Creak...
The wooden hinges gave off an ancient, hoarse rasp, and an old, stale smell rushed to meet him.
Moonlight spilled in through the glass window.
This was the film club activity room, once like their secret base, but now there was not a single familiar shadow to be found.
No Rhine Cat army occupying the entire room,
No screwdrivers of every length on the workbench,
No neatly arranged bookcases that carried a faint fragrance,
No little blackboard covered in plans and questions, written, erased, and revised again,
Here, there was no trace at all of the trio.
Messy cardboard boxes of old things, a dust-covered coffee table and sofa, a few old photos clipped to a clothesline, dilapidated and incomplete papers scattered on the floor...
This was what the film club had looked like at the very beginning, just as it had been when the three of them first walked in here on the original world line. Nothing had changed.
“This is normal.”
Jiang Ran reminded himself.
On this brand-new world line, Qin Feng and Cheng Mengxue had never come to Donghai University. The trio no longer existed, so naturally they never would have joined the film club. There should never have been any trace of them here to begin with.
“Senior Yan Rui should have graduated and left by now, right?”
He slowly walked into the room, stepping over dust and grit on the floor.
“The film club should have been dissolved by now too.”
Without the three of them to prolong the film club’s life, this once incomparably glorious club had, in the end, become a tear shed by the times.
In a daze, beneath the hazy moonlight...
He seemed to see Cheng Mengxue sitting on the sofa, hugging a Rhine Cat as she embroidered clothes;
Seemed to see Qin Feng sprawled in front of the workbench, tinkering with things here and there;
Seemed to see himself perched on the windowsill, counting down 5, 4, 3, 2, 1;
Seemed as though all their laughter and arguments from that time were still vividly before his eyes.
“I should look for the positron cannon first.”
The positron cannon was the core of everything, and also the hope of saving everything.
Jiang Ran gathered his thoughts and began searching.
Because he was afraid of attracting the school patrol guards and causing unnecessary trouble, Jiang Ran did not turn on the lights. Instead, he searched by the faint glow of his phone screen.
He had already gone through these old things in the room once before, and remembered most of them.
After searching around, he did not find the positron cannon, but he did find two notices on the bookshelf.
One was a Club Dissolution Notice. The other was Senior Yan Rui’s Personal Disciplinary Notice.
The disciplinary notice was written very clearly. Just as had happened on the previous world line, Senior Yan Rui had been issued a warning by the university for using high-power electrical equipment on the evening of March 17th and burning out the activity building’s wiring.
It seemed that this portion of history was consistent with the original history. Nothing had changed.
“In other words, the positron cannon isn’t here.”
Jiang Ran put down the notice and looked out the window.
“On this world line, Senior Yan Rui was still disciplined because he activated the positron cannon.”
“Then now... the positron cannon should have been confiscated by the student council and placed in the school warehouse.”
Fine.
Although he had not found the positron cannon directly, at least he had a clue. He could think of a way to get the positron cannon back from the warehouse.
This trip had not been for nothing.
Jiang Ran felt slightly relieved, and his taut nerves finally relaxed as well.
No longer caring about the surrounding dust, he plopped down on a thick cardboard box, covered his face with both hands, and let out a long sigh.
The breath lingered for a long time, winding around and around, echoing through the room...
Just like his tangled thoughts.
How badly he wanted to take out his phone and call Cheng Mengxue. If that was impossible, then even calling Qin Feng would be fine.
Only now, sitting alone in this lonely activity room, did he realize that he actually did not hate Qin Feng all that much.
He knew that Qin Feng had not deliberately caused Cheng Mengxue’s death. It was the chaotic mischief of the spacetime butterfly effect, an accident that no one could have foreseen.
The butterfly effect was a chaotic system. Everything was unknown and unpredictable.
So...
Qin Feng, where are you now?
Was your father saved?
Do you know that Cheng Mengxue died?
A text message with seventy characters, aside from explaining your father’s cause of death, could still contain many other things.
You’re such a genius. You definitely wouldn’t waste a single character. You would absolutely have hidden plenty of information in that spacetime text message.
Then why, on the very day the world line shifted... did you not come to see me?
Jiang Ran raised his head.
And opened his eyes.
If Qin Feng were here now, everything would be easy.
They only needed to find the positron cannon, have Qin Feng repair it, then send a spacetime text message to the day Cheng Mengxue died two years ago. Naturally, they would be able to avoid the car accident with ease and save Cheng Mengxue.
That way.
In the new world line, Qin Feng’s father would be alive, and Cheng Mengxue would be alive too. Everyone would get a happy ending.
Could it be that the time was not yet ripe?
Jiang Ran shook his head.
No matter what Qin Feng’s reason was, no matter what this world line’s Qin Feng was planning, he had no time to wait for Qin Feng.
The longer time dragged on, the more trouble would arise.
The matter of using a spacetime text message to save Cheng Mengxue had to be decided and acted on immediately. There could be no delay.
He began making a plan in his heart.
Now, since it was clear that the positron cannon was in the school warehouse, that the film club was once again facing dissolution, and that the course of history was entirely consistent with the previous world line...
Then the solution could also follow the same pattern:
1. Tomorrow during the day, first find Xu Yan. Use her connections to keep the film club alive and make himself the new club president.
2. Once the president submitted an application and wrote a letter of guarantee, he could retrieve the prohibited electrical equipment from the school warehouse and move the positron cannon back here.
3. The most difficult part lay in repairing the positron cannon and installing a control board. This was not something he was good at. Fortunately, after watching Qin Feng modify it for so long, he had already committed all the principles to memory. As long as he studied a little mechanical knowledge, completing the repairs should not be difficult.
4. Once all the preparations were complete, he could restart the positron cannon, send a spacetime text message into the past, trigger a change in the world line... and rewrite history!
...
That was the plan.
Carrying it out would not be difficult.
Even if Cheng Mengxue had died two years ago, the bond between him and Xu Yan as “childhood playmates” should still remain. That would not change.
So Xu Yan would definitely help him with this.
Huh?
Jiang Ran’s heart suddenly lurched.
【On this world line... Xu Yan should still be alive, right?】
He really had no certainty about this. All he could do was hope that Xu Yan had been lucky enough.
Having decided on his plan, Jiang Ran braced his hands on his knees and stood up.
Suddenly—
Thump.
He staggered, retreating until he bumped into the edge of the table.
Someone was there!
He held his breath and looked toward the half-open door of the activity room...
A dark figure was quietly leaning against the doorframe, arms folded, staring at him without moving!
Who was it?
When had they arrived?
“Jiang Ran, what are you looking for?”
A familiar yet pleasant voice rang out.
Outside the window, the rustling of leaves sounded like a fuse about to explode, leaving Jiang Ran with nowhere to run.
Curly, fluffy hair bounced like springs with each step.
The girl walked with delicate steps, moving from the darkness into the moonlight. Specks of starlight flashed upon her pink long hair.
With her hands behind her back, she narrowed her bright, gleaming eyes.
“Are you... hiding something from me?”