless things Qin Feng had said flashed through his mind—

”Since the Positron Cannon is fixed, why don’t we run another verification test to see if that mysterious message was a fluke or something inevitable?”

.

”I don’t buy it. If it was a warning from our future selves, why be so cryptic? Why not just say it clearly? Sending a string of numbers just makes things difficult for us, doesn’t it?”

.

”I agree. Let’s use the Time Machine we built to send a message to ourselves three days ago... and save Xu Yan.”

.

”I have a feeling the Time SMS isn’t limited to just three days ago. There must be a variable that controls the ’depth’ of the temporal black hole, allowing us to send messages to an earlier point in time.”

.

”That’s why I’ve been saying that mysterious message was probably just a glitch. A meaningless string of garbled numbers like that seems way too much like some kind of equipment malfunction. It’s even possible the fault was with the telecom provider and had nothing to do with us.”

.

”Hey, now. Aren’t you just scaring yourself? It’s good to be cautious, but there’s no need to be paranoid. If we’re afraid of the consequences after every single step, we’ll never make any progress.”

.

”I don’t think those last two Pinyin letters are the complete message. There has to be more information after them.”

.

”Increasing the Electron Beam density means increasing the power. We can wait until ten or eleven at night, or even after midnight. The club building will be empty by then, and the circuit load will be low. It won’t be a problem even if we draw a bit more power.”

.

”Operating the Positron Cannon will be simple from now on. Just aim it at the electrical box outside, use the dial to set the destination for the Time SMS—say, nine days ago, one month ago, one year ago, and so on... then hit the start button. It’s incredibly simple.”

...

...

...

Jiang Ran braced his hands on his knees and slowly stood up.

At this point, the puzzle was complete.

Whenever Jiang Ran had been worried or concerned, Qin Feng had always pushed him to continue the Time SMS experiments.

Whenever he’d been afraid of that mysterious message, Qin Feng had always dismissed it as a glitch or an accident.

When he had thought the Time SMS could only go back three days, Qin Feng had worked tirelessly to modify the Positron Cannon, striving to send messages further into the past.

And especially when he and Cheng Mengxue were arguing over whether to save Xu Yan, the ever-cautious and rational Qin Feng had unexpectedly sided with Cheng Mengxue, agreeing to save her.

So, he’d had a clear goal from the very beginning.

He had been laying the groundwork from the start.

”Qin Feng.”

Jiang Ran stood up straight, facing the backlit figure of Qin Feng by the window.

”Tell me the truth.”

He narrowed his eyes, looking at his best friend.

”Did you plan from the very beginning to use the Time SMS to save your father?”

...

...

...

A silent tug-of-war.

Cheng Mengxue stood up as well, clutching the rice-cooker Rhine Cat, her eyes darting between the two of them.

Branches swayed outside. Sunlight broke into shimmering flecks on the floor, a dazzling, untouchable radiance.

”Heh.”

Qin Feng looked down, laughed drily, and gave a helpless shrug.

”So you saw right through me after all.”

He took a deep breath.

He looked up.

And looked Jiang Ran straight in the eye.

”I admit it. Ever since we confirmed the Time SMS worked, I’ve had this plan.”

”But your constant worrying and hesitation made it impossible for me to bring it up.”

”I was indeed researching how to modify the Positron Cannon so it could send messages further into the past... Just as you said, I want to save my father.”

”But I never intended to hide it from you, Jiang Ran, Xiaoxue.”

His eyes were resolute.

”If either of you disagrees, I’ll drop the whole idea.”

RING-RING-RING-RING-RING—

Jiang Ran’s phone rang.

He picked it up. The call was from his father.

He answered.

”Hello?”

”Son! Get back here, quick!!”

His father’s panicked voice yelled over the phone:

”Something’s happened to your mother! She needs brain surgery!!”