“Scientists have many conjectures about time-space travel, and about the nature of time and space.”
In general education class, the teacher wrote on the blackboard:
“One theory says that countless parallel time-spaces exist within our universe. Every tiny change or decision splits off a worldline leading to a completely different future.”
“These parallel time-spaces, similar yet not the same, are like countless threads starting from a single point, radiating toward an unknown future, and constantly splitting as they move forward…”
“This is what we’ll be discussing today: Worldline Theory.”
…
General education classes were electives, with all sorts of courses available. There were no restrictions by major or department; anyone interested could sign up.
Jiang Ran propped his chin in his hand, eyes closed in thought.
The experiment yesterday afternoon had failed again.
The sixty text messages sent one after another had all reached Cheng Mengxue’s phone without a single one missing. That dizzy, world-spinning sensation had not appeared.
Sigh.
Why, exactly?
Why had only that one text message crossed time and space, and why could it never be replicated?
Poke, poke.
Beside him, Cheng Mengxue poked Jiang Ran’s elbow.
“Feeling really disappointed?” She looked into Jiang Ran’s eyes.
“A little, I guess.”
Jiang Ran answered honestly:
“But it’s fine. I was mentally prepared for this. If sending texts to the past were that easy, wouldn’t the world have descended into chaos long ago?”
“Hehe~”
Cheng Mengxue smiled and pushed a sheet of paper over to him:
“Take a look. I summarized the key points for you guys.”
Jiang Ran looked at the manuscript paper. On the very top, a line of large characters read—
“The Great Time-Space Text Message Incident! Summary of Key Points!”
Pfft.
He couldn’t help laughing out loud.
From the start of class, Cheng Mengxue had been scribbling away. He’d thought she was diligently taking notes, but it turned out she had been writing this.
“Why are you writing this?”
“To help you sort out your thoughts~”
Cheng Mengxue leaned closer, her voice very soft:
“You’ve been frowning all day. I knew you were thinking about that text message.”
“I can’t really help you with anything, so I summarized the key points you and Qin Feng discussed. Maybe it’ll give you some inspiration.”
“Heh.”
Jiang Ran chuckled:
“You’re really thoughtful. Next time we go shopping, I’ll get you a little gift.”
“Can you buy me a rice-cooker Rhine Cat?” Cheng Mengxue suggested.
“How much is it?”
“Three thousand.”
???
Jiang Ran sucked in a breath:
“Why don’t they just rob people!”
“Even at that price, you can’t find one in stock!”
“Then let’s wait until it’s cooled down and gone out of fashion before buying it.”
Jiang Ran snorted:
“Can a thing like Rhine Cat really stay popular for hundreds of years?”
…
It wasn’t easy to whisper in class, so Jiang Ran turned his attention to the manuscript paper.
The handwriting was delicate and elegant.
It recorded everything they had discussed at the milk tea shop the day before yesterday.
Only, at the time, they had simply said whatever came to mind. Now that it was organized, it was indeed much clearer.
[Event Breakdown]
1. On the afternoon of March 17th, Cheng Mengxue lost her phone, found Jiang Ran, and sent a text message to the lost phone.
2. The text message unexpectedly traveled through time and space, returning to the past and arriving on Cheng Mengxue’s phone on March 14th.
3. Jiang Ran on March 14th refused to admit he had sent the text message, but the butterfly effect had already been triggered, and the original course of history changed.
4. Because of the contents of the text message, Cheng Mengxue began paying attention to her phone, so on March 17th, her phone was not lost. She also did not go find Jiang Ran, and naturally, Jiang Ran did not send that text message.
5. The trajectory of history changed, causing a shift in time and space. Therefore, from Jiang Ran’s perspective, all the temporal changes were completed within two seconds. When he opened his eyes, Cheng Mengxue and the sent text messages had all disappeared.
6. The most inexplicable issue is that Jiang Ran possesses memories from before the temporal shift, but has no related memories from after the temporal shift, and does not remember the argument from three days ago.
“So, students, pay attention!”
The general education teacher suddenly raised his voice and tapped the blackboard:
“This kind of act, jumping from Worldline A to Worldline B, is called a worldline transition!”
Many students who had been spacing out raised their heads and looked toward the podium.
“Of course, this worldline theory is merely an unverified conjecture.”
“Time-space travel, after all—even in serious physics—is an extremely romantic concept.”
The teacher put down the chalk and smiled:
“There are many similar time-space hypotheses. If you’re interested, you can look into them after class.”
“Class dismissed!”
…
The trio followed the necessary route and once again arrived at the old place, beside the familiar transformer distribution box.
Jiang Ran looked at the enormous object and listened to the sizzling sound of electrical current:
“Although we considered many factors, such as time, location, position, and direction…”
“I think… we still missed some key factor.”
Qin Feng followed Jiang Ran’s gaze:
“You’re not thinking of messing with the distribution box, are you? That belongs to the State Grid. High-voltage electricity is dangerous, not to mention damaging it would be illegal.”
“I’m not stupid.”
As Jiang Ran spoke, he turned on his phone’s flashlight and looked inside through the ventilation opening of the distribution box.
Nothing out of the ordinary.
Inside was just a very ordinary transformer.
The purpose of this device was to convert high-voltage electricity of over ten thousand volts into low-voltage electricity for civilian use, supplying people’s daily needs. Devices like this could be found all over the school.
It was currently peak electricity usage time. The distribution box was a little hot, and the inside was filled with the noise of machinery.
He suddenly thought of something.
In the science fiction film The Terminator, every time a future robot traveled over, it was accompanied by intense electrical discharge, with blue arcs crackling.
In the Back to the Future trilogy, the doctor also used the energy of lightning to travel through time.
Electric arcs, lightning, high-voltage electricity.
So.
Could it be…
[The principle behind time-space travel is related to high-voltage electricity?]
Tsk.
Jiang Ran clicked his tongue.
Difficult.
If they were talking about high-voltage electricity, this transformer distribution box was stable as could be. It had been like this on March 17th when he first sent the text, and it was still like this now. Steady as ever.
Then why had that text message on March 17th been able to travel into the past, while all later attempts failed?
“What exactly are we missing?”
Having personally experienced time-space travel and temporal shifts, Jiang Ran desperately wanted to understand the reason… especially what was special about himself.
He shook his head:
“Let’s go. We’ll grab something to eat at the cafeteria.”
…
The next day, the three of them went to class as usual.
When they passed by the club activity building, they found many students gathered in front of the bulletin board.
Moving closer, they discovered a disciplinary notice posted on it:
[Notice]
[On the evening of March 17th, Yan Rui of the Film Camera Club violated regulations by using a high-power electrical appliance, causing damage to the electrical wiring. In accordance with school management regulations, he is hereby given a warning as public notice.]
“Film Camera Club?”
Cheng Mengxue tilted her head:
“What do they do?”
“Probably a club for enthusiasts of old-fashioned film cameras? Nowadays everyone takes photos with digital cameras and phones. Film cameras were eliminated ages ago.”
Qin Feng answered:
“A tear of the times.”
Jiang Ran stood in front of the bulletin board, staring at the date on the notice, his eyes narrowing:
“I think I’ve found the key factor we missed.”
??
The two of them turned back to look at him.
Jiang Ran smiled faintly:
“Do you still remember which club was behind the window behind that transformer distribution box?”
Thinking back to the film canisters on the windowsill, and the photos clipped to the clothesline, Cheng Mengxue suddenly understood!
“It was the Film Camera Club!”
Then she turned back around and carefully read the disciplinary notice again.
The evening of March 17th… high-power electrical appliance… damage to the electrical wiring…
“That’s right.”
Jiang Ran stepped forward:
“The evening of March 17th was exactly when I sent the text message, and the location just happened to be outside the window where this senior was using a high-power electrical appliance.”
He extended his index finger and tapped the name of the senior who had been disciplined:
“So, it’s very possible…”
“The secret behind the text message traveling through time and space is connected to that high-power electrical appliance!”