Tap, tap, tap, tap...
Only after the playful sound of the little high heels vanished around the corner did the three of them recover from their shock.
“Big Sister Xu Yan...”
Cheng Mengxue’s eyes were full of envy.
“She’s so cool.”
“She’s been like that since she was little,” Jiang Ran said. In his memory, this girl, who was only one year older than them, had always been mature and reliable since childhood.
He lowered his head and looked at the petition.
The club presidents who had signed it were almost all from major clubs with considerable influence in the school. That alone showed its weight.
“In any case, we’ve solved one big problem. Let’s go to the Film Club first.”
The three of them hurried to the Film Club without stopping. As luck would have it, Senior Yan Rui was there too.
Yan Rui was very happy for them and took them all over the place to handle the procedures.
And so.
The Film Club, which had been gasping for breath for many years, was allowed to go on gasping for another year. Jiang Ran became the new president, while Cheng Mengxue and Qin Feng were the only two members.
“This way, I can graduate and leave school with peace of mind.”
After Senior Yan Rui explained some club matters, he said goodbye to the three of them and left with the last of his personal belongings.
“Yay! From now on, this is our secret base!”
Cheng Mengxue was about to throw herself onto the sofa, but the thick layer of dust froze her in midair. She stood on tiptoe and backed away.
“Maybe we should clean up first?”
After an afternoon of hard work.
The activity room, sealed in dust for who knew how long, was finally cleaned up.
There were many old objects in the long-standing Film Club. Most of them had unknown uses and uncertain condition, so Jiang Ran and Qin Feng did not dare touch them carelessly. They piled them all into the corner.
“Can I bring over the Rhine Cat plushie from my dorm?” Cheng Mengxue asked.
“Is there really any need?”
Jiang Ran looked at the cramped activity room.
“There isn’t much space to move around in to begin with.”
“Aiya, there’s no room on my dorm bed anymore~”
“Fine, do whatever you want.”
Jiang Ran, who had never had any experience as a club president, did not know what he was supposed to do in the activity room anyway. In any case, they did not actually intend to carry out real club activities, so he let Cheng Mengxue decorate it as she pleased.
Qin Feng, on the other hand, was seriously arranging the bookshelf, in quite a good mood.
“Actually, my dream since I was little was to have a secret base like this, where I could do crazy things together with my friends.”
“Every boy has that dream.”
Jiang Ran smiled faintly.
“As for crazy things... What we’re about to do, isn’t it already crazy enough?”
If they could truly master the ability to “send text messages to the past,” that would be almost equivalent to altering the past and manipulating history. Almost equivalent to... being a lofty god.
“Next, it’s time to pick up our good partner, the positron cannon, and bring it home.”
...
After another pile of complicated procedures, along with a letter of guarantee, they finally saw the legendary “positron cannon” in the school warehouse.
It was a device about the size and shape of a microwave oven, square and boxy, with a cylindrical “barrel” the size of a volleyball on the front.
The “barrel” was solid, its internal structure unknown.
According to Senior Yan Rui, this was a modified CRT display tube that could fire a positron beam.
However, he had only read that from the label. Whether it was true or not was unknown.
And now, the label on the machine had already been burned away, leaving no way to verify it.
“Why does it smell burnt?”
Jiang Ran leaned closer and sniffed.
“It really is coming from this machine.”
Qin Feng sniffed too.
“The capacitor burst.”
“How professional. Can you fix it?”
“I’ll have to carry it back and inspect it. Hopefully the core components aren’t burnt out. If those are broken, I really won’t know how to fix it.”
After a pause, Qin Feng shook his head.
“Forget not knowing how to fix it. I don’t even believe this thing can fire a positron beam. That’s absolutely impossible in physics.”
“If you’re bad at it, practice more.”
“What a joke. Do you actually understand the basic principles of an electron gun?”
“Every electron gun has a different constitution.”
“...”
Qin Feng was holding the positron cannon with both hands and could not engage in hand-to-hand combat.
“Fine. You win.”
...
After moving it back to the Film Club activity room, Cheng Mengxue saw the legendary positron cannon for the first time.
“It looks like an enlarged camera!”
Jiang Ran blinked.
Now that she mentioned it, it really did.
They were both square and boxy, and the “barrel” at the front really did resemble a camera lens.
Perhaps this was the romance of the Film Club seniors back then.
Qin Feng picked up his tools and carefully inspected it once.
“The problem isn’t big. Only the power supply module burned out. There’s nothing wrong with the core components. Of course... I’m not sure whether there’s anything wrong with them either, because I have no idea what these core components even are.”
Jiang Ran waved his hand.
“We’re among ourselves. No need to be so rigorous. How long will it take to fix?”
“It’ll take about four or five days.”
“Fine.”
Jiang Ran came to the small blackboard.
“For these four or five days, you’ll be responsible for repairing the positron cannon. I’ll try to solve the other problems.”
He picked up a piece of chalk and, with a series of taps, wrote down two questions:
“1. What is the principle behind text messages traveling through spacetime and being sent to the past?”
“2. Why am I the only one who possesses memories from before spacetime changes?”
It would be best if they could figure out these two questions before the official experiment. That way, he would feel a little more secure.
Qin Feng raised his head and glanced at the blackboard.
“The first question—I’ve been thinking about it these past few days. If the positron cannon really does fire a positron beam and hit the distribution box... what exactly would happen? Today, I suddenly had a new idea.”
“Let’s hear it.”
“I think the main thing that reacts with the positron beam is the high-voltage transformer inside the distribution box.”
Qin Feng stood up and pointed at the distribution box outside the window.
“My guess is that when the two collide, they produce a field that can traverse spacetime, or rather... how should I put it? Right, a spacetime black hole.”
He proposed a new term.
“This spacetime black hole is very special. It should be extremely, extremely small, perhaps not even a traditional physical existence. But it connects to spacetime in the past, and... it can also absorb radio waves within a few meters nearby.”
Jiang Ran propped up his chin and thought for a moment.
A spacetime black hole absorbing radio waves did seem reasonable.
After all, in the traditional sense, a cosmic black hole would absorb surrounding matter due to its immense gravity; even light could not escape.
“Go on.”
“The rest is simple.”
Qin Feng spread his hands.
“The radio waves of that text message were absorbed by the spacetime black hole and traveled to the spacetime three days ago. Then they were captured by the signal tower from three days ago and transferred to Cheng Mengxue’s phone from three days ago.”
Jiang Ran nodded.
The logic after that was more or less the same as what he had previously imagined.
Of course, whether this guess was correct or not still had to wait for experimental verification a few days later.
If the experiment succeeded, then all their assumptions and guesses would be correct.
If the experiment failed...
Then all the theory and practice would have to be overturned and started again from scratch.
“As for the second question, I have no clue.”
Qin Feng lowered his head again and fiddled with the positron cannon.
“The problem is with you. You can only find the reason yourself.”
“Sigh, where am I supposed to look?”
Jiang Ran sighed. He was just as clueless. Who the hell knew why he was so special?
Before this, he had wondered whether it was possible that whoever sent the text message would be able to retain the memories from before spacetime changed... but he had quickly denied it in his heart.
There was no scientific basis for that at all.
Of course, he could not say that too absolutely. In the future, he could let Cheng Mengxue and Qin Feng try sending text messages as well, and then they would be able to judge.
...
Three days later, Qin Feng announced that the positron cannon had been fully repaired.
“It’s completely fixed. There’s absolutely no problem.”
Jiang Ran opened his eyes and sat up from the sofa.
Finally.
Finally...
They were finally about to conduct the experiment closest to success!
“Wow! I’m so excited!”
Cheng Mengxue hugged the Rhine Cat plushie.
“At such an important moment, isn’t the president going to say a few words?”
“What is there to say?”
Jiang Ran refused.
“It’s not like success is guaranteed. Who knows whether it’ll all end in empty joy again?”
“Say a few words.”
Qin Feng also smiled and egged him on.
“After all, it was because you led us that we managed to get this far. Just say something to boost morale.”
Jiang Ran did not know whether to laugh or cry, but he did not want to spoil the mood either.
“Fine.”
He imitated what he had seen, clapped his hands, stood up straight, and looked at the calendar.
“March 25, 2025. This is an extremely important day in human history, a day worth remembering, and a day worth commemorating.”
Jiang Ran’s pretentious act made Cheng Mengxue cover her mouth and laugh.
“On this day, inside the Film Club of Donghai University, the trio with the best relationship in the world will conduct the first controllable spacetime traversal experiment in human history.”
“We will use a positron cannon, a transformer distribution box, and an ordinary cellphone...”
He raised his head, his pupils reflecting the flicker of the incandescent light.
“To send a letter... to the world of the past!”