Genius Playground

In his hotel room, Jiang Ran lay on the bed.

He pressed his palm to his left cheek, as if the girl’s warmth still lingered there, refusing to fade.

The Cheng Mengxue he saw today was the boldest he had ever seen—even bolder than the drunken Cheng Mengxue on the cruise ship in World Line 0.

He never would have dreamed that Cheng Mengxue was capable of something so bold.

’This isn’t her style...’

Jiang Ran murmured.

’Then again, who’s to say what a girl’s style has to be?’

In all his nineteen years, this was the first time a girl had ever kissed him.

Though it was just a light peck on the cheek, a first was still a first.

In World Line 0, his relationship with Cheng Mengxue had been completely innocent; they had never once crossed that line.

In World Line 1, on the day he’d jumped over, he had only been dating Nan Xiuxiu for four days and had no physical intimacy with her whatsoever. Even the one time they held hands was much later, during a trip they took together.

So.

’So what did it feel like, being kissed by a girl for the first time?’

Jiang Ran felt... a little lost.

Because he couldn’t be sure who, exactly, had kissed him.

He was 99.99% sure this Cheng Mengxue was a fake. But that remaining 0.01% of doubt hung over his head like the guillotine in Murphy’s Law, not allowing him a single moment of carelessness.

”This isn’t a kiss between childhood friends. This is... a girl’s kiss, you know.”

The light, airy words had been echoing in Jiang Ran’s mind all night.

Even though he’d never truly been in a relationship...

...even a fool could understand the hidden meaning behind those words.

’I like you, not as an innocent childhood friend, but as a girl likes a boy.’

It was, for all intents and purposes, a confession.

But in this situation, how could he be sure it wasn’t a honey trap, designed to lure him into a false sense of security?

”Who are you, really...”

He sat up, pulled his backpack over, and took out the glass bottle sealed with a cork stopper.

This was the time capsule the real Cheng Mengxue had buried more than a decade ago.

So far, only Jiang Ran, Xu Yan, and Cheng Mengxue herself knew its contents.

This whole ”True or False Cheng Mengxue” charade had been dragging on for so long. Tomorrow... it would finally reach its conclusion.

But that was as far as Jiang Ran’s thinking could go.

The resolve he found after each separation always dissolved into confusion when they met again. His reason and emotions became a blur, and he couldn’t tell if the girl before him was real or a phantom.

Everything.

Would have to wait.

For tomorrow’s answer.

...

「October 2, 2025. Morning.」

After finishing breakfast at the hotel restaurant, Jiang Ran and Cheng Mengxue returned to their respective rooms to change. They agreed to meet in the first-floor lobby shortly.

Jiang Ran put on his white jacket and glanced at the two symmetrical buttons on the collar. The one on the right was a plastic decoration; the one on the left was the miniature listening device sewn on by the East Sea City Public Security Bureau.

They weren’t planning to check out today, so he could just leave his backpack in the room. After checking his appearance in the mirror, Jiang Ran left his room, called the elevator, and went downstairs.

Cheng Mengxue was already waiting for him in the first-floor lobby.

’I don’t know if it’s just my imagination...’

Jiang Ran felt that Cheng Mengxue’s eyes were exceptionally clear today, and her aura was remarkably composed. It was as if she were a different person.

She was wearing a dress again today, but she’d changed into an aqua-blue one that was both refreshing and imbued with a certain gravity.

As he walked over, Jiang Ran noticed that Cheng Mengxue was still wearing the crystal-clear jeweled necklace.

”That’s a beautiful necklace,” Jiang Ran said.

”Hehe. It was a birthday present from my dad last year.”

”What brand is it?”

Cheng Mengxue fiddled with the pendant on the necklace, looking down at it.

”Tiffany. Have you heard of it?”

Jiang Ran shook his head.

”I haven’t, but it looks very delicate. It must be... expensive, right?”

”It is, a little bit.”

Cheng Mengxue didn’t deny it.

”But with luxury goods like this, it’s always cheaper to buy them in the United States than in Dragon Country because of the exchange rates and tariffs.”

”My dad figured since I was all grown up—a big girl—that I should have a necklace of my own, so he gave it to me.”

Jiang Ran nodded but didn’t say anything more.

’Truth and lies, lies and truth.’ It was hard to say if Cheng Mengxue’s parents were even still alive.

The scene felt a lot like a plot from the American movie *Mr. & Mrs. Smith*—two people hiding their identities, living side-by-side, each harboring secrets they could never reveal...

Just like him and Cheng Mengxue right now.

One was trying to expose the other, while the other seemed to have ulterior motives of her own.

With his mind racing with suspicion, the intimacy they’d shared on the Ferris wheel yesterday suddenly felt hollow.

They left the hotel, hailed a cab, and headed for Jingshan Bamboo Public Cemetery.

The place was no longer a sea of people, and Jiang Ran was able to appreciate a quiet and spaciousness he hadn’t felt in a long time.

’It makes sense,’ he thought. ’Who would come to hang around a cemetery during the rare Golden Week holiday?’

Upon entering the cemetery grounds, they had to pass through a security gate where a staff member scanned them with a handheld device.

Jiang Ran was surprised.

He and Wang Hao had been to Jingshan Bamboo Public Cemetery twice before, and he’d never encountered this.

But then, it clicked.

’Plainclothes officers.’

The staff conducting the security check looked like cemetery guards, but they had to be plainclothes police from the East Sea City Public Security Bureau.

They had set up the security gate under the pretext of ensuring ”civilized remembrance” and ”prohibiting the burning of paper offerings,” but their real purpose... was to guarantee his safety.

’Looks like Officer Liu and his team were thorough in their arrangements.’

In front of him, Cheng Mengxue held out her arms to be scanned by the staff. She hadn’t yet realized that this cemetery was a cage, and she was the one who was trapped.