The voting result: two in favor, one against.
The Spacetime Text Message Plan to Save Xu Yan… had begun.
"First, we must make one thing clear: the secret of the spacetime text messages can only ever be known to the three of us."
"Therefore, we can't send the text message to Senior Sister. We have to personally step in and prevent this tragedy."
In the club activity room, Qin Feng wrote on the small blackboard:
"This rescue operation isn't very difficult. As long as we stop the two children from falling into the water in advance, or stop Xu Yan from jumping into the river to save them, or set up an ambush beforehand with swim rings and life jackets… and so on, there are many methods."
Jiang Ran and Cheng Mengxue nodded.
Indeed.
As far as the action itself was concerned, there truly was no difficulty at all.
Spacetime text messages were such a magical and powerful "cheat plug-in." If they could already reveal accurate future information to their past selves, what regret could they not salvage?
However…
Jiang Ran looked at the small blackboard that had already been wiped clean and didn't say much more.
He was still worried about that string of mysterious numbers.
But thinking about it carefully, what Qin Feng said made sense too.
What meaning was there in idle speculation without any clues?
It would be better to attempt another experiment within the acceptable range of butterfly effects, to see if they could receive a second text message, and whether they would receive other clues.
"It's best to give us from three days ago some clear instructions."
Jiang Ran pointed at his watch:
"Because time is running out. The place where Xu Yan drowned is a forty-minute drive from school. After we receive the text message three days ago, we might not have much time to prepare."
Cheng Mengxue agreed very much:
"Spacetime text messages can only be sent to three days in the past. Considering the margin of error in the timing, we must send the text message immediately."
"Otherwise, if time keeps dragging on… I'm afraid there really won't be any chance to save Big Sister."
"Then let's begin."
Jiang Ran stood up:
"The more time we give our past selves, the more hope we have for saving her."
The operation began.
It was still the old configuration: Jiang Ran was responsible for sending the text message outside the transformer distribution box, Qin Feng was responsible for activating the positron cannon, and Cheng Mengxue sat on the windowsill synchronizing the time.
Jiang Ran edited the text message as he walked out of the club activities building and around to the transformer distribution box.
"Please note, this is a spacetime text message…"
He described the matter as clearly as possible, and the text message was quickly finished:
[This is a spacetime text message from three days in the future. Please begin action immediately.
Xu Yan will drown at noon on March 26. The cause of death is jumping into the river to save a child who fell into the water. The location is near Qing'an Bridge. Please change the original history and prevent this tragedy.]
Yes, this would do.
The time, place, and cause-and-effect of the event were all described clearly.
They from three days ago weren't fools either; they would know what to do.
Of course.
The main reason…
was also that a single text message could contain at most seventy characters, and anything beyond that would automatically be split into multiple messages.
Jiang Ran wasn't sure whether split messages could be successfully sent. At this critical moment, it wasn't worth taking this risk… what if it failed?
"The text message is ready!"
He shouted at Cheng Mengxue.
Then, he got as close to the transformer distribution box as possible.
Qin Feng speculated that the spacetime black hole was extremely tiny, with limited gravitational pull.
If the phone was too far from the spacetime black hole when sending the text message, it was very likely the radio waves would not be absorbed by the spacetime black hole, and naturally, the cross-spacetime transmission could not be completed.
In short.
Human lives were at stake.
It was best to ensure nothing went wrong.
Qin Feng connected the positron cannon to the power supply, carefully adjusted the direction, aimed the "barrel" at the distribution box outside the window, and gave an OK sign:
"I'm ready here too. Can start at any time."
"Good!"
Cheng Mengxue received the signal and raised her right hand to signal the two of them:
"Then I'll start the countdown! When I reach zero, Qin Feng will activate the positron cannon first, then Jiang Ran will immediately send the text message!"
The exact same words.
Jiang Ran felt that spacetime seemed somewhat displaced.
But this was understandable.
To him, who possessed memories from before the spacetime alteration, this was already the second spacetime text message experiment; but to Qin Feng and Cheng Mengxue on the current world line, this was the first.
"Five!"
Cheng Mengxue began the countdown.
A breeze lifted willow branches that brushed across the back of his neck, and the sizzling electrical current from the distribution box filled his ears.
"Four!"
Jiang Ran looked at the sixty-five-character text message.
Never before had he sent such a long text message.
Never before had he attempted something so crazy.
"Three!"
This time it was not an accidental event, nor was it a test experiment.
Rather, it was an unprecedented act—
to use the power of spacetime text messages
to save a person who had already died.
"Two!"
Could they save her?
Could she be saved?
Jiang Ran suddenly felt a bit nervous, his palms sweating.
And truly, would nothing go wrong?
"One!"
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
In his mind emerged ukiyo-e-like hallucinations once more.
The sun setting in the east,
tender shoots retracting into branches,
spilled water flowing upward,
starlight vanishing without a trace!
"Zero!"
Qin Feng activated the positron cannon, and a roar came!
Jiang Ran pressed hard with his fingertip! He hit the send button—
Buzz!
Buzz!
Buzz!
Disorientation and dizziness—the familiar feeling came!
In an instant, the world spun, his five senses faded, and Jiang Ran could not feel gravity's presence.
Good.
In his muddled state, Jiang Ran understood that the spacetime alteration had occurred as promised.
This meant that the text message had been successfully sent to the past, and established history had also changed.
Once he opened his eyes again…
it would be a brand-new history, a brand-new world line!
"Ah!"
Two seconds later, all discomfort vanished.
Jiang Ran slowly opened his eyes…
Hm?
He gasped.
Where was this?
Before his eyes was a white ceiling, white bedsheets, bright windows, the pungent smell of alcohol, and an IV stand beside him.
"This is… [a hospital room]?"
He blinked his eyes and quickly confirmed.
That's right.
This was some hospital room. At this moment, he was lying in a hospital bed with an IV drip running beside him.
What was going on!
He sat up in bed with a start.
A tearing pain shot through his right arm, but how could he care about that now?
How had he ended up in the hospital?
Clearly, just now when he was sending the text message, he was still at Donghai University, outside the clubroom window.
But how after a spell of dizziness and opening his eyes…
had he inexplicably teleported to the hospital?
"That's not right."
Suddenly, a terrifying, uncontrollable term flashed through his mind—
[Spacetime Butterfly Effect].
He instantly understood that it was that text message sent to three days ago that had triggered an unexpected spacetime butterfly effect, thereby drastically altering the trajectory of history!
In the original March 29 history, he had indeed been at Donghai University.
But after that spacetime text message was sent, the history between March 26 and March 29 had changed… In the new historical trajectory, the March 29 him was lying in a hospital.
Whew…
The breeze pouring in from the back of his neck from the ward air conditioner was like a spacetime butterfly somewhere in the unseen flapping its wings, the gradually brewing tornado swallowing him whole.
"Just what… happened?"