Genius Playground

Jiang Ran understood.

”That wouldn’t be hard, it’s just...”

He scratched his head.

’Isn’t this wish a little too small?’

’He felt like he wasn’t doing right by Qin Feng with such a minor request.’

’After all, his previous wish was to bring his father back to life. Now, he’d settled for something that had shrunk down to just buying a control board...’

’It all came down to guilt.’

Jiang Ran really wanted Qin Feng to make a big, meaningful wish.

”Qin Feng, this is club business~”

Cheng Mengxue was quick on the uptake.

”Modifying the Positron Cannon should be considered club business.”

”Since it’s for the club, it shouldn’t use up your personal wish... right?”

She glanced at Jiang Ran.

”Right, right, right.”

Jiang Ran caught her meaning and smiled.

”Qin Feng, Xiaoxue is right. We’ll count this one as a club wish, not your personal one. We’ll take care of it separately later.”

”Think about it some more. Do you have a wish that’s just for you? This is a rare opportunity... You should get something good for yourself.”

However...

Qin Feng shrugged.

”I really can’t think of anything off the top of my head. I’ve never had much desire for material things.”

But he didn’t want to spoil the mood.

”How about this.”

He looked between Jiang Ran and Cheng Mengxue.

”Why don’t you... give me two days to think it over?”

”I mean, you’ve put me on the spot, so I honestly can’t think of anything right now. It’d be better if you gave me more time to consider it.”

”In two days, if I can think of a better wish, I’ll use that one. If I really can’t, how about we stick with the wish for the control board?”

Jiang Ran hmm’d.

”Okay.”

Qin Feng had a point.

’We can send the Time SMS later. I’ll let him think it over.’

...

「That evening.」

Cheng Mengxue had to go rehearse at the venue for a performance by the School of Arts.

Only Jiang Ran and Qin Feng were left in the clubroom.

Qin Feng was still fiddling with the Positron Cannon, while Jiang Ran sat on the sofa, reading.

A good while later, Jiang Ran finished his book.

Jiang Ran placed the book on the coffee table and looked over at Qin Feng.

”What are you still working on?”

He asked, somewhat puzzled,

”The Positron Cannon is already perfect. What are you so busy with?”

”Perfect?”

Qin Feng chuckled.

”Far from it.”

He straightened up and stretched.

”Have you forgotten? The Positron Cannon can only run for 0.7 seconds right now. In that short amount of time, we can barely send a single text message—that’s seventy characters.”

”And after every use, the capacitor blows and burns out. It’s a huge pain to replace.”

”I’m trying to find a way to solve this. Either I can get it to run for a few more seconds to increase the margin for error, or I can just add a self-protection feature to force a power-off before the capacitor blows, which would save us some trouble.”

”Fair enough.”

Jiang Ran leaned back on the sofa.

’It was always right to prepare for a rainy day.’

’As things stood, the seventy-character limit was more than enough; it could basically solve any problem.’

’But what if...’

’...in the future, they really needed to send a longer message...’

’Then they would have to make the Positron Cannon last longer, allowing them to send two, or even multiple, messages in succession.’

’In short, when it came to something like suppressive fire, it was better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.’

”But it’s just too difficult.”

Qin Feng put down his tools.

”I don’t dare take apart the picture tube in the core section. Just fiddling with the external circuits... isn’t going to get me anywhere.”

”Honestly, I’m about ready to give up. It’s a legacy issue with the internal design, and you can’t fix it with external tweaks.”

Jiang Ran nodded.

”If it’s not working, just forget it. The Chinese language is profound and expressive; seventy characters is plenty.”

”And don’t you get any bright ideas about taking apart the [Core Component], you hear? That thing might look like a picture tube, but God only knows what its actual structure is... If you take it apart, you’ll never be able to fix it, and we’d be losing the greater for the lesser.”

”I’m not stupid.”

Qin Feng snorted.

”There’s only one of these in the entire world, an accidental creation cobbled together from spare parts. Of course I have to take good care of it.”

”Otherwise... I definitely wouldn’t have been able to resist taking it apart by now.”

The clock went TICK TOCK, TICK TOCK, its hands approaching ten.

The lights in the student club building began to go out, so the two of them got ready to leave.

After they packed up,

Qin Feng suddenly turned back and looked at Jiang Ran.

”Wanna go grab some beer?”

”Now?” Jiang Ran was a little surprised.

”Yeah. Xiaoxue isn’t here anyway, and the weather’s getting warm. It’s been a while, how about we hit the night market for some barbecue?”

It had to be said.

The idea was incredibly tempting.

What man could refuse a barbecue and a couple of beers on a cool evening?

”You’re on.”

With a grand wave of his hand, Jiang Ran and Qin Feng left the club building and headed for the campus gate.

”Should we invite [Wang Hao]?”

Jiang Ran suggested.

”The barbecue spot is really close to his campus, and it’s been a while since we all ate together.”

”Sure.”

Qin Feng agreed without hesitation.

”Yeah, give him a call. We can all catch up.”

...

Wang Hao had been their class president in high school. Not long ago, he’d even posted a notice in their WeChat group about an upcoming class reunion.

During their two years studying in East Sea, Jiang Ran, Qin Feng, and Wang Hao often met up for barbecue. They were good friends.

Come to think of it,

Jiang Ran had actually known Wang Hao even longer than he’d known Qin Feng.

They had gone to the same junior high. Jiang Ran was in Class 1, and Wang Hao was in Class 3—where, coincidentally, so was Cheng Mengxue.

Wang Hao had been a social butterfly since he was a kid, buddy-buddy with everyone and extremely popular. He knew half the boys in Jiang Ran’s class and would always run over to hang out during breaks.

So, through this connection, Jiang Ran and Wang Hao eventually became friends too.

”Don’t worry. When it comes to eating and drinking, Wang Hao is in a class of his own. If you invite him out to eat, he’ll be more eager than anyone.”

Jiang Ran smiled, picked up his phone, and called Wang Hao.

”No problem! Hell yeah! Be right there!”

Wang Hao agreed in a heartbeat.

”I’m broke right now, so I’ll take the bus. I’ll be a little later than you.”

”You two start drinking when you get there, but save some beer for me! I’ll catch up when I get there!”

Just as they’d expected.

Wang Hao was a total glutton for food and drink.

Always shows up when you call, always drinks too much when he does.

After hanging up, Qin Feng flagged down a taxi, and they set off.

...

The trip took twenty minutes.

The taxi dropped them off at a street lined with night markets. Jiang Ran and Qin Feng went to their usual spot and ordered drinks and food.

After a few drinks and some lively conversation, the heartfelt words started to come out.

”I hope you don’t hate me.”

Jiang Ran put down his glass.

”I know you’ve always been generous, and I know I sound like a broken record bringing this up all the time, being all fussy about it.”

”But Qin Feng... I still have to say it. I hope you don’t hate me for this. I know what I did wasn’t right, but—”

”What nonsense are you talking about?”

Qin Feng cut him off with a light chuckle.

”How could I possibly hate you? You’re my best friend for life. I could never hate you.”

He picked up his beer, drained it in one go, and slammed the glass down on the table with a THUD.

”Jiang Ran.”

His voice was low.

”Do you remember... how we started hanging out?”