Genius Playground

’This is just a mission. A divine punishment that must succeed.’

”I was just... too embarrassed to say it before.”

The girl smiled and lowered her head.

”To be honest, I’ve forgotten some of what was written in the second half of the letter. After all, it’s a memory from over a decade ago...”

”And you know how kids say whatever’s on their mind. What meaningful message could a seven- or eight-year-old me have possibly written to my future self twenty years later?”

”But I still remember the first part of the letter vividly. You really made me mad back then. I tried to drag you to swimming lessons every single day, but you always came up with excuses to get out of it.”

”Maybe you thought I was making a mountain out of a molehill. But to me—to the little girl you risked your own life to save from the river... it was the most important thing in the world.”

She pressed her lips together, raised her head, and looked at Jiang Ran.

”Jiang Ran... is a big dummy.”

...

The final whisper was carried to Jiang Ran’s ear by the autumn wind.

Along with it came the secret code that transcended time, causing Jiang Ran’s entire test to fall apart.

He fell silent.

’I thought this test was a sure thing.’

But Cheng Mengxue, who had shown almost no cracks in her story, had once again delivered a flawless answer.

He began to recall Wang Hao’s words...

’What is real?’

’And what is fake?’

’If something fake is identical to the real thing in every way, is it still fake?’

”Jiang Ran, can I see it?”

The girl stood on higher ground, holding her hand out to Jiang Ran.

”I only vaguely remember the first half of the letter. I’ve completely forgotten the second half.”

”I’m really curious now... what on earth did my younger self write to my future self?”

Lies.

She didn’t care at all what the second half of the letter said.

She just wanted Jiang Ran to come up.

She just wanted Jiang Ran to walk up the steps.

She just wanted him to stand before the Tombstone, entering the sniper’s line of sight.

”Okay.”

Jiang Ran nodded, walking up the stone steps one by one, approaching the girl.

With only two steps left.

Jiang Ran stopped and handed the glass bottle containing the letter to the girl.

The girl looked at where Jiang Ran’s feet had stopped, biting her lower lip without a word.

She took the glass bottle.

Took a step back.

Putting some distance between them.

Then she pulled out the cork stopper and drew out the childhood letter, sealed away for more than a decade.

She unfolded the paper.

Crooked handwriting, mixed with pinyin marked with tone symbols, leaped into view—

Jiang Ran is a big dummy!

Honestly, every time I ask him to go learn to swim, he’s never serious about it!

What if he drowns again next time? He could die!

Sigh.

Whatever, I’ll just have to learn properly myself.

If something like this happens again and he falls into the river, it’ll be my turn to jump in and save him.

To the me of 20 years from now...

You must be a grown-up by now, right?

You must be amazing, and beautiful, and strong!

Are you and Jiang Ran still together?

Are you still the best of friends?

I really hope you’re still the best friends in the world, just like we were when we were little.

Can you promise me one thing?

[No matter where you are or what your relationship is like in 20 years... if Jiang Ran is in danger or trouble, please, you have to help him, okay?]

[After all, he saved our life, and he almost lost his own doing it.]

[In my heart... Jiang Ran will always be a great hero.]

...

Her eyes widened, and she held her breath.

The first half of the letter was exactly as she remembered. But the second half, the part she had completely forgotten, now kicked up the buried dust, rushing toward her like a torrential flood.

Inside her, something broke, and at the same time, something else came roaring back to life.

Her whole body trembled uncontrollably. Tears streamed down like a river bursting its banks, dripping onto the paper and soaking it.

Jiang Ran froze.

”You... Why are you crying?”

He took the last two steps and stood in front of the girl.

”Go... now...”

The girl kept her head down, choked with sobs, and managed to force out two words.

”What?”

Jiang Ran didn’t hear her clearly and bent down.

The girl tremblingly raised her head, her face now stained with tears. The clear, determined look in her eyes from all morning had, at this most critical moment, become hopelessly conflicted.

”Jiang Ran...”

She gritted her teeth, her gaze seeming to pierce through life and death, through time itself.

”Run...”

TING.

On a distant rooftop, a flash of reflected light flickered for an instant, catching her eye.

It was a detail an ordinary person would never notice, but the sharp-eyed girl caught it instantly. A sniper was taking aim!

”Look out!”

She shoved Jiang Ran hard and threw her body forward—

THUD.

The sound of a bullet sinking into a chest.

A flower of blood bloomed in an instant, bone fragments spraying from the exit wound! Jiang Ran saw it for only a second before the girl tackled him to the ground, and the two of them tumbled down the steps.

”Attention!”

”Sniper!”

”Protect Jiang Ran!”

”Go! After him!”

In that moment, plainclothes officers who had been lying in wait leaped up, shouting.

A gardener trimming branches sprinted over and threw a smoke grenade where Jiang Ran had landed.

TSSSSSSSSSS!

Billowing white smoke exploded outward, instantly covering a ten-meter radius and blocking the sniper’s line of sight.

”Xiaoxue!”

Jiang Ran scrambled up from within the dense, near-zero-visibility smoke and gathered the limp girl in his arms.

He couldn’t see anything in the thick white smoke, but the overwhelming stench of blood and the dampness soaking his clothes spoke clearly of a life slipping away.

”Xiaoxue!”

Jiang Ran struggled to lift Cheng Mengxue’s head. A small hand trembled as it rose to gently caress his left cheek.