Genius Playground

”Sang Biao, you squat here and handle that all-black police dog. Assassin, you hide behind the corner and handle the prison guard...”

They were back in the right-hand corridor, at the familiar ambush point. Jiang Ran began assigning tasks.

They had run through this so many times. As long as nothing unexpected happened, it would work.

Whether to succeed in the prison break or to get to the execution ground to identify the true Magician, they first had to get past the one guard and three police dogs.

”Hothead, you lie in ambush here. Whatever you do, don’t jump the gun!”

Jiang Ran was using reverse psychology.

The Hothead was practically brainless. He never listened to anyone and couldn’t control his own impulses.

So, the most crucial prop was...

”Lu Yu.”

Jiang Ran bent down, setting Lu Yu on the ground. Then, as if positioning a doll, he propped him up behind the Hothead and wiped away his drool.

”You just stay right here. You don’t have to do anything... Of course, you couldn’t move even if you wanted to, other than to drool.”

The Hothead glanced back, saw Lu Yu’s big, vacant eyes staring forward, and shuddered.

”Fuck, can’t you put him a little further away? Why’d you have to stick him right behind me! He’s giving me the creeps, I can feel a chill running down my spine!”

”This is also part of the plan.”

Jiang Ran replied.

”He can’t move or talk, so there’s no risk of exposure. Just pretend he isn’t there.”

The Hothead looked like he wanted to argue but held his tongue. He tried to inch his body forward, wanting to get some distance from the drooling Lu Yu.

But the corner he was hiding in was tiny. With such limited space, he couldn’t get far.

’So disgusting.’

He watched with a disgusted expression as Lu Yu drooled again. He quickly tucked the hem of his shirt into his waistband, then gave Lu Yu a shove. It was useless. Lu Yu, being in a vegetative state, wasn’t compressible. He just remained as he was, staring blankly ahead.

”Sigh...”

The Hothead finally understood the meaning of ”there’s always a bigger fish.” He never thought he’d meet his match like this.

He had no choice. He could only try to banish all distracting thoughts, trying not to think about the drooling, brain-dead man squatting behind him, and focus intently on the other end of the dim corridor.

”WOOF!”

In the distance, a low bark echoed, signaling the patrol was approaching.

Jiang Ran suddenly remembered something. He crept over stealthily and whispered in the Assassin’s ear.

”Assassin, the prison guard has an alarm on his chest. Be mindful of it.”

The Assassin nodded and gave an ”OK” sign.

”Okay, I got it.”

...

Then came the anxious wait.

The footsteps of the prison guard and the police dogs grew closer. At the edge of the corner, the Assassin held up five fingers and began a silent countdown.

5...

4...

3...

2...

”YAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!”

Just as expected! The impatient, high-strung Hothead couldn’t hold back any longer. He leaped out from the corner, brandishing his Electric Stick!

Nice.

’The plan’s a success,’ Jiang Ran thought. ’So the problem really did lie in this one little detail.’

”Fuck!”

Seeing the Hothead jump the gun, Sang Biao panicked and scrambled to his feet, raising his Electric Stick high.

But his foot caught on a wooden crate. His corpulent body tumbled end over end like a tumbleweed, rolling right up to the police dog before he landed on his knees and looked up.

”WOOF!”

The police dog sank its teeth into Sang Biao’s neck. Blood gushed out.

On Jiang Ran’s end, everything went smoothly; he shocked a police dog in the belly with his Electric Stick. Immediately after, four gunshots—BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!—rang out from behind him. The entire corridor fell silent.

The Assassin dropped the guard’s body and looked up at Jiang Ran.

”You really are a Time Traveler. This isn’t your first time here.”

”Obviously.”

Jiang Ran was long desensitized to this conversation.

He glanced over at Lu Yu and saw him still squatting in the same spot, drooling, completely unresponsive to the life-or-death struggle that had just unfolded.

”Shit!”

The Assassin turned over the guard’s body, and his face changed drastically.

”I grabbed his hands at the first possible moment, but this alarm is automatic! It’s connected to a heart rate monitor!”

From the other end of the corridor, they could hear the sound of drones rapidly approaching.

Tsk.

Jiang Ran clicked his tongue in annoyance.

’I thought I could bring the Assassin to the execution ground this time,’ he thought, ’but that hope is shattered.’

”You should go. Now.”

The Assassin walked over and gave Jiang Ran a shove.

”You’re wearing civilian clothes. If you can make it to the execution ground, there are thousands of people there. They won’t be able to find you in that crowd.”

”We’re not getting out of this. We can only cover you from behind, but...”

He turned back, his eyes full of expectation as he looked at Jiang Ran.

”You’ll... be back, right?”

Jiang Ran met the Assassin’s gaze.

In countless loops, the man had asked him that same question many times.

It was precisely because he was certain Jiang Ran was a Time Traveler that the Assassin supported him, followed him, and protected him with such conviction.

Seeing Jiang Ran’s silent acquiescence...

The Assassin smiled.

It was a calm smile, one that faced death without fear.

”Go, quickly. Next time, take us a little further.”

Jiang Ran reached out, patted the Assassin’s shoulder, and said softly:

”I will.”

This was the first time he had ever given the Assassin a direct answer.

After spending loop after loop together in death, he had genuinely developed a sense of revolutionary camaraderie with the Assassin.

People aren’t made of stone, and after the man had laid down his life to protect him so many times, Jiang Ran couldn’t help but be moved.

”One day, I will get you all out of here.”

He promised.

”Tell me your name, Assassin. We’ve actually met so many times, but I still don’t know your name.”

BANG! BANG!

The Assassin fired two shots, taking down the first two drones that rounded the corner.

A red light flashed at the corner of the hallway; countless more drones were approaching.

The Assassin turned and shoved Jiang Ran hard toward the corridor behind them.

”Fang Yang.”

He gave a slight smile.

”Next time, just call me by my name. I’ll trust you even more. Now go!”

Then, the Assassin leaped forward, pistol raised, and threw himself at the swarm of incoming drones.

Jiang Ran heard the name.

He froze for a moment.

But there was no time to think. He turned and ran deeper into the corridor.

Behind him, the gunshots gradually faded, replaced by the ever-loudening whir of drone rotors. Ahead, he could already see the light from the double doors at the end, and the roar of the crowd outside was deafening.

He rushed to the end.

He pressed down on the handle.

And pushed—

”Kill! Kill! Kill the Magician! Kill! Kill! Kill the Magician!”

”Behead him! Behead him! Behead him! Behead him! Behead him!”

A crazed crowd, crazed howls. A sea of people releasing their pent-up fury.

Faster!

This time, he had to be faster!

With the experience of pushing through the crowd from the last loop, Jiang Ran was confident he could find a better path and squeeze his way near the execution platform before the Magician was beheaded.

That way...

Once the hood covering the Magician’s face was pulled off, he could get a good look from the front...

...and see just who the universally despised Magician really was!

”Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!”

”Magician! Magician! Magician!”

Everyone was screaming, their heads thrown back. The men’s faces were red with exertion, the women’s eyes filled with tears.

Unable to share their sentiment, Jiang Ran was an emotional outlier as he pushed through the crowd.

His eyes were glued to the execution platform, to the figure kneeling on the ground.

Closer!

Even closer!

The formally dressed official reading the Magician’s crimes seemed to be reaching the end of his speech, his body language growing more agitated.

Finally.

Through relentless and ill-mannered shoving, Jiang Ran finally managed to push his way to the fence at the very front of the crowd, only a meter away from the platform!

Just then.

The official finished his speech. He put away the manuscript, turned, and ripped the burlap hood from the Magician’s head—

Plink.

Like a single drop of water falling into a lake as still as glass—a silent impact that sent out immense ripples.

Jiang Ran couldn’t help but gasp, holding his breath.

It was...

A man of about forty.

He had long, filthy hair and a long, filthy beard, which had clearly not been groomed in a very long time.

But from his eyes, the set of his brows, and the contours of his face, Jiang Ran recognized him at a single glance!

Qin Feng...

It really was the Qin Feng he knew!

Even though he looked old and weary, they had spent so many years together day in and day out. How could Jiang Ran possibly be mistaken!

The roaring of the surrounding crowd nearly made the air explode.

But Jiang Ran still took a deep breath, and with all his might, screamed toward the execution platform:

”QIN FENG!!!!!!”

Perhaps because no one else in the entire execution ground was shouting that name, the middle-aged man on the platform froze, startled, and looked over in his direction—

It was a gaze that crossed twenty years of time.

It was the intersection of two separate worldlines.

It was an exchange of knowing and not knowing, of confusion and shock.

Looking at his old friend—so familiar, yet now over forty—Jiang Ran stood just a stone’s throw from the platform, suddenly at a loss for words.

He didn’t know what to say or what to do next.

”42!!!!!!!”

On the platform, the bound and kneeling middle-aged Qin Feng suddenly roared:

”Follow 42!!!!”

No one knew what was happening! The Magician, who had been silent for so long and had seemingly surrendered to his fate, suddenly began to struggle as if possessed!

”Execute him! Now!”

The formally dressed official who had read the execution order turned pale with fright and yelled at the executioner:

”Don’t let him speak! Do it now!!”

The terrifying Ghost Head Saber was raised high! Its tip seemed to tear at the blazing sun, refracting a prismatic light!

”42 is the answer!!!!”

The middle-aged Qin Feng stared intently in Jiang Ran’s direction.

”42 is—”

SPLURT!!!!!

Blood shot out from the severed neck like a fountain, falling as a fine, metallic mist.

The surrounding crowd screamed and recoiled, instantly creating an empty circle as they dodged the falling droplets of blood.

It was as if... as if the Magician’s blood was a potent poison to them.

That was their fear. They dared only to roar with rage from below, but didn’t dare to face even the slightest part of the Magician directly.

Only Jiang Ran didn’t move.

He stood in the empty space cleared by the retreating crowd, drenched in the warm rain of blood. His once-immaculate white clothes were stained into a red cape that billowed in the wind.

On his face, in his hair, in his vision—everything was the color of blood.

THUMP... THUMP... THUMP...

The Magician’s severed head rolled across the execution platform and came to a stop at the very edge, resting on its neck.

At this moment.

This was probably the closest Jiang Ran had ever been to Qin Feng in Worldline 1.

Their eyes were barely a meter apart.

Only... Qin Feng’s eyes slowly rolled back in his head, his eyelids lost their strength and fluttered closed.

HUM!

HUM!

HUM!

Dizziness. The world spun around him.

Jiang Ran’s senses failed him once more, and he fell into a boundless, dark vortex.

「Two seconds later.」

The morning sun rose, and the summer wind blew just as before.

Jiang Ran.

Opened his eyes—