Genius Playground

”BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!”

At a night market barbecue stall, Wang Hao slammed his fist on the small table, mouth wide open, laughing until tears streamed down his face.

”BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!”

He clutched his stomach and pointed at Jiang Ran.

”Is this a ’try not to laugh’ challenge? Sorry, but I lost! Bwahahaha!”

”Have you had enough laughs?”

Jiang Ran frowned.

Just a moment ago, Jiang Ran had told Wang Hao about his plan to study at East Sea University. In response, his friend had spat out a mouthful of beer and was now doubled over with laughter.

”BWAHAHAHA! COUGH, COUGH, COUGH—”

Wang Hao laughed so hard he started choking and coughing violently.

He then pulled out a tissue.

And wiped his tears.

Only then did he catch his breath and speak.

”How do I put this? That’s probably the funniest joke I’ve heard all year.”

”Bro, I know it wouldn’t have been hard for you to get into East Sea University with your original high school grades.”

”But you missed two of your exams, and now you’re in a vocational college. What path do you possibly have to transfer to East Sea University?”

”What’s the plan? You want to transfer from a vocational program to get a bachelor’s at East Sea University? Are you kidding me?! The only bachelor’s programs that accept transfers from vocational colleges are second-tier schools at best. The top-tier universities don’t even have that option!”

”Come on, let’s just drink. I have no idea why you’d suddenly have such a ridiculous idea.”

Jiang Ran raised his glass and clinked it against Wang Hao’s.

His friend downed the drink in one gulp.

Jiang Ran, however, just held his glass for a moment before setting it back down.

”Alright.”

He nodded.

”I admit, it is a little ridiculous, but just hear me out...”

...

Morning. The Film Club’s activity room at East Sea University.

The sun was rising, the cicadas’ calls were mournful, and willow branches heavy with new green leaves hung like curtains outside the window.

Chi Xiaoguo stared dumbfounded at Jiang Ran, who was bathed in sunlight as he made his bold declaration.

She swallowed hard.

”S-Senior... If you could come to study at East Sea University, I’d be overjoyed, of course. That way, you could join the Film Club, and we could do activities together all the time.”

”But... how would you do it?”

A rare troubled expression crossed Chi Xiaoguo’s face, her eyes darting about as she thought.

”Transferring from a vocational program is definitely not an option. There are very few universities that allow it, and a top-tier school like East Sea University certainly isn’t one of them.”

”As for transferring schools... East Sea City does have a placement test system that lets you test into a better university, but... that’s only open to undergraduate students. Vocational students can’t take the test.”

”I... I really can’t think of any way for you to come study here, Senior...”

Jiang Ran let out a long sigh through his nose, pulled a chair over, and sat down without a word.

It was true.

There was a gulf between a vocational college and a university.

And between a vocational school like the East Sea College of International Trade and Economics and a top-tier institution like East Sea University, that gulf was an impassable chasm.

It was a chasm that absolutely could not be crossed. There were no bridges, no paths to ascend.

To sum it up in one word—

’Impossible.’

And this was impossible in the most absolute sense of the word.

Unless the entire education system of the Dragon Country was overturned, not even a god could transfer Jiang Ran’s student status from a vocational college to a university.

But not getting into East Sea University wasn’t an option.

Jiang Ran had already analyzed the situation. East Sea University was the nexus for all the critical clues. It was, without a doubt, the main battlefield in his plan to save Cheng Mengxue. This was where he would win or lose.

As things stood, there were only two paths to saving Cheng Mengxue:

1. Find a way to contact the old seniors who built the Positron Cannon, or find the original schematics and repair it.

2. Wait for the once-in-a-generation super genius Lu Yu to enroll, get in contact with him, and use his talent to build a Time Travel Machine that could travel back to the past.

Those were the only two options.

It wasn’t hard to see that no matter which plan he chose, he had to be at East Sea University to carry it out. And... there was no time to waste.

He had already wasted a month in World Line 1.

The longer he stayed here, the more real this world line felt. It was a very unsettling feeling, one that left Jiang Ran deeply uneasy.

There were many things he didn’t dare to dwell on.

He was afraid that the more people he met, the more feelings he developed, the more connections he formed... the more he would grow attached to World Line 1 itself.

’That would be terrible.’

He had to be clear: World Line 0 was his true world. This place was like a dream, a temporary trip where he was just a passing traveler.

Otherwise, he feared, he would only create more regrets.

’Time for a rational analysis.’

’The Positron Cannon... I can’t fix it on my own for now, and neither can Qin Feng or Old Qi. The only hope is to find the original seniors and see if they have a solution.’

’That’s not something that can be solved quickly.’

’The Time Travel Machine... it seems just as far-fetched, but if Lu Yu really is the inventor, then that’s actually the most direct path to success.’

Unlike the unknown, traceless seniors from the Film Club, Lu Yu’s life trajectory was clear. In three months, he would be enrolling as a freshman at East Sea University.

Therefore, barring any accidents, on September 1, 2025, three months from now, Jiang Ran would definitely be able to grab Lu Yu’s suitcase at the freshman reception area.

Compared to the Positron Cannon, Lu Yu and the Time Travel Machine were clearly a more reliable path.

And so.

After all that thinking.

He ended up right back where he started—

How on earth could he pull off a ”Vocational Transfer Program PLUS PRO MAX” and leap from the cafeteria of a trade school into the hallowed halls of East Sea University?

”Senior.”

Chi Xiaoguo hesitated for a moment before closing the old file in her hands and standing up from the sofa.

”I think the easiest way would be to drop out, repeat a year of high school, and retake the college entrance exams.”

”I think the easiest way would be to drop out, repeat a year of high school, and retake the college entrance exams.”

He looked up.

Wang Hao, munching on a lamb skewer, said the exact same thing as Chi Xiaoguo.

”There’s really no other way. You know how our high school teachers always said the college entrance exam is the fairest and easiest chance to change your life?”

”It didn’t feel like a big deal back then, but now that I think about your situation, it’s totally true.”

”Trying to ’ascend’ from our crappy vocational college directly to East Sea University is a total pipe dream. No chance at all.”

”But if you drop out, go back to repeat a year, and retake the college entrance exam, as long as you can perform like you did in high school, getting into East Sea University shouldn’t be a problem.”

”It’s just... you’re already a sophomore. You’ve spent two years here and you’re about to start your internship. Is it really necessary to start all over again?”

Jiang Ran waved his hand.

”Repeating a year is out of the question. Definitely not an option.”

Today was May 30th. The college entrance exam was only seven or eight days away, and the registration deadline had long since passed. If he really wanted to retake it, he’d have to wait until next year.

First, he couldn’t wait until next year.

Second, Lu Yu was taking the exam this year and would be enrolling in September. If he waited until next year to become Lu Yu’s junior, the ship would have already sailed.

”Sigh.”

Jiang Ran let out a lost sigh, feeling the unfairness of the world.

”You’re just so damn difficult!”

Wang Hao tsked and shot Jiang Ran a look.

”It’s always ’this won’t work’ and ’that won’t work’ with you. I don’t even know what you want anymore.”

”So what if our school’s a little worse and our diploma isn’t as good? It’s not like we’re going to be jobless and starve, is it?”

”Honestly, I’ve heard of people dying from overwork, but I’ve never heard of anyone starving to death from not having a job!”

”Besides, you have Nan Xiuxiu by your side! Such a great girl has stuck with you for two years, never leaving you, accompanying you through the toughest time of your life!”

”If I were you, just meeting Nan Xiuxiu at this crappy vocational college would be the luckiest thing that ever happened to me! Forget East Sea University—I wouldn’t trade her for Qinghua, Peking, Harvard, or Cambridge!”

Jiang Ran raised his glass and clinked it against Wang Hao’s.

Without a word, he downed it in one gulp.

Everyone’s situation is different.

If he didn’t have the ability to change history, to alter spacetime, he might have just given up, cried a few more times in front of Cheng Mengxue’s Tombstone, and then reluctantly accepted reality and tried to live a good life in World Line 1.

But he *did* have the ability.

And with that ability, was he supposed to just stand by and watch Cheng Mengxue die?

He couldn’t do it.

He had to admit his opinion of Nan Xiuxiu had changed a lot during this time. He’d realized she was a pretty great, quirky girl with a lot of personality.

’But he couldn’t forget why, and for whom, he was going through all this trouble.’

His original goal was to save Cheng Mengxue.

That, no matter what, would not change.

”Let’s just drink.”

He picked up the beer bottle and refilled both their glasses.

”I’ll think of something else.”

...

「The next day.」

Saturday.

For the first time in a while, Jiang Ran got a good night’s sleep. He arrived at the East Sea University Film Club at ten in the morning.

Chi Xiaoguo was already there, sitting on the sofa and flipping through old files. He had no idea what time she had arrived.

They didn’t conduct a Positron Cannon experiment at dawn today.

For one, he had been troubling Chi Xiaoguo for so long, and he wanted to let her rest on a rare weekend.

For another, there was a more important and urgent matter to solve now. The events of 2045 could be put on hold for a bit, which would also mean getting his head blown off a few less times.

”Senior, you’re here.”

Chi Xiaoguo’s smile was as bright as the sunlight streaming through the window.

She picked up a notebook beside her and began reporting the progress of her investigation since yesterday.

”Senior, our school’s digital archives for club member information only go back to 2011. You discussed this with Senior Yan Rui before.”

Jiang Ran nodded.

Before 2011, East Sea University’s club management had relied mainly on paper records. That information really wasn’t in the computer system.

”After 2011, the Film Club had already declined. There were very few members each year, and I managed to contact the club presidents from that time... but none of them had ever heard of the Positron Cannon. They never even looked through the old stuff.”

Chi Xiaoguo continued, ”I went back a few more years in the paper archives and found some Film Club members from 2008 to 2010. I contacted all of them yesterday.”

?

Jiang Ran was a little surprised.

”Their phone numbers were in there?”

”Of course not~”

Chi Xiaoguo giggled.

”But I have a really good friend who’s on financial aid and works for the alumni department in the administration building. So, I asked her to help me look up some alumni phone numbers, and one thing led to another, and I got in touch with them.”

”Unfortunately, the Film Club seniors from 2008 to 2010 hadn’t heard of the Positron Cannon either.”

”They said that was when digital cameras were taking off, so the Film Club couldn’t recruit anyone. They had to change activity rooms several times, each one smaller than the last.”

”So, for their old belongings, they moved what they could and threw out what they couldn’t. Some things were just left in the old storage rooms and forgotten... Basically, it was a huge mess back then.”

Jiang Ran listened in silence.

’Can’t be helped,’ he thought.

Convenient and simple digital cameras were an overwhelmingly superior competitor to film cameras, which stood no chance.

That was just how club management at East Sea University worked. The more popular a club was, the more resources it received.

Take the cinema society that Xu Yan was in, for example. They had several large activity rooms, even a dedicated screening room, and their annual budget was nothing to sneeze at.

Looking back at the tiny Film Club, they were lucky to even have a room the size of a closet. The only reason it hadn’t been disbanded was probably as a favor to Xu Yan.

”So, in other words...”

Jiang Ran’s lips formed a tight line.

”There are still no clues about the origin or creator of the Positron Cannon.”

”That’s not entirely true!”

Chi Xiaoguo stood up with a smile, opened a photography album, and handed it to Jiang Ran.

”Senior! Quick, look at this photo!”