“Ahhh!”
Two seconds later, the dizziness faded, gravity returned, and everything stabilized.
Jiang Ran gasped for breath and opened his eyes.
This was…
Where?
Looking at the completely unfamiliar scene before him, he understood that after the timeline shift, his location had changed once more.
Except, this wasn't the dormitory, not the activity room, not the hospital, not any familiar place.
He looked left and right, surveying his surroundings.
Television, tea table, wardrobe, carpet, white bedsheets, digital clock…
Was this a hotel room?
It seemed so.
The layout resembled a hotel room, though it was much larger in size.
No lights were on in the room.
Only the faint glow of the digital clock.
Fortunately, the curtains were only drawn with sheer white fabric, allowing moonlight to pour in entirely, accompanied by a gentle breeze and the chirping of cicadas. While enabling Jiang Ran to make out the room's furnishings, it also let him feel the refreshing coolness of summer.
“Qin Feng.”
He suddenly realized he had no time to consider his environment—he had to find Qin Feng immediately!
It was obvious that Qin Feng had been plotting this for a long time, using a series of acting skills and tricks to deceive him.
He had originally thought that as long as he took Qin Feng's phone and sent the text message personally, he could avoid the risk.
But he never expected…
Qin Feng truly had everything calculated, anticipating every possibility, and had hidden another phone in his pocket!
It was an old button-style phone, very small, similar to a senior phone.
But the advantage was that this kind of phone had physical buttons. Even if he couldn't see it in his pocket, he could accurately press the send button.
Recalling that meaningful glance Qin Feng cast at him when the countdown ended… Jiang Ran felt extremely uncomfortable.
Why?
Why had he lied to him?
He had long promised Qin Feng that as long as the node for sending the spacetime text message was within one month, regardless of the content or what event he wanted to change, he would agree.
Under such a promise, was there still a need to hide it from him?
“I'll call him first.”
As he spoke, Jiang Ran took out his phone.
It was just a spacetime text message sent to ten days ago; the resulting spacetime butterfly effect was very limited. He wasn't worried at all about large-scale changes to the historical trajectory.
But…
“Huh?”
He flipped through his contacts and WeChat twice.
Nothing.
Nothing.
Why was there no phone number for Qin Feng?
This was impossible.
The two of them were incredibly close, having high-intensity phone conversations every day. How could there be no contact information!
Forget ten days ago…
Even back in high school a few years ago, the two of them had chatted daily without ever stopping.
“Too strange.”
The sense of strangeness struck again, as if an invisible black hand had reached through the screen window and gripped his heart tightly.
In any case, contact Cheng Mengxue first.
Jiang Ran frowned deeply.
After the timeline shift, he had absolutely no memories of this new timeline.
The top priority was to get in touch with Cheng Mengxue as soon as possible and synchronize his memories first.
However.
Nothing!
Also nothing!
There wasn't even Cheng Mengxue's contact information in his phone!
This was too ridiculous.
The two of them were childhood sweethearts who had played together since they were in diapers. Anyone could be missing, but Cheng Mengxue could never be missing from his life.
“What kind of joke is this…”
Jiang Ran instantly felt a chill down his spine, and all sorts of ominous premonitions crept into his heart.
No.
No matter what text message Qin Feng had sent without telling him, ultimately the positron cannon was operated by Cheng Mengxue, and the text message send date was locked at ten days ago.
So, no matter how the timeline shifted, it could only change history within these ten days at most.
Just ten short days.
Could he have cut ties, blocked, and deleted both Qin Feng and Cheng Mengxue as friends?
“What the hell is going on?”
Jiang Ran was completely at a loss.
No.
He had to contact someone he knew immediately, anyone would do.
He checked his call history.
He found that on the first page, there were three calls made to Wang Hao.
Good.
Wang Hao works too.
They had just eaten barbecue together the day before yesterday.
Although on this brand new timeline, that barbecue might not have happened, at least Wang Hao himself existed.
Middle school classmate from a neighboring class, high school classmate, class monitor.
Since the two of them often called each other, it meant that relationship still existed.
Without any hesitation, he immediately dialed Wang Hao's number.
The ringing was long. Jiang Ran subconsciously rubbed the bedsheet, hoping Wang Hao would pick up quickly.
Finally.
“Hello…”
A sleepy voice came from the other end of the phone:
“What's up, bro… calling so late… aren't you guys done playing yet?”
Play?
Play what?
“Do you have Qin Feng's phone number? Send it to me.” Jiang Ran ignored the meaningless information and got straight to the point.
“Qin Feng?”
Wang Hao was puzzled:
“Who's that?”
Jiang Ran was stunned:
“The Qin Feng from our high school class! Ranked first in our grade, provincial top scorer on the college entrance exam, won the Olympiad championship, that genius famous throughout the school.”
“Never heard of him.”
Wang Hao's tone was very flat:
“Never heard of this person at all. At least he's definitely not in our class… Our high school never had a god like that.”
“How could there not be!”
Jiang Ran scratched his head:
“In high school, me, Qin Feng, and Xiaoxue, the three of us hung out every day—”
“F*ck! Your grandpa!”
Wang Hao let out a pig-like squeal:
“The one who hung out with you two every day was me! The three of us hung out every day, okay! The unbreakable iron triangle, you bastard!”
“Also, dammit, my name isn't Qin Feng! Jiang Ran, are you calling me in the middle of the night just to piss me off?”
“Oh oh oh, I get it, you guys are playing Truth or Dare, right? You're so heartless! You didn't invite me to the party, and now you're pranking me during the game!”
…
Jiang Ran's palms were sweating.
Confusion, surprise, a completely unknown situation.
Although they had indeed gotten along well with Wang Hao in high school, still… could Qin Feng's existence really be ignored so completely?
【Why, on this timeline, does it seem like Qin Feng's existence has been erased? Not a trace left?】
Not only was he missing from his contact list,
Not in the iron triangle trio,
Not in Wang Hao's memory,
Not even among his high school classmates!
Qin Feng… where exactly did he go?
“Wang Hao, I have something very urgent, very important to find Qin Feng right now, extremely urgent. You must not joke with me.”
Jiang Ran's tone was very serious:
“If this is some kind of prank right now, or some kind of hidden camera game, please stop it immediately and send me Qin Feng's phone number right now!”
He emphasized once more.
“Ahh geez, why are you so annoying tonight!”
On the other end of the phone, Wang Hao was clearly impatient:
“Why the hell would I lie to you! In the middle of the night, I was sleeping in my dorm having a sweet dream. I don't have time to play with you!”
“I'll tell you loud and clear, no! No! There's no Qin Feng's phone number! And absolutely no person named Qin Feng!”
“I was the class monitor in our high school class. Who was in our class, don't I know? I can recite our class roster backwards! There was absolutely no one named Qin Feng!”
“Even if you dig my brain out, I can't find anyone f*cking named Qin Feng for you!”
…
Facing Wang Hao's howling, Jiang Ran gradually calmed down.
Wang Hao wasn't someone so lacking in tact, even when joking he had limits.
Moreover, the other party had already been driven to swearing. Based on his understanding of Wang Hao… it meant he really wasn't lying, wasn't deceiving him.
This was troublesome.
Jiang Ran's heartbeat quickened.
What exactly was written in that text message sent to ten days ago?
Why had Qin Feng, a perfectly fine person, directly disappeared from the world, from their lives?
Jiang Ran couldn't make sense of the spacetime logic no matter what.
But since Wang Hao insisted he didn't know Qin Feng, continuing to communicate with him was meaningless.
Better contact Cheng Mengxue.
After all, the two of them were childhood sweethearts who had grown up together, and also the ones who jointly kept the secret of the spacetime text messages. Communication would be more convenient.
Just now Wang Hao had also said that the iron triangle in high school was him, Jiang Ran, and Cheng Mengxue.
Although he didn't know why Wang Hao had replaced Qin Feng.
【But at least, this shows that Cheng Mengxue's life trajectory hasn't changed.】
“I'm not going to bullsh*t with you anymore.”
Jiang Ran interrupted Wang Hao's cursing:
“Stop yapping about Qin Feng. You must have Xiaoxue's contact info, right?”
“You, right now, send me Xiaoxue's phone number.”