“Qin Feng, you really hid it well.”
Once he broke through that blind spot, the logic of time and space instantly became clear.
Qin Feng’s objective was very obvious—
【To bring his biological father back to life.】
Since that spacetime text message of Qin Feng’s had indeed been sent ten years into the past,
then the ten-year-old Qin Feng at the time, having learned in advance of his father’s death, would inevitably do everything he could to prevent it, to let his father avoid that accident and survive.
From that moment on…
The worldline shifted, and the course of history changed.
Reviving an adult who had been dead for ten years produced an enormous spacetime butterfly effect, one that tore through the history of the past decade like a tornado.
Many things changed, and the fates of many people changed along with them.
From Jiang Ran’s perspective, the most direct changes were these three:
1. Qin Feng’s path of growth changed. He did not come to Hangzhou No. 1 High School to study, did not become good friends with him, and his current whereabouts were unknown.
2. Cheng Mengxue, who should have grown up healthily, died in a car accident on June 8, 2023. Her life was forever frozen at eighteen.
3. His own life had also undergone a tremendous change. Though he did not yet know the details, the fact that he could actually date a girl like Nan Xiuxiu and mingle in this kind of circle… made him feel that his life could absolutely be described as turned upside down.
“Heh.”
For some reason, he laughed aloud.
He did not know what he was laughing at.
“I miss my father very much, and I also cherish all of you. To me, both sides of the scale weigh the same.”
Those words had been spoken by Qin Feng.
Jiang Ran did not think he had been lying.
If Qin Feng truly wanted to go back on his word and send a spacetime text behind his and Cheng Mengxue’s backs, there were clearly simpler ways to do it.
The positron cannon was sitting right there in the activity room. He could have secretly used it at any time.
That was also the point Jiang Ran found hardest to understand:
“Since Qin Feng had plenty of chances to send a text behind our backs, why did he have to put on this whole act in front of us?”
In his mind, he once again recalled Qin Feng’s final gaze.
“I’m sorry, Jiang Ran.”
It had been a look filled with guilt, but hidden within it was expectation:
“Forgive me.”
Could it be…
Qin Feng was still hoping that Jiang Ran, who possessed the memories of the original worldline, would find him again, forgive him, and let the three of them become friends once more?
Mm.
It was very possible.
Because when the first attempt to send a text had been interrupted, Qin Feng had discussed this very topic with him.
At that time, Qin Feng had asked him:
“If the worldline changes and causes me to get separated from you, turning us into strangers in the new worldline… in that new worldline, would you find me again?”
Back then, Jiang Ran had not thought that deeply at all. He had answered directly, from the bottom of his heart:
“I would. I definitely would.”
“No matter how the worldline changes, I won’t leave any one of you behind.”
“No matter what the spacetime butterfly effect makes our relationship become, I’ll definitely find both of you again and make everything right, just like we are now.”
…
So.
Was this the reason Qin Feng had dragged it out until the very end before carrying out his plan?
He wanted a promise.
He wanted Jiang Ran’s promise that he would still find him again.
“You’re too cunning.”
Jiang Ran muttered to himself.
He understood Qin Feng’s feelings of wanting to save his father, but he could not agree with Qin Feng’s methods at all.
“Xiaoxue is dead…”
That was something Jiang Ran could not pardon, could not forgive.
He wished he could find Qin Feng immediately and have a proper argument with him using fists and feet.
But now.
With the fact of Cheng Mengxue’s death laid out before him, he had no time to distinguish right from wrong.
He had to correct history.
He had to bring Cheng Mengxue back to life.
He had to turn the worldline back.
Right now, there was only one thing in his mind—
【Find the positron cannon again, send another spacetime text message, and bring Cheng Mengxue back to life!】
That was also why he had immediately taken a taxi to Donghai University.
He had to confirm whether the positron cannon was still at Donghai University, whether it was still inside the Film Club.
As long as he found the positron cannon, he could bring Cheng Mengxue back to life.
There was nothing difficult about it.
He had used a spacetime text to save Xu Yan, and Qin Feng had also used a spacetime text to save his father… Spacetime texts were omnipotent. As long as he found the positron cannon again, he could make up for everything he had lost!
Screech—
The taxi braked to a stop.
The driver turned his head back:
“Young man, we’re at Donghai University’s west gate.”
Jiang Ran paid and got out.
The west gate was Donghai University’s abandoned old school gate. It had long since stopped being used; the gate was shut tight and never opened.
There was a reason he had come here instead of going through the main entrance.
It was one in the morning. The main gate had long since been locked. Not only would he be unable to get in, he would inevitably be questioned by the guard and then have his counselor notified in the end… In that case, he might as well not bother.
But on the west gate side, abandoned for years, a section of the fence had rusted and corroded, and “just so happened” to have a gap broken open big enough for someone to crawl in and out. This was the solution countless heroic upperclassmen had devised.
Of course, this “just so happened” was definitely man-made; heroes did not ask where they came from, and hid their achievements and names.
Jiang Ran had studied at Donghai University for two years, so naturally he was an old hand at this. He found the broken gap in the railing with practiced ease and crawled inside.
The midnight campus was incomparably quiet. As he hurried along the tree-lined path, all he could hear were the frogs croaking by the lake and the fragmented chirping of cicadas.
This was his first time walking through Donghai University late at night. Beyond his nervousness, there was only loneliness.
Thinking back on these past two years.
When had he ever acted alone?
At his side, if it was not Qin Feng, then it was Cheng Mengxue. There had never been a single moment when he felt lonely.
But now.
Especially when he thought that on this worldline, Qin Feng had not become his friend, and Cheng Mengxue had died during the gaokao.
How exactly had he spent these two years?
Had it been just like this, coming to Donghai University alone to study? Alone, moving between cafeteria, classroom, and dormitory in a monotonous routine? Alone, watching sunrise and sunset, spring and summer, autumn and winter?
That instant of empathy made Jiang Ran recall the words Qin Feng had once spoken:
“After the worldline changes, we, who have such a close relationship, instantly become strangers; all our feelings and experiences cease to exist, and each of us lives our own life… No one will remember the iron triangle we have now.”
“Jiang Ran, don’t you think that feeling is cruel?”
Yes.
Of course it was cruel.
So.
Jiang Ran clenched his fists.
He had to find the positron cannon and correct all of this!
…
Very soon, he slipped into the club activity building.
The Film Club’s spare key had always been kept under the flowerpot on the corridor windowsill. Jiang Ran picked up the pot, and sure enough, he saw a small silver key.
“Lucky.”
It seemed the Film Club’s tradition had not changed.
Taking the key, he walked to the familiar wooden door, inserted it, and turned. The lock gave a click, and the door loosened, revealing a narrow crack.
For some reason, it seemed as though the gears of fate had begun to turn, linking the two spaces inside and outside the room, the two times and spaces…
Years, time, history, cause and effect, past and future tangled together.
The distant streetlamp shone through the narrow gaps between the branches and leaves, casting light onto the door panel, swaying unsteadily, like hundreds of eyes opening and closing… staring intently at the one who had crossed the worldline; murmuring softly that all the answers lay behind this door.
Jiang Ran took a deep breath.
And pushed hard—