The two of them returned from the rooftop to the club activity room.
Cheng Mengxue was still on the sofa embroidering clothes, Qin Feng continued tinkering with the positron cannon, and Jiang Ran stood before the small blackboard in thought.
This scene…
It was as if the previous differences and arguments had never happened.
But.
Facts were facts, and history was history.
How could it possibly not have happened?
After that line, “I don’t blame you,” Qin Feng seemed to have let it go as well.
But it was precisely that easy release that made Jiang Ran feel even worse.
On the way down the stairs, he had regretted it several times.
Had he gone too far?
Had he been too selfish?
Had he been holding Qin Feng to a double standard?
Countless times, he reminded himself that this was the best friend he would ever have in this life; and countless times, he was devoured by fear, whispering that this was an uncontrollable butterfly effect spanning ten years.
Entanglement.
Pain.
Helplessness.
At this moment, Jiang Ran’s heart was a tangle of mixed emotions.
“I think we should establish some rules.”
He turned around:
“I feel very guilty that we couldn’t fulfill Qin Feng’s wish this time, and I’m sorry.”
“Although everyone understands the reasoning, I still don’t want something like this to happen again.”
“So, I believe the most urgent thing right now—before we continue sending spacetime text messages—is to define a series of rules.”
“Or rather… to define ‘what kinds of wishes can be granted’ and ‘what kinds of text messages are allowed to be sent.’”
“I agree.”
Cheng Mengxue raised her hand:
“If we can have a concrete standard, it’ll be easy to judge in the future.”
“As long as a wish meets these standards, it can be granted; if it doesn’t, then it’ll be rejected. That’s the most efficient and fairest way to handle things… We can’t possibly vote on every single one.”
Qin Feng lifted his head from the positron cannon.
He smiled faintly:
“I don’t really have any objections either. But I have to say, you two don’t need to feel so guilty, and you don’t need to think I suffered some huge grievance over this.”
“The wish to ‘revive my father’ was extremely risky to begin with. It’s not like I wasn’t mentally prepared, so I’m accepting this outcome willingly.”
“We’ve been good friends for so many years. Don’t let this create a rift between us. I’m not some petty, unreasonable person.”
……
The three of them pooled their ideas and finally settled on the Spacetime Text Message Usage Regulations:
【Spacetime Text Message Usage Regulations】
1. Spacetime text messages may only be sent as far back as 【30 days ago】 at most, to avoid uncontrollable butterfly effects.
2. The contents of any spacetime text message must be unanimously agreed upon by all three people.
3. All three people must be present at the same time when sending a spacetime text message. Not one may be absent.
4. Secrets such as spacetime text messages and the positron cannon must be strictly kept and may not be revealed to anyone.
Among these four rules, most were actually old topics repeated again.
The most important, and the only newly added item, was the strict “30-day limit” in the first rule.
This was the result of their careful weighing.
Thirty days.
That was the limit they deemed acceptable for spacetime butterfly effects.
Therefore, from now on, no matter what kind of spacetime text message it was, it would only be allowed to be sent to the past up to thirty days ago. Any farther than that was forbidden.
Without rules, nothing could be accomplished properly.
With these four usage regulations in place, they could indeed avoid many problems in the future.
At the same time.
Cheng Mengxue’s Spacetime Text Message User Manual had also been updated to version 4.0, with many patches added.
【Spacetime Text Message User Manual (Version 4.0)】
1. In theory, spacetime text messages can be sent to any point in the past, but they are limited by the maximum power output of the positron cannon.
2. For safety reasons, experiments should be conducted in the early hours of the morning, when the load on the power lines is low.
3. After the positron cannon overloads, it must be powered off and left idle for 20 hours before it can be used again.
4. The sending window for a spacetime text message is only 0.7 seconds, and the content is limited to a maximum of 70 Chinese characters.
5. A successful text message will trigger spacetime fluctuations and a world-line shift. Only Jiang Ran can perceive this change.
6. Only Jiang Ran can retain memories of the original world line. This special constitution has been named “All-Spacetime Memory.”
……
“Qin Feng.”
Jiang Ran pointed at the words on the blackboard:
“Your previous wish wasn’t granted. We’ll make it up to you now.”
“Think about it. Is there any other wish you want fulfilled, any regret you want to make up for?”
“We won’t vote this time. As long as it complies with the Usage Regulations we just discussed, we’ll definitely make it happen for you.”
Jiang Ran admitted it.
He was indeed eager to make up for his guilt, wishing he could immediately compensate Qin Feng with another wish.
As long as it was something within thirty days.
He would agree to Qin Feng without the slightest hesitation and raise no objections.
Even if it was a little excessive…
Even if he had worries and misgivings in his heart…
This time.
He had to agree to Qin Feng unconditionally!
However.
Faced with Jiang Ran’s secret resolve, Qin Feng seemed uninterested and did not react much:
“You really don’t have to pay so much attention to me.”
He used a screwdriver to remove the screws from the positron cannon:
“I’m quite satisfied with my current life. I’m satisfied with everything around me. To be honest, I don’t really feel like there are any regrets that need to be made up for.”
“All this time, my only wish was to save my father. Now that you’re suddenly asking me to change it to another wish… I really can’t think of anything right away.”
“Why don’t you just skip over me? I don’t have any objections.”
Cheng Mengxue, also feeling guilty, stood up:
“A-anything is fine!”
“Since we agreed it would be one turn per person, then no one can be left out!”
“Hurry up and think, Qin Feng. Big or small, anything is fine. Even if we just treat it as another experiment with spacetime text messages… Just come up with any wish!”
Jiang Ran nodded:
“That’s right. Anything at all is fine. At worst, we can just win the lottery a few more times.”
“Seriously… As long as you say some kind of wish, the two of us will feel a little less guilty.”
Qin Feng let out a long breath through his nose.
He stopped what he was doing.
After thinking for a moment:
“Fine.”
He also understood that he had to say some wish, more or less. Otherwise, Jiang Ran and Cheng Mengxue would keep feeling guilty.
“Hmm…”
He looked left and right, and finally lowered his gaze, fixing it on the outer casing of the positron cannon:
“Now that you mention it, there really was something a few days ago that I thought was a bit of a pity.”
“What was it?” “Hurry up and tell us!”
Jiang Ran and Cheng Mengxue immediately gathered around.
“Do you two remember this rotary-knob LCD control board?”
Qin Feng pointed at the circuit board hanging on the outer casing of the positron cannon.
It was something he had picked up at the used appliance market a few days ago. After being assembled with the positron cannon, it allowed them to precisely control the spacetime text message’s destination point… accurate down to the year, month, day, and hour, making every operation foolproof.
“I remember.”
Jiang Ran casually twisted the knob:
“What’s wrong with this thing? Doesn’t it work pretty well?”
“There was actually a better one.”
Qin Feng swatted away Jiang Ran’s meddlesome hand:
“When I bought this, I chatted with the owner of the used appliance shop. He said there was another old control board with a much nicer design, but it had happened to be bought by someone else just two days earlier.”
“You know me. When it comes to mechanical structures, I’ve always been a perfectionist. Don’t you think this external control board is ugly?”
Jiang Ran and Cheng Mengxue nodded at the same time.
Indeed, it was too ugly.
It looked like a urine bag had been hung on it. Extremely unattractive.
“If I could get there before that other person and buy the better-looking control board, I’d be able to modify the positron cannon to make it look nicer.”
Qin Feng continued:
“Let me think. I went to the used appliance market six days ago. That control board had been bought two days before that. To be safe, I should go three days earlier to snatch it first.”
“So, if I really have to say what I want to use a spacetime text message for right now…”
“It would be to send a text message to myself nine days ago, reminding the me back then to hurry to the used appliance market and buy that control board before anyone else.”