Genius Playground

“Just kick him down with you!”

“Oof!”

The kick knocked Number Three, who had been wedged sideways in the tunnel, straight. He slammed into Jiang Ran, and the three of them continued to plummet downwards like a little train.

“Boss!?”

The chubby Number Three stared, dumbfounded.

“What is this formation? How did you two get down here? And who is this guy?!”

“Just pretend he’s Number Four!” Sang Biao, dizzy and seeing stars after all the twisting and turning in the vent, couldn’t be bothered to explain.

Finally, they reached the very bottom of the ventilation duct.

CRASH! The three of them burst through the plastic grating and tumbled out.

Hsss…

Jiang Ran rubbed his aching head, pushed away the foaming-at-the-mouth Number Three, and shakily stood up.

“Wow! New guests have arrived, meow! Welcome, welcome!”

“Rhine Meow~ Rhine Meow~ Welcome guests, meow meow meow!”

“Welcome, welcome! Welcome to Hang City Paradise!”

“What do you want to play? What do you want to play! All the attractions here are super fun!”

Just like before, hordes of giant Rhine Cats came running over happily. They held hands, singing and dancing as they surrounded the group and scattered flower petals.

Sang Biao let out his customary shriek. Thankfully, Number Three was already foaming at the mouth and temporarily unconscious.

But Jiang Ran was already unfazed.

Ever since he’d guessed that this amusement park and the Rhine Cats were all part of Cheng Mengxue’s fantasy, he no longer felt any fear. Instead, he felt a sense of warmth and familiarity.

“The rollercoaster!”

He grabbed Sang Biao and walked directly towards the Rhine Cats.

“We want to ride the fastest rollercoaster to the silver gate at the end of the park!”

“No… Bro, bro! Can’t you slow down a little?!”

Sang Biao couldn’t take it anymore.

He felt that ever since meeting this kid, everything was on 3x fast-forward with no way to stop.

“Are you in a hurry to get reincarnated?! Is the world going to end in a minute or something!?”

However…

Urged on by a crowd of excited Rhine Cats, he had no choice. The Meows lifted them over their heads, their short legs sprinting, and stuffed both Jiang Ran and Sang Biao into the rollercoaster, terrified they would change their minds.

“Let’s go, meow! Maximum speed, meow!”

WHOOSH—

Rocket launch.

When the rollercoaster screeched to an overloaded halt, Sang Biao tumbled out, spinning like a ballet dancer.

“Bro… I know you’re in a hurry… but you don’t have to be in *this* much of a hurry… Blegh…”

Jiang Ran hadn’t waited for him. He rushed straight towards the silver gate that reached for the sky and placed his palm on it.

RUMBLE…

The gate, seemingly weighing billions of tons, slid open to both sides with an unnatural lightness.

Jiang Ran couldn’t wait for the gate to open completely. He squeezed through the gap and rushed towards the girl floating in mid-air—

“Xiaoxue!!!”

He yelled with all his might.

Suddenly, the slow, stable beams of light trembled like a stone thrown into a calm pond, rippling outwards.

The girl in the school uniform stirred, slowly opening her eyes to look at the familiar man below.

“Jiang… Ran?”

Her voice was very soft, somewhat weak.

It felt as if she’d been having a long, long dream. But upon waking, nothing had changed; the boy she felt closest to was still there.

‘So far away…’

‘Why am I floating in mid-air?’

The instant she became aware of this, the millions of silver strands above her head instantly snapped, drifting down like powdered crystal.

Freed from the bonds of those light beams, Cheng Mengxue fell in a freefall, but ultimately landed on the ground as lightly as a dragonfly touching water.

“Jiang Ran!”

She ran towards the boy who felt so familiar, so dear, so trustworthy.

“Xiaoxue!”

That single call needed no further explanation.

Jiang Ran understood in an instant—

This was Cheng Mengxue. The truest, most real, unquestionable Cheng Mengxue!

Unlike the suspicion and apprehension he’d felt when he first met Li Yini… just a single glance, a single call, and he was one million percent certain!

‘Just as I thought.’

‘The real thing is real, and a fake is fake.’

Even if this was just a Virtual Digital World… the short-haired girl running towards him right now was his childhood sweetheart, whom he hadn’t seen for so long!

“Jiang Ran! This…”

Cheng Mengxue suddenly stopped, dumbfounded.

By now, the silver gate had opened completely, revealing the scenery outside.

It was…

‘An amusement park?’

‘The sky?’

‘The sun?’

‘Could this be… outdoors?’

‘I always thought this was indoors!’

However…

In the blink of an eye, something incredible happened.

The 42 floors above them vanished in an instant. Just as Cheng Mengxue looked up at the ceiling, it was as if someone had selected all the structures above, pressed the delete key, and everything blocking their view disappeared!

Sunlight, the sun, white clouds.

The sky a hundred meters above merged with the sky of the amusement park on Level B42. From here, like looking up from the bottom of a well, they could see straight to the surface.

“Watch out—”

Jiang Ran quickly pulled Cheng Mengxue behind him.

He couldn’t understand the reason for this change, but the laws of physics were absolute. All 42 floors above had disappeared, but the trees, walls, greenbelts, and paving stones on the surface still existed.

At this very moment, all that surface debris, along with the security robots patrolling the memorial hall’s courtyard, were plummeting from high above, hurtling towards them!

BOOM!!!!!!

BOOM!!!!!!

BOOM!!!!!!

Objects falling from a hundred meters high smashed to pieces, and dust and smoke filled the room.

“Intruder detected! Attack mode!” “Intruder detected! Attack mode!” “Intruder detected! Attack mode!”

The security robots and patrol drones glowed red as they swarmed them from all directions.

“What the fuck is going on?!”

Sang Biao only just then ran in from outside the silver gate.

“The sky is falling!”

BANG BANG BANG! BANG BANG BANG!

The security robots that had crashed to the bottom floor gradually got back up, their eyes glowing red as they opened fire in their direction.