Genius Playground

Jiang Ran slipped the photo into the notepad Chi Xiaoguo had given him. Then, bracing himself on the windowsill, he vaulted out.

He turned back one last time to close the window and latch it shut.

All of it.

From arriving at the Film Club in March of World Line 0 to now, July of World Line 1, his wondrous four-month experience here was temporarily coming to a close.

In two months, on September 1st, when the curtain rose on the Film Club once more...

Jiang Ran believed it would reveal a whole new scene, a whole new hope!

...

After leaving East Sea University, Jiang Ran took the high-speed train straight back to Hang City.

When his parents heard the news that Jiang Ran had been accepted into the postgraduate program, they were first shocked into disbelief, followed by cheers of pure ecstasy!

”That’s amazing, son! I knew you could do it! I’ll go buy groceries right now, and we’ll have a big celebration!”

Dad Jiang waved a hand.

”Ah, why buy groceries! Come on, let’s go! I’ll grab that good wine I’ve been saving in the basement, and we’ll take our son out to the best restaurant in Hang City to welcome him home! We’ll call his aunt and uncle, too. Let’s get everyone together!”

As he spoke, Dad Jiang turned, patted Jiang Ran on the shoulder, his eyes filled with pride.

”Son, Dad is so proud of you! Honestly, in my eyes, you were always meant for East Sea University! That’s where you belong!”

”See? What’s yours is yours, sooner or later! Even though it’s two years late, you still set foot in East Sea Universi—”

Dad Jiang’s expression suddenly turned serious, and he stopped short.

He had noticed the look in Mrs. Jiang’s eyes. She was glaring at him, warning him not to run his mouth!

Only then did Dad Jiang realize that in his excitement, he had said too much.

He coughed twice in a fluster.

”AHEM... uh, son, why don’t you go tidy up your room? Dad’s going to the basement to get the wine.”

With that, he dropped the subject and left the room.

Jiang Ran, of course, saw his parents’ little exchange. But he understood their concern, so he didn’t say anything and pretended he hadn’t noticed.

It was obvious.

His parents were tiptoeing around the topic of him failing the college entrance exam and going to a junior college. They were clearly afraid that bringing up the past would make him recall Cheng Mengxue’s car accident and send him spiraling back into a depressive breakdown.

Jiang Ran was already used to it.

According to Wang Hao, Cheng Mengxue’s death had hit him hard, causing him to fall into a two-year depression.

According to Xu Yan, he couldn’t remember what happened back then and was torturing himself with guilt over Cheng Mengxue’s death, shutting himself off from the world.

According to his parents, he had skipped the college entrance exam, had a mental breakdown, and even showed suicidal tendencies. That was why they had been dead set against him retaking the exam, and even now, two years later, they didn’t dare bring up anything related to it.

This was also a mystery that Jiang Ran often pondered but could never solve.

He, of course, didn’t understand why he would have broken down so completely back then.

Because he had no memory of it.

Later, he had looked into the car accident. On paper, there were no suspicious circumstances at all. The police had already reached a conclusion backed by solid evidence—

[It was simply an accident.]

At the time, there were no surveillance cameras on that remote road far from the city. However, the vehicle at fault had a dashcam that recorded the scene of the accident with perfect clarity.

The footage showed the car speeding. Then, Jiang Ran, holding Cheng Mengxue’s hand, crossed the road at a crosswalk.

By rights, the car should have slowed down, but the dashcam inside the vehicle recorded the driver looking down at their phone.

After that... the accident happened, just as one would expect.

The moment Cheng Mengxue saw the car, she screamed Jiang Ran’s name. By the time Jiang Ran turned his head, the car was right in front of them.

At that moment, Cheng Mengxue was in the middle of the crosswalk; there was no way for her to get out of the way. Jiang Ran, however, had already reached the side of the road. Even if the car hit him, it would have just been a glancing blow, nothing serious.

But Cheng Mengxue, with lightning-fast reflexes, pushed Jiang Ran in the final moment, shoving him onto the grassy roadside.

As for her, she was sent flying by the speeding car.

[Died on the scene.]

...

All of this was recorded with perfect clarity in the police report at the time.

The driver who caused the accident confessed to all charges without reservation and actively cooperated with all compensation, trial, plea, and sentencing procedures.

This driver had a respectable job, a happy family, two lovely children, no prior criminal record, and no motive for the crime.

The investigation showed he was driving so fast because he was rushing to an important meeting. This was confirmed by multiple sources; he was indeed late, and many people at the venue were waiting for him.

Therefore, there was no possibility of intentional homicide.

All the evidence indicated that it was just an unfortunate, random accident.

But!

There was just one inexplicable loose end.

And that was—

[Jiang Ran.]

Although he wasn’t the direct cause of the accident, had no motive for murder, and displayed no behavior indicating he intentionally tried to get Cheng Mengxue killed.

But there were two strange, unexplainable things:

1. It was the second day of the college entrance exams. Why weren’t he and Cheng Mengxue taking the test? Why were they together in the desolate, sparsely populated outskirts of the city?

2. After the incident, everyone asked Jiang Ran what had happened, why the two of them had gone to the city outskirts, and where he had been planning to go while holding Cheng Mengxue’s hand.

These questions weren’t particularly difficult to answer.

Even if Jiang Ran had said they didn’t want to take the exam and just wanted to go have some fun... while that would have been curious, they were childhood sweethearts, after all. The police and their parents wouldn’t have found it impossible to accept.

But instead...

In the face of everyone’s questions,

the Jiang Ran of that time simply stared blankly and shook his head like a machine:

”I don’t know...”