After leaving the cafeteria, Jiang Ran first went back to the dorm to change clothes.
There was a small dorm group on WeChat marked 7B523. That had to be his dorm room number.
The junior college campus was very small. After leaving the cafeteria, he reached the dorm within a few minutes.
An eight-person room, bunk beds—the conditions were a bit poor, but fortunately it was very clean.
Jiang Ran had just sat down on his own bed when one of his roommates came over furtively.
“What?”
Looking at Roommate No. 1, Jiang Ran had no idea what his name was.
Roommate No. 1 shut the window, drew the curtains, closed the door, and locked it.
“Holy crap.”
Jiang Ran hurriedly stood up and backed himself against the wall.
Surely no one was coming for revenge in broad daylight, right?
Roommate No. 1 looked extremely nervous. He motioned for Jiang Ran to sit down, then leaned close to his ear and whispered:
“Jiang Ran, you and I usually have the best relationship. I’m only telling you this, so you absolutely can’t tell anyone else!”
“Oh, okay.”
It seemed this Roommate No. 1 was his good friend.
Jiang Ran lowered his guard and listened attentively.
“What is it?”
“I won a prize!!” Roommate No. 1 was beaming with joy.
“The lottery?” Jiang Ran was also very surprised.
“Not the lottery! I won an iPhone 16! The top-spec model!”
Roommate No. 1 could hardly hide his excitement. With trembling hands, he took out his phone, opened a text message for Jiang Ran to see, all while shielding it this way and that.
Jiang Ran managed to make out the contents with some effort:
【Congratulations, lucky user! We hereby notify you that you have won the grand prize in the New Year Spin-a-Prize program! One top-spec iPhone 16! Please click the web link below to fill in your shipping information and pay a 180-yuan delivery fee. SF Express insured shipping will be sent out immediately!】
“…”
The corner of Jiang Ran’s mouth nearly twitched all the way to his ear. He looked helplessly at Roommate No. 1.
“Bro, are you serious?”
“Of course!”
Roommate No. 1 hurriedly put away his phone.
“I only told you. I don’t even dare tell the others. They’d definitely be jealous of me! What if they steal my phone then?”
“No, bro…”
Jiang Ran quickly held him down.
“This is fake. It’s an ancient scam from who knows how many years ago. Their goal is to cheat you out of the shipping fee. Later, they might also ask for some insured shipping fee, deposit, verification fee, or whatever… In short, they’ll cheat you out of all kinds of fees. They won’t send you any phone at all.”
“Look at you!”
Roommate No. 1’s expression changed instantly.
“I only told you because I thought we were close, and now even you’re jealous of me! I checked the tracking number, and it’s already been shipped. How could that be fake?”
“No…”
“I really misjudged you, Jiang Ran! If it’s really fake, then why did only I receive the text and you didn’t? You’re just jealous of me!”
With that, Roommate No. 1 slammed the door and stormed out.
“…”
Jiang Ran looked at the shaking dorm door, powerless to refute.
Forget it.
Let him spend a few hundred yuan to buy himself a lesson. One learns from one’s mistakes.
Less than two minutes later.
Another roommate walked in, his face full of excitement.
“Jiang Ran! I’m going to tell you a secret! You absolutely can’t tell anyone else!”
“You won a prize too?” Jiang Ran answered first.
“Huh? How did you know?”
“Don’t tell me it’s an iPhone 16 too?”
“What nonsense are you talking about? Mine is a proper lottery, Shishicai!”
Roommate No. 2 took out his phone and showed Jiang Ran the number-picking interface.
“Look, this lottery website, Shishicai. One round every ten minutes. There’s a big brother guiding us on what to buy. I’ve already made several hundred!”
“…”
Jiang Ran looked at the crude webpage and instantly understood what was going on.
“Bro, these are all fake websites. It doesn’t matter how much you earn. The key is that you won’t be able to withdraw it.”
“How would I not be able to withdraw it? I just withdrew 100!”
“That’s because you withdrew too little. Once you deposit more later, they definitely won’t let you withdraw. Speaking of which… don’t any of you have the anti-fraud app installed on your phones?”
“Wh-what are you talking about, Jiang Ran! I kindly shared this with you and even wanted to bring you into the group to make money, and this is how you act?”
Roommate No. 2 turned against him.
“The moment I made money, the first person I thought of was you, yet you’re actually trying to block my path to wealth! Are you jealous that I’m making big money?”
“If I make money, would I not treat you to a meal? You’ve really disappointed me!”
Roommate No. 2 was furious and slammed the door on his way out.
“…”
Jiang Ran looked at the dorm door that seemed on the verge of collapse, swiftly changed his clothes, and left.
He had a feeling that if he stayed here any longer, he was going to offend every single roommate.
Before he got the positron cannon sorted out, he would probably have to live here for a while, so it was better to leave himself a way out.
He walked out of the junior college gates.
Then he got into a taxi and headed straight for Donghai University.
For the moment, Jiang Ran did not know where to start, so he decided to go take another look at the Film Photography Club.
He arrived at the club activity building.
On the notice board on the first floor, Senior Yan Rui’s disciplinary notice was still posted.
Although the public notice period had long since passed, no one was managing it, and no one had torn it down, so it remained posted on the board like that, waiting for some other notice to cover it.
He walked into the building and came to the door of the Film Photography Club.
He found the door half-open, left ajar.
There was actually someone inside.
He moved closer and glanced through the crack in the door. Sure enough, it was a familiar face! The final president of the Film Photography Club, the user of the positron cannon, the bearer of disciplinary punishment, a fourth-year graduate—
Yan Rui.
In the original worldline, because Jiang Ran, Qin Feng, and Cheng Mengxue had taken over the Film Photography Club in March, Senior Yan Rui had handed things over early and left campus ahead of time.
But in this worldline, the trio had fallen apart and could barely protect themselves, so naturally no one had taken over the Film Photography Club.
It was probably for this very reason that Senior Yan Rui had still not left campus even now.
After finally seeing an old acquaintance in the new worldline, Jiang Ran felt inexplicably excited and pushed the door open directly.
“Hello, Senior Yan Rui. I’m a second-year—”
His self-introduction suddenly got stuck there, and Jiang Ran closed his mouth.
Honestly, why was he trying to act familiar?
The current him was only a junior college student from another school, not a junior from this university. The less he said, the better.
Senior Yan Rui was packing up the miscellaneous items on the desk.
He turned around and pushed up his glasses.
“And you are?”
“Senior Yan Rui, I came because of the Film Photography Club.”
Since this part of the plot had already been repeated once, Jiang Ran went straight to the point and chose the fastest way to clear it.
“Senior, I only recently got into film cameras, and I really like film photography, so… I want to keep the Film Photography Club going.”
“I know the Student Union has already issued a dissolution notice to our club, but I’ll think of a way. Could you please wait two more days for me?”
Yan Rui looked utterly bewildered.
It took him a few seconds to digest what Jiang Ran had said.
“If you want to revive the Film Photography Club, I don’t have any objections. It’s just… this won’t be an easy thing.”
He took the “Club Dissolution Notice” down from the bookshelf and handed it to Jiang Ran.
“Look. The club’s status has already been revoked. I was also planning to finish packing up my personal belongings as soon as possible, then hand in the activity room key.”
“Of course, if you really have some way to save the Film Photography Club, I’m more than willing to wait two days.”
“After all, I’ve stayed in this club for a long time. I do have feelings for it, and I don’t want to watch it be dissolved either.”
Jiang Ran accepted the “Club Dissolution Notice.”
“Don’t worry, Senior Yan Rui. I won’t let you down. I’ll come find you again in a couple of days.”
OK.
Step one of the plan was complete.
Next, he had to go find Xu Yan and make use of her invincible network of connections.
After leaving the Film Photography Club, he went straight up to the second floor and arrived at the activity room of the Film Society.
The flourishing Film Society was different from the Film Photography Club. They were a major club. They had several activity rooms alone, as well as a dedicated screening room. They could be said to have ample troops and strong horses.
However…
After checking several rooms in a row, he did not see Xu Yan anywhere.
This made Jiang Ran feel uneasy.
No way.
Could Xu Yan in this worldline have also sacrificed herself by jumping into the river to save a child?
In the previous worldline, Jiang Ran and Cheng Mengxue had saved her with a space-time text message.
But in this worldline, there was no one to save her.
A male student saw Jiang Ran standing at the entrance and came forward.
“Hello, may I ask what you need?”
“I’m looking for someone.”
Jiang Ran’s heartbeat quickened.
“Excuse me, is President Xu Yan here?”