Genius Playground

”Don’t touch me!”

Jiang Ran quickly dodged, putting distance between himself and the girl.

He sized up the colorful girl.

She was about 165 cm tall—not too tall, not too short. Her face was pretty, her figure was good, and her eyes sparkled with a mischievous energy... But what truly drew the eye was her exaggerated, waterfall-like pink hair.

The color was clearly dyed, glossy and smooth, styled in big waves. For Jiang Ran’s tastes, the hairstyle was far too trendy, something he found a bit hard to accept.

He could understand it if it were for cosplay, but who would cosplay in their pajamas in the middle of the night?

But in his current situation, Jiang Ran had no time to dwell on such trivial questions.

A thought suddenly struck him.

’Could... could this girl be the ”Xiuxiu” that Wang Hao mentioned?’

’And based on what she just said, she’s my girlfriend?’

’That’s ridiculous!’

Jiang Ran had never been in a relationship in his life. He had always been drawn to the quiet, well-behaved, scholarly type of girl... This pink-haired girl was not his type at all.

The girl watched Jiang Ran leap away like a startled rabbit.

She tilted her head.

She blinked her big eyes.

Utterly confused.

She tiptoed closer again.

”What’s wrong? Did you drink too much? Or do you have a fever?”

As she spoke, she reached out to place her palm on Jiang Ran’s forehead.

Jiang Ran dodged again with agility.

Though he didn’t understand what was happening, he knew he couldn’t stay here any longer.

He scanned the room, found his shoes and clothes, threw them on, and headed for the door.

”Hey! Jiang Ran!”

The pink-haired girl hurried after him.

”What are you doing! Where are you going!”

Jiang Ran ignored her and bolted out the door.

As he expected, this wasn’t a hotel, just a bedroom on the second floor of a villa.

Outside the bedroom door was a huge living room. Empty bottles and cans were strewn across the bar, and various snack bags littered the floor.

He took in the layout and headed for the stairs leading down.

CREAK.

A nearby door opened.

A girl with short, golden-blonde hair emerged, wearing a white camisole and white pajama pants.

She was also slim and very attractive.

’What is this? A model get-together?’

’Oh, no.’

Jiang Ran recalled what Wang Hao had said on the phone. This was supposed to be a birthday party, hosted at a villa rented by Xiuxiu’s best friend.

”Jiang Ran, where are you off to?”

The blonde girl’s tone was casual, as if she knew Jiang Ran well.

”Where’s Xiuxiu?”

Jiang Ran glanced at her but didn’t break his stride as he walked past.

”Huh? Ignoring me?”

The girl leaned against the doorframe, calling after him.

”I was in the shower just now. Xiuxiu said she was going to your room to borrow the bathroom. Why are you dressed and leaving now?”

Still no response. Jiang Ran was already on the stairs, heading down.

”Weirdo!”

The girl muttered under her breath, then walked toward the other bedroom.

”Xiuxiu! What’s up with Jiang Ran? He looked so upset. Did you two have a fight?”

...

He opened the villa’s main door, walked out into the courtyard, and saw nothing but detached villas as far as the eye could see.

It seemed this was indeed some kind of villa resort area, and a very high-end one at that.

Jiang Ran ran straight to the main gate and got into a taxi.

”Driver, to East Sea University.”

He tuned out everything else.

All he wanted was to figure out what on earth had happened... to him, to Qin Feng, and to Cheng Mengxue.

RING RING RING—

Just as the taxi started moving, his phone rang.

He picked it up and saw it was a WeChat video call from ”Nan Xiuxiu”.

Jiang Ran enlarged the profile picture.

The pink was blinding.

There was no mistake. It was the same pink-haired girl who had given him a midnight fright in the room just now.

’So... ’

’That girl’s name really is Nan Xiuxiu.’

He couldn’t understand why, in this brand-new timeline, he would be mixed up with a girl like this—let alone be her boyfriend.

But he couldn’t worry about that right now. He had more important things to do.

’Xiaoxue... is she really dead?’

His mind was filled with thoughts of Cheng Mengxue.

Even though Wang Hao had been so clear, he still couldn’t bring himself to believe it.

RING RING RING—

His phone was still ringing.

Jiang Ran hung up immediately, switched his phone to Do Not Disturb mode, and silenced all incoming calls and notifications.

Then, he opened his phone’s photo album and scrolled through it quickly from top to bottom.

He was hoping to find some trace of Cheng Mengxue among the countless photos...

But the reality was cruel.

There wasn’t a single one.

Not a single photo related to Cheng Mengxue.

Until he scrolled to the very bottom of the album and found a high school graduation class photo.

Clinging to his last shred of hope, he frantically tapped on the photo, zoomed in, and looked at the familiar spot—

Nothing.

Nothing.

He found where he was standing in an instant, but Qin Feng wasn’t beside him, and neither was Cheng Mengxue. He scanned every corner of the photo but couldn’t find their two familiar faces.

And what’s more...

Looking at his own expression in the photo...

His head was down, his bangs covering his eyes, with no hint of a smile. He looked heartbroken.

In that moment...

The sorrow from across time and space seemed to merge into one, dense and heavy, overwhelming Jiang Ran like a ferocious flood.

He gasped for air.

He clutched his heart, which was pounding so hard it ached.

Having left the chaotic villa, a moment of calm allowed his thoughts to clear, and he finally accepted the truth—

Cheng Mengxue was really gone, dead for two years.

A chill ran through Jiang Ran’s hands.

’First.’

’One thing is certain.’

’All of these unexpected changes stem from the Time SMS that Qin Feng sent.’

’That message triggered a shift in the timeline. A powerful Butterfly Effect turned history completely upside down.’

’There’s absolutely no doubt about that.’

’So, let’s reason from this premise.’

’A Time SMS sent ten days into the past could never affect history from two years ago, or even earlier.’

He suddenly recalled his conversation with Qin Feng before they had barbecue that day:

”What are you always tinkering with?”

At the time, Qin Feng was modifying the Positron Cannon at the lab bench, and he had been curious.

”The Positron Cannon is already perfect. What are you still working on?”

”Perfect?”

Qin Feng had chuckled.

”Far from it.”

”Did you forget? The Positron Cannon can only run for 0.7 seconds right now. I want to try and fix that.”

...

’Right.’

’That’s the suspicious part.’

The Positron Cannon’s 0.7-second runtime was a long-established, insurmountable design flaw. There was absolutely no reason for Qin Feng to waste his effort on it.

’He was lying.’

’So, what exactly was Qin Feng modifying that night?’

’He seemed to have taken apart the knob control panel.’

’He seemed to have re-soldered the wiring.’

”So... that’s how it is.”

He opened his eyes, having figured everything out.

That knob control panel allowed for digital adjustment of the message’s destination time.

The first knob adjusted the year.

The second knob adjusted the month.

The third knob adjusted the day.

The fourth knob adjusted the hour.

’Then...’

’What if Qin Feng had modified the internal wiring, swapping the circuits for the first and third knobs?’

’That would mean...’

’Even though the first knob was labeled to control ”Years,” it actually controlled ”Days”!’

’And the third knob, labeled for ”Days,” actually controlled ”Years”!’

’The ”10 days” displayed on the control panel actually meant ten years!’

’Therefore...’

The message Qin Feng wrote hadn’t been sent ten days into the past.

Instead, it had made an unprecedented journey through a vast expanse of time...

It was sent...

”...to ten years ago.”