“Up to now, we’ve sent spacetime text messages three times. As for the patterns and mysteries involved, I think it’s necessary for us to summarize them.”
Jiang Ran pulled the small blackboard over to the front of the lab bench and summarized as he wrote on it:
“[First spacetime text message sent]: a purely accidental event. A blind cat stumbling upon a dead rat.”
That description was quite apt.
At the time, the various coincidences had been pushed to an absurd extreme.
When Senior Yan Rui of the Film Club was tidying up, he dug out an ancient relic—the positron cannon. Out of curiosity, he placed the positron cannon on the table, and it [just so happened] to be aimed at the transformer distribution box outside the window.
After the positron cannon was activated, it ran for only 0.7 seconds before burning out the circuit and causing a power outage.
During those 0.7 seconds, the positron beam bombarded the high-voltage transformer and [just so happened] to create a spacetime black hole that lasted for 0.7 seconds.
And Jiang Ran, at that very moment, [just so happened] to be standing beside the distribution box, and [just so happened] to press the send button within those 0.7 seconds, sending out the text message’s radio waves.
Thus, the spacetime black hole captured the radio waves, sent them through spacetime back into the past, and delivered them to three days earlier, completing a completely accidental spacetime text transmission.
That incident had been a sheer low-probability coincidence. With so many “just so happens,” if their luck had been even slightly worse, it never could have been achieved.
“[Second spacetime text message sent]: after we repaired the positron cannon, we conducted the first test.”
That had only been a test experiment.
No one had been confident. No one knew whether it would succeed. But it really had succeeded.
The test message was successfully sent to three days earlier. The original history was altered, and the worldline shifted once again.
That test experiment had been perfect, except…
Cheng Mengxue’s phone had actually received two messages.
The second text message had appeared out of thin air, and the mysterious string of garbled numbers on it had yet to be deciphered.
Jiang Ran continued writing on the blackboard:
“[Third spacetime text message sent]: after grasping certain patterns, we sent a message on our own initiative for the first time, attempting to actively rewrite the trajectory of history, actively trigger a worldline jump, and revive Xu Yan, who had died by accident.”
This attempt had been of utmost importance.
Because it had been purposeful… a challenge issued against established history.
It was the opening of Pandora’s box,
the beginning of an attempt to manipulate history,
the verification of worldline theory,
and proof that they could control the power of spacetime.
…
Jiang Ran put down the chalk and patted the chalk dust off his fingertips.
“Through these three experiments, we can be considered to have basically grasped the principles and usage rules of spacetime text messages. Xiaoxue, you’re up.”
“Coming!”
Cheng Mengxue had been writing on a sheet of whiteboard paper the entire time.
She stood up, picked up a magnet, and stuck the whiteboard paper covered in large characters onto the small blackboard.
“This is what I just summarized… the rules and key points related to spacetime text messages. I’ll go through them one by one.”
On the whiteboard paper, in bold characters, was written—
《Spacetime Text Message User Manual (Version 1.0)》
[1. Spacetime text messages can only be sent to three days earlier.]
[2. The sending window for spacetime text messages is only 0.7 seconds.]
[3. After the positron cannon overloads, it must be powered off and left idle for 20 hours before it can be used again.]
[4. A successful text message transmission will trigger a spacetime shift, and only Jiang Ran can perceive this shift.]
[5. A spacetime shift represents a worldline transition, but only Jiang Ran possesses “all-spacetime memory.”]
?
Jiang Ran stared at the final point.
“What is [all-spacetime memory]?”
“The name I came up with for your special constitution.”
Cheng Mengxue planted her hands on her hips.
“Isn’t it cool?”
“It’s way too chuuni…”
“Oh, come on, it’s such an accurate definition! The way we described it before was too wordy. We need something more concise.”
She fought hard for it.
“The worldline has changed so many times, and you’ve retained your memories every single time, haven’t you? Those spacetime histories that none of us remember, that have already vanished… they’re all inside your head.”
“Since you possess the memories of every spacetime, naming your special constitution [all-spacetime memory] is simply the perfect name!”
“Suit yourself.” Jiang Ran felt it didn’t matter what it was called.
He looked at the 《Spacetime Text Message User Manual (Version 1.0)》 and pondered…
In truth.
Many of the rules written on it might not be absolutely accurate.
But since it was a provisional version, this would do for now.
At worst, if they made new discoveries later, they could update it to Version 2.0, Version 3.0.
Then.
Next.
It was Qin Feng’s turn to summarize.
“I’ll just talk about my thoughts on this positron cannon.”
Qin Feng walked to the front of the lab bench.
“This device—its principle is unknown, its structure is unknown, and its effects are unknown. In any case, I don’t believe it can really fire a positron beam. Fine, it does indeed seem capable of firing some kind of energy body, but I have to say, that absolutely cannot be a positron beam. Physics won’t allow it.”
“Get to the point,” Jiang Ran interrupted.
“Because I don’t dare dismantle the core components, research progress has been very slow.”
Qin Feng continued:
“But I feel that spacetime text messages definitely can’t only be sent to three days ago. There must be some [variable] that can control the ‘depth’ of the spacetime black hole and allow the text message to be sent to an earlier point in time.”
“For example, ten days ago? A month ago? A year ago?”
It was possible.
Jiang Ran had thought the same thing before.
“So, for the next experiment, I plan to try searching for this variable.”
Qin Feng pointed at the positron cannon.
“Through external circuitry, we can control the strength of the buncher and change the electron beam density.”
“I think there’s a strong possibility… that as long as we increase the electron beam density, we’ll be able to send text messages to an even earlier point in time!”
Jiang Ran nodded.
“We can try it, but I suggest we don’t increase the density right away. Let’s decrease it first and see… try sending text messages to two days ago, one day ago, or even just a few hours ago.”
Qin Feng smiled.
“You’re as cautious as ever. But you’re right. This is safer.”
“Not only that.”
Jiang Ran raised his index finger.
“Since we’re going to conduct an experiment, we should try a few more possibilities.”
“When we send the text message next time, we can have someone else send it, use another phone to send it… and see whether you guys can also retain all-spacetime memory.”
At present.
Why he possessed [all-spacetime memory] remained an unsolved mystery with no clues whatsoever.
He had thought about it before.
Could it be related to who sent the text message, or who pressed the send button?
Though that sounded very metaphysical.
But since they had no leads, they might as well try something metaphysical. Perhaps a blind cat really would stumble upon a dead rat.
“All right.”
Jiang Ran checked his watch. 9:01 p.m.
There were still two hours before the dormitory building closed. That was enough time to conduct one spacetime text message experiment.
“In that case, now that the summary is done, there’s no time to lose. Let’s begin the experiment.”
He wiped the small blackboard clean.
Then wrote the large words: 《Fourth Spacetime Text Message Experiment》.
After that, he turned back and smiled faintly.
“Right now, we no longer have any testing requirements, nor is there any urgent incident we need to salvage. We’re completely free to decide the content of the spacetime text message.”
“So, everyone, let’s put our heads together—”
“This time, what should we use the spacetime text message to do?”